This session by Harry Waters took place at the online Future of English Language Teaching Conference (FOELT), organised by Trinity College London and Regent’s University London. You can learn more about the annual event at http://trinitycollege.com/FOELT.

The world is changing, and the landscape of education is changing with it. As teachers we need to ensure we’re on the right side of history. The future is in our hands, and we need to empower our students to make the decisions to go out there and shape it to be as bright as possible.
The session starts by looking at some of the issues the world is currently facing with a focus on the climate emergency. It will then introduce the idea of changemakers and emphasise the positive impact they can have on the planet.

It then moves to look at practical ideas to helping students engage with the issues at hand (a quick trip through the UN's Sustainable Development Goals helps add clarity here)

In this session we’re going to think about what a changemaker is and how we can empower our students to make a real difference in the world. Be it a young learners class, a teenage class or an adult class. finding ways and means to connect our students to the issues and help them develop their passions.

Next we'll take some simple steps on how we can turn eco anxiety into agency and prevent our students burning out and freaking out.

Finally we'll look at what we can do to help our students make the biggest differences they can. The ways in which they can go out there and make a difference. Our students may need our guidance at first, but soon enough they'll be the ones guiding us in our quest to make a change in ourselves and the world


The presenter, Harry Waters, is an awardwinning ELT professional. He has been a dedicated “TEFLer” or over 15 years. He is the founder of Renewable English. Now entering its third series. Recently he’s been working with the Macmillan Advanced Learning team in their quest to help build a more sustainable future. He was a lead trainer for two Pearson and BBC ELTon awardwinning projects. His climate activism within education and drive for reform, led to an invitation to speak at the world’s largest climate summit ChangeNOW in Paris.