ICIS Newsletter - March 2023 (Plain Text Version)
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LETTER FROM THE CO-EDITOR Amina Douidi, DEI and Intercultural Communication Consultant, UK
Dear Intercultural Communication members, As we close yet another TESOL year to begin a new one with more energy, a fresher and hopefully more critical outlook into our field, our general sentiment is gratefulness. We are grateful to all those who engaged with our newsletter by submitting contributions, reading and sharing the work of colleagues. This newsletter is only the tip of the iceberg of what constitutes the makeup of the intersection’s activities. Here, we only get to showcase some of the reflections on current issues in the study and practice of Intercultural Communication and language learning. The other part of the iceberg, the deeper one, happens live; during the webinars, the coffee hours and the lightning talks. This year’s activities called for an acute degree of criticality and empathy as we deconstructed Whiteness in English language teaching with Dr JPB Gerald, reflected on ways to promote equitable pedagogy in the classroom with Dr Hatime Ciftci, and listened to the teachers of English working in Ukraine and with Ukrainian students as they navigate the challenges of teaching in a time of war. You can find the recordings of some of our events on our Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@ICIS_TESOL. See ICIS 2022-2023 ACTIVITIES: a summary of TESOL ICIS 2022-2023 activities. This issue of InterCom is the Spring 2023 pre-convention edition! Here, we have an announcement from our Co-Chairs about the ICIS-featured presentations and collaborations with other interest sections at the upcoming TESOL Convention in Portland, USA, 21-24, 2023. We also are featuring a lesson plan and two book commentaries. In the article section, we are happy to feature a spotlight on two books: (1) Raphaëlle Beecroft’s “The performativity of the intercultural speaker. Promoting savoir agir through improvisational tasks” and (2) Melina Porto (ed)’s: “From critical literacy to critical pedagogy in English language teaching. Using teacher made materials in difficult contexts”. The commentaries are a courtesy of Professor Emeritus Mike Byram who has accepted to share his reflections on the manuscripts which discuss teaching and research projects at the intersection of language learning and critical pedagogy. This issue also includes a special feature, a lesson plan by Liliia Domashovets aimed at practicing listening skills and developing cultural awareness and critical thinking. Liliia is a material writer and a teacher of English based in Ukraine. In this lesson, the focus is on the theme of ‘Ramdan’ because, she notes that some of her students ‘have very little knowledge of how people who practice Islam live and what their values are, even though the Ukrainian Muslim community is rather large’. In an industry, the English Language Teaching industry, where religion can be considered a taboo, material writers like Liliia choose to innovate and collaborate with learners in order to create spaces for intercultural communication and empathy. If you use Liliia’s lesson plan and materials, which she kindly adapted to both online and in-person teaching, please make sure to share with her your experience and feedback. I’d like to personally invite you to join us in our effort to shed a brighter light on the work of teachers and researchers who are promoting interculturality in language learning. There are many ways to get involved. Our ICIS committee is always open to new members. In addition, the “Coffee Hours,” are an informal space to present your work and socialize. The “Lightning Talks” are energetic spaces for succinct presentations where graduates showcase their work in progress. Also, you can engage with our events on our social media channels on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Youtube. Another way to connect with ICIS is to submit a piece to the ICIS newsletter. Share your insights or a lesson plan, experiences regarding intercultural learning, teaching intercultural competence or cultural exchange in your educational setting. Please see our Call for Submissions for links to the author guidelines and call. The next deadline is April 15, 2023. Please email your submissions to newsletter.icis.tesol@gmail.com. Finally, I’d like to end this letter by saying THANK YOU to our outgoing co-chairs Andrea Enikő Lypka, and Barbara Lapornik for their leadership and commitment to widening the participation of teachers and researchers with a passion for social justice in education. Josephine Prado and Leslie Bohon, our incoming co-chairs have big shoes to fill. Good luck! A special thank you as well goes to Silvina Mascitti who acted as a guest reviewer in this newsletter. Silvina is a prolific material writer with more than 20 years experience teaching English. She creates and shares lesson plans on her website EFLcreativeideas.com. We trust you will enjoy the features in this newsletter. We hope to see many of you at the TESOL Convention next month either in person or online! On behalf of ICIS Co-editors, Amina Douidi, ICIS Newsletter Co-Editors
Dr Amina Douidi holds a PhD from the University of Southampton, UK. Her research focuses on intercultural representation, interaction and dialogic pedagogy. She works with ELT publishers as a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion consultant. |
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