Affiliate News - 06/09/2023 (Plain Text Version)

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In this issue:
LEADERSHIP UPDATES
•  FACILITATING CONNECTIONS, NETWORKING, AND SHARING AMONG TESOL AFFILIATES: SUCCESSES AND CHALLENGES
•  RECOGNIZING THE ROLE THE ANPC PLAYS IN MEETING TESOL'S PRIORITIES
•  IN TESOL SPIRIT
•  SUPPORTING EDUCATORS AND LEARNERS AROUND THE WORLD
ARTICLES
•  WHAT LEADERS IN LANGUAGE EDUCATION NEED TO KNOW
•  STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS: THE REALITIES OF A TEACHER ASSOCIATION IN THE POST-PANDEMIC ERA
•  TESOL-UKRAINE LEADERS AT TESOL 2023
•  STORIES ABOUT OURSELVES: A COLLABORATIVE PROJECT BETWEEN AFFILIATES
•  HOW DID WE GET HERE?
•  BUILDING AND SHARING KNOWLEDGE: THE POWER OF TESOL AFFILIATE JOURNALS
•  MAKING THE MOVE BACK TO AN IN-PERSON TESOL AFFILIATE CONFERENCE
•  UNAWARE AND UNMOTIVATED: REASONS FOR TEACHERS' HESITATIONS TO JOIN TEACHER ASSOCIATIONS
•  FREE-FOR-ALL: FREE (OR NEARLY-FREE) RESOURCES FOR PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT, CLASSROOM TEACHING, AND LEARNERS
•  NILETESOL EXPERIENCES AND REFLECTIONS
•  PEARLIE LUBIN AWARDED ALUMNI IMPACT AWARD

IN TESOL SPIRIT

Debra Suarez, Ph.D., MSTESOL, MBA

It is very early morning. Daylight is only just beginning to dawn at my kitchen window. I sit typing away on my laptop, sipping coffee and working quickly to finish just one more email before I must leave for my “regular job.” It is another early morning in my volunteer role as the President-elect for TESOL International.

I am writing to TESOL colleagues around the world, who are also volunteers. In one email, we are trying to schedule a webinar. “What is the best time to accommodate the most time zones around the world?” we discuss. In another email string, our group is exploring how we can meet the needs of newer TESOL international members. “How can we help members better prepare conference proposals for the 2024 Tampa conference?” we puzzle. While I engage in these email conversations, a familiar high-pitched “PING!” calls my attention to my phone. It is the What’s App chat for TESOL’s Executive Committee. Friendly, but urgent messages encourage us to collaborate, share our best thinking, and reach timely consensus on strategic questions at-hand. And so, it goes … several texts and chats, and a few more emails. Until it is time to close my laptop, sip the last drop of coffee, and head to work.

This morning, as I sign-off on my final email, I pause.

I paused when I found myself, yet again, using the closing salutation: “In TESOL Spirit.”

It is a closing salutation that I learned many, many years ago from senior TESOL members. And since becoming President-elect in March 2023, I find myself using it again and again, at the end of these conversations. This morning, I laugh quietly to myself, pause before closing my laptop, and reflect on why the closing salutation, “In TESOL Spirit,” seems right and perfect at the end of these conversations.

What is “TESOL Spirt”?

My first TESOL convention was in 1991 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The moment I walked into the exhibit hall with the line of flags from all nations waving overhead, I felt I was home. I wandered around the exhibit hall, engrossed in the ELT books, posters, and job fair, and unexpectedly found myself behind a booth. “Oh, so sorry!” I quipped to the publisher, turning quickly to leave. And when she responded, “No worries; I’m an explorer myself,” I felt understood. One of the first sessions I attended was a panel presentation offered by “giants” in the field – folks whose names were on the covers of my MA-TESOL textbooks! I approached the panel to ask a question at the end of the session. And when they listened, thought about my question, and responded thoughtfully, I felt cared-for, respected, and included.

Internationalism. Education. Curiosity. Learning. Sharing. Kindness and Acceptance.

I didn’t know it then, but I was already learning about “TESOL Spirit.”

Over the next thirty years, I would engage in activities with the TESOL International Association, and with the local Affiliate wherever I lived (New York State TESOL, Alabama-Mississippi TESOL, Washington-area TESOL, and Maryland TESOL), serving on committees, engaging in the Interest Sections, presenting at conferences, writing, and publishing, and serving on Affiliate boards and the TESOL board. And, from my fellow TESOLers, I learned the TESOL Spirit.

I learned the humbleness of being part of a worldwide community, coming together to collaborate, creating something larger than ourselves or our own region. The wonder of finding our commonalities and celebrating our differences. The connection of discovering our shared values. The strength we create together when we share ideas, articulate our comparable challenges, struggle to understand and explore our individual contexts, learn together, and find joy in each other’s achievements.

Often, when I received letters or emails from senior TESOL members, they signed with the closing salutation, “In TESOL Spirit.”

More recently, the TESOL Spirit became central to our identity during the pandemic, when we proudly shared our social media hashtag, “We are TESOL.” We emphasized the collective, that we are inclusive, and that together, we are stronger.

Examples of the TESOL Spirit abound today –

• The TESOL community includes more than 100 English language teaching associations worldwide. The TESOL Association is a professional home for thousands of ELT professionals worldwide. And we find smaller, more intimate learning communities in the MYTESOL space.

• The TESOL Spirit is exemplified in the power of shared narratives and stories to connect people, such as TESOL’s site “Meet Members: Hear From Members About Why They Love the TESOL Community”

• With each issue of the TESOL Connections (TC), we find examples of sharing and learning, such as the lead article in the current TC issue: “6 Steps to Submitting a Successful TESOL Convention Proposal.”

• The ANPC is at the forefront of sharing professional learning opportunities for TESOL members, as evidenced by Jermaine McDougald’s detailed discussion in “The Power of Collaboration and Networking Amongst TESOL Affiliates.”

• And sometimes, when as a community we feel that we have fallen short of our ideals, we do the hard work. We do the important work. In TESOL Spirit, we reflect; we regroup, and reimagine how we can better live our ideals. A recent example is TESOL’s Initiative in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.

So, returning to my early morning musings, I realize that my closing salutation of “In TESOL Spirit” has come back to me naturally, harkening back to my formative years in the TESOL Community. The communications in which I now engage, on a daily basis, are the essence of our TESOL Spirit: Worldwide volunteers coming together, sharing our talents and gifts, to create a better ELT world.

“In TESOL Spirit” – Those are three nifty little words. They remind us of who we are, and why we do what we do. Three little words that are at once both a promise and call-to-action.

Thank you to the ANPC for this opportunity to contribute to this newsletter. I look forward to the coming year as ANPC liaison and creating partnerships with TESOL Affiliates.

Wishing all of you, dear TESOLers, in affiliates around the world, peace, productivity, collaboration, meaning, passion, and purpose.

Now, as always, In TESOL Spirit,

Debra

Debra Suarez (Ph.D., MS-TESOL, MBA) is the President-elect of TESOL International Association. Dr. Suarez comes to this position after a lifetime of serving the population of English language learners, minorities, immigrants, refugees, and ELT professionals. Debra has been a university professor, international educator, and senior federal leader, most recently serving in the White House Initiatives, US Department of Education, and University of Maryland College Park. Dr. Suarez's term in the TESOL Presidential-line is 2023 to 2026.