I had expected to be reporting live from the ELTons awards ceremony in London today but was knocked for six by the side effects of my Covid booster jab yesterday. So, here’s what I’ve learnt from the online version of the ceremony.

This year’s winner of the ELTon for digital innovation is CIELL comics https://ciell.eu/learning-resources/

The winner for the ELTon for innovation in learner resources is Fiction Express https://en.fictionexpress.com/

The winner of the ELTon for course innovation is Our Languages https://www.standfor.com.br/our-languages/

The winner of the ELTon for local innovation is the Facebook Live Team Teaching for the Palestinian English Curriculum and The Hands Up Project (United Kingdom) with UNRWA (Gaza) https://www.facebook.com/watch/917350095017969/2699904443633234

The winner of the ELTon for innovation in teacher resources is Teaching English to Pre-Primary Children https://www.klett-sprachen.de/teaching-english-to-pre-primary-children/t-1/9783125013995

Lots of truly global co-operation there! There were entries from 55 different countries this year. You can find all the finalists here: https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/eltons-innovation-awards-2021-finalists  

There were two outstanding achievement ELTon awards this year:

1. N S Prabhu, whose name is perhaps less well known than it should be but whose influence has been (and is still) felt in classrooms right around the world, not least as the champion of task-based learning https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Task-based_language_learning

2. The A S Hornby Educational Trust, 60 years young this year, who need very little introduction to most of the readers of this message and with whom I’ve worked closely and most enjoyably for much of my own career https://www.hornby-trust.org.uk/

And, finally, by way of something completely different, this popped into my inbox today: Stephen Fry will give this year’s MCC (Marylebone Cricket Club) annual lecture tomorrow, Tuesday 16^th November at 18:30 UK time https://www.lords.org/mcc/the-club/cowdrey-lecture I’m not quite sure what to expect but I’ll tune in to find out!