Making it REAL - Final Conference, Sèvres (France)

Camelia Arhip (Moldavian Association of English Teachers, Romania – MATE)

Camelia Arhip has been teaching English at "Mihai Eminescu" College, from Iasi, Romania, for 18 years. As a secondary school teacher , she has been involved in several important European projects (in Austria, England, Hungary and Romania), related to language educator awareness, developing oral fluency, CLIL and human rights. She is also a teacher trainer, working with newly qualified teachers, and a mentor. Since 2009,she has been the president of the Moldavian Association of Teachers of English (MATE), organising  annual conferences and devoting much of her time to teachers' professional development and networking.

Pernelle Benoit (Centre international d’études pédagogiques, France – CIEP)

Ms Benoit is a Project Management Officer in the CIEP’s Languages and Mobility Department. After graduating with Masters degrees in both Linguistic Science and French as a foreign language, she gained a wealth of experience in educational and linguistic cooperation in the French cultural network abroad. She is involved in the preparation and management of centralised and decentralised projects and is the coordinator of the “European Profiling Grid” project. She is an expert in a project managed by the ECML, dealing with quality in migrants’ language courses. She has also managed several mobility programmes including the language assistant programme between France and the United Kingdom.

Annick Bonnet (Centre international d’études pédagogiques, France – CIEP)

Annick Bonnet works in the fields of ICT and CLIL teaching. She was the coordinator of the EU-funded SAEL project, focused on support websites for language teachers (www.eurosael.eu) and is also the author of the SAEL guidebook, designed for European decision makers who plan to implement support websites. She run workshops on the Forlang training course(a European approach to language teacher training, www.forlang.eu) and on International events in the field of ICT and language learning (Eurocall, Cyberlangues…).

Jonathan Hooley (Centre international d’études pédagogiques, France – CIEP)

A graduate in modern languages (Oxford University) and political science (Sciences Po Paris), Jonathan Hooley has taught English as a foreign language in France, Germany and China. He is currently responsible for the coordination of the REAL (European Network of Language Teacher Associations) project at the Centre international d’études pédagogiques and is particularly involved in developing the Network’s online presence through its multilingual web portal and through social media.

Prof. Michael Kelly (University of Southampton, UK)

Michael Kelly is Professor of French and Director of Research in Modern Languages at the University of Southampton. He is actively involved in bringing about change in language teaching practice and theory and promoting linguistic and cultural diversity in the UK and across Europe. He was behind the European Profile for Language Teacher Education which offers a frame of reference to language policymakers and language teacher trainers. He heads up a national support centre for language teachers in the UK (LLAS Centre for Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies), which runs a programme of professional development for teachers in schools and universities, as well as a programme to promote the study of languages in secondary and higher education across England and Wales (Routes into Languages). He is Secretary of Speak to the Future, the UK campaign for languages, and Secretary of the Conseil européen pour les langues / European Language Council. He is Editor of the Francophone Journal Synergies R-U & Irlande and of the European Journal of Language Policy/ Revue européenne de politique linguistique.

Renata Klimek-Kowalska (Europa Języków i Kultur, Poland – ELC)

Renata Klimek-Kowalska is the President of the Polish Association Europa Języków i Kultur, one of the partners of the REAL project. Her specialities are innovative approaches in foreign language teaching, and intercultural communication. She is active in the promotion of the French language in Poland, where she works with several regional, national and international stakeholders. Since 2005, she has coordinated the project “Classes francophones en Silésie”, involving more than 60 teachers of French as a foreign language. As an expert teacher trainer, she participates in the Pestalozzi Programme of the Council of Europe. Renata Klimek-Kowalska also cooperates with the National Agency of the European Commission for the promotion of the eTwinning Programme in Poland.

Annick Lederlé (Centre international d’études pédagogiques, France – CIEP)

Details to follow.

Silvia Minardi (Lingua e Nuova Didattica, Italy – LEND)

Silvia is the President of the Italian association Lingua e Nuova Didattica, member of the REAL project. She has been implementing EU projects since 2003. She has also been working as a teacher and a teacher trainer for the Italian Ministry of Education since 1995. She is active as a pedagogical consultant for eTwinning in Lombardy and received a Fulbright grant in 2005. Silvia Minardi is the author of several articles and publications on language teaching.

Uwe Mohr (Goethe Institut, Belgium)

Uwe Mohr was born in 1960 and studied English and American Literature and History in Cologne, Seattle and Bruges. He has been working at the Goethe Institut since 1988 and has been posted to Munich, Fribourg, Buenos Aires, Dublin, Trieste, Rome, Boston and finally to Brussels as Director of the Languages Department in charge of the Southwest Europe region ie. Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Italy, Spain and Portugal. Furthermore, Mr Mohr is President of the Multilingualism Civil Society Platform and Coordinator of the Poliglott4.eu project.

Wendy Newman (Association for Language Learning, UK - ALL)

Wendy Newman is Professional Officer at the Association for Language Learning. She leads for ALL on a number of internal and external projects, liaising with a wide range of partners.  She is a qualified language teacher and has taught German, Italian and English as a Foreign Language in further and adult education. She edits the ALL magazine, the electronic bulletin and parts of the website. She represents the Association at external events at both national and international level.

Linda Parker (Association for Language Learning, UK - ALL)

Linda Parker is Director of the UK Association for Language Learning, "co-pilot" of the REAL2 Project. She regularly represents the association nationally and internationally and is responsible among other things for developing its partnership relationships. Linda has had a long career as a specialist in languages. She was a secondary school teacher, later worked in higher education before going on to head up Information Services at CILT (National Centre for Languages) in the UK. She has led or taken part in many national and European projects.

Jean-Yves Petitgirard (Association des professeurs de langues vivantes, France - APLV)

Jean-Yves Petitgirard is a Lecturer in English Didactics at the University Stendhal 3 in Grenoble, France specialising in the use of ICT in language teaching about which he has written widely. In addition to this he is also strongly involved in teaching French as foreign language in his role as Director of the Centre Universitaire d'Études Françaises (CUEF) also in Grenoble. President of the French Association des professeurs de langues vivantes (APLV), member of the REAL2 Project.

Eleonora Salvadori (Italian Ministry of Education)

Eleonora Salvadori has taught French in Italy both in secondary schools and in universities. She has been training teachers for over twenty years and sees the teaching of a second language as a cognitive and affective activity which should draw upon direct experience of the culture and customs of the country or countries in which the target language is spoken. In line with this conceptual framework, she has carried out class exchanges as a way to make the contact with languages meaningful and enjoyable. She has been mandated by the Italian Ministry of Education to support the introduction of European projects in Italian schools and has coordinated centralised educational projects focusing on European citizenship, multiculturalism and plurilingualism.

Prof. em. Dr. Konrad Schröder (Englisch und Mehrsprachigkeit, Germany – E&M)

Prof. em. Dr. Konrad Schröder was a lecturer in English Didactics at the University of Augsburg, Germany. As a specialist in language learning and lingustic policy, he has written many books and articles. He has been actively involved with language teacher associations since 1992 and has headed up the German Association for English Teachers “Englisch und Mehrsprachigkeit”(REAL 2 Project Partner) since it was created in 2008.

Julián Serrano Heras (Fédération espagnole des associations de professeurs de français, Spain - FEAPF)

Julián Serrano Heras is a lecturer in French Didactics specialising in the use of ICT in the classroom at the Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, Spain. He has a wealth of experience working in language teacher associations in his roles as President of the Spanish Federation of French Teacher Associations (REAL2 Project Partner), President of the Assocations for French Teachers in Cuenca, General Secretary of the Western Europe Commission of the International Federation of French Teachers (FIPF) and as a member of the FIPF’s Board of Trustees.

Egle Sleinotiene (Lietuvos Kalbų Pedagogų Asociacija, Lithuania – LKPA)

Egle Sleinotiene is President of the Lithuanian association Lietuvos Kalbų Pedagogų Asociacija, partner in the REAL2 project, and has previously worked in the fields of adult learning and teacher training. She has coordinated various European projects including DISSMARK and is currently involved in developing assessment material as well as the Association’s marketing and dissemination activities.

Oliver Steffen (Centre international d’études pédagogiques, France – CIEP)

Olivier Steffen holds a Master of Arts from the Ecole Normale Supérieure (Lyon, France), as well as a Master of Law (European Governance and Administration) from the Ecole Nationale d'Administration (Paris, France). He became a civil servant with the French ministry of Education after the Concours de l'agrégation. He has worked as a teacher of German in France and abroad, and as a project officer with the French Embassy in Berlin (Germany).

He joined CIEP’s Department for Languages and Mobility in 2008 as coordinator of the EU-funded SemLang project led by CIEP and a consortium of six European institutions. In 2009, he was appointed Head of the Europe unit; his main fields of activity are the design and the implementation of training courses focusing on languages and mobility, as well as the participation in the calls for tenders and calls for proposals of the European Commission and its network of National Agencies. As a speaker and workshop leader, he regularly takes part in training courses organised for CIEP’s partners and clients, as well as the members of the French cultural and diplomatic network (Université d’été des métiers du français dans le monde) and the various representatives of the European language community (ForLang, Foresite, etc.).