Four workshops had been arranged by the organisers in order to give delegates, especially teachers, the opportunity to enrich their knowledge in particular areas of their profession.
The first workshop took place on October 6th in the Uffizi hall of the Dante hotel, in front of a relatively large audience – between 80 and 100 people. Quite a record! The topic was a sensitive subject: ‘Disability and inclusion: viable reality or just guesswork?’ The lecture was introduced by a student at the piano and by a trio performing song and guitar music. The lecturers were Dr Doris Cristo, Dr Valeria Friso and Dr Cesare Zavatta.
The second workshop took place the following day and had as its title ‘Change – changing daily work’. The speaker was AEHT Vice-President Herman Siebens, and he was flanked by Agostina Melucci and Carla Maria Gatti. The audience was noticeably smaller, and even if the speaker gave nothing away, it was obvious that this subject should have struck a greater cord among the conference participants.
On October 8th came the third workshop intended to present the various aspects of Emilia-Romagna: ‘It's a kind of magic: Emilia Romagna, the very soul of Italian oeno-gastronomic treasures". With Ettore Bartoletti, Silvia Galeazzi, Daniela Natale, Liviana Zanetti, Andra Gorsini, Simone Ficarelli, Fabrizzio Grossi, Elio Simoni, Laila Teutoni.
This was the opportunity for a broad overview of the tourism, gastronomy and culture of this beautiful Italian province and its treasures. And the workshop’s conclusion was: ‘the teachers have a responsibility to teach all this to the students’.
The last of these ‘technical’ events, if the term is appropriate, consisted of two presentations: one was from the ‘Butler Search Group’ (http:// www.BSCinterns.com) delivered by the group’s President Rasheeda Butler, who revealed to her audience the possibility for students to spend a year in the USA, almost completely free of charge, as part of the J-1 programme run under the aegis of the American State Department.
The second part of this session was a complete overview of the ins and outs of the ‘Docklands Academy London’ Company (http://docklandsacademy.co.uk), organiser of next year’s 29th Annual Conference. This presentation enabled the audience to have a better idea of the setting in which the Conference would take place, and of the possibilities for students to go to England to study in excellent conditions.
