FEATURED SPEAKERS
Associate Professor Francisca Maria Ivone
Universitas Negeri Malang, Indonesia
Francisca Maria Ivone is an Associate Professor of Applied Linguistics at Universitas Negeri Malang, Indonesia. She researches and publishes on ELT, technology-enhanced learning, extensive reading / listening / viewing, learning autonomy, and collaborative learning. She serves on the boards of Indonesia Technology-Enhanced Language Learning (iTELL) and Indonesia Extensive Reading Association (IERA).
Dr. Mohd Sirhajwan Idek
Keningau Vocational College, Sabah, Malaysia
Dr. Sirhajwan Idek is an English language teacher at Keningau Vocational College, Sabah, Malaysia. He is also the Head of Research & Innovation Department at the school. He became the first Malaysian to win British Council's ELTons Innovation Awards in 2024 with his virtual class project. He also won the Simon Greenall Award in 2021 for his folklore and ethnic culture project.
Abstract
Reviving Ethnic Folklore in the English Classroom to Harness Learners' Cultural Diversity
Our English language learners come from diverse cultures and in the rapid homogenisation of cultures, it is crucial to celebrate their unique ethnic cultures by bringing folklore and ethnic cultures into the classroom through language art activities of various genres. This session will explore several classroom and after-school activities such as readers' theatre, monologue, puppetry, animated tales, show and tell, radio play, pantomime within the context of tales and artefacts of Sabah cultures namely Bajau. In addition, it will introduce several means based on real-life success to promote ethnic folklore, traditions, festivals and languages via English language such as KL Shakespeare Players & Breeze Magazine. It will also briefly discuss the emerging role of translanguaging for non-native English language learners.
Santha Nair Chandran
Sauk Primary School, Perak, Malaysia
Santha Nair Chandran is an English language teacher and Head of the English Department at a vernacular school, SJKC Sauk in Perak, Malaysia. She is a Master Trainer for the CEFR English Curriculum in Lower Perak District. Santha is also involved in the Global Schools Program (GSP) where she is the Project Officer for Partnerships and Events. In 2022, Santha was the GSP representative at the Transforming Education Summit at the UN New York. She has experience in writing partnerships and event proposals and designing curriculum around SDGs for primary learners. Santha is the Program Manager and Co-Founder of DeRia, where she spearheaded the Environmental Education Playbook (curated by teachers for teachers), with a grant under the British High Commission Kuala Lumpur with Ecoknights in conjunction with the Cop26 conference, Glasgow. She has conducted workshops for UNESCO ESD-Net and is currently working towards contributing ideas and solutions to the EDUCATION SDG4 Network. She loves teaching sustainability through English.
Dr. Thanakorn Thongprayoon
Thailand TESOL & Srinakharinwirot University, Thailand
Thanakorn Thongprayoon is the Dean of the International College for Sustainability Studies at Srinakharinwirot University, Bangkok, Thailand. He lectures in the international undergraduate program in Language and Intercultural Communication and holds a Senior Fellowship from the UK Professional Standards Framework (UKPSF). He also serves on the Advisory Board of the Thailand Extensive Reading Association (TERA) and is the Past President of Thailand TESOL.
Dr. Thanakorn holds a Ph.D. in Educational Science and Learning Management, with a background in TEFL and education. His expertise spans ELT materials development, classroom management, and curriculum and instructional design. His research interests include ELT pedagogy, cross-cultural adaptation, intercultural communication, and social and emotional learning.
