Dear SRIS Membership,

Greetings from a very warm Southern California!

This summer, the leadership team has been working on putting together two InterSections and one academic session for TESOL 2018 in Chicago. Information on these three sessions will be forthcoming in the upcoming months. On one hand, TESOL 2018 feels distant, and yet we have to work months in advance to ensure a quality convention.

Of course, not all of who we are and what we do should be centered on the annual convention. Thank you to those who took the time to fill out the survey that we are using to compile information on the issues that our membership is passionate about and active in. If you have not completed this survey, you may do so now here.

Please be on the lookout for a second survey to complete. This survey identifies the top “strands” within SRIS and asks for members to choose primary and secondary strands that represent their area of passion and action.

Here are the strands that have already been identified:

• Gender and ELT
• Incorporation of Social Justice Into Teacher Ed/Training
• Peacebuilding and ELT
• LGBTQ+ and ELT
• Global Education
• Environmental Responsibility
• Immigrant Rights and Access to Education
• Racial, Linguistic, and Cultural Discrimination
• Advocating for English learners
  
  

As we work to organize our interest section, please think about a few questions:

• Are you interested in stepping into leadership within an SRIS strand?
• What, in your perspective, would an active “strand” do?
• Are there remaining areas of social responsibility and ELT that are not named in the list above that you think should be added?
  
  

We are very interested in your input and feedback. We would love to hear from you! Please feel free to email me or any of the leadership team.

Warmly,

Laura Jacob

Laura Jacob is the current chair of the Social Responsibility Interest Section and coeditor of Social Justice in English Language Teaching (published by TESOL Press), and she teaches adults at Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut, California. She has previously lived in South America, Japan, and India.