Affiliate News - 11/23/2020 (Plain Text Version)
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LETTER FROM THE CHAIR
What an extraordinary time it has been since I last communicated with you! The world has literally changed - not just teaching, not just the affiliate associations, but all our communities. TESOL has shown extreme resilience towards the changes in our profession. By canceling its annual convention in Denver and having its first-ever virtual convention this past July, with the plethora of educational and networking online events, TESOL supported the international affiliate and individual teachers. The ANPC, as an internal part of TESOL, followed suit. I hope that you were able to attend some of our events! We were initially startled by the cancellation of the Convention. Still, we quickly rose to the occasion and started planning for more online events. As you may already know, the ANPC has been organizing online events since October 2018. You can watch all the recordings in TESOL’s YouTube channel playlist. This made it easier for the ANPC to organize. We knew how to organize online events, and we were already looking at Affiliates’ needs. We started with the Maryland TESOL, where we explored the possibility of remote sessions. We continued with the Affiliate Forum in April. The Forum was held twice to facilitate different time zones of affiliates. There we had different representatives from more than 10 affiliates from around the world that reported on the actions they had already taken. It was a very good opportunity for us to reconnect as we did not have the chance to do so in Denver. June was a very busy time for the Affiliate Network Professional Council (ANPC). We started with a joint event with the Career Path Development PLN to explore opportunities and challenges in career path development in the TESOL Affiliate Network during the pandemic. We continued with another interactive panel titled: Shifting Affiliate Events Online: A Global Phenomenon, where representatives of CATESOL, JALT, TESOL CPC Chair, and TESOL Strategic Events Director discussed the topic. The month ended for the ANPC with a first! It was the first time that the ANPC participated in the TESOL Advocacy and Policy Summit! We always wanted to participate in this event, but it had been impossible due to date and cost factors! This year, the ANPC brought five organizations to the TESOL Advocacy and Policy Summit: (TESOL ANZ (New Zealand), DRTESOL (Dominican Republic), HELTA TESOL(Honduras), BELTA (Bangladesh), and TESOL Past President (2006-2007) Jun Liu discussing China. For more information about advocacy, I would like to invite you to go to the TESOL Advocacy Action Center, where you can find many advocacy resources. In July, the ANPC participated in the first virtual TESOL Convention at the Global and Affiliate Discussions in a session co-hosted by Rosa Aronson, TESOL Executive Director, Gabi Kleckova, TESOL Incoming President, and myself. A very vibrant discussion took place at 3 AM EDT with more than 150 discussants. A very useful summary came out of the session that was made available to all convention attendees. July was extraordinary for the ANPC as we transformed the convention events into a 3-day affiliate conference! We had sessions for almost 15 hours in 3 days. The program was staggered in the EDT time zone, starting from early morning to later afternoon to cover all our affiliates’ time zones. In that way, we were able to have speakers from different parts of the world, that in other cases, we would not be able to. We managed to get speakers from North, Central, and South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and New Zealand. We also invited TESOL’s professional Councils and Interest Sections to speak. This was to help affiliate leaders be more aware of how they can be involved in TESOL and start the same initiatives in their own associations. Our 3-day events included the Affiliate Assembly, the Affiliate Colloquium, social events, coffee times, fun activities, and Charades hosted by our Affiliate in Egypt, NILE TESOL. If you want to watch the recordings, they have all been uploaded on a separate playlist on the TESOL YouTube channel listed here. In August, we had the pleasure of hosting Laura Baecher from NYS TESOL. She discussed Opportunity for Teacher Leadership and Affiliate Growth - a very thought-provoking session that sparked a vibrant discussion. You can watch the session recording here. As of September, we began planning for next year’s events. We have already made plans with our colleagues at the SRIS to have a joint event in November; an announcement will soon be coming out! We will also be having an event with TEIS in February 2021. We will continue our monthly webinar series and prepare the convention sessions for more information through myTESOL. Stay tuned! I would like to end this letter by saying that I want to thank each of you for being part of the Affiliate Network and allowing me to meet such extraordinary individuals. November 1st, I will move to the ANPC Past Chair and pass the Chair position to my fellow colleague James Papple, currently serving as the incoming chair of the ANPC. I am certain that he will do an excellent job; I would like all of you to support him. Moreover, to the members rotating this year, Alex Monceaux and Luis Penton Herrera, I cannot but wish them the best. The same goes for all remaining ANPC members, Valerie S.Jakar, Jermaine McDougald, Petro Okoth, Linh Phung, Cherrilyn Washington, and Bessie Karras-Lazaris - keep up the good work, everyone! I will be forever grateful for everyone’s services to the ANPC, the Affiliate Network, and the profession! I could not forget the three board liaisons through my ANPC career, Deborah Healey, Deborah Short, and Gabi Kleckova. Thank you for the support, guidance, and forward-thinking. You really made a difference. Last but not least, Valerie Novick, our tireless Staff partner, for the long calls, meetings, advice, and all the support all these years. Thank you, Valerie. Never forget that healthy leadership in a council, an association, an affiliate is the best leader you can ever have! My best wishes to everyone Georgios Vlassios Kormpas |
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