John Haught, Ph.D., President, Ohio TESOL

Our 2019 Conference theme was Collaborate! Educate! Initiate! Ohio TESOL continues to grow and is developing new partnerships with outside agencies that work to help immigrant and EL populations. OTESOL’s newly formed Advocacy Interest Section has led our efforts to put collaboration into practice.

For many years our annual conference was a full day on Friday, followed by a half-day on Saturday. In 2019 we expanded Saturday to a full day of sessions by inviting presenters from the Ohio New African Immigrants Commission (NAIC), COSI, the Center of Science and Industry, Columbus US Together, and El Cadre, an advocacy group, sponsored by the Ohio Education Association.

COSI partnered with educators from Ohio State University to present a workshop entitled Hands-On & Inquiry-Based Science with English Learners. This interactive workshop allowed educators the opportunity to experience what inquiry-based learning looks like and how it can benefit our EL populations.

NAIC’s workshop, ELs in the Classroom & Community: Responding with Best Practices, focused on the history and diversity of Ohio’s diverse and growing African immigrant and refugee populations and the circumstance surrounding the different groups. They touched upon the many different services needed to assist these learners to succeed.

The local Columbus office of US Together focused on the struggles of immigrant families and the many social and legal designations they may bring. Participants heard from families and gained better understanding of the hurdles they must face.

The OEA sponsored El Cadre’s presentation, Celebrate, Embrace, Restore, helped familiarize attendees about advocacy efforts at the student, school, and legislative levels. This was followed by four break-out sessions covering best practices and strategies to help our Els succeed.

The sessions were well attended and drew local educators and content area teachers seeking advice and ideas for working with our incredibly diverse population. All agreed that it was a tremendous success and not only allows us to offer more sessions to non-TESOL educators but serves to bring many like-minded individuals and organizations together so that we may advocate more effectively at all levels for our Els and their families and communities.

The 2020 Ohio TESOL Conference will be held on October 23^rd and 24^th at the Columbus Convention Center in downtown Columbus, Ohio. Saturday will again have a full day of sessions from area organizations, and separate admission is available for local educators and others for the Saturday workshops. For more information, please visit our website at ohiotesol.org.