For English Sake

We are currently preparing for our first online event on July 7th, so follow our page to stay updated! 🔥

Why do communities matter?
Because no educator should have to do this alone.
The best ideas, strongest support, and biggest opportunities often come from the people around us.

At VOC, we're building a global movement where educators can:
⭐ Be recognized
📈 Create impact
✔️ Find simple ways to connect and grow
🙌 Feel empowered to make a difference

When educators share experiences, encourage one another, and work together, amazing things happen.
This is more than a network. It's a community built by educators, for educators.

💙 Follow VOC and join us as we build something special leading up to our July 7 launch.

Rise Together. Change Together. VOC

We were brainstorming, discussing, asking questions and here we are!

Altogether with Robert Stroud Mohamed Nabil and Le Quoc I am super excited to present our mission and vision.

Dear educators, life long learners, leaders, teachers -
You are most welcome to join forces with global educators 🔥 this community can’t grow without YOU.

🌍✨ Welcome to VOC — Voices of Change ✨🌍
A new global community for educators is beginning.

VOC was created to bring educators together to:
🤝 connect
💡 share ideas
🌱 grow professionally
🎤 amplify educator voices
🌍 collaborate across countries and cultures

We believe educators deserve:
✔ support
✔ recognition
✔ opportunities
✔ and a community where their voices matter.

This is just the beginning.
Over the next few weeks, we’ll be introducing our founding members, sharing educator stories, opening community discussions, and preparing for our official launch event on July 7 🎉

Our mission is simple:
✨ Rise Together. Change Together. ✨
If you believe education grows stronger when educators support one another, we invite you to join us on this journey.

👇 Tell us below:
Where are you teaching from today?

Polskie Stowarzyszenie na rzecz Jakości w Nauczaniu Języków Obcych PASE thank you for effort you put in organizing this conference!

The 12th annual conference hosted by PASE at Vistula University in Warsaw. I planned my schedule to be also a participant and I liked it a lot! Lively discussions, funny moments, ideas I'm still unpacking, and conversations in corridors that mattered more than I expected.

One of sentences stayed with me after my session at PASE 2026.

"Now I know what I can do at the end of the lesson instead of saying 'do you understand?' or 'did you like it?'"

My session?
40 minutes. A few myths dismantled. Some science of learning. Ready-to-use examples for language classrooms.

I wrote the full reflection on my website - what happened in the session, the myths we covered, and what's coming next (a longer workshop format is on its way - some of you asked, and I heard you).

Link below.

Thank you to everyone who showed up, pushed back, asked questions, and wrote something honest on an exit ticket at the end.

Thank you for lovely time and all discussions Glenn Standish Viola Bielecka Timothy O'Flaherty Jon Hird ELT Piotr Steinbrich Grzegorz Śpiewak Paulina Dolęga

https://forenglishsake.com/the-focus-mindest-pase-2026/

Dear students - your voice matters. Dear teachers - spread the word and encourage your students to participate 💪🏻

Teachers — can we hear from students more, and from each other a little less? 🌍

Education discussions are everywhere, but students are often missing from them.

We constantly discuss:
“What works for students?”
“What motivates students?”
“What should learning look like?”

But students themselves live these experiences every single day.
That’s why EduVerse and The University Grapevine (TUG) are inviting students worldwide to contribute to a special July 2026 issue:

✨ “How Are You Learning?” ✨
Students only need to:
✅ Answer 2–4 questions
✅ Write short 30–70-word responses
✅ Spend about 5–10 minutes

Some responses will be published in the special edition newsletter.
If you teach secondary or university students, please encourage them to participate. Their voices deserve space in global education conversations.

We need more student perspectives, more student reflection, and more student truth in education.

📍 Link in the comments

(under 18s require teacher/responsible adult approval)

Most exit tickets check compliance.
Few design cognition.

There is a difference and it changes everything about what students actually keep after the lesson ends.

I deeply believe that the last 5 minutes of a lesson are not a closing gesture. They are the first act of the next one.

And yet, too often they are used to wrap up, summarise, rush out the door. Because the bell is coming. Because teacher didn't cover everything. Because there's always something left.

-> Un-hurriedness

Last weekend I ran a session on memory and metacognition for teachers.

We covered retrieval practice, reflection, and learner autonomy - the kind of things that sound obvious until you experience them in your own body.

It was tip of the iceberg when it comes to learning sciences. The conference and backstage conversations handed me even more.
Many questions we explored after the workshop didn’t just clarify the content. They reframed it 🔥

“But what if students don’t WANT to struggle?”
“Is autonomy realistic when grades are everything?”
“What does retrieval practice look like when you have 20 kids and 45 minutes?”

I am really grateful for a room full of teachers who don’t just receive. They push back.

Thank you Glenn Standish and IH Toruń for putting the conference together. Thank you Dorothy Zemach Tom Macmillan, Elizabeth Başok Timothy O'Flaherty Christopher Walker Viola Bielecka and everyone for inspiring conversations, workshops I attended and great vibe between every learning opportunity.

Another chance for development!
Free download until April 29th :)

The Psychology of Language Teachers Cambridge Core - Applied Linguistics - The Psychology of Language Teachers

When I was asked about one practice we must STOP and the message for future generations I immediately thought and wrote:

Please stop designing learning around what is easiest to test, track, or automate. Being efficient is not the same as truly understanding! The future does not need faster learners. It needs wiser ones 🙂

So much food for thought gathered after Voices of Change Round Tables, I am grateful I could share my voice and learn from others 💪🏻

Free access here:
https://heyzine.com/flip-book/b79db675a1.html /1

EduVerse The University Grapevine

Online Flipbook Created with the Heyzine flipbook maker

↔️Progress happens at the intersection.
Innovation thrives in collaboration.
The future belongs to those who build bridges, not silos. 🚥🌉

On my website I published My Time Capsule message for 2025: One practice we must stop & what I believe must never be sacrificed – even as technology and systems evolve. If you believe that progress happens at the intersection, and that the future belongs to bridge-builders, you can also find book recommendations. Link below.

EduVerse, Le Dinh Bao Quoc, Robert Stroud and the TUG Team - thank you for putting this together 👏

Building bridges that are strong enough to hold difficult conversations takes time - I am grateful we all took first steps, I am more optimistic and full of hope for the future ☺️

Thank you for this brainstororming opportunity, space to contribute, and for the invitation. It was a true pleasure to sit and discuss with you Mohamed Nabil Karen Barto, Ph.D. Mary Scholl

Thanks for another dose of insights from Day 2 Annie Altamirano, Fajarudin Akbar, Luis Javier Pentón Herrera, Ph.D. Marina Falasca

Voices of Change 1: Then. Now. Next. Who is leading education? - For English Sake Voices of Change Round Tables is a special EduVerse New Year event reflecting on the first 25 years of the 21st century, and imagining what comes next for education.