Last week, the team at Teach Your Monster to Read attended our first trade show! We were exhibiting at BETT: the biggest Educational Technology event in Europe.

Our stand was was on the Edtech Pavillion: an interesting space full of new start-up companies, hoping to find new customers within education and compete with the larger organisations filling the main hall at BETT.

The show was very busy from day one!

Our main aim was to introduce our phonics game Teach Your Monster to Read to Primary Teachers, Headteachers, ICT Co-ordinators, Educational Consultants and Journalists.

Our other objective at BETT was to gather feedback from teachers about the game, helping us to improve the user experience and make the website more teacher-friendly. We met some fantastic teachers who’ve helped us a great deal – thank you Janie, Susan, Lee, Annette, Dawn, Alison, Sarah and Nas!

The BETT Show itself is a huge event, with companies showing the best in educational technology and publishing. It’s fascinating to see what’s out there.

A few companies particularly caught my eye:

Little Bridge – a wonderful and detailed world created to teach the English, includes apps, online games and engaging characters.

Classroom of the 80s – essentially a chance to play some retro 80s arcade games (inspired!) but also include teaching packages for students to learn programming using the BBC’s BASIC software.

Raspberry Pi were there, demonstrating all you can do with a low-cost, tiny computer – think robots!

Dynamo Maths looked interesting and an effective maths resource – particularly geared towards learners with dyscalculia and learning difficulties with maths.

On a personal note, i saw my first 3D printer in action. Here it is making a tiny Taj Mahal.

I also heard Sir Ranulph Fiennes speak about his incredible adventures across the globe. Awe-inspiring and he is also funny too!

Lastly I attended the final keynote debate, addressed by ‘learning adventurer’, Tim Rylands, Tomorrow’s World’s, Maggie Philbin and Facebook Policy Director, Simon Milner who gave us their thoughts on the future of education.

“Technology should not replace the teacher, but it could replace the classroom” said Tim Rylands – it’s an interesting one to think about.

The Teach Your Monster to Read team will be attending the BETT Show in London this month (22nd – 25th January) and we’re really excited!

The BETT Show is the number one show for educational technology and learning in the UK and many big names in the business will be attending. This years’ speakers include Sir Ranulph Fiennes, Lord David Puttnam and Richard Gerver.

Attending the show is a fantastic way to find out what is new and what technology really inspires teachers in the classroom.

We’re really excited to be going to BETT as it’s a chance for the team to meet teachers and educators face-to-face.

This year we’d like to talk to teachers about some improvements we’re thinking of making. If you have 30 minutes free at the show then we’d love to meet you.

We’re specifically looking for primary teachers who are involved in any way with reading. You don’t need to have used Teach Your Monster to Read before, we’re keen to hear from teachers who are completely new to the game and those who are frequent players, so do pass this on to friends and colleagues who are attending the show but haven’t played the game.

As a thank you for your time we’d like to offer those who meet us £50 worth of Usborne books.

Teach Your Monster to Read will be on the Edmix Pavillion (Hall/Stand B228) and we’re taking appointments on Wednesday 22nd January, Thursday 23rd January and Friday 24th January.

Please sign up to this Doodle calendar with the time you would like to attend. http://doodle.com/kmhgx5rp5aai4uah and email [email protected] to confirm your contact details. Thanks!

Also on the stand…

We’ll be giving some free foldable monsters and badges and they’ll be a monster photo competition each day of BETT to win £150 worth of Usborne books and a Teach Your Monster to Read kids T-shirt!

More details to follow.