In this section, you will find the academic agenda for the IX Seminar for English Teaching Professionals, titled Spice it Up! Innovative Activities for Your Class. This edition includes two sessions, each consisting of three simultaneous workshops.
Each workshop has limited capacity, so participants must choose one workshop per session. Slots will be assigned on a first-come, first-served basis upon registration. Below is a brief description of each workshop to help you more easily select the session that best suits your interests
First round simultaneous workshops
- Empowering English Teachers with AI: Designing Formative Assessments Using Magic School: In today’s evolving educational context, formative assessment plays an important role in supporting student learning. This hands-on workshop introduces English language teachers to Magic School, an artificial intelligence platform designed to assist in the creation of effective and engaging formative assessment tools. Participants will explore practical ways to integrate AI into their planning process, receive guided demonstrations on how to produce formative assessment instruments, and engage in activities to design their own tools using Magic School. By the end of the session, teachers will leave with ready-to-use assessment resources and a deeper understanding of how AI can support English language teaching and learning processes.
- Celebrate the Oops! Strategies to Enhance Students’ Language Skills through Positive Error Correction: This interactive workshop invites English teachers in Costa Rica’s primary school system to reframe their approach towards students’ mistakes in the language classroom. Centered on the idea that errors are essential stepping stones in the learning process, the session explores strategies that help create a supportive environment where students feel confident taking risks and learning from missteps. Through hands-on practice, reflection, and discussion, participants will consider how their own mindset influences classroom culture and how small shifts in classroom routines can have a big impact on students’ confidence and language growth. Attendees will leave with adaptable tools and inspiration to foster a classroom culture that celebrates effort, curiosity, and continuous learning.
- Gamification: Ideas and Tools for Costa Rican Teachers in Primary Schools: Engagement plays a crucial role in learning, making gamification a valuable method that integrates entertainment, motivation, and educational objectives. Despite its potential, misconceptions persist. Some educators fear its implementation, believing they require advanced technological expertise or extensive digital resources. Thus, this workshop aims to demystify gamification, clarifying its definition and distinguishing it from the mere use of games in the classroom. The session will provide strategies and tools for integrating gamification effectively, whether in technologically equipped environments or resource-limited settings. By emphasizing cooperation, student-centered learning, and innovation, this interactive space seeks to empower both current and future English educators from public and private primary institutions. Finally, by exploring its key characteristics, core elements, and practical applications within primary English education in Costa Rica, attendees will gain insights into possible methods for fostering engagement while enhancing teaching practices through gamification.
Second round simultaneous workshops
- Designing Authenthic Task for Young Learners: Enhancing Writing and Speaking in the Primary Classroom: This interactive workshop explores the design and implementation of authentic tasks in English language teaching for the I and II cycles of primary education, in alignment with the curriculum of the Ministerio de Educación Pública. Participants will delve into the fundamental characteristics of authentic tasks—such as real-world relevance, learner engagement, and meaningful communication—and learn how to identify and integrate them into everyday classroom practice.
Using music and pictures through hands-on activities, attendees will collaboratively design adaptable tasks that target the productive skills of writing and speaking. Emphasis will be placed on creating learning experiences that reflect students’ realities and interests, fostering both language development and communicative competence. By the end of the session, participants will leave with practical tools and task ideas ready to implement in their own classrooms. - Spice it up! Creative and Effective Assessment in the EFL Classroom: In this interactive session, we’ll explore how assessment can move beyond tests and grades to become a powerful tool that promotes real learning. We’ll look at innovative and practical assessment strategies that are engaging, student-centered, and effective in the EFL context. Special attention will be given to how technology can enhance assessment practices, making them more interactive, personalized, and efficient. Participants will leave with ready-to-use ideas that make assessment more meaningful, motivating, and even fun! The workshop will address the following topics: gamified assessment, alternative assessment techniques, and self and peer assessment. There will be demonstrations according to the Ministerio de Eduación Pública contents, and participants will work on specific handouts. Each activity will have three pillars: formative, authentic and participatory assessment.
- Maximizing English Language Learning through Steam-Driven Project-Based Strategies: This session explores how integrating STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) with Project-Based Learning (PBL) can enhance English as a Foreign Language (EFL) instruction. By embedding language learning within interdisciplinary, real-world projects, students not only improve their English proficiency but also develop key 21st-century skills such as critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, and communication.
The theoretical segment will outline the pedagogical foundations of STEAM and PBL, emphasizing how these frameworks support language acquisition. Participants will examine how to design projects that align language objectives with STEAM content.
In the hands-on portion, participants will analyze sample lesson plans to identify how STEAM elements and language objectives can be integrated. This collaborative analysis will help educators reflect on their own teaching practices and adapt strategies to their specific contexts. The session also highlights the evolving role of English teachers in facilitating language use across disciplines, positioning English not just as a subject, but as a tool for inquiry, innovation, and expression.
A certificate of participation will be issued only to those who attend the seminar for the entire day.
| Time | Session |
|---|---|
| 8:00 a.m. | Registration |
| 8:30 a.m. | Welcoming and Cultural Presentation |
| 9:00 a.m. | Breakfast |
| 9:45 a.m. to 11:25 a.m. | Simultaneous workshops Workshop 1: Empowering English Teachers with AI: Designing Formative Assessments Using Magic School by Vanessa Muñoz Ruiz. Topic: Assessment. Workshop 2: Celebrate the Oops! Strategies to Enhance Students’ Language Skills through Positive Error Correction by Angie Fonseca Quirós and Paola Serrano Vásquez. Topic: Language Skills. Workshop 3: Gamification: Ideas and Tools for Costa Rican Teachers in Primary Schools by Vivian Brenes Méndez and Marianela Garita Brenes. Topic: Authentic Tasks. |
| 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. | Simultaneous workshops Workshop 4: Designing Authentic Tasks for Young Learners: Enhancing Writing and Speaking in the Primary Classroom by Lilia Saborío Corrales and Rosaura Gomez Rodríguez. Topic: Authentic Tasks. Workshop 5: Spice it up: Creative and Effective Assessment in the EFL Classroom by Marco Antonio Alvarado Barboza. Topic: Assessment. Workshop 6: Maximizing English Language Learning through STEAM-Driven Project-Based Strategies by Ana Lucia Fallas Naranjo. Topic: Language Skills. |
| 1:00 p.m. | Lunch |
| 2:00 p.m. | Plenary: AI Unleashed: Your Voice, Your Power, Your Future by Brenda Pineda |
| 3:40 p.m. | Closing ceremony |