ELTons 2011 Winners Announced
24 February 2011
The winners of the British Council ELTons, a celebration of excellence in English language teaching from around the world, were announced last night.
Sponsored by Cambridge ESOL, awards were given in four categories; The UK Award for Innovation, The Cambridge ESOL International Award for Innovation, The Macmillan Education Award for Innovative Writing and, new for this year, The Lifetime Achievement Award for English Language Teaching.
Michael Carrier, Head Global English at the British Council said: "The British Council Lifetime Achievement Award for English Language Teaching recognises members of the ELT community who have made a major contribution to the field of language learning and teaching.
“The award celebrates the long-standing achievements made by members of the different branches of ELT – writers, academics, trainers, school managers and thinkers – who have changed the way we look at English language teaching and contributed to advances in areas such as methodology, learning, technology and publishing.
“English Language Teaching is a major profession that affects the lives of hundreds of millions of people worldwide, while in the UK the ELT industry brings around £3 billion in student fees, accommodation, publishing and ancillary spending to the country.
“Despite this, English Language Teaching is often under-celebrated in the UK, and this award aims to remedy that by shining a spotlight on the ground-breaking contributions made by members of the ELT community.”
Brian Abbs and Ingrid Freebairn were awarded the British Council Award for Lifetime Achievement in English Language Teaching for their joint contribution to ELT through their ground-breaking textbook series. The Abbs & Freebairn textbooks, used by a generation and more of English language teachers, brought new pedagogical principles to ELT and enabled major advances in classroom methodology and the communicative success of learners through their innovative design and content.
United International College (UIC), a London-based language school, triumphed in the UK Award for Innovation category with their entry Communication Station. Described as an ‘organised language learning experience’, this resource allows students to learn English by making and broadcasting a radio programme.
Joining UIC as winners in the UK category is the BBC, with two web-based learning resources. BBCe! is an Arabic and English bilingual conversation broadcast on FM radio in Egypt and across the Arab World. Rinku’s World is a multi-platform, English language teaching concept for Bangladeshi learners, with content accessible via prime-time TV broadcasts, mobile phone, print and the web.
ABAX ELT, based in Japan, won the Cambridge ESOL International Award for Innovation for their book Fiction in Action: Whodunit, a reading text for low to intermediate level English language learners. The book focuses on reading within one genre—the detective story—familiarising students with the language, style and literary conventions associated with this form of story.
Now in its second year, the Macmillan Education Award for Innovative Writing recognises the talents of aspiring ELT authors who have not yet been published. The award went to Simona Petrescu, from Romania, who entered a proposal for a Professional English for Human Resources (HR) course in which the structure mirrors the flow of the HR process.
For more information, please contact Helen Mould at the British Council on 020 7389 4939 or e-mail Helen.mould@britishcouncil.org
Notes to Editors
ELTons
The ELTons (British Council Innovation Awards) are offered to outstanding new language learning products and services, which use innovative ideas to help learners achieve their goals, or to innovative research which has clear practical benefits for English language teaching. For more information please visit http://www.britishcouncil.org/learning-eltons
The British Council
The British Council is the UK’s international organisation for educational opportunities and cultural relations. We work in over 100 countries worldwide to build opportunity and trust for the UK through the exchange of knowledge and ideas between people. We work in the Arts, English, Education and Society, including science and sport - and in the process contribute to the security and prosperity of the UK and the countries where we work. Last year we engaged face to face with 18.4 million people and reached 652 million. We are a non-political organisation which operates at arm’s length from government. Our total turnover in 2009/10 was £705 million, of which our grant-in-aid from the British government was £211 million. For every £1 of government grant we receive, we earn £2.50 from other sources. For more information, please visit: www.britishcouncil.org
