1998 TESOL Russia--Far East International Conference
September 22 - 24, 1998, Khabarovsk, Russia
"See you in Khabarovsk in 1998," we had promised at the end of the first International Conference organised by TESOL Russia--Far East in Vladivostok two years ago. It had been said more in hope than anything else. The original conference had been a triumph of hope over adversity: organised on one telephone line and a lot of good-will, it had been a great success, bringing together English teachers from throughout the Russian Far East for their first ever conference, an emotional as well as a professional occasion. But who knew what the next two years would bring?
Well, they brought a creeping sense of economic recovery and political stability, and then in mid-August, 1998, the dramatic crushing of hope and dreams as the rouble collapsed and banks all over Russia closed their doors. Nevertheless, a month later, we did indeed meet again in Khabarovsk for the second International Conference, organised by the newly re-named Far Eastern English Language Teachers Association (FEELTA).
Teachers arrived by train and by plane, 13 hours up the track from Vladivostok, a day and a night by bus and train from Nikolaevsk-on-Amur, 24 hours of flights and departure lounges from Western Siberia. Over 400 in all, hungry for professional contact and new ideas. Many more though, did not make it. Sponsorship money failed to arrive; hotel and travel expenses suddenly became unaffordable; a difficult, hungry winter loomed.
We gathered in Khabarovsk, on the banks of the Amur River, within sight of China, on the edge of the taiga (which has burned for most of the summer, sending huge clouds of smoke over the city at times). It is a spacious city with a bustling main street and European-style architecture. The State Pedagogical University and the University of Economics and Law were our hosts.
After welcome speeches, musical performances and opening plenaries, one by Mary Speer from the US Information Service and one by myself, the conference divided into six themed parallel sessions: Phonetics, Grammar, Vocabulary, and Literature; Cross-Cultural Issues; ESP and Business English; Video and CALL; Teacher Education; and Teaching English in Secondary Schools.
I followed the Cross-Cultural Issues strand and found it to be concerned mainly with the problems of translators, interpreters and those who train them. There was particular emphasis on words in Russian and English which seem to be untranslatable. "Demonstration" was offered as an example. Apparently it is an old saw that Americans demonstrate against things and Russians in favour of things, so the word has quite different connotations in English and Russian. A member of the audience pointed out that this is no longer true, that increasingly Russians are holding demonstrations against the government. This pattern repeated itself many times: claims about differences between Russian and English were moderated by remarks on the changing connotations of Russian words. The Russian language, it seems, is keeping pace with the rapid changes in Russian society as a whole, leaving translators gasping to keep up.
In other strands of the conference, a major point of discussion was the role of grammar in English teaching. Should it be central, as it has been in the past? Should it become somehow peripheral? If so, what is to replace it at the centre: communication? culture? There was a real sense that teachers were engaging with and learning about issues which preoccupy them in their professional lives.
For a visitor from Japan, the quality of teachers' English and the breadth of familiarity with English texts was no less than astonishing. Russian higher education is still adept at turning out teachers who not only know English but are also true connoisseurs of the language. Visits to university classrooms revealed that small classes are one of the secrets of this success: four students in a conversation class; 11 in a discussion, in English, of the role of the United Nations; 14 in a lecture, also in English, on lexicology.
It was not all work. There were thoughtfully organised social events as well: a tour of the city, a cruise on the Amur, an opening reception and closing meal, at which old friendships were renewed and new contacts made.
The conference organisers, led by FEELTA President Galina Lovtsevich, are to be congratulated on their flexibility and perseverance in organising a highly successful and enjoyable conference in times of growing adversity. See you again in Vladivostok in 2000.