On 22 October, Yals, Association of Language Schools of Serbia, organised a conference titled ’’TEACHING IN CHALLENGING TIMES’’ in the Palas Hotel in Belgrade. The conference was supported by Eaquals, Evaluation and Accreditation of Quality Language Services, and was aimed at both Private and State School teachers.

Marija Pejatović, Yals Chair, opened the conference, attended by 60 people. She talked about values and standards postulated by Yals, and emphasised the importance of cooperating with Eaquals. The opening speech was followed by the workshops of Yals teachers and two guest lecturers, Jenny Lemper from the United States and Veronica Berry from the UK.

The participants of the conference enjoyed the examples of good practice prepared by our Yals teachers, and our guest speakers.

• Pandemic learning – perspectives from California and Serbia, Jenny Lemper, US Embassy in Serbia, Kragujevac
• NGPT (Next generation placement tool) – innovative adaptive testing in the language classroom,
  Ljubomir Vasojević, Blackbird School, Čačak
• Apart but together – reflections on the 2019 YALS online spring gathering for primary school students, Marija Vojvodić and Jovana Živković, Britannica Centre, Niš
• From classroom to online teaching with young learners, Anđelija Ognjanović, Penguin English School, Jagodina
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• IATEFL 2022 Belfast Conference – latest tricks of the trade for the well-being of teachers and students, Marija Pejatović and Jelena Spasić, Oxford School, Leskovac
• Developing independent study skills in students with special learning difficulties, Veronica Berry, Livingston School, Beograd
• All work and no play kill joy on the way – how to keep students engaged in demanding exam lessons, Željko Ljiljak-Vukajlović, Lingva School, Beograd

At the end of the conference everybody participated in the raffle, which was organised and  mainly sponsored by Blackbird School from Cacak. Other sponsors were The British Council, The US Embassy, Excalibur Exam Centre, Pearson, Acronolo Bookshop and Elta.

Vast majority of the attendees who filled in the evaluation form anonymously rated the conference as excellent (86%) and said that the event was extremely well organised. They found the content of the conference very useful and thought the speakers were highly engaging.

Here are some comments from the evaluation form:

• Such a pleasant and well-thought-out event and overall great atmosphere. It was useful and enjoyable.
• Very useful professional event. Well done! The venue has been perfectly chosen! Keep up the good work, YALS people
• Excellent organisation, a variety of topics in the workshops, practical ideas, motivating speakers. Well done!
• Cutting edge topics – great conference!
• Great job! One of the best conferences I attended! Keep up the good work!