What is Cheers to Development?

Quite simply, Cheers to Development is a community-led forum where teachers talk about teaching! Cheers to Development evolved from Beer and Talk, which started in 2017 when four teachers (Radek Hyl, David Grepl, Tom Osman, and Jen Hill) got together to create their own 'Mastermind' group to learn from each other about teaching. Now, the Cheers to Development team consists of Tanner LeTourneau, Kara Magalhaes, Sybil Senn and Dominyka Monstvilaite. You might recognise these names from the training sessions and workshops!

Cheers to Development takes place once every two months. The teamcome up with a topic they think teachers will find interesting, and they host the event at a bookshop in Vinohrady called Božská Lahvice (The Divine Bottle). Teachers of all languages are invited to attend, to get new ideas and inspiration and share their own unique stories and experiences. Because this event is for teachers, by teachers, the tips and suggestions are very practical, and topics cover almost anything from working with mixed levels and having great conversation lessons, to maximizing textbooks and using games.

Cheers to Development is advertised through our Facebook page, and also by email. Space is limited to twenty-five participants. We invite you to join the next event in order to learn, gain, and share!

Topics that have been covered during Cheers to Development sessions:

• Climate change and other sensitive topics

• Working with energy levels, mixed abilities, and group dynamics

• How to provide fun and engaging revision or review in the lessons, How to teach lessons outside

• How to create memorable lead-ins, How to assign interesting and creative homework

• Managing work-life balance when teaching

• Making business English lessons more fun

• Dealing with mixed abilities and other issues

• Using textbooks effectively

• Dealing with politically sensitive topics such as the war in Ukraine