As one of the U.S. State Department’s Regional English Language Officers (RELOs), I have had the pleasure of working with many different TESOL affiliates around the world, including Uzbekistan’s hospitable UzTEA, Russia’s all-encompassing NATE and ice-melting Yakut TESOL, and Venezuela’s dynamic VenTESOL. I am not alone: 23 other RELOs at embassies around the world work with dozens of overseas affiliates on a regular basis, our collaboration being largely guided by a shared interest in providing professional development opportunities to all teachers and by our embassies’ commitment to building stronger civic structures that can help shape more effective foreign language policy and practices.

In a nutshell, the goal of our head office in Washington, DC―the Office of English Language Programs―is to bring English teaching professionals of the countries in which we work closer to U.S. counterparts in order to build a stronger understanding between the two societies. Our core programs involve (a) bringing American experts overseas to work with universities, ministries, bi-national centers, and other host institutions, (b) providing a wide range of online professional development opportunities, including webinars, courses, and social networking sites, and (c) creating and distributing a variety of materials, including our flagship journal for teachers, by teachers, English Teaching Forum. A fourth core program is the English Access Microscholarship Program, which provides scholarships for two years of after-school instruction in English, information technology, cross-cultural, and leadership skills to talented teens from financially challenged backgrounds.

Our work with TESOL affiliates takes on many different shapes and sizes. A more common form of collaboration takes place during affiliate-run professional development events, such as Korea’s KOTESOL conference. At the most recent event in October 2011, State Department-sponsored Specialist Dr. Leslie Opp-Beckman presented “Speaking Out: Online Resources for Oral-Aural Skills Development” while RELO George Scholz conducted a workshop on OELP English language teaching materials. All 1,400 participants received a complimentary copy of Forum. Among the participants were a group of 14 alumni of the E-Teacher program, a suite of online courses designed to boost participants’ expertise in specific areas such as assessment, teaching young learners, and critical thinking.

It is also common to see English Language Fellows, TEFL/TESL experts who live and work in a host country, conduct workshops, and deliver plenaries, while embassy officials often deliver opening remarks. Both Croatia’s HUPE and Serbia’s ELTA, for example, host English Language Fellows working in the Balkans. Both affiliates routinely invite U.S. Embassy Zagreb and U.S. Embassy Belgrade officials to make opening remarks at annual conferences. Affiliates are also often able to request funding to cover the inclusion of participants from more remote areas, or speakers’ travel, or the printing of conference proceedings.

Other examples of collaboration abound. In Senegal, the Association of Teachers of English in Senegal (ATES), a TESOL affiliate, recently hosted an annual conference at which RELO Diane Millar delivered a plenary. She was also invited to be a jury member for an English Club competition. Many ATES members are Access teachers, and many have also received E-Teacher scholarships. The RELO is now working with the British Council to help ATES share ideas with neighboring teacher associations.

In Brazil, 1,300 quarterly Forum issues reach 10 smaller affiliates for distribution to members. RELO Maria Snarski is currently working with BrazTESOL on building a stronger conference experience in July 2012 by providing a one-day preconference institute for public school teachers and other affiliate members. Intensive workshops will be conducted by a group of fellows and a visiting specialist. Recently, Santiago-based RELO Lisa Morgan helped fund the involvement in BrazTESOL of first-time presenters from neighboring TESOL affiliates ArTESOL, ParaTESOL, UruTESOL, and TESOL Chile.

In Morocco and Russia, TESOL affiliates serve as Access Program providers. The Morocco Association of Teachers of English (MATE), a former affiliate that is working closely with RELO Andrea Schindler to regain its affiliate status, manages a half million dollar program with over 400 students. The Russian affiliates TESOL Samara, CHELTA, and Kalmyk-ELTA, to name a few, have created programs that provide hundreds of academically gifted high school students with a culture-rich program aimed at bringing their English language skills to an intermediate level within two years. As providers, affiliates gain hands-on experience at proposal writing and program management while providing a fluency-focused, learning-centered model for other teachers to emulate.

The connection between the Regional English Language Office at U.S. Embassy Cairo and NileTESOL is by far one of the closest in the world. The RELO is a permanent member of the NileTESOL board and works closely with other board members to determine recipients of RELO grants for travel to TESOL international and to regional TESOL conferences. RELO Cairo also provides the affiliate with 18 scholarships for two certificate courses at the American University in Cairo, Fundamentals of English Language Teaching and Fundamentals of English Language Teaching for Young Learners. These certificates are in addition to three grants for the TESOL online Core Certificate Program. Recently, RELO Cairo and the British Council cosponsored a one-day NileTESOL professional development event for 70 teachers that focused on critical thinking and improving writing skills.

Macedonia’s ELTAM works closely with U.S. Embassy Skopje and the Budapest-based RELO on a number of projects. Since 2005, these partners―with Embassy, RELO, and OSCE funding―have worked on the Macedonian C.A.R.E. (Community Awareness of Regional English) Project to create teacher development opportunities outside the capital and to stimulate activity in the regional branches of ELTAM. Members of ELTAM serve as regional coordinators who recruit participants and organize local venues. English Language Fellows have conducted workshops, resulting in a publication that was distributed throughout the country. ELTAM also works with the Peace Corps and USAID on a national essay contest and with the Embassy and Centre for Foreign Languages on a Communication and Leadership Club.

RELOs have also played the role of “affiliate midwife” on more than one occasion. U.S. Embassy Kigali and RELO Rebecca Smoak are working with the Rwandan English Teachers' Association (ATER) on TESOL affiliate status. To help, the RELO is partially funding one of the founders, who has received a TESOL Leadership Mentoring Program grant, to attend TESOL this year. In Afghanistan, the English Language Program Manager at U.S. Embassy Kabul, Steve Hanchey, is working with TESOL President Christine Coombe and TESOL Executive Director Rosa Aronson to build support during the English Language Teachers Association for Afghans’ mid-April 2012 national conference with an eye toward moving ELTAA to TESOL affiliate status by 2013. And in Bolivia, the RELO is working closely with VenTESOL to bring BETA into the TESOL fold.

The role of the RELO in Russia goes beyond midwifery and includes planting the very idea of building a professional association, as well as of the benefits it can bring. Many of the 50-plus affiliates of NATE, the national umbrella association and a TESOL affiliate itself, were created by key individuals who received U.S. State Department grants to attend the TESOL convention and take part in a two-week training program that includes visits to numerous institutions in various parts of the country. Through this support, the TESOL affiliate model has spread across the world’s largest country in less than two decades.

For many of us RELOs, working with affiliates continues to be one of the more rewarding aspects of our work. Teachers’ associations are largely run by a team of dedicated volunteers whose energy and enthusiasm is contagious. Members respond to an important goal: to professionalize all aspects of the field―including curriculum, materials, and methods―by providing solutions for the classroom and shaping policy at the Ministry level. Given the long work day and lean pay of most teachers, building a strong network is not an easy task. However, by reaching out and creating stronger bonds with partners like RELO, small steps are being achieved and making a difference for, ultimately, millions of learners around the world.

RESOURCES

U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. (n.d.). English Access Microscholarship Program. Retrieved fromhttp://exchanges.state.gov/englishteaching/eam.html

U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. (n.d). English Language Fellow Program. Retrieved from http://exchanges.state.gov/englishteaching/el-fellow.html

U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. (n.d). English Language Specialist Program. Retrieved from http://exchanges.state.gov/englishteaching/el-specialist.html

U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. (n.d.). English Teaching Forum.Retrieved from http://exchanges.state.gov/englishteaching/forum-journal.html

U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. (n.d). E-Teacher Scholarship Program. Retrieved from http://exchanges.state.gov/englishteaching/eteacher.html

U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. (n.d). Materials for Teaching and Learning English. Retrieved from http://exchanges.state.gov/englishteaching/resources-et.html

U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. (n.d.). Office of English Language Programs. Retrieved from http://exchanges.state.gov/englishteaching/index.html

U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. (n.d.). Regional English Language Officers. Retrieved from http://exchanges.state.gov/englishteaching/reg-el-officers.html