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Introduction
NileTESOL is a professional association for all those individuals who are actively involved in the development of the teaching of English and teaching content in English in Egypt and globally. NileTESOL is funded and supported by The American University in Cairo’s School of Continuing Education (AUC/SCE). It is a non-profit teacher association that has some key partners; they are The American University in Cairo’s School of Continuing Education (AUC/SCE), the Regional English Language Office (RELO) at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, British Council Egypt, and AMIDEAST Egypt. It is an affiliate of TESOL International in the USA and IATEFL in the UK.
Aims
NileTESOL has developed its constitution that has five sections and nineteen articles. The NileTESOL's constitution regulates the membership, Board of Directors, committees, general assembly, and constitution amendments. Due to different educational and organizational changes, NileTESOL's constitution was been amended in 2021. According to its constitution, NileTESOL aims to provide a professional forum for discussing and debating issues related to the teaching and learning of English and in English, provide opportunities for professional development to the members of the association and the profession at large keeping them up-to-date with the latest developments in the field, encourage the development of research relevant to teaching or learning of English and in English, offer opportunities for networking among members of the association and other professionals, provide opportunities for professional service and leadership development within the ELT community and contribute to the continuous improvement of standards of teaching of English and teaching in English. Professional learning communities or PLCs help create, share, organize, revise and pass the knowledge (Wenger, 1998). PLCs help develop teachers' accountability of their teaching (Johnson & Ridley, 2004). DuFour stresses the idea that PLCs help teachers to focus on student learning as teachers “work together to analyze and improve their classroom practice” (2014, p. 1).
Board of Directors
NileTESOL's membership is free. There are more than 3600 NileTESOL members from Egypt and globally. NileTESOL teacher association is managed by a Board of Directors (BoD). There are 16 NileTESOL Board of Directors' members; some of them have permanent seats and the other members are elected for a three-year term. NileTESOL President is responsible for the teacher associations' operations and he or she presides the Board of Directors' face-to-face and online meetings. He or she is empowered to call for additional meetings and shall appoint all committee chairs in consultation with and approval of the BoD. NileTESOL President-Elect assists the President in the discharge of his or her duties and performs the duties of the President when he or she is unavailable or unable to exercise his or her duties. The President-Elect is responsible for serving on the Conference Organizing Committee. NileTESOL Past President advises, supports, and/or serves on any committee of his or her choice for one year following his or her presidency year. NileTESOL Executive Director keeps a record of the BoD meetings and is responsible for the correspondence and other financial and logistical duties necessary for conducting the business of the association.
Committees and Groups
There are five NileTESOL committees; special interest groups, international relations, communication, membership, and conference organizing committees. The Special Interest Groups Committee (SIGs) is responsible for enhancing and supporting the continuing professional development of English language teachers, instructors, educators, and professionals as they help all students achieve high standards of language learning. It provides English language professionals with quality ongoing specific development which supports their school, institute, and/or university. The International Relations Committee (IRC) is responsible for the foreign relations of NileTESOL, working with international and regional, and national associations of a similar type. The Communications Committee is responsible for disseminating NileTESOL's news and updates through an internet website and social media. The Membership Committee is responsible for keeping and updating the membership database. It is responsible for ensuring all new members are regularly integrated into the teacher association's email lists and contacts. It is responsible for monitoring NileTESOL membership communications. The Conference Organizing Committee (OC) is led by two conference co-chairs; it is responsible for planning, preparing for, conducting, and reflecting on NileTESOL/AUC’s annual face-to-face or virtual conference. There are nine active NileTESOL Special Interest Groups (SIGs) that are led and steered by 77 professional volunteers; they are English for Inclusive Education (EIE), English for Specific Purposes (ESP), Learning Technologies (LT), Professional Writing (PW), Research (Re), Testing, Assessment and Evaluation (TEA), Teacher Education (TE), Teaching English to Young Learners (TEYL) and Teaching Literature (TL) SIGs.
Website and Social Media
NileTESOL disseminates its news and updates through its website, Facebook page, and Twitter account. NileTESOL’s website niletesol.org is managed by the Board of Directors; it is regularly updated. It highlights NileTESOL's Board of Directors, constitution, events, special interest groups, annual conference, membership, scholarships, newsletter, and mentor program. The NileTESOL's Facebook page is of more than 33K followers; helps to promote different events, webinars, scholarships, teaching tips, and resources.
Teacher Development
For more than twenty-five years, NileTESOL has helped to sustain English language teacher development. It conducts face-to-face and online events in and outside Cairo. It conducts NileTESOL/AUC Annual Conference every January at The American University in Cairo's New Cairo Campus. It helps to distribute TESOL International free memberships and IATEFL discounted memberships. It helps to nominate applicants for the Fundamentals of English Language Teaching (FELT) and the Fundamentals of English Language Teaching for Young Learners (FELT-YL) scholarships that are funded by RELO Cairo and delivered by The American University in Cairo's School of Continuing Education (AUC/SCE). It helps to promote the RELO Mentor Program. It develops two publications; they are NileTESOL Newsletter and NileTESOL/AUC Annual Conference Proceedings. The NileTESOL Newsletter helps to compile and share NileTESOL's news, successes, reflections, language teaching articles, and conference reports every year. The NileTESOL/AUC Annual Conference Proceedings help compile and share selected articles from NileTESOL/AUC annual face-to-face or virtual conferences. They help conference presenters to publish their work and contribute to English language teacher development in Egypt and globally. NileTESOL helps its members to attend and present at some national and international conferences and events. It helps to develop collaboration with some buddy teacher associations in the Middle East and all over the world.
Beyond Teacher Development
Since mid-March 2020, life, education, and language teaching have changed greatly due to the corona-virus pandemic. According to UNESCO, the nationwide lockdown and school closure have impacted more than 60% of the world's student population. In Egypt, more than 23 million students and more than one million teachers have moved to remote instruction. NileTESOL also has moved to the online mode of teacher development to meet English language teaching changing needs and challenging contexts.
In February 2021, NileTESOL conducted its first-ever virtual conference. There were twelve plenary national and international speakers. The theme was "Digitize … Globalize". There were five ZOOM webinar rooms, 120 concurrent sessions, and more than 3500 attendees. Since February 2021, NileTESOL Special Interest Groups (SIGs) have delivered 16 webinars, 3 webinar series, and one online debate by 40 presenters for more than 650 attendees. NileTESOL has distributed 7 TESOL International free memberships and 50 IATEFL discounted memberships. It has distributed 32 Fundamentals of English Language Teaching (FELT) and 12 Fundamentals of English Language Teaching for Young Learners (FELT-YL) scholarships. NileTESOL goes beyond teacher development as it has signed off and acted upon memoranda of understanding with TESOL Libya, TESOL Kuwait, Mexico TESOL, TESOL Spain, Argentina TESOL, IATEFL Poland, and Cyprus TEA. NileTESOL and the buddy teacher associations share their digital publications, publicize their associations' call for proposals, conferences, and events and cooperate on teacher development opportunities. According to Preskill and Torres, “Learning is maximized through opportunities to share individual knowledge and experiences with others” (1999, p. 23). Zachary thinks that collaboration is key to learning and growth (2012, p. 16). NileTESOL members and representatives have attended and presented at International Language Assessment Conference in Egypt (ILACE Online), Argentina TESOL Virtual Conference, IATEFL Poland Virtual Conference, Africa ELTA Virtual International Conference, IATEFL Virtual Conference, and TESOL Virtual Convention.
Conclusion
Before the corona-virus pandemic, NileTESOL has helped to continue teacher development through face-to-face scholarships, events, and conferences. During the pandemic, it has helped to sustain teacher development and enhance teacher associations' collaboration through online scholarships, events, and conferences. After the pandemic, it will build upon reflections and experiences to keep sustaining teacher development and teacher associations' collaboration in Egypt and globally. It plans to conduct NileTESOL Virtual Conference on January 28-29, 2022. The theme is "New Norms in Teaching and Learning".
References
DuFour, Richard. (2004). What is a Professional Learning Community? The Journal of Educational Leadership, 61(8), 1-7.
Johnson, B., & Ridley, C. (2004). The elements of mentoring. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan.
Preskill, H., & Torres, R. (1999). Evaluative inquiry for learning in organizations. SAGE Publications, 17–50.
Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of practice: Learning as a social system. Systems Thinker.
Zachary, L. J. (2012). The mentor's Guide: Facilitating effective learning relationships. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1-31.
Biodata
Samir Omara has been an English language teacher and teacher trainer for the Ministry of Education and Technical Education since 1998. He presented at ILACE, Africa ELTA, TESOL, and BETT. He was the Head of Professional Development for Teachers First Egypt from 2016 to 2020. He is NileTESOL President, 2021. |
