Hello everyone, and thank you for taking time to read our latest VDMIS newsletter. A very warm welcome to new and active VDMIS members alike. I know you will enjoy this issue (and of course, the summer as well). Herein, you will read about how to make authentic assessments for the flipped classroom by Evelyn Doman and Marie Webb. Kevin McManus describes how to exploit Pixar animated shorts for storytelling in ESL/EFL lessons. Crystal Bock Thiessen offers us six creative and engaging activities for student smartphone cameras, and Manon Reiber-Kuijpers discusses what was learned about Dutch EFL teachers’ cognitions to develop students’ digital reading skills further.

On a more personal note, as we go to press, I still don’t know whether or not I will stay on in Japan and if my teaching career will end in this lovely country after 21 years. If it does, I will return to my native country of Canada and look for work in the Toronto area. As you can imagine, there is lots of suspense and drama…all to the tune of “who knows?”. Anyway, I hope to continue on as VDMIS coeditor of our postconvention newsletter. Old habits die hard, they say! This is especially true when the work is pleasant; I learn a lot from our wonderful, passionate contributors; and there is a patient, kind colleague/coeditor and a great team to collaborate with.

Elke Stappert and Suzi Lee are now at the helm of our ship and have such exciting plans for us all. Do read their messages in this issue because they can guide you to new and perhaps unexplored horizons in addition to providing you with useful techniques, activities, and support. We also want to welcome new members coming aboard: Michelle Kaplan, VDMIS community manager, and Rodrigo Carvalho, VDMIS member-at-large.

Finally, do please consider submitting a conference report, an activity, or an article on digital media, video, art, or music to upcoming issues of our newsletter. The next submission deadlines are 4 January, to be sent to coeditor Kenneth Chyi at kennethchyi@gmail.com, or 8 June, to me at cjoyce2013@gmail.com. Both of us are looking forward to working with you on your contributions and then celebrating together when they have been published in our VDMIS newsletter.

Wishing you all the very best, and happy reading!

Joyce Cunningham

TESOL Video News coeditor

Professor Emerita, Ibaraki University, Japan