Dear Affiliate Leaders,

Hope many of you are getting ready to join us in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S., for the TESOL Annual Convention. We at TESOL are busy making sure all of the details for the convention are finalized. In this letter, I just wanted to report on the TESOL Leaders Town Hall meetings that we held on January 17, 2019. During the TESOL Leaders Town Hall meetings, we had the opportunity to discussTESOL’s new Strategic Plan with its four outcomes: Global Presence and Connectivity, Knowledge and Expertise, Voice and Advocacy, and Sustainability. We briefly discussed each outcome and went on to ask leaders to consider some questions: Where do I see myself in this Strategic Plan? What can I do personally to help achieve these outcomes? What has my group been doing – and what can we do in the future – to help achieve these outcomes?

We also shared that the Affiliate Network Professional Council (ANPC) planned to roll out its new Affiliate Peer Advisory Program (APAP). The initiative, focused initially on increasing one-on-one communication with members of the Affiliate Network and the ANPC, supports the first two outcomes of the Strategic Plan by strengthening our Global Presence and Connectivity and increasing our Knowledge and Expertise. Through increased communication, the APAP strives to promote cooperation, support, and the sharing of best practices among the affiliates and with TESOL in order to strengthen the affiliate-TESOL relationship. We believe this is a great example of how specific groups can engage the Strategic Plan.

We hope that you will consider different ways that you as a TESOL leader and member and as part of your respective groups can engage and help implement the Strategic Plan. We will be discussing this further at the Leadership Forum in Atlanta, for those of you who will be able to attend the TESOL convention.

All the best and see some of you real soon!