ARTESOL Annual Convention 2014, “Searching for your True North in ELT,” was held at Colegio Che-Il, in San Salvador de Jujuy, a city in the north of Argentina, on 9–10 May 2014. Because this conference was of much importance in this province, not only because local English teachers do not have easy access to ELT development but because it was the first time ARTESOL would hold the event there, it was endorsed by the Ministerio de Educación de la Provincia de Jujuy, Universidad Nacional de Jujuy,Universidad FASTA Sede Mar del Plata,Universidad de Buenos Aires, andAsociación Jujeña de Profesores de Inglés.

There were two plenary sessions, conducted by Mark Naylor, Deputy Cultural Affairs Officer from the U.S. Embassy in Argentina. His presentations dealt with American culture and English language resources offered by the Department of State, both for teachers and learners of English. Mathilde Verillaud, the English Language Fellow currently posted in Rosario, also made a plenary presentation on the use of “selfies” in the English language classroom.


Mark Naylor's presentation on American Culture 

Three semi-plenary sessions, conducted by Rita Aldorino, María Fernanda Rodríguez, and Susana Tuero, prestigious teachers and researchers from Argentina, dealt with cutting-edge issues in the TESOL profession, such as classroom management, students’ needs, EFL reading comprehension practices, and EFL writing. Their presentations were focused on practices in primary school, high school, and university.

Classroom practitioners and classroom-centered researchers specialized in all ELT levels conducted a total of 44 concurrent presentations of four different categories: papers, demonstrations, workshops, and poster sessions, sharing their expertise for 2 days with more than 200 EFL professionals from all over Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Japan, Mexico, the United States, and Uruguay.

The Pre Convention Institute (PCI) ARTESOL 2014, “Using American Young Adult Literature in the EFL Classroom,” was organized by the U.S. Embassy in Argentina and ARTESOL. The PCI was delivered by alumni from the Young Adult Literature and ESL Methods Program developed by the English Language Center at Michigan State University, which focuses on training teachers on ways to best make use of young-adult literature in the ESL classroom.

Attendees could also enjoy the cultural highlights of the conference. On Friday evening, Joe Troop, a bluegrass musician sponsored by the U.S. Embassy in Argentina, performed a concert. Then, as part of the closing ceremony, Ballet America’s presentation filled attendees’ souls with the joy of their “Jujeño” dance.

Ballet America closes the conference

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Mabel Gallo, ARTESOL founder and past president, is a graduate EFL teacher from the Instituto Nacional Superior de Profesorado “Joaquin V. González,” and holds an MA in TESOL from California State University at Los Angeles. Most of her professional experiences were gathered at ICANA, the Buenos Aires Binational Center. She served on the TESOL Board of Directors 2003–2006.