It was my absolute pleasure and privilege to represent TESOL International Association at the Argentina TESOL Convention held on May 12th and 13th at Parana in Argentina. The theme of the Convention was Democratising English Language Teaching, and perhaps inevitably many of the speakers spoke of the role of technology in this enterprise.

Preparing to listen to the opening speaker Micah Risher, Director of the Regional English Language Office based in Peru, opened the conference and challenged participants to consider the extent to which they understand the world in which many of their students live. Who are Generations X, Y, Z and Alpha?

Many of the concurrent sessions tackled the use of technology in the classroom from the Flipped classroom presented by Gonzalo Fortun to using your students mobile phones in the classroom, presented by Alejandro Manniello. Featured speaker, Mercedes Kamijo, picked up this theme with a very interactive session which had the audience participating in online quizzes and using QR codes. Interactive keynotes were a feature of the convention – never easy when speaking to a large audience, but managed superbly by Trina Goslin who had groups of people working oral language activities that had the crowd engaged and involved.

Trish Goslin’s session had participants engaged in group work

As much as I love attending academic sessions when I attend conferences, I really love the social programs! They can really help you connect to your fellow participants. Argentina TESOL featured a groovy saxophone player, who had the crowd dancing and singing along and a fun raffle evening where everyone seemed to be a winner!


Saxophone player entertains

Music was a feature of other keynotes, including my own. I spoke about the professional career trajectory of teachers, and how we can maintain our passion and I set it all to music.

The final song was the disco favourite “I will survive.”

My second keynote was focussed on the teaching of grammar in context, a theme that was serendipitously expanded upon by Monica Gandolfo in her session titled Experiencing genre-based teaching in a foreign language.

I attended as part of TESOL International Associations Affiliate Speaker Program, which gives TESOL Affiliates the opportunity to have a member of the Board of Directors speak at their annual event. And it was such an honor to be in Argentina for this event.

I made so many new friends, and ate a lot of lovely Argentinian steak! I would particularly like to thank Argentina TESOL’s President Graciela Martin, and her hard-working conference committee, for their wonderful hosting.

Graciela Martin President of Argentina TESOL

In 2018 the conference will be in Mendoza, which is Argentina’s wine country. It promises to be a great event - put it in your diary.