Project HLT.digital aims to digitise and preserve a body of knowledge on Humanistic language teaching Why are we doing this project?
HLT.digital is our new project to capture, digitize and make available information about humanistic language teaching approaches for teachers in 21st Century. What are the needs we plan to address? As an approach to language learning, Humanistic language teaching (HLT) places the whole person at the centre of the learning process and emphasizes personal as well as academic development. This includ
es personal values and well-being, emotional engagement, and the building of learner autonomy. Our goal is to capture the body of knowledge contained in the canons of some of the foremost HLT pioneers and practitioners. We believe that this information and knowledge, developed and refined in the last century is even more useful now in a time of online teaching expansion. HLT began to exert an influence on global classroom practices over fifty years ago with the publication, mostly in the U.K., of a large number of books, journals and newsletters offering a range of teaching/learning activities that explored language learners’ feelings and experiences more fully. Since the ideas of the HLT pioneers were conceived in the pre-digital era many of the materials are currently in danger of being lost or forgotten in hard-copy. We believe their relevance is perhaps even greater today in our online, blended and hybrid learning contexts as widespread use of learning technology has shown us that:
• the well-being of learners and teachers cannot be taken for granted and it plays a crucial role in the learning process, even more in online environment,
• social interaction and emotional engagement are more challenging online (e.g. cameras off) than they are in face-to-face teaching/learning,
• motivation and autonomy are usually harder to sustain in an online environment. In pre-digital times, HLT pioneers explored closely related issues. They were also interested in plurilingual approaches to education and in creative and critical thinking long before these became buzz words. What do we want to achieve by implementing the project? The HLT ideas were disseminated in pre-digital print media, much of which is now out of print or otherwise unavailable. The information and findings within this field are not just fragmented, but very often not yet available online. We believe it is important to capture that information and those materials (articles, books, interviews with living HLT pioneers and authors, unpublished manuscripts, etc.) and make them widely available online for current and future generations of language teachers to study, explore and to build on. This HLT.digital project will enable current practitioners to connect with these ideas and to explore and select those which are relevant to their own contexts. The web platform HLT.digital will provide a wide variety of different and maybe contradictory opinions of a range of HLT experts. Through their work and ideas, we will introduce website users to a variety of teaching topics. We are creating a simple “map” of HLT for users, providing initial information and also providing multiple recommendations for further study. There are three main parts of the website we are currently working on:
1. A gallery of HLT experts
This introduces some of the key players through their profiles, links to articles, lists of books published, etc.
2. Videos
Recordings of HLT experts answering questions on a variety of teaching topics and interviews about their work and HLT. Short videos will enable teachers to get a quick overview of each expert and to make comparisons of views on a range of topics.
3. Archive
In our project, we will start our work with scanned materials from the HLT practitioner, Mario Rinvolucri, father of the idea of HLT.digital. The main aim is to enable university students to study the notes, materials, comments and articles from across his teaching career, and to explore his ideas as part of their research while preparing for diplomas and writing Masters assignments. HLT.digital aims to become the platform for the international community of HLT experts, language teachers and language students. Who are the project partners? We, The Bridge English Language Centre, are the project coordinators and there are four partners from European countries whose ethos is closely connected to HLT: The London School in Italy, Escuela Oficial de Idiomas de La Orotava in the Canary Islands, The International College in Poland and Swan Communication publishing in the UK. The project is also supported by major international organizations in the field of language education, such as Eaquals (Evaluation & Accreditation of Quality Language Services), NILE (Norwich Institute for Language Education) and Bell (Bell Educational Services). Where can you find more information about this project? For now, you can follow us on this Facebook profile and later, on our website www.hlt.digital which is currently under development.
08/10/2025
🌱 Join us for the sustainED Online Conference 2025/2026!
When: October 9, 2025, at 16:00 CET
Where: Online – join from anywhere!
Discover practical ways schools and educators are promoting sustainability. Gain inspiration, connect with like-minded professionals, and be part of a community shaping a greener future.
Register here:
sustainED 2025/2026 - The Bridge
A series of online events sustainED 2025/2026 offers a conference about green topics and sustainablity, a creative workshop and webinars for teachers and school staff.
09/06/2025
Today we celebrate Mario’s birthday by honoring his legacy.
Though he is no longer with us, his ideas continue to inspire.
Share the lessons, favorite ideas, books, or tips you’ve learned from him.
Let’s keep his spirit alive through teaching and learning.
The Bridge - English Language Centre teacher training
17/01/2025
JOIN US ON TEACHERS’ DAY!
We would like to invite you to a one-day conference for teachers of English, where Alan Pulverness is going to talk about implementing the HLT principles into practice and what it actually means to be and to work as a teacher.
The Teachers´ Day conference takes place on 22 March from 8 am to 6 pm in Bratislava, Slovakia.
Until the end of January, you can get your ticket for an early bird price.
The workshops cover the areas of HLT, self-development and methodology.
📚 Making connections between materials and learners’ lives:
Discover how to adapt and create classroom materials that truly reflect and engage your learners' realities.
🗓️ When: 9th December, 5:00–6:00 PM CET
📍 Where: Online (Zoom)
🎤 Speaker: Sandy Millin, renowned language teacher, trainer, and materials writer.
Join us for an interactive session inspired by the ideas of Paulo Freire, where we’ll explore dialogic education and how it can transform the ELT classroom! 🎓✏️
Learn practical tips for setting up and managing critical discussions, and discover ways to turn your classroom into a space for personal and collective inquiry that drives social change.
🗓️ Don't miss this chance to reflect on how these participatory strategies can work with your own learners!
Teaching demands energy and commitment, so prioritizing self-care is essential. This interactive session, organized by The Bridge - English Language Centre and Eaquals Association, will explore Stephen Covey's "sharpening the saw," identify stressors, and share self-care techniques.
📅 Date: May 21st
🕕 Time: 5:00 - 6:30 pm CET
📍 Location: Zoom
Speakers:
Mike Shreeve - Expert in management, NLP, coaching, and special needs education.
Andrea Zahumenska - Director of Studies with a focus on lifelong learning and professional development.
Get ready for an interactive session where you'll have the opportunity to reflect on your teaching practices. We'll delve into the roots of Humanism in language teaching and learning, explore challenges, and discover strategies to overcome them.
📅 Date: April 25th
🕕 Time: 6:00 - 7:00 pm CET
📍 Location: Zoom
Speaker: Rod Bolitho brings nearly 60 years of experience in ELT as a teacher, writer, and consultant. He'll share insights from his extensive journey and recent projects, including HLT-Digital and his upcoming book on Continuing Professional Development.
HLT Digital Bratislava Conference: Teaching for Tomorrow, Bratislava, Slovakia was a two day conference for English teachers.
HLT – Humanism in Language Teaching, is what we believe in when it comes to teaching languages. At the HLT.digital conference, were presented HLT practitioners who have introduced humanistic approaches to the classroom and helped to reshape the learning process with the student at the centre.
SAAIC
26/02/2024
Humanizing language teaching:
It ain’t over till it’s over
“… acknowledging them as people, and not seeing them as language learning machines. … Everything that the teacher does together with the learners should be informed by that awareness of learners as people. … Creating space for learners to express their ideas, their thoughts, their feelings, their opinions. Giving them room, even from quite elementary levels, to bring themselves into the picture. Not simply to be performing mechanically tasks or exercises or activities.”
We couldn’t agree more with what Alan Pulverness said about HLT.
The emotions need to settle down first. Our conference lasted only two days, but the intensity of the energy flowing there was massive. We will definitely share more about our learnings later on.
Now we would love to say a big THANK YOU to all who made magic happen.
We built bridges by having great presentations, engaged participants, enthusiastic discussions and heart-warming encounters.
🗝️
Humanizing language teaching MATTERS.
Growing together MATTERS.
Learning from each other MATTERS.
Being interested MATTERS.
Being a human MATTERS.
Building bridges between generations MATTERS.
🗝️
Education MATTERS.
🗝️
And why HLT.digital?
“Because stories must not be forgotten. Because there are people behind those stories.”
Do you resonate with Andrew Wright’s words?
And… because knowledge must be shared.
👇
So click on the link and listen to or read about people who created the history of humanistic language teaching.
THANK YOU to all the speakers, participants, partners, organisation team and volunteers.
We see and appreciate you.
Hlt.digital
International College
SWAN
Transform ELT
The London School
EOI La Orotava
STU - Slovenská technická univerzita v Bratislave
Eaquals Association
NILE
SCELT - The Slovak Chamber of English Language Teachers
Bell
CEEV Živica
Planet Lover
Green Action ELT
Green Standard Schools
SAAIC
16/02/2024
📣 Exciting News! 🌟
Introducing our latest blog post by Emma Wyatt, sharing her teaching experience and insights gained over 11 years in the field of education. 📚✨
Discover how completing the Coaching Practitioner Course at The Bridge transformed her approach to teaching, making a profound impact on students' progress and motivation.
HLT Digital Bratislava Conference: Teaching for Tomorrow, Bratislava, Slovakia SAAIC The Bridge - English Language Centre
Emma Wyatt: It's never too late to learn new things. - The Bridge
Can you provide a brief overview of your background and expertise? I’ve been teaching for nearly 11 years and have taught so many students of different ages, levels, and from different backgrounds with different goals for their English. I’ve had the pleasure of teaching in several countries, inc...
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