In February, the National Governing Board and presidents of local chapters met to report last year activities, and plan for 2019. MexTESOL’s 12 chapters had a full activities schedule for the year; some of these activities had already taken place, while some were at various stages of preparation and implementation. Each chapter had planned academic events, regional conventions, and to work with other similar organizations.

• March30^th, the Chiapas chapter held its successful 10^th Regional Convention.
• March 8^th, the Morelos chapter held an academic event and began renewing their local committee.
• March 23^rd, the Mexico City chapter and the Benjamin Franklin Library worked together to bring a fantastic program for Mexico City teachers.
• The Oaxaca chapter, with its recently elected local committee, continues to grow and has held several academic events.
• The Nuevo Leon chapter will celebrate their 7^th Regional Convention on June ^1st.
• The Sinaloa chapter launched their YouTube channel with a series of videos “Successful ELT Experiences” in which experienced local teachers are interviewed and recognized.

• On April 25^th, the Tampico chapter participated in a conference organized by a prestigious national university.
• The Jalisco chapter is networking with other chapters to bring speakers to their events.

Together, the chapters have brought more than 800 teachers to their events during this first half of the year.

In preparation for our 46^th International Convention, the National Governing Board has had meetings and talks with sponsors, suppliers, and speakers. This year the 46^th International Convention will take place on October 24-26 in Queretaro City. Every year, the MEXTESOL international convention convenes more than 2500 teachers, students, school administrators, ELT experts, and more. This year we are working harder, and our goal is to host 4000 attendees.

Spelling Bee

MEXTESOL organizes an annual National Spelling Bee in conjunction with Merriam-Webster. The MEXTESOL National Spelling Bee promotes spelling and vocabulary study for learners studying English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in primary and secondary schools in Mexico.

This year, the National Spelling Bee was held on April 6^th, in Leon, Guanajuato, and it is the first time that this event has been held outside of Mexico City. Despite our fear of having fewer participants, we had a wonderful surprise - the number of participants and attendees increased. Students, parents, friends, Merriam Webster, and MEXTESOL staff enjoyed this enriching experience.

MEXTESOL Journal + MEXTESOL Press

Four times a year, MEXTESOL publishes an open-access Journal. The MEXTESOL Journal focuses on the circumstances of teaching and learning English as a Foreign Language throughout the world; it publishes articles dealing with both practical and theoretical topics of interest to the EFL teacher. The Journal strives to publish high-quality articles and to maintain high ethical standards in both refereed and non-refereed publications. Articles may be written in English or Spanish. Last year, in November, we proudly announced that the MEXTESOL Journal had been included in SCOPUS. So now it is indexed by Latindex and SCOPUS. For more than forty years, the MEXTESOL Journal has been our most prestigious publication; MEXTESOL also has a newsletter mailed to all members every two months.

To increase participation and involvement from colleagues teaching in Mexico in ways that valued and gave experienced teachers voice, MEXTESOL is proud to launch the MEXTESOL Press. Our first publication is “I Teach: Games & Activities For Mexican Contexts,” and it will be a collection of activities, exercises, and games which have been successful in classrooms in Mexican contexts. Contributors share self-created activities, traditional games, adaptations from commercially available games, and other kinds of materials for students to practice and learn language skills.

The call for contributions has been sent, and we have received more than 30 submissions. The contributions are being reviewed by the MEXTESOL Press committee of experienced teachers representing different Mexican contexts. We expect “I Teach: Games & Activities For Mexican Contexts,” to go into print soon.

Representation at the TESOL Convention in ATLANTA

President, Luis Jovanni Rodriguez and Secretary, Jorge Torres Almazán, represented MEXTESOL at TESOL this year. They attended the Affiliate events, and Jorge Torres presented the Poster Session “Holidays: a Valuable Cultural Tool in ELT.” Both of them were at the MEXTESOL Booth to talk about the upcoming international convention and to answer any queries. They networked with a number of prospective presenters, some of whom will be participating in MEXTESOL’s international convention 2019.

At this year’s TESOL convention, MEXTESOL was also proud that National Board Secretary, Jorge Torres Almazán, was given a grant by the U. S. Department of State English Language Programs to attend and present his poster session.

He reported, “I had high expectations [for TESOL]. Attending the largest and most prestigious convention in the world for the first time generated mainly positive feelings. In addition to attending, I was also presenting. This made me feel anxious, excited, proud, happy, and stressed. I rehearsed, reviewed, and updated information for my presentation several times before flying to Atlanta. What shocked me was to learn, a week before, that my co-presenter was not attending.

In my mind, I had images of a large convention center, thousands of people, well-organized logistics, high-quality presentations, and friendly people.

Weeks before I read the program, the abstracts, I planned for the different presentations I wanted to attend and looked for friends in the attendee's list. It was nice to find familiar names and faces in that list. I would have the opportunity to say hi and reconnect.

When we arrived at the Reception for New Members & First-Time Attendees, I felt welcome. Soon we got a place in front of the podium.

I attended all four keynote sessions. K. David Harrison presented Endangered Languages wherein he talked told us about the world's languages that were endangered, the consequences this may bring to their speakers, culture, science, and the environment. His talk gave me more ideas to enrich my presentation. So a night before my session, I was again reviewing and updating. My presentation was related to promoting language and culture. His remarks fit into some of my points.

The following morning, Luciana C. de Oliveira gave me more ideas. She said that as teachers, we are constantly going back and forth between the local and the global with regards to the English language. Again this fit my presentation. When we think about the culture, it may be local and/or from other places (global).

Wednesday, March 13, 8:55 am, I left the keynote session and headed to the poster session area next to the exhibitor’s hall. I prepared my material and chit-chatted with neighbor presenters. We took each other pictures and wished each other good luck.

At 9:30 am, it was time to deliver. It took only a few seconds to feel comfortable with the audience. After the first group, my stress completely disappeared, and I felt in control of my material. I exchange business cards with some of the attendees from Morocco, Taiwan, Bolivia, Egypt, Macedonia, and the U. S. A. I ask them to send us information about holidays in their countries/cultures. My plan is to prepare lessons in which this information is included.

After my presentation, I enjoyed more of the convention. I attended the sessions about the Six Principles, which I found really useful and interesting. After the presentation, I went to buy two books, one for my principal and one for me. Another interesting session I attended was From Practice to Publication: Guiding Teachers and Graduate Students. This was a practical workshop, Geoffrey Butler and Lara Kurth related their own experiences and put them into an easy to understand form. Publishing explained this way seems to be achievable. They put all the mishaps away; I am sure most of the audience left with ideas and were willing to try.

At the end of the presentation, I approached them and asked for permission to replicate the presentation and to use part of their material. They kindly accepted my request. My plan is to adapt this presentation and bring it to the MEXTESOL event.

Pedro Noguera’s presentation was awesome. He reminded us why we must promote peace and pluralism. This is something most of us tend to forget because we focus on our everyday duties and concentrate on planning lessons. Now it is clear in my mind that we must commit ourselves to equip our students, not only with language skill but also make them aware of these issues.

Another session that got my attention was the TESOL business meeting. I learned how different we conduct meetings in MEXTESOL. We may want to adopt some of the protocols or combine to become more efficient.”

MEXTESOL expects these goals, growth, and experiences bring more benefits to its members. MEXTESOL also looks forward to exchanging ideas, experiences and more with other TESOL Affiliates.

Jorge Torres Almazán is MEXTESOL National Governing Board Secretary. He has taught EFL for 15 years, holds an MA in Education Administration, ELT article writer and speaker at BBELT, MEXTESOL & TESOL International Conventions. He is a teacher at the American School of Tampico.