Teaching Beyond Words at the International ESL Teaching Conference
There are moments in a teacher’s professional life that feel both humbling and energising, moments that remind us why we do what we do. My recent trip to Baku for the International ESL Teaching Conference, hosted by the Azerbaijan University of Languages, was exactly that kind of experience.
Being invited to present alongside distinguished educators and specialists from around the world was an honour in itself. But the true magic happened inside the room, during my workshop “Teaching Beyond Words: Drama as a Methodology in ESL.”
From the very first warm-up, the room came alive with movement, curiosity, and laughter. Teachers who had never tried drama before were suddenly buzzing like bees, creating statues in ten seconds, predicting stories, and stepping into the shoes of characters. Watching them experience drama not as performance but as a methodology, was a powerful reminder of why I founded DramActivate in the first place. When teachers feel the impact of embodied learning, they instantly understand how transformative it can be for their learners.
One of my favourite moments was seeing participants collaborate spontaneously, encouraging one another, and daring to explore. The energy shifted from hesitation to enthusiasm within minutes. That shift is where meaningful professional growth begins, not through theory alone, but through shared experiences.
The success of the workshop wasn’t just about engagement or feedback (though both were wonderfully positive). It was about witnessing educators from different countries, backgrounds, and teaching contexts embrace the same core idea:
Language learning deepens when it moves beyond words into action, imagination, and human connection.
Conferences like this remind me of the importance of sharing ideas openly. Each conversation held over coffee, each question asked during Q&A, and each story exchanged between sessions contributes to a global circle of learning. We may come from different parts of the world, but when we gather as educators, we form a collective commitment: to teach with creativity, to empower our learners, and to keep evolving ourselves.
Professional connections are not just networking opportunities. They are partnerships in inspiration, sparks that continue to glow long after the event ends. Baku gave me the chance to reconnect with colleagues, meet new collaborators, and feel part of a wider community working towards richer, more human-centred language education.
Leaving the conference, I carried with me a heart full of gratitude for the organisers who trusted me with the stage, for the participants who shared their energy and for every educator who believes, like I do, that learning should be memorable and meaningful.
Until the next stop around the teaching world, I’ll keep Dramactivating with renewed passion and I hope those who joined me in Baku carry a little of that spark back to their own classrooms too.