We are pleased to announce the first details for the Academic Conference 2019, taking place on Friday 18 and Saturday 19 January 2019 in central London.

On Friday, we will have sessions focusing on academic management to help you and your team deal with stress, build resilience, pass inspections with flying colours, and on how to mentor and communicate effectively.

Classroom practice will be discussed on Saturday with lots of practical lesson ideas from our experts on exam teaching, teaching young learners, helping students with learning differences and much more.

This event is ideal for anyone looking for expert, practical help in planning, running and delivering excellence in English language teaching. Don't just take our word for it – our 2018 event got a rating of over 9/10.

We are especially pleased to announce Silvana Richardson's return to our Academic Conference on Friday 18 January, and Vic Richardson will be delivering an opening plenary the following day. Both have decades of experience in ELT as practitioners and presenters, setting the tone with thought-provoking, practical tips.

Improving the impact of your CPD with Silvana Richardson Silvana Richardson, head of teacher development at Bell Educational Services, will open with a talk on 'continuing professional development evaluation for deeper learning and impact.' Silvana said: "If you don't regularly evaluate the CPD programme in your organisation, how do you know that your CPD offer is having the greatest possible impact on teacher and student learning?"

Transforming assessments with Vic Richardson Vic Richardson will host a discussion on 'transforming assessment practice(s) in ELT.' Hoping to spark a 'paradigm shift', Vic will be drawing on research and increasingly mainstream assessment practice in public education to suggest ways to transform our assessment practices that could significantly and measurably improve students' learning and progress.

We have another strong programme coming together with many more great sessions announced soon. 

• Book your place at our Academic Conference before Friday 14 December for early bird discounts. Enter your English UK member number as the promotional code for your discount.