Dear ICIS community,

The theme of intercultural communication and its role in the field of language learning was prominent in this year’s TESOL convention. We are glad to say that next year’s convention has given a key position to issues related to intercultural communication. Our interest group has valuable experience which could be shared with others, therefore as a community we need to actively get involved in TESOL and raise our concerns and voice. It is only through our involvement that we will be able to impact English language teaching and learning to become a more democratic and inclusive practice.

A community is shaped by its members. Each one of us can add and participate in forming our identity as a group. We already have a lot in common. We are all language teachers and we are all interested in learning about other cultures. Our starting point is from our commonalities, but we all value differences and do not see them as a threat but a source of inspiration and learning opportunity.

So let’s raise the voice of our community by actively participating in sharing our experiences not only within our group but with the TESOL community. We invite you all to share your views and experience with members of our community through our newsletter. We also urge all of you to get more involved in the leadership of our community. What you need to bring is your enthusiasm and ideas. We are looking forward to hearing from you.

Nasima Yamchi
Chair-Elect 2013–2014