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Introduction
 TESOL Kuwait has always believed in providing its members with enriching opportunities and resources to propel its educators forward to new professional heights. Its traditional annual conference has been a beacon of hope, enlightenment, and fellowship in which both members and visitors both in and out of Kuwait have converged to share best pedagogy practices, to engage in thoughtful dialogue meaningful to ESOL instructors, and to feed off of each other’s radiant energy with other like-minded professionals in the field. Little did it know that the February 2020 conference would be its final face-to-face gathering for an indefinite period thereafter. Nonetheless, the board of directors navigated this unforeseeable circumstance by shifting its focus to complete virtual engagement with members. Thus, high time to pivot.
Strong Leadership Drives the Vision Forward
 Every year after the annual conference in early February, TESOL Kuwait holds elections for its executive board of directors. The executive board consists of the past president, president, conference chair, secretary, volunteer’s chair, PR chair, and membership chair. Just as a nation is only as strong or powerful as its most gifted and intelligent citizens (Trimm, YouTube, 2021), so too is any organization; ergo, TESOL Kuwait is no different. The organic chemistry of its leadership team has made it possible to receive local press coverage via TimesKuwaitafter last year’s conference.
WhatsApp, a popular communication tool, has been the main conduit through which board members have prepared for meetings via Zoom throughout the year to plan for its various events. Such planning has even included brainstorming sessions in which leadership has endeavored to find unique ways to increase general member engagement within this community of practice.
Numerous CPD Opportunities
A major part of the vision for the past year was to offer members of TESOL Kuwait a plethora of opportunities for Continuous Professional Development (CPD), particularly online in light of the COVID pandemic, which suddenly forced the world into some form of lockdown for most of 2020. One such example was a collaboration with the Regional English Language Office (RELO) at the US Embassy in Bahrain, a neighboring country in the Persian Gulf. Ten members enrolled in free courses offered through RELO’s Online Professional English Network (OPEN) platform facilitated by the US Embassy. Supporting English Learners with Exceptional Needs, one such course that ran for six weeks was designed to teach ESOL educators the knowledge, skills, awareness, and attitudes centered around enhanced empathy for catering to the specific needs of these ELLs. All participants received certificates and badges verifying their successful course completion.
Seven TESOL Kuwait members received a free one-year membership to TESOL International with preference being given to first-time members of the global organization. Apart from this, a few members freely attended TESOL’s virtual convention and symposium last summer. Afterward, the blog curator interviewed the president and secretary about their experience with the website blog. The PR and marketing chairperson consistently distributed myriad memos to its members about upcoming events with not only TESOL Kuwait but also with its international partners (e.g., Cambridge University Press, Macmillan Education, MM Publications, and TESOL International Association).
 Toward summer’s end in August, TESOL Kuwait began a series of monthly webinars, leading up to its second annual autumn symposium in November, held virtually via Zoom, titled “Leading Change in a Post-COVID-19 Educational Society.” All of the recorded webinars can be accessed on the TESOL Kuwait website. The executive board invited scholars and practitioners in the field to speak at these free events, which were promoted on LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook to the broader TESOL community. As a result, TESOL Kuwait received positive support and feedback from education professionals throughout Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Americas. Many of these supporters attended the recent virtual conference in Feb.
Pivoting in 2021: First Virtual Conference
Planning for the 2021 conference commenced in July 2020 in which the theme for this inaugural virtual conference became “Aspiration, Innovation, and Challenges in the Modern Language Classroom.” The selected keynote speakers addressed both the struggles and opportunities associated with the new educational landscape and how educators can move forward in ways that capitalize on the potential this fresh terrain provides in a kaleidoscopic global society.
The Middle Eastern weekend of February 5 (Friday) and 6 (Saturday) comprised a jampacked schedule with both plenary and parallel sessions giving all attendees a taste in cyberspace of what the face-to-face event ordinarily entails. Educational stakeholders from countries as far as El Salvador and Morocco could be seen fully engaged in the workshops as the stream of real-time comments in the Zoom chat box flowed with intensity and the critical response to and reflection of the topic in question.
In traditional TESOL Kuwait fashion, executive board elections occurred after the conference in a separate membership meeting. Unfortunately, the conventional student Toastmasters meeting (an extracurricular club for local collegians) did not take place this time as it normally would have in an in-person conference setting.
Revival of the Blog - TESOL Kuwait Blog
Another means of aiming to add value to the members of TESOL Kuwait came through the resurgence of its website blog, which became active again in 2020. A designated blog curator managed to create and publish content that would garner attention and motivate readers to reflect on their knowledge and experience within the education industry. Members were also encouraged to submit their ideas, images, etc. for new blog content. A potential podcast is in the works in addition to the provision of more multimodal material that may spark interest around critical conversations surrounding this brave new world of the ubiquitous digital classroom/remote learning new normal.
Conclusion
All in all, it takes a village of committed volunteers from all walks of life to keep a community of practice such as TESOL Kuwait dynamic and invaluable to not only its local members but also to the wider world of the TESOL macrocosm. As an affiliate of TESOL International, TESOL Kuwait continues to find ways to flourish in the Gulf with strong connections throughout the greater MENA region from Qatar to Egypt. Quoting Gandhi in her opening speech at the recent conference, Veronica Zvinca, now former president, summed up the organization’s modus operandi as follows: “Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever” (Goalcast, 2017).
References
Goalcast. (2017). “Top 20 Most Famous and Inspiring Mahatma Gandhi Quotes.” Accessed 23 Feb. 2021 from https://www.goalcast.com/2017/03/20/top-20-inspiring-mahatma-gandhi-quotes/.
Trimm, C. (2021). “Why Your Gift Matters.” [Gifted]. YouTube. Accessed 23 Feb. 2021 from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Awdr23t4HRI.
Biodata
Charles McKinney serves the TESOL Kuwait Executive Board as the blog content creator and is a current MA in TESOL student at the School for International Training (SIT). He is currently based in Baghdad, Iraq as a pioneering faculty member of the ELA at the recently launched American University of Iraq – Baghdad. He’s a returned US Peace Corps TEFL volunteer. | 
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