INVITATION FOR THE IKU FIRST ROUNDTABLE MEETING
GOING BEYOND THE HORIZON:
CHANGE AT
ISTANBUL KULTUR UNIVERSITY FOREIGN LANGUAGES CENTER

Dear Colleagues,
We are very pleased to welcome you to our first Roundtable meeting called “Going Beyond the Horizon: Change at Istanbul Kültür University Foreign Languages Center”.
We would be happy to collaboratively explore the answers to the following questions:
i. How can we further develop our preparatory school curriculum?
ii. How can we enhance our teaching practices?
iii. How can we further develop our preparatory school’s assessment scheme?
iv. What personal and professional development practices would best serve our needs?
v. What institutional practices and processes would best serve our school’s developmental and strategic needs?
We wish to discuss different and effective methods for TEFL, share various practices with other institutions and find more effective practices in ELT in order to better meet tomorrow’s challenges in teaching English at IKU. While discussing these central issues, as IKU we would also like to evaluate our working system and try to develop strategies for the challenges we have encountered. We would be glad to hear about your experiences in your institutions, yet could we also please request that you refer to other relevant effective practices as well?
At the beginning of each session, IKU instructors will present their views on the strengths and challenges in the related area as they perceive them and will also propose their suggestions for the stated challenges. After IKU instructors present their ideas, the speakers from other institutions will give their presentations. You can find the program below.

PROGRAM
9:00-9:30 –Introduction and Background about IKU
                  Opening remarks by the Rector of IKU
9:40-10:40- Session I 
                    Curriculum Development
                    IKU Instructors’ Presentation (15 minutes) 
                   Mehmet Atasagun, Bahçeşehir University, Director  of English Preparatory
                    School    
                    Diler Gültekin ,  Bahçeşehir University, Level Coordinator 
                    (45 minutes)        Curriculum  Development Outline
Coffee Break
11:00-12:00- Session II
                    Teaching Practices
          IKU Instructors’ Presentation (15 minutes)
                    Yasemin Yurdakul, Kadir Has University, English Preparatory School Vice  
                     Director (45 minutes)   
LUNCH
13:00-14:00- Session III
                      Assessment
           IKU Instructors’ Presentation (15 minutes)
                      Peter Holt, Sabancı University, Testing Coordinator (45 minutes)
14:10-15:10- Session IV
                      Personal and Professional Development
           IKU Instructors’ Presentation (15 minutes)
                      Nergis Uyan Akbay, Özyeğin University, Director (45 minutes)
Coffee Break
15:30-16:30- Session V
                     Academic Management and Institutional Development
          IKU Instructors’ Presentation (15 minutes)
                     Dr. Deniz Kurtoğlu Eken, Sabancı University, Director of School of Languages               
          (45 minutes)

16:40-17:40-PANEL
Please find in the attached file the names of our English instructors who will be cooperating with you; a presentation about our Foreign Languages Center; our center’s link and the results of our needs analysis survey.    

SESSIONS and KEY QUESTIONS
Session 1: Curriculum Development- How can we further develop our preparatory school curriculum?
IKU Instructors: Hasan Hüseyin Zeyrek, Cem Özışık, Selin Gürsoy, Handan Sargüney , Hüseyin Can, Aslı Ataacar
Presenter: Mehmet Atasagun, Bahçeşehir University, Director of English Preparatory School,                 Diler Gültekin ,  Bahçeşehir University - Level Coordinator
Session 2: Teaching Practices- How can we enhance our teaching practices?
IKU Instructors: Asuman Özyılmaz Beşli, Seda Kesici, Pelin Aynacı, Merve Unutmaz, Belgin Yazıcı, Bihter Sayar
Presenter: Yasemin Yurdakul, Kadir Has University-English Preparatory School Vice Director
Session 3: Assessment - How can we further develop our preparatory school’s assessment scheme?
IKU Instructors: Seval Sarıyıldız, Aysun Tokel Ağan, Ebru Temiz, Bekir Ateş, Sinan Bataklar, Gökçe Kitaplı
Presenter:  Peter Holt, Sabancı University-Testing Coordinator
Session 4: Personal and Professional Development - What personal and professional development practices would best serve our needs?
IKU Instructors: Merve Aydın, Sevgi Saime Certel, Görkem Kulluk, Zeki Toy, Canan Tekulus Aygör, Fulya Erdemet
Presenter: Nergis Uyan Akbay, Özyeğin University-Director
Session5: Academic Management and Institutional Development- What institutional practices and processes would best serve our school’s developmental and strategic needs?
IKU Instructors: Özay Şeker, Esra Kartal, Feride Zeynep Güder, Pınar Durmaz,  Ayşegül Pamuk Gezek, Deniz Altıparmak .