The XV th NATE Conference

"Learning to Speak the Same Language"

was held on June 25-27, 2009 in Kazan

Noting that Russia’s teachers are “preparing future generations to cooperate beyond national borders in order to solve some of the world’s most serious issues,” Ambassador John Beyrle opened the 15th annual National Teachers of English (NATE) conference, “Learning to Speak the Same Language,” in Tatarstan’s capital city, Kazan.

Addressing an audience of more than 500 English language teachers, teacher trainers, Ministry of Education officials and higher education administrators - in English, Russian and Tatar - the ambassador set the tone for the three-day event by emphasizing the new-found power of the English language, noting that the relatively new phenomenon of a global language allows its user to both access information and shape opinion anywhere in the world.

Participants represented dozens of higher education institutions, over 200 secondary schools and, most importantly, over 30 teachers’ associations, which grow through their members’ commitment to sharing their passion for English language teaching and American Studies. All in all, there were over 180 presentations, many of which addressed key issues in the field: building and maintaining teachers’ associations, creating a strong Russian-American cross-cultural component in the class with authentic material, and building a more communicative classroom. This year’s NATE conference marked many firsts; the first time an ambassador of any nation opened the conference, the first time NATE was held in the multi-cultural and largely Islamic republic of Tatarstan,  the first time a host government provided such a sizeable amount of the overall budget, and the first time an EV (electronic village) opened its doors for the conference participants. The conference will have an impact on thousands of teachers and hundreds of thousands of students of English in Russia.