As we begin the New Year, I would like to wish all of our TESOL members a happy, healthy, and meaningful 2019!

This is also a great time to look back on 2018, and I would like to highlight some of the things that we did as an association to advance the expertise of professionals who teach English to speakers of other languages in multilingual contexts worldwide.

1. We expanded our global presence and connectivity by bringing together more than 6,000 TESOL professionals from 110 countries for the annual TESOL Convention & English Language Expo in Chicago, Illinois, USA; hosting our first annual TESOL China Assembly in Shanghai, China for 1,800 participants; and partnering with TESOL affiliates to deliver symposia and academies to 300 TESOL professionals in Canada and Honduras.
   
   In 2019, we plan to build on this with what promises to be an outstanding TESOL Convention in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, a bigger TESOL China Assembly in Hangzhou, China, and a Symposium on World Englishes in partnership with the Croatian Association of Teachers of English in Poreč, Croatia.

2. We strengthened the knowledge and expertise of TESOL professionals in a number of ways. We enrolled more than 2,000 TESOL professionals in professional learning opportunities in the past year. We launched The 6 Principles for Exemplary Teaching of English Learners, which has experienced unprecedented demand. We are following up the first volume, which focused on K–12 education in the U.S. context, with products focused on adult education and workforce development, English for academic and specific purposes, and paraeducators. At the Convention in March, we will debut professional learning programs focused on the 6 Principles, including a training of trainers preconvention event, several 6 Principles–focused sessions, and a special 6 Principles session during PreK–12 Day.

3. We helped raise the voice of TESOL members and advocate for the TESOL profession, professionals, and students around the world, launching our Public Policy Professional Council, issuing several letters and public statements in support of English language teachers and students, and hosting our annual Advocacy and Policy Summit. We plan to continue these efforts in 2019, while also helping to strengthen our collective voice by launching an online grassroots advocacy toolkit. Stay tuned for ways in which you can get involved!

We have much more work to do in 2019 and beyond. As always in education, our work is never done. There are always new students, new approaches, and more things for us to learn as well. I hope that you will all join us to help engage with and support your fellow TESOL members through these activities and many more.

Christopher Powers
TESOL Executive Director
Email: cpowers@tesol.org
Twitter: @TESOL_Powers