ITAIS Newsletter - May 2014 (Plain Text Version)

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In this issue:
Leadership Updates
•  LETTER FROM THE CHAIR
•  LETTER FROM THE CHAIR-ELECT
•  ABOUT THIS ISSUE
Articles
•  A SUMMARY OF ACTIVITIES TO HELP INTERNATIONAL TEACHING ASSISTANTS BUILD THEIR LANGUAGE SKILLS: PART 1
•  ITAS' EXPERIENCES IN U.S. CLASSROOMS: A REPORT FOR ITA PROGRAM DEVELOPERS
•  CULTURAL INFLUENCES ON INTERNATIONAL TEACHING ASSISTANTS' CLASSROOM INTERACTIONS
ABOUT THIS COMMUNITY
•  WHAT IS THE ITA INTEREST SECTION?

Leadership Updates

LETTER FROM THE CHAIR

Rebecca Oreto, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA

Hello to all of my fellow ITA-ISers! This is Rebecca Oreto, your new chair. I am excited to be your voice at TESOL, and I am interested in hearing your ideas.

I’d like to start out by thanking the 2013–2014 Steering Committee for all of the behind-the-scenes work they did to make it such a successful year. Much of that work is never seen by the IS membership, so let me lead a virtual round of applause for our fearless leaders!

We have a great Steering Committee for 2014–2015:

Chair-Elect: Liz Tummons, University of Missouri
Past Chair: Kim Kenyon, Cornell University
Secretary: Elizabeth Gillstrom, University of Pennsylvania
Co-editors: Sarah Emory, Carnegie Mellon University
                      Mary Jetter, University of Minnesota
Members-at-Large: Barbara Beers, University of Minnesota
                                    Stephen Looney, Pennsylvania State University

Our IS had a great business meeting in Portland at the 2014 convention, with a lot of brainstorming for sessions in 2015. At the IS Leadership Meeting, our IS took on a task that addresses an issue that has been plaguing the IS for several years—the overlapping scheduling of many of our sessions with the academic sessions, InterSections, and posters. Our IS is going to sponsor a resolution, submitted to the IS leadership, bringing official attention to the problem. I will be taking the lead on this, working with the Rules and Resolutions Committee to write a good resolution that will be voted on at the next IS Leadership Meeting.

Other Steering Committee members will be taking the lead on other projects; they will ask for help from the membership as their projects come to fruition.

Looking forward to a great year!