Our History
TESOL France took a dramatic turn in 2008. Together with Sab Will, the newsletter was totally revamped, and overnight The News became the Teaching Times. The new style and format was an instant success, and when I took over as editor in 2009, I decided to continue in the same vein. It turned out to be the right decision.

The magazine appears three times a year in conjunction with the key ELT-related events in France: Nouvel An (Expolangues, France’s annual language trade fair), Printemps(TESOL France Spring Day), and la Rentrée or Back to School issue (TESOL France Annual Colloquium).

In recent years the magazine has become so popular that we now offer a magazine-only subscription.

Our Philosophy
We like to think of the Teaching Times as midway between an associative newsletter and a pedagogical magazine with a slight nod to the more academic side of our field. Aware that for some readers the Teaching Times represents their main source of continued professional development and their main link to the greater world of ELT, we like to offer a balance between the practical and the theoretical. The magazine also aims to facilitate ongoing interaction between members and provides a forum for the sharing of ideas and experiences.

We also understand the power of the magazine as a promotional tool. The Teaching Times is frequently distributed during non–TESOL France events throughout the year as a means of showcasing the association to potential new members.

Our Editorial Team

Our team is relatively small and consists of an editor, two proofreaders who also contribute articles and help source writers, and someone in charge of advertising. The editor takes the magazine from the initial conception stage—sourcing articles, interviews, and reviews—through to the layout and proofreading stages to ensure it is print-ready. The magazine is then printed in print runs of 600–800 copies by a local printer in Paris.

Our Readership

Teaching Times is aimed primarily at teachers working in the various educational sectors of France, from young learners through the university sector to continuing adult education. It is a bonus that others in the field—training managers, editors, and publishing representatives—are also able to benefit from its content. As our association has grown and become more international, mainly as a result of our highly successful Annual Colloquiums, so our readership has also evolved. We are proud to say that our readership now extends across Europe, into the United States, and as far as la Réunion in the Indian Ocean!

Our Contributors
We like to make use of our major events to source potential contributors for our magazine.

Plenary Speakers
Our plenary speakers offer the most obvious choice for our interview spot, for example, but we also encourage them to submit articles on their particular specialty.

Conference Speakers
Speakers at our events, whether they be well established or new to the conference circuit, are also encouraged to contribute articles, commentaries, or activities. Our visibility has increased and as a result, we now receive unsolicited articles for print. We prefer articles to appeal to as wide an audience as possible; research-based articles, for example, must therefore offer application to the classroom, learner, or trainer.

Commercial Entities
Publishers and test preparation organizations are also welcome to submit items—indeed this is a mutually beneficial means of promoting a new title or test. We simply ask that there is significant pedagogical content to avoid a purely commercial text.

Reviews
Local publishing reps often send us materials for review, but we also welcome spontaneous reviews from members. Increasingly, we review online materials, many of which are produced independently. We like our reviews to be relatively short, punchy, and positive—just enough to inspire readers to go do their own research into the title.

Our Regular Features
Regular features of the Teaching Times include some of the “usual suspects”: a message from the president, materials reviews, and a calendar of upcoming events. Some of our more original features include the following:

An Interview With . . .
These constitute interviews with renowned experts from the field of ELT, which to date have included Jeremy Harmer, Michael Swan, rising ELT star Chia Suan Song, past TESOL president Bock Brady, and last but very definitely not least, Professor David Crystal, OBE.

Meet the Pros
This style of interview is aimed at local professionals based in France. Examples include a recent retiree with 30 years’ ELT experience in France, CEO of France’s largest foreign language bookshop, director of studies of a language school, and the Paris-based representative of a well-known ELT publisher.

Dear Bethany
The Teaching Times boasts its very own Agony Aunt (herself qualified to master’s level and director of her own language training company in France) who responds to questions related to ELT as well as (certain) economic and legal issues that might be of concern to trainers in France.

Have Your Say
We invite members of TESOL France to share their particular experience with the readership: a spell volunteering in a school in India, a promotion, a particular perspective on ELT and its learners, and so on.

Regions Page
Dedicated to our Regional Branches, this page offers our Regional Branch coordinators the chance to showcase and promote their own local activities.

Our Future
The future for the Teaching Times is definitely a secure one. Despite the arrival of social media—the TESOL France blog, Facebook, and LinkedIn pages—I am delighted to say that our magazine remains the main voice for our association and its members.

Having edited the magazine for the last 4 years, this spring I am stepping down to make way for Colleen Brown, who not only has a degree in journalism, but also possesses a real flair for the written word. I am safe in the knowledge that my—sorry—OUR Teaching Times is in excellent hands!

Contacts
For anyone interested in further discussion of the Teaching Times, please don’t hesitate to contact me at ros_wright@hotmail.com