Attending the pre-conference workshops and the 72nd TEFLIN International Conference 2026 through RELO sponsorship was a valuable and inspiring experience. I gained fresh ideas about English language teaching, extensive reading, and teacher professional development.
Dr. Rob Waring from the Extensive Reading Foundation shared an idea that stayed with me: “A teacher is a gardener.” It made me reflect on how teachers create the right conditions for students to grow at their own pace. I was also interested in Dr. Zhang Weiyu’s presentation from SEAMEO RELC on using corpus data to help teachers identify the language features students need for effective writing.
The conference also gave me the chance to reconnect with SEAMEO RELC and connect with Paul Goldberg from XReading. Learning more about XReading made me reflect on our school’s extensive reading programme. It encouraged me to look beyond the number of books students complete and consider how we can better support their reading habits, engagement, and progress.
As a school principal and English educator, I hope to share these insights with my colleagues and turn them into meaningful improvements at school. I am truly grateful to RELO for this opportunity and to TEFLIN for bringing educators together to learn, connect, and grow.
