Hello!

I would like to introduce myself as the new editor for the International Teaching Assistants (ITA) Interest Section. It was very nice to meet many of you in Seattle at the 2017 TESOL convention a few months ago. I also look forward to getting to know more people involved with this interest section. I currently teach ESL in the Academic English Program at the University of South Florida (USF) in Tampa, and have taught an ITA communication course a few times in the past here at USF.

I am very excited to be in this role as editor and to be part of all this fascinating ITA discussion. We have three articles that offer valuable insight into the ITA field. The first one discusses solutions for receiving more support from the campus community for ITA professionals. The second article is written by four ITAs describing their experiences teaching in a U.S. university and the challenges they faced in the classroom, and the third article provides excellent ideas for activities to practice leading discussions.

I hope you enjoy reading these articles as well as the letters from the chair and past chair. If you have a topic that you would like to write about, please consider it for the next newsletter, which is expected to publish in early October.

Laura