ALC Newsletter - 03/01/2018 (Plain Text Version)
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EXPANDING OUR AFFILIATE'S INFLUENCE
The theme of the upcoming Chicago convention is “Sustaining Dialogues across the TESOL Community”. Of course, before sustaining a dialogue we first have to initiate a dialogue with someone. And, as an affiliate, we probably have to take stock of ourselves even before initiating: where we are, what our mission, objectives and goals are, and also how busy the human resources we have available are. Although each of our affiliates is necessarily a part of multiple communities, this message focusses on TESOL Affiliate Communities. As one of TESOL’s 100+ affiliates, we can look around our affiliate “geographically”. Which affiliates are we next to? These could be our direct neighbors across political borders or neighbors on the other side of geographical barriers (especially if our affiliate is on an island). They could also be “culturally neighboring affiliates”; either ones with which we share a common history, or especially those with which we do not. Do we already have partnerships with our neighboring TESOL affiliates or English Language Teachers Associations (ELTAs)? Are there any affiliate historical facts that need to be taken into account? Perhaps times have changed and a new relationship can be forged. It’s easy to find the contact information for neighboring affiliates in the TESOL Worldwide Affiliate Directory. Then, we can open up a dialogue and establish contact with them, write them an email, introduce ourselves and say that we would like to establish closer contact with them and look for opportunities for collaboration. In order to begin the conversation without being condescending or patronizing or, at the opposite extreme, too humble, we can mention or inquire, if convenient and appropriate, some of the following:
To paraphrase Confucius, we have to take that first step…so we need to reach out and contact our neighboring affiliates. On a map, we can color in our affiliate’s geographical area and then draw a bigger circle in all directions around it. Expand it, when possible and convenient. Obviously it doesn’t have to be a simple circle, depending on the shape of the Affiliate’s current reach. Other points for us to ponder: How many of us know all of the acronyms of all of TESOL’s 100+ affiliates? How many of us know where each of them is geographically located around the globe? How many other affiliates has our affiliate been engagingly in touch with in the last ten years? Had a partnership? Had a collaborative agreement? Had a “Sister Affiliate” relationship? It’s undoubtedly an enriching experience to see what other affiliates are like and what they are doing and how their issues are similar to and different from ours. Then what? Let’s not miss out! Through electronic media a network of regional TESOL affiliates can easily be formed. Several already exist. We can choose five or ten neighboring affiliates to contact during 2018 and see what kind of response we get. Let’s not wait for the other affiliate to act. We need to act. We might be surprised at what magic can happen after the initial ice has been broken and contact has been made. As with people seeking new friendships, affiliates may be yearning for friendly affiliate collaboration. Let’s make sure that first friendly affiliate is ours and reach out! Then we can report on our new experiences in forthcoming issues of the Affiliate News. Right now, you can check the following articles and reports in this Newsletter to learn about some multi-affiliate partnerships that already exist. Let’s think out of our affiliate box and look around us and reach out to establish a dialogue with a neighboring affiliate and then sustain that dialogue! |
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