Greetings CALL-ISers! I’m pleased to share with you the latest edition of On CALL. This preconvention special has some articles that explore pedagogy and teaching using CALL as well as information about Electronic Village (EV) events at the Chicago TESOL convention. Make sure you see the sidebar or click here for the EV Program; Mr. Justin Shewell, a former chair, has included a searchable PDF version, which might expedite your conference planning.

I’d like to thank all the contributors to this edition. Of course, our stellar steering committee: Claudio Fleury (Chair), Jack Watson (Past Chair), and Christine Sabieh (Chair-Elect). Incoming co-chairs-elects Maria Tomeho-Palermino and Jennifer Meyer will take the wheel after the convention. As Jack noted, with steering committee members on three continents, an amazing amount of work has been accomplished seamlessly and efficiently. This speaks volumes on the future of this IS. Incidentally, steering committee member elections will be held at the Open Meeting in Chicago, so keep an eye out for the call for nominations in late February.

I’d also like to thank the newsletter editing team of under whose sharp editorial eyes, nothing unexpected gets out: Suzanne Bardasz, Grazzia Mendoza, Sandy Wagner, and two newbies from the University of South Florida: Patrick Mannion and Babak Khoshnevian. I’d also like to thank my mentor, Suzan Stamper. Suzan, a senior lecturer and English language team leader at Yew Chung Community College in Hong Kong (and longtime newsletter editor), puts out her 12th anniversary “Making Connections” column. Breaking with tradition, in this issue, she looks back at some members' answers to another set of questions from 10 years ago.

Even if you can’t make it to the convention, there are a wide variety of ways to stay active professionally. One way to stay current is to watch some of the webcasts that are available on the CALL-IS YouTube channel. See the following channels for the Technology Showcase and Electronic Village. If you haven’t already, please make sure you see the sidebars in this issue for links to the EV Program and our Facebook and Twitter pages. While there, please take time to take the poll.

If there is something that you would like to see in our newsletter, or if you’d like to join the newsletter team, contact me.

Thanks and I hope to hear from you soon,

Larry

From Suzanne

Hello CALL-ISers! My name is Suzanne Bardasz, and I am the incoming editor of the CALL-IS newsletter. I am really excited to be a part of this newsletter and to continue the great work that Larry and others have done!

Like all of you, I am interested in CALL and its potential in helping learners improve and gain confidence in their skills. I have taught internationally and to all language and age levels in Poland and in South Korea, as well as in the United States. In these teaching contexts, CALL has helped me and my students reach our goals.

As Larry mentioned in his letter, there are many ways that you can get involved in this IS and in TESOL, such as writing an article, watching a webcast, or reviewing an app. Don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any ideas or suggestions for this newsletter. We look forward to hearing from you!

Suzanne

Larry Udry has worked at Divine Word College, a small Catholic seminary in Epworth, Iowa, USA since 2003. He has published the On CALL Newsletter and has served on the CALL-IS Steering Committee since 2009. Recently, he published an environmentally themed ESL e-text with Kendall Hunt. Prior to his position at Divine Word College, he worked in UT Martin for 11 years, where he published the TNTESOL Newsletter.

Suzanne Bardasz currently works at UC Davis Extension IEPP in Davis, California, USA, where she mainly teaches upper level composition classes as well as classes in the English for Science and Technology (EST) program. She previously taught English at the Korea Advanced Institute for Science and Technology (KAIST) in Daejeon, South Korea for nearly 5 years.