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Andrea Enikő Lypka
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Barbara Lapornik
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Dear ICIS Members and Friends,
It has been a tumultuous time to serve while the world experienced a pandemic as well as the anxieties that it engendered amongst our colleagues in the TESOL field. As we navigate the unpredictability this pandemic has imposed, it is clear that we need to be resilient and participate in TESOL in “new” ways. We would like to share what we are doing as an Interest Section (IS) to support each other, English Language Learners (ELLs) and practise inclusion, self-care, and Intercultural Communication in our classrooms. Below we reflect on this year’s TESOL Conference Convention & Language Expo and the importance of having a sustainable IS community. We also celebrate our supportive team members and provide a glimpse of our upcoming professional development opportunities.
This year’s convention disrupted the pre-pandemic in-person conference experience. Barbara was able to attend presentations in person and Andrea online. We both enjoyed this year’s convention in ways that perhaps were not possible in a pre-pandemic time. Barbara connected with friends and attendees during Pittsburgh’s plenaries, panels and talks; Andrea followed the sessions and the proceedings online and joined in for the lively annual ICIS business meeting. The hybrid conference was a great start for this new year to break down traditional confines, and bring together a broader range of professionals in a “new normal” space.
Our gratitude is amplified for our interest section members’ on-going support, work, and time devoted to ICIS. Amy Alice Chastain and Natalia Balyasnikova – thank you immensely for your service and leadership. We look forward to continued interactions with you through the conference and any other activities you may want to be involved in. To our dedicated members and leadership team: Leslie Bohon-Atkinson, Daniela DeSilva, Amina Douidi, Soyoung Sarah Han, Jennifer Lacroix, Ha Nguyen, Josephine G. Prado, Roxanna M. Senyshyn, Sarah Emory, Sharon Tjaden-Glass, and Ramin Yazdanpanah – we are grateful for your passion, friendship, and commitment to serve our community and support our colleagues.
Our ICIS leadership team will continue to build on ideas and projects by the 2021-2022 ICIS Co-Chairs, Jennifer A. Lacroix and Natalia Balyasnikova and expand our collaborative professional development space on the ICIS page on myTESOL, Twitter, and Facebook. We are excited that we have 1.3 K members on MyTESOL, 1,887 on Facebook, and 407 on Twitter – we also invite you to join the monthly leadership meetings, webinars, coffee hours, and other professional development opportunities this year.
- We dedicated the April coffee hour to reflect on TESOL convention and explore future plans and wishes. We continue to cooperate with other ISes and seek ideas to collaborate on publishing and collaborating on research and teaching projects.
- Our May coffee hour, “Developing Intercultural Competence in Monolingual Settings” focused on IC activities created by Kelly Hill-Zirker, Bethany D. Peters, and Heather Zitlau.
- The June coffee hour explored opportunities for collaboration with Judy Wong and Ramin Yazdanpanah.
- In August, Amina Douidi will share her experiences related to incorporating IC in learning materials.
- The ICIS Lightning talk webinar in September will feature "Research-in-Progress in Intercultural Communication and Language Teaching." Phd., MA students, and Researchers may submit a proposal here: https://forms.gle/Vc5Gh2Eiji3Wz47q6
A Lightning Talk is a very short presentation lasting only five minutes, which is given to a wide audience. The webinar will be on Wednesday, September 28, 2022, 12-1pm EST.
- The October coffee hour, “Meeting Each Other at the Intersections of Our Identities through Music and Mindfulness” will be hosted by Ramin Yazdanpanah.
- In the January Lightning Talk session, “Voices from the Field,” we welcome practitioners to share innovative ways of implementing IC in the classrooms (i.e., oral, written, digital, theater, drama, arts, etc.) to teach, promote, and engage in ESL learning.
To continue the tradition, the ICIS is also planning its academic and intersection panels during the TESOL 2023 Convention in collaboration with the Computer-Assisted Language Learning Interest Section (CALL-IS) and Reading and Vocabulary Interest Section (RV-IS). We will share more information about them in the next newsletter issue.
From the diverse professional development opportunities above, it is easy to see that there are multiple ways to be involved. We extend a cordial invitation to those of you who are interested in sharing their knowledge and expertise in an ICIS webinar, coffee hour or other events. Consider running for a leadership position, contributing to our newsletter, engaging in public discussions by TESOL/EFL teachers, and sharing conference calls, articles, and books on ICC on our social media. We hope you will join us for this timely and important conversation to move ICIS forward and become a vital part of our community of practice.
We look forward to engaging you in the upcoming months.
Please reach out with questions or comments.
Warm wishes,
Andrea Enikő Lypka & Barbara Lapornik, ICIS Co-Chairs 2022-2023
Andrea Enikő Lypka, Ph.D. is the Co-Chair of the Intercultural Communication Interest Section of Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) International and the Vice President of the Sunshine State TESOL. She holds a Ph.D. in Second Language Acquisition and Instructional Technology and an M.A. in Mass Communications, with twelve years of experience in language teaching, instructional design, research, teacher training, instructional technology and administration. She is the E-Learning Program Manager for the Pinellas Education Foundation in Florida, having joined the organization in September 2021. Prior to stepping into this role, she worked with adult ESL, digital literacy, financial literacy, and citizenship programs as the director. She presents nationally and internationally on a wide variety of topics including, digital equity, student identity, storytelling, intercultural communication, and more. You can contact Andrea at alypka@mail.usf.edu
Barbara Lapornik, M.A. currently acts as the Co-Chair of the Intercultural Communication Interest Section of Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL). She comes from the city of Trieste, Italy, where she is currently the vice- principal, the European project manager, the EFL exam tutor and English literature teacher at the bilingual high school Liceo Scientifico Statale- Državni Znanstveni licej “France Prešeren“. She has a twenty- five- year experience in organizing and coordinating EU international projects, student exchanges and international civic and citizenship competitions. She speaks at conferences in Europe and the United States. Her main interest is intercultural student education in diverse studying contexts and the interlink between theoretical principles and professional practice. She can be contacted at: barbara.lapornik@gmail.com |
