Association of Teachers of English of the Czech Republic

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ATECR HISTORY AND ACHIEVEMENTS

* The Association of Teachers of English of the Czech Republic was founded in January 1990 by a group of teachers of English seeking improvement in the quality of English teaching, exchange of ideas and experience and broad cooperation on national and international level.
* The very first meeting was held on 11th January 1990 in Prague, in April 1990 the association was officially registered and in May, the first General Assembly was attended by close to a hundred teachers from many different parts of the country.
* The membership grew fast, the scope of activities widened and in February 1991 the initial efforts were crowned by the success of the First ATECR National ELT Conference and book fair in Prague, in which Czech teachers gave presentations alongside their colleagues from a number of countries of the world.
* In 1991 seventeen regional centres equipped with libraries were established across the country.
* In 1992 the Association ventured into co-organising the Third NELLE International Conference in Prague and held its Second ATECR National ELT Conference entitled Reflections and Perspectives in Hradec Králové.
* In 1992 the ATECR organised the making of a video programme named Alternatives for Teachers of English, and in 1993 the programme was repeatedly shown on a nation-wide channel of Czech Television.
* 1993 was the year of four regional conferences and in 1994 the Association organised the Third National ELT Conference entitled the Mystery of Creativity in Liberec. National events are held biennially, with regional events in the intervening years. Five regional conferences took place in 1995, and, in the same year, Prague was the venue of our first ESP Conference entitled the Multiple Choice '95.
* České Budějovice hosted the Fourth National ATECR ELT Conference named the Connections '96. In 1997 there were two regional conferences.
* In September 1998, ATECR held its Fifth National and First International Conference, Alternatives '98, in Prague with the attendance of about 600 Czech and foreign teachers.
* In September 1999, the LSP Forum, international ESP conference, was held in Prague with the participation of about 400 teachers of English for Specific/Academic Purposes from all over the world.
* The 6th National and 2nd International ATECR Conference took place in Plzeň in September 2000.
* In reaction to the decision of the Ministry of Education to start teaching foreign languages in the 4th grade, ATECR organised Language and Methodology Courses for English teachers in the 4th and 5th grades (1997-2000).
* Three Intensive Summer Methodology Courses were held in July 1999, supported by the British Council USIS and Michigan TESOL. Czech, British and American (MITESOL) teacher trainers worked intensively with Czech basic and secondary school teachers.
* In response to ATECR's Call for Help concerning the schools that had suffered damage during the savage floods in the summer of 1997, The British Council (Czech Republic), the United States Information Service, major ELT publishers and individual donors donated books and teaching materials worth about 3 million Czech crowns, i.e. GBP 55,000 (USD 86,000) to 70 primary and secondary schools in the affected area.
* The 7th National and 3rd International ATECR Conference "ELT Horizons" took place in Liberec in September 2002.
* Over the years, the Association has been attracting the attention of more and more teachers of English in the country, building its position as a partner in negotiations concerning the development of ELT in the Czech lands, as well as establishing its international relations.
* Today, ATECR represents the interests and concerns of about 700 teachers of English at all levels in the Czech Republic, is an Associate of IATEFL, member of NELLE and an Affiliate of TESOL. It cooperates with various national and international bodies and has a formal partnership agreement and working cooperation with TESOL Michigan, USA.
* The 8th National and 4th International ATECR Conference "Learning Together" took place in Pardubice in September 2004.

President: Šárka Ježková
sarka.jezkova@upce.cz