Have you thought about Your Next Step in 2020? Have Trainer Prep and the new Presenter Retreat entered your thinking yet? They are certainly on our minds. Kirstin and Anny Zoom regularly to talk about our activities on either side of the Atlantic, and we always ending up planning the next steps for our shared time with you in Jamestown, RI in June. Applications have begun to come in for both the What’s Your Next Step? Trainer Prep intensive Course and the What’s Your Next Step? Presenter Retreat. Another talented group is taking shape. We hope that you will be part of it this year. If you did not receive our December e-maiI introducing this year’s re-imagined training, read it here. If you are still exploring, here's more about the week: The Trainer Prep Course changes from year to year, as Anny and Kirstin’s experiences training teachers provide new insights. Inevitably, we reach many of the same insights while training very different groups of teachers on opposite sides of the Atlantic. Here’s what has resulted: This year’s condensed 3-day intensive Course focuses on understanding principles that guide the way we share information with others; the essential elements of comprehension-based communicative language teaching; and the most effective components of an information exchange, from an elevator pitch to a 5-day training. Each year's group has its own personality and brings its own talents, interests, and needs to the gathering. Will you bring yours this year?
Those who stay for the Presenter Retreat have specific goals to work on during two days of reflection, planning, and creation. In a retreat atmosphere of loosely scheduled planning, meals, and community time, we create on our own or with a chosen team/partner each day: perhaps coming together for short mini-sessions on topics of shared interest, perhaps working in separate spaces all day, perhaps forming into groups to share and get feedback on what we are creating. Come as a team to work on a collaborative project. Come on your own to develop an idea by yourself, in an atmosphere of collegial support. Encourage a co-presenter to attend the Trainer Prep course with you, then work together at Presenter Retreat. There are lots of possibilities. We’ll set the format for the Retreat in the first hour, then proceed from there. Do you have a project to pursue, among friends, at Altamira, in June? To apply for the Trainer Prep Course or Course+Retreat, just fill out the application form.
The What’s Your Next Step? experience:
Living together at Altamira adds a depth to the training experience that can only come from learning and sharing in community. A group of 18 may seem small for professional development; it can also seem large for a group of relative strangers in a shared living space. Past participants represent both introverts and extroverts in their reflections about the location:
"I love the setting of a house. It really builds community: cooking/cleaning, assembling, eating, moving together. Just the space we need to be cozy, not enough to feel marginalized; and since many of us don't work together, that is important."
"I'm not used to living with so many people and so it is key to be able to go off and think or chat with one person (this was also great at midday break)."
I"'m really happy to be in close quarters with the other participants, and it's so homey and comfortable. Having separate spaces for each activity is also beneficial."
"I loved having the many different spaces for activities. Kind of like a story with 3 locations, it helped to set some of the information to link it to locations. Also, the ocean view is so calming for me. The porch is just awesome."
What's your next step?
If you are ready to apply for Trainer Prep 2020, here is the application.
Click here for more details about the course, schedule, lodging, application, etc.
Click here to see the 2019 video [N.B. with last year's dates] showing scenes from the training in previous years. We hope to see you in June! Anny & Kirstin
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