SRIS Newsletter - February 2016 (Plain Text Version)

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In this issue:
LEADERSHIP UPDATES
•  LETTER FROM THE EDITORS
•  LETTER FROM THE SRIS CHAIR
•  LETTER FROM THE SRIS CHAIR-ELECT
•  LETTER FROM THE SRIS PAST CHAIR
ARTICLES
•  NAVIGATING SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY ALONGSIDE MIGRANT WORKERS IN AN ESOL CLASSROOM
•  AUDIO INTERVIEW WITH PRESENTER: DR. SUHANTHIE MOTHA
•  AUDIO INTERVIEW WITH PRESENTERS: DRS. IBRAHIM AND BARNAWI
•  TESOL ADVOCACY AND POLICY SUMMIT - 2015
•  CROSSING BORDERS AND BUILDING BRIDGES WITH HALF THE SKY
EXTRA CATEGORIES
•  TESOL CONVENTION 2015 RECAP
•  BOOK REVIEW: MY PINK ROAD TO RUSSIA
ABOUT THIS COMMUNITY
•  COMMUNITY NEWS
•  SRIS MISSION & CONCERNS

LEADERSHIP UPDATES

LETTER FROM THE EDITORS

Lavette Coney, The Fessenden School, West Newton, Massachusetts, USA & Sara Keyes Ray, Teachers Against Prejudice, New Canaan, Connecticut, USA

Lavette Coney

Sara Keyes Ray

Welcome to the postconvention issue, SRIS members!

We have a socially responsible issue for you this month following the convention! February 2013 was the last time we published our newsletter and we are so excited to revive it; therefore, your participation and contributions are needed and encouraged.

We are proud to deliver this very special issue full of opportunities to relive the TESOL 2015 International Convention if you attended and to learn about what you missed if you were unable to join us. We will bring you more in our fall issue, which will include articles from members; tweet survey results from Eman, our community manager; and a spotlight on the history of SRIS from two of our esteemed founders and longest-standing members, Kip Cates and Rob Clement. Our winter issue will prepare needed information before the next convention, including a list of socially responsible sessions and times for us to bond as a group over dinner in Baltimore.

I, Lavette Coney, bring passion and dedication to this new editor's post. Being a person of African descent, my sense of social responsibility and equity was evident early on and still weighs heavily upon me. I, Sara Keyes Ray, am excited to serve SRIS in this capacity and to expand our reach as we share tools and resources for promoting social responsibility through our professions.

SRIS is one of the only obvious places to address diversity and inclusion within TESOL at this time. We are committed to the truth that learning cannot occur without personal connections, which necessitates us recognizing our social responsibility as educators. James Comer said that "no significant learning can occur without a significant relationship." To ignore what shapes our identities, communities, and society in the classroom is to do a disservice to the diverse learners for whom we teach, facilitate, and advocate.

We have a heavy burden to carry, but it can be lighter if we all contribute to emphasizing the vital importance of being active and socially responsible professionals. We look forward to your enthusiastic involvement in our collective SRIS objectives and goals.

Your editors,

Lavette Coney and Sara Keyes Ray