Dear ICIS TESOL Members,

When you think of Intercultural Communication, what is the first thing that comes to mind? Some of you may think of your classrooms and the interactions with your multilingual and multicultural students. Some of you may think of your personal experiences and reflections working toward improving your communication skills with pretty much anyone and everyone. There is a lot to be said for continuous personal and professional growth and this is why I am so happy to share with you some of the professional development opportunities that the ICIS team has collectively planned for you this year.

• On June 30^th, we welcomed Dr. Amina Douidi and friends for a coffee hour for international perspectives on intercultural communicative competence.
• On July 28^th, we welcomed Dr. Luis Javier Penton Herrera for an academic webinar entitled “Dwelling in the third space: Indigenous Maya and Kichwa students in U.S. K-12 and Higher Education Classrooms.”
• On August 25^th, we welcome current doctoral student Saurabh Anand for a coffee hour on what opportunities poetry offers L2 classrooms and intercultural communicative competence.
• On September 24^th, we welcome doctoral students to share their works-in-progress in a “Lightning Talk” webinar about Current Trends in Intercultural Communication.
• On October 27^th, ICIS is planning a coffee hour to engage our thinking in “Multiliteracies, Multimodals, and Embodiment”.
• On November 17^th, we welcome Dr. Joshua Gordon for an academic webinar about L2 Phonology, NNEST Cognitions, and ICC.

In total, we have four exciting coffee hours, three academic webinars, and two lightning talks scheduled for this year. We hope you will join us for reflection, collaboration, and opportunity for growth!

All the best,

Dr. Jennifer A. Lacroix, ICIS Co-Chair