It’s an understatement to say that 2020 was a year like no other. Like everyone, ELTABB and its members rose to their fair share of challenges, particularly with the sudden move to a largely online world. Christopher Chandler and Ken Powell take a look back at 2020 in numbers.
Despite its challenges, 2020 saw ELTABB go from strength to strength as an active and leading English Language Teachers’ Association (ELTA). Throughout the year, ELTABB continued to provide an invaluable network to its members and support them through various initiatives.
In addition, the association was able to collaborate and strengthen its relationships with other ELTAs, particularly with their members being able to more readily attend our online events and vice versa.
Of course, all of this would not have happened without the unwavering commitment and hard work of the ELTABB Board, as well as other members who help out in various ways. So, to all of you, thank you for a great 2020 – and we look forward to an even better 2021, for which we stand in very good stead! And now for the numbers…
28 articles were published in Connections – the online ELTABB Journal
2020 was another big year for our online journal, Connections. With the publication of 28 articles (including this one), we covered a wide range of thought-provoking and practical topics.
A big thanks to all our contributors, and in particular to Sandra Roggenkamp for her continued hard work as Journal Editor.
12 ELTABBers-of-the-month were interviewed for our online Blog
We continued our monthly interviews of ELTABB members in 2020. These interviews provide a great way to learn about the diverse backgrounds and work of our members. Moreover, they help us discover common interests and gain invaluable insights.
Stephanie Anderson continued in the role of interviewer for the first few months of the year before handing the baton on to Kit Flemons. Both did an excellent job and deserve a big thanks for crafting such captivating texts.
11 workshops were held – along with 3 Inter-ELTA events and 1 staff room workshop
Events Coordinator Annie Heringer says,
“We didn’t skip a beat keeping our events running as Covid hit and putting everything online. It’s been fantastic to be able to share our events with the other ELTAs in Germany as well as be able to attend their events. If you look at the Inter-ELTA calendar, you’ll notice that there have been workshops on almost every week. This has really brought a new energy to our events that I hope we can continue to enjoy next year.”
A big ELTABB thank you to the Events team:
Annie Heringer, Stephanie Anderson, Galina Khinchuk, Breanna Alexander, Thomas Samain and Brandon Ezzell
The ELTABB Events team is looking for new members. It’s fun for anyone interested in networking in the ELT community and with ideas of workshop topics and speakers to invite. The work is definitely shared across the members, so no one shoulders it all alone. It’s a real team effort! Interested? Contact Annie at events@eltabb.com
8 Stammtisch socials were organised by Breanna Alexander
Restrictions on physical social gatherings were no barrier to holding our Stammtisch socials. Breanna Alexander continued to organise these events, mostly online, throughout the year. A special highlight was the socially distanced picnic on the occasion of Pride Month. 
Sadly for us, she moved on from Berlin in the latter part of the year. A massive thank you to Breanna for all of her hard work over the years with ELTABB, especially in organising the Stammtisch events and her work on the Board.
And, of course, all the best in the new city and the new job!
5 applicants received funding from the ELTABB Scholarship
The ELTABB Scholarship, co-ordinated by Vicky Allan, went into its third year in 2020. Five successful applicants won over €900. The funds went towards a variety of materials including subscriptions to Business Spotlight magazine, grammar books, and legal English materials. We also gave out a few IATEFL annual memberships.
We launched the scholarship in 2018. The goal was to enable teachers to travel to conferences and to facilitate professional development opportunities that might have otherwise been out of their budgets. With the introduction of travel bans and lockdowns, we expanded the scholarship to include teaching materials and subscriptions to further aid our members in this difficult year.
Thank you to everyone who applied and good luck to all of those considering applying in 2021.
4 ELTABB members presented at the 32nd Annual IATEFL Business English Special Interest Group (BESIG) conference
The aptly named title of the conference was ‘Challenge and Change’. It was also a great opportunity for ELTABB members to raise their profile internationally.
1 revamped website
In 2020 the ELTABB website underwent an overhaul – to improve both its appearance and functionality.
A HUGE thanks to our wonderful Membership and Newsletter Coordinator, Stephanie Anderson, for coordinating and driving this project with the assistance of a professional web designer. Check it out if you haven’t already at eltabb.com.
900 people followed ELTABB on Twitter
The average number of tweets per month grew from 5 in the first quarter of the year to 30 in the fourth quarter. Popular hashtags were #professionaldevelopment, #scholarships and #communities. You can follow ELTABB on Twitter here.
805 people followed ELTABB on Facebook
Our Facebook following grew by just over 13% this year, going from 710 to 805 people. Thanks to our newly-formed Communication team, we were also much more proactive in promoting ELTABB in other Facebook communities and on other Facebook pages. You can follow ELTABB on Facebook here.
160 professionals followed ELTABB on LinkedIn
Thanks to 60 posts – with unique impressions that increased from an average of 300 during the first half of the year to 1000 during the second half – ELTABB attracted professionals from backgrounds as diverse as Higher Education, Professional Training & Coaching, Education Management and E-Learning. 
Communications Coordinator Yuliya Shtaltovna noted that ‘this was all thanks to our new Media Strategy we adopted in June and reformatting the teamwork making it more agile and distributed. Great efforts and KUDOS to everyone!’
You can follow ELTABB on LinkedIn here.
Changes to the Board
Like most years, 2020 saw some incumbent Board members move on, and some fresh faces join the Board. The Board was chaired for the second-year running by the inspiring and indefatigable Sarah Brown, and strongly supported by all of its members and other ELTABB members.
It’s been a challenging and unusual year for all of us…and hey, hasn’t it been fun? Here’s to an equally exciting and adventurous 2021 – we can’t wait to see you all again soon!
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