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Hello Fellow SPLISers!
As we look forward to another TESOL convention, it’s
hard to believe it’s been almost a year since Mike Burri handed over the
shiny gold doll chair that represents the responsibilities of SPLIS
leadership to me in Dallas. What a year it’s been!
This year, as you may be aware, we have continued to
strengthen our ties with IATEFL’s Pronunciation Special Interest Group
through a couple of jointly sponsored webinars. On January 29, SPLIS
member Char Heitman delivered a fantastic presentation, “15
Content-Based Activities for Incorporating Pronunciation Instruction
Across the Curriculum.” We attempted to follow up with a fielded
discussion; however, it wasn’t as successful as we had hoped due to the
unwieldy nature of the platform we used. Lessons have been learned, and
we now look forward to Pron SIG’s speaker, Luke Harding, on May 14. As
with Char’s webinar, Luke’s presentation will be open to everyone and
available live and as a recording. Stay tuned for more
details!
Before we come to that, though, we have the TESOL
annual convention in Portland to look forward to. I am very excited
about attending the SPLIS presentations and can’t wait to be informed
and inspired, as I always am by TESOL professionals. As well, this year,
SPLIS is involved in several interesting
InterSections:
- “Exploring Priorities and Possibilities for
Integrating Pronunciation Into ESP Lessons,” Thursday, 3–4:45 pm, Room
B116 (SPLIS-ESPIS)
-
“Classroom Pragmatics: Research and Best Practices
for Avoiding Potential Pitfalls,” Friday 3–4:45, Room A105
(ITA-SPLIS-NNEST)
- “Social Interaction and ELT Across Settings,”
Saturday 11:30 am–1:15 pm, Room PB251 (ALIS-SPLIS)
Every year, I marvel at just how knowledgeable our
members seem to be and how generous they are with that knowledge.
Regardless of the fact that I have taught pronunciation for more years
than I care to count, I never fail to learn something new at TESOL and
return to my teaching reinvigorated and full of new ideas. After seeing
the SPLIS offerings for 2014, I am sure we can expect much of the
same.
Something else I look forward to at TESOL is a chance
to meet colleagues when I do my time at the SPLIS information table. I
enjoy this time because it gives me an hour during the whirlwind of
sessions and meetings to breathe. All you have to do to be a great SPLIS
representative is smile at passers-by, hand out our SPLIS freebies
(feathers, kazoos, rubber bands, and this year book marks containing key
SPLIS session information) and chat with visitors. You don’t have to
know a lot about SPLIS or be a Steering Committee member; if you have an
enthusiasm for speaking, pronunciation, or listening and want to enjoy
an hour of friendly conversation, consider adding your name to Mary’s
list by emailing her at mdiaz@broward.edu.
Finally, I wanted to invite each of you to attend the
SPLIS Open Meeting on Thursday evening from 6:45 to 8 pm in Room C122.
This is a great opportunity to network with the movers and shakers in
our field. (I always get a little starstruck when I realize I am sitting
among some of the SPLIS legends!) It’s also a good chance to learn how
to become more involved in SPLIS and TESOL. And you won’t want to miss
the excitement of that magic moment when I will hand over that shiny
SPLIS chair to Veronica Sargegna!
See you in Portland or online!
Tamara Jones
SPLIS Chair
Tamara Jones has been an ESL instructor for 17 years.
She has taught in Russia, South Korea, England, the United States, and
Belgium. She is currently an instructor at the British School of
Brussels. Tamara holds a PhD in education from the University of
Sheffield in England. |
