Upcoming CPD Opportunities Spring 2026
Upcoming CPD Opportunities: Spring 2026
Spring is springing again here in the northern hemisphere, and with the change of seasons comes the new blogpost with the latest batch of (mostly free and online) CPD opportunities. I’ve been posting these seasonal summaries for over three years now! If you look back at post from previous years, there’s not very much to see, as I delete events after they have happened. However, I have saved the original (full) posts and it’s remarkable how they serve as snapshots of the zeitgeist and hot topics in ELT at the time.
Looking forward to this season, it is clear that everything AI continues to assert its dominance, but the human side – in particular, diversity, equity, belonging and inclusion – are right up there with it!
As usual, please let me know in the comments if I’ve missed anything.
And hope to see some of you in TESOL-SPAIN in March, and IATEFL in April!
Jessica
TITLE: You, the editor: Avoiding common task design pitfalls
PRESENTER: Luiz Otávio Barros
DATES & TIMES: Tuesday, 26th May – 13:00 (UK time)
LANGUAGE: English
ORGANISED BY: IATEFL Materials Writing SIG
TYPE OF EVENT: Free Webinar
SUMMARY
Designing language learning tasks is not just about creativity; it also means following certain principles that are rarely addressed in teacher training courses. Since many of these principles only become clear through feedback from others, I’ll share some of the editorial feedback I’ve received over the years to show how to recognize and avoid common task-design pitfalls. With examples from different proficiency levels, I’ll demonstrate how small tweaks in wording, sequencing, or layout can make a big difference in learning outcomes.
Participants will take on the role of editor as we look at flawed samples (including some generated by AI!), try to spot the problems, and discuss possible fixes. They will leave the session with a checklist of red flags and some practical self-editing strategies they can use when creating their own materials.
TITLE: “AI is always right… until it isn’t” A spotlight on responsible AI integration in ELT
PRESENTERS: Vicky Saumell and Belén Albarracín
DATES & TIMES: Thursday, 28th May – 18:00 (GMT)
LANGUAGE: English
ORGANISED BY: Modern English Teacher
TYPE OF EVENT: Free Webinar
SUMMARY
Discussions around Artificial Intelligence (AI) are everywhere, and are therefore inevitably on the minds of teachers and materials alike. But as many of us will freely admit, it’s easy to feel confused, overwhelmed, and even exasperated by the hype, the rapid new developments and the explosion of information that we face. With GenAI already making its way into language classrooms at all levels, a sustainable and responsible approach to AI integration is a must.
In this webinar, Vicky and Belén will first go over the challenges they have identified: biases, imprecisions, hallucinations, environmental impact, multilingual representation, safety and copyright, among others. They will then propose strategies and practical tasks to address these issues in a guided and responsible way for different contexts and age groups.
By the end of the session, you will have gained knowledge of the issues surrounding GenAI and leave with a practical toolkit to manage AI integration more confidently
TITLE: Africa ELTA International Conference
PRESENTERS: Various (See programme)
DATES & TIMES: Friday 29th – Sunday 31st May 2026
LANGUAGE: English
ORGANISED BY: Africa ELTA
TYPE OF EVENT: Face-to-face conference, Nairobi, Kenya
SUMMARY
Save the Date! The 10th Africa ELTA Conference is coming to Kenya
Zetech University, Mang’u Campus, 29–31 May 2026
Theme: ELT in Africa: Carving a Way Forward
Stay tuned for the Call for Speaker Proposals, coming soon!
hashtag#AfricaELTA2026
Registration/Info tbc
TITLE: Developing Larger Identities and Roles as an EOP Professional
PRESENTER: Anne Lomperis
DATES & TIMES: Friday, 29th May 2026 – 14:00 (UK time)
LANGUAGE: English
ORGANISED BY: IATEFL ESPSIG
TYPE OF EVENT: Free Webinar
SUMMARY
A framework for EOP (English for Occupational Purposes) is discussed that focuses on three levels of assessing need. These levels correlate to larger identities and roles that make the EOP professional more effective in providing services. The first level is Economic Needs Assessment (ENA) to align EOP with national level economic development policies and priorities. The second level is Organizational Needs Assessment (ONA) at the level of industry sector corporation down to entrepreneur. ONA addresses organizational pain and costs due to low proficiency in EOP. It also analyzes the best program delivery and use of technology. The third level is Instructional Needs Assessment (INA) to provide a direct EOP program at the individual client level. INA is based on collaboration with industry experts to customize curricula to job task improvement, workforce integration, and regulatory compliance. Case studies illustrate issues at each of these levels. Participant input is sought.
PRESENTERS: Various
DATES & TIMES: Saturday, 30th May, 2026 starting at 9:30 (UK time)
LANGUAGE: English
ORGANISED BY: IATEFL LT SIG
TYPE OF EVENT: Free online event
SUMMARY
We are pleased to announce an upcoming online conference in collaboration with TESOL Simple Education (Vietnam), titled Rethinking and Redefining LT in ELT (Learning Technologies in English Language Teaching), taking place on 30 May at 9:30 am (UK time). This event will bring together educators and researchers from around the world to explore innovative perspectives on learning technologies, share current practices, and reflect on how digital tools are reshaping English language teaching in meaningful and sustainable ways.
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