Our May 2020 Event. The collective lift-me-up: Nuggets of wisdom and positivity for the challenging times we are in  

This month’s write-up was kindly created by one of our attendees, Gabriella Kovacs ACC, co-founder of ILCA, the International Language Coaching Association.

Gabriella Ferenczi managed to charmingly host a Friday evening get-together online bringing around 20+ language professionals to an online space for a brilliant conversation about our profession in all its shapes and forms.

The attraction was that all of us were open and sincere about our work ranging from recent times to experiences of over decades, sharing anecdotes and stories, spinning yarns evoking chills to laughter to create a balanced influx of emotions laid bare for all to see.

Attendees of this near-2-hour socialising event connected from South America to India, all over Europe and the USA. We gained insights about the work of language coaches, translators, transcreators, teachers, trainers and interpreters and how we see the world now, each wearing our unique lenses.

From risqué Co-Vid jokes to inspirational quotations from amazing authors the evening was an uplifting reminder that we can come together and experience depth of thought, joy and find so many things in common.

We talked about slices of our energy cake, the #wearelanguageprofessionals initiative, the importance of self-wellbeing and staying professionally and personally strong amidst lockdown, how to run a business and doing exactly the opposite of what is expected and mainstream in the classroom – be it online or not. 

A truly reflective second half of the event was answering the question What have you learnt about yourself in the past few weeks?  and the anwers were stunningly profound. The rich palette of language professionals has just gained an event worth paying more attention to: I myself am definitely looking forward to a second offering.

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Thank you so much for taking the time to write this lovely summary, Gabriella Kovacs.

And a special thank you to each and every single participant who attended, shared some soul-nourishing words of wisdom and contributed to the whole experience.

Finally, to land this plane, here’s a beautiful piece of poetry by Manohar S K, poet, Professor of English, who tuned in from Bangalore, India:

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We’ll be back in June 2020. Until then, take care, stay safe. Post Tenebras Lux.

#wearelanguageprofessionals