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Together with this look back over Helta's activities in 2009, Helta would like to thank the individuals, publishers and organizations who helped us put on events and run our association:
February: Prior to the AGM on 27 February, Janine Bray-Müller presented her ideas on how to make English grammar simpler for learners at the beginner's level. Her suggestions of ways in which different aspects can be combined to simplify the learning process provided food for thought and resulted in lively discussion.
April: At an event entitled "Trainers and Teachers Talking", Helta members met for an "ideas exchange". The conversation was wide-ranging and it was indeed interesting to throw out a question along the lines of "what would you do in this situation" and hear what colleagues had to say.
July: Marc Frye of Cornelsen Verlag facilitated a workshop on the subject of "How to teach small talk". This is an important area of language learning that is not always easy for teachers to deal with, so we are grateful to Marc for providing us with insights into the topic. Many thank to both Marc and his colleagues at Cornelsen.
August: At the end of the summer break, we spent an enjoyable evening having a barbeque in Helta member Regina Anders's allotment garden. We would like to thank Regina for extending this invitation and giving us the opportunity to meet socially in a lovely setting.
September: Following the summer break, Laura Hudson facilitated a Hueber/Macmillan event: What secrets are your business English coursebooks hiding? In this session Laura showed us the wealth of free resources available to students and trainers on the CD-ROM or DVD-ROM accompanying the Macmillan business English coursebooks - not to mention a vast array of online material. It was a very enlightening evening. Helta's thanks also go to Stefan Deinzer of Hueber, who organized the event "behind the scenes".
October: It was a pleasure to once again welcome James Schofield to Hamburg for two workshops: 90 minutes + and Success with BEC. James offered us numerous ideas on the subject of reading for pleasure and business purposes. Klaus-Dieter Hey, Langenscheidt's local representative, was on hand with a comprehensive book display; additional thanks to Liesel Sunkler in Munich for her efficient organization and co-ordination.
Additional thanks to: John Gunn & Partner for sponsoring postage for the summer newsletter mailout; Lawrence Harris for taking minutes at the last AGM; Toni Witt-Fox, Janine Bray-Müller and Annemarie Kelly for ensuring that refreshments were on offer; and the many additional "helping hands" who set up the room and put it to rights following events. Last spring Janine and Toni represented Helta at the annual inter-Elta event in Ulm - many thanks to both for devoting their weekend to this.
Helta views the newsletter English Teaching Matters as an essential element of the association. We would therefore like to thank Janine Bray-Müller for her tireless efforts as both editor for Hamburg contributions and author of many of these. This year we would also like to thank Lawrence Harris for his event review, as well as our colleagues at ELTAB-B, ELTAS, ELTAU and ELTA-OWL for making this an informative, attractive, and highly readable publication.
A final thanks to Helta's 2009 Management Team who generously volunteered their time and energy to the association: Toni Witt-Fox (chair), Kay Kilshaw (treasurer), Nick Jones (membership secretary & newsletter dispatcher), Darrel Knutson (website), and Elfie Homann (liaison with publishers).