TESOL Italy’s 37th National Convention was held in Rome, November 16–17. There were nearly 300 participants who were able to benefit from the very full schedule of events. The title of our 2012 convention, Language Landscapes, not only is an obvious reference to linguistic landscapes, but also suggests a rather dynamic visual image of how our world is constructed and represented through language. Landscapes are varied and colorful, as are the many languages that we use every day.

The subtitles, or subthemes, covered different areas of language teaching that have been the focus of recent discussion. “Revisiting Skills in the Digital World” faces the issues of how classrooms and curricula are taking advantage of what the digital world offers. “Strategies for an Inclusive Curriculum” supports the idea of cooperation, collaboration, and unity in one of the most important environments for developing mutual understanding, knowledge, and a sense of a shared community: the classroom. With “Situated Learning,” we assume that in ELT, each class should in turn be considered a community of practice, characterized by its own sociocultural context.

We were very fortunate to have four plenary speakers with us in November. Monica Barni, professor of didactics of modern languages in Siena, gave a talk dealing with linguistic diversity as a key property of Europe’s identity. Kathleen Graves, Associate professor of education practice at the University of Michigan, held her session, "Creating Learning Communities Through Inclusive Curriculum Design." Alan Maley, visiting professor from Leeds Metropolitan University, shared his perspective on an aesthetic approach to foreign language teaching. Neil Mercer, psychologist and professor of education at the University of Cambridge, explained how school-based research demonstrates that quality dialogue in the classroom should be developed.

In addition to the plenary sessions, there were more than 50 concurrent sessions, with the majority of speakers coming from Italy; we were, however, fortunate to have the enlightening perspectives of speakers coming from a variety of countries, such as Brazil, Canada, Greece, Japan, Malta, Russia, Sweden, the United Kingdom. and the United States.

All work and no play, of course, is not our style and so a cocktail following the theatrical performance "Hard Times" with Luke Prodromou, David Gibson, and Penny Prodromou concluded Friday's events, and a Victorian dance workshop led by Renzo Frontoni and Ariella Uliano provided a relaxing interlude to Saturday's sessions.

TESOL Italy convention participants are truly amazing. Despite the increasingly challenging teaching realities in Italy, many teachers look to our convention for that spark of motivation and the quality in teacher development to take back with them to their classrooms. In speaking for all the volunteers in TESOL Italy, I must say that we are honored to be able to provide it.

Beth Ann Boyle, teacher, teacher trainer, and author, is currently president of TESOL Italy.