A Brief Personal Note by Anja Burkert
Organising this conference on learner autonomy in my hometown of Graz was an extremely rewarding experience for me. It was a lot of work, this is true, but I enjoyed every second of it.
I had met Leni Dam, who is also one of the editors of this volume, and Lienhard Legenhausen, for the first time at the IATEFL conference in Exeter in spring 2008 and I cannot express in words how much inspiration and positive energy I had been able to transport into my teaching in the following years thanks to the infectious enthusiasm and continuous support of these two wonderful people. Organising this conference was for me a way of saying thank you for everything that learner autonomy and its supporters had given me.
When I approached my dear colleague and friend Dani Unger-Ullmann in her function as the head of treffpunkt sprachen with my idea of organising an international conference in Graz, she was from the very first moment excited and supportive of the idea. Dani’s generous offer to contribute to financing the event and to also cover the costs of a resulting publication was more than I had expected. She was also always there for me with valuable advice but never interfered in any of my decisions.
A year before the event happened, I also approached five of my ex-students who had actually been some sort of guinea-pigs as they had attended one of the first courses in which I started to experiment with peer-reviewing, learner diaries and peer teaching. The students had never been to a conference before as they were only in their second or third year of studies, but during the actual event, they acted like professionals and thus largely contributed to the positive and friendly atmosphere of the whole conference. I am very indebted to them.
This book is dedicated to our dear colleague and friend, Richard Pemberton, who sadly passed away in January 2012. As a pioneer and supporter of learner autonomy as well as a valuable friend, he will always be remembered.
Citation (APA 7)
Burkert, A. (2019). A brief personal note. In A. Burkert, L. Dam, & C. Ludwig (Eds.), The answer is learner autonomy: Issues in language teaching and learning.
(p. 7). Candlin & Mynard. https://doi.org/10.47908/9/i (Original work published 2013)
I had met Leni Dam, who is also one of the editors of this volume, and Lienhard Legenhausen, for the first time at the IATEFL conference in Exeter in spring 2008 and I cannot express in words how much inspiration and positive energy I had been able to transport into my teaching in the following years thanks to the infectious enthusiasm and continuous support of these two wonderful people. Organising this conference was for me a way of saying thank you for everything that learner autonomy and its supporters had given me.
When I approached my dear colleague and friend Dani Unger-Ullmann in her function as the head of treffpunkt sprachen with my idea of organising an international conference in Graz, she was from the very first moment excited and supportive of the idea. Dani’s generous offer to contribute to financing the event and to also cover the costs of a resulting publication was more than I had expected. She was also always there for me with valuable advice but never interfered in any of my decisions.
A year before the event happened, I also approached five of my ex-students who had actually been some sort of guinea-pigs as they had attended one of the first courses in which I started to experiment with peer-reviewing, learner diaries and peer teaching. The students had never been to a conference before as they were only in their second or third year of studies, but during the actual event, they acted like professionals and thus largely contributed to the positive and friendly atmosphere of the whole conference. I am very indebted to them.
This book is dedicated to our dear colleague and friend, Richard Pemberton, who sadly passed away in January 2012. As a pioneer and supporter of learner autonomy as well as a valuable friend, he will always be remembered.
Citation (APA 7)
Burkert, A. (2019). A brief personal note. In A. Burkert, L. Dam, & C. Ludwig (Eds.), The answer is learner autonomy: Issues in language teaching and learning.
(p. 7). Candlin & Mynard. https://doi.org/10.47908/9/i (Original work published 2013)
Information About the Book
Title: The Answer is Learner Autonomy: Issues in Language Teaching and Learning.
Editors: Anja Burkert, Leni Dam and Christian Ludwig
Publication date: 2019 (originally published in 2013 as an ebook by IATEFL)
Read more...
Title: The Answer is Learner Autonomy: Issues in Language Teaching and Learning.
Editors: Anja Burkert, Leni Dam and Christian Ludwig
Publication date: 2019 (originally published in 2013 as an ebook by IATEFL)
Read more...