ITAIS Newsletter - February 2021 (Plain Text Version)

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In this issue:
LEADERSHIP UPDATES
•  LETTER FROM THE CHAIR
•  LETTER FROM CHAIR-ELECT
•  LETTER FROM THE EDITORS
ARTICLES
•  TOWARDS AN ITA VIDEO CLIP REPOSITORY: INSPIRATION FROM A WEBSITE FOR ARABIC LEARNING
•  FUNCTIONAL LANGUAGE FOR CLASSROOM TEACHING
•  PANDEMIC PEDAGOGY: MY EXPERIMENTS IN ENGAGING INTERNATIONAL TEACHING ASSISTANTS ON ZOOM
ABOUT THIS COMMUNITY
•  ITAIS COMMUNITY EVENTS UPDATE
•  HISTORY OF ITA INTEREST SECTION
•  CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS FOR ITAIS NEWSLETTER

LEADERSHIP UPDATES

LETTER FROM THE CHAIR

Maria Mendoza, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida, USA

Dear Colleagues,

Reflecting on the past year as part of the ITA-IS, the first thing that comes to mind is that we have become stronger as a community. There have been challenges, but also opportunities for professional growth. We could not reconnect in person last year, but we created multiple opportunities to connect online and support each other as we navigated the challenges our programs experienced due to the pandemic. I value how much we have learned in this process, and I am so glad to be learning alongside such a wonderful group of colleagues.

I invite you to continue participating in the upcoming events. I encourage you to register and join the 2021 TESOL International Convention (March 24-27, 2021) to be held virtually. We will be able to access pre-recorded sessions and join live Q&A sessions during this time. We also have one more webinar in February before the convention. Here is a list of topics for these upcoming events:

• ITA-IS Webinar: Instructional Design as an Alternative Career Path for TESOL Professionals
• Academic Session: ITA Programs and Internationalization: A Local Transformative Resource Approach
• InterSection: Effective Practices for One-on-One Pronunciation Feedback to International Teaching Assistants

As always, I am grateful for the opportunity to serve in the ITA-IS steering committee. I would like to thank all current committee members: Mo Burke, Stacy Suhaldoc, Cynthia DeRoma, Belinda Braunstein, Sarah Emory, James Coda, Ekaterina Arshavskaya, Diane Cotsonas, and Sarah Kegley. Thank you for your service to the ITA-IS! It has been an honor to work with you this year and to serve as chair. Finally, I would like to welcome Kayla Landers and Laurie Frazier who will be serving during the 2021-2022 period.

I look forward to many more years working and learning with all of you. Thank you for being part of this wonderful group and for allowing me to serve as chair.

Cheers,

Maria