I am honored and excited to be chair-elect of our group at a time when so many English language teachers are incorporating video and digital media into their lessons. In the very near future, we will likely see digital media supplant textbooks, something that may well happen sooner in certain so-called "developing" countries. Though disparities along socioeconomic lines will remain, the majority of English language teachers and learners in classrooms "on the ground" and "in the cloud" will grow to depend on digital media, recognizing its awesome power to promote communicative language learning in ways that books, audio CDs, and clumsy language lab software simply could not.

As prices come down, connectivity goes up, and digital media tools become increasingly "teacher-learner friendly," we in VDMIS have a wonderful opportunity to serve as guides for our fellow ELTs. We can surely help them discover and understand new technologies. But more important, we can show them how to use digital media to create lessons that inspire learners to love English and seek out opportunities to use it.

I'm looking forward to meeting and working with you in 2013–2014.

Warm wishes to you all!

Peace and respect,

Jason R. Levine (Jase)

Jason R Levine (Jase, for short) has fifteen years of experience in ELT as a teacher, teacher trainer, and materials writer. He the creator of ColloLearn, an approach to English language learning based on the songs he writes and performs as Fluency MC.

Jase teaches in the MA TESOL program at the New School and works as an English Specialist for the U.S. Department of State.