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| Chia explaining 'stealth pair work' |
Chia Suan Chong started her plenary at the 31st
annual TESOL France colloquium by warning us there would be 65 slides in her PowerPoint
and introducing the concept of stealth pair work – speaking quietly, in a muted
voice with a person sitting next to you. Considering the fact the audience
consisted of about 200 ELT teachers, this wasn't an easy task. I had been
really looking forward to this talk, so I was prepared to shut up for 60
minutes. I had expected Chia to debunk ELT myths and show how certain findings
of applied linguistics research have been misapplied in ELT. Instead, the talk
went in a different direction as Chia took us on a journey through the history
of ELT.
