By Dakota Breen, Past-President
At the end of March 2023, I was able to travel to Portland, Oregon, to attend the TESOL International Convention. The conference hosted over 900 in-person sessions and over 200 virtual sessions during the TESOL Virtual Conference on April 3-4th. It was a great time to attend as I was able to get a glimpse of Spring. Here in the Dakotas, it seems Spring is nowhere in sight, but Portland was full of fresh blooms and green grass. The conference, of course, had much more to it than just Spring weather. Below I highlight some of the sessions I was able to participate in.
There were four different keynote addresses. The one that stuck with me the most was a Presidential Panel called “Inspiring the Future of Research in ELT”. The panel made up of researchers representing AAAL, TESOL, and TIRF discussed the gaps between research in the field of English language teaching and the actual classroom where the teaching is happening. A particular quote by Shondel Nero, who is a professor of Language Education at New York University, stuck with me:
“Too often teachers are seen as the consumer of research rather than the creator.”
The panel went on to discuss how the future of Research in ELT needs to have researchers in the classroom more AND the classroom teachers more involved. The idea of the classroom teacher as co-author of the research was posited which I found very interesting. It got me thinking about ways our region could be empowering more educators to be teacher-researchers within their own classrooms. How powerful it would be to have a support program out there for educators to guide them in this work! Of course, this happens at the graduate and doctoral level when seeking degrees, but what of a teacher who simply wants to pose a question to research that affects them and their classroom directly? Many teachers do this informally every day but often lack the confidence to take it that step further to formalize the process and perhaps even publish their findings.
Of the eight break-out sessions I attended, I will choose to focus on one that had the biggest impact on me. It centered around the text Teacher Leadership for School-Wide English Learning (SWEL) by Michelle Benegas, Ph.D., and Amy Stolpestad, EdD. I chose this session as I was signed up to take the three-workshop series to learn about this approach to language in the classroom just a couple of weeks later. Taken directly from their slides, “The SWEL Framework trains ESL teachers to share their expertise through delivering professional development and providing peer coaching to their general education colleagues. This collaboration leverages site-based teacher leadership to advance linguistic equity through the support of multilingual learners in all grades and classrooms.”
What I got excited about the most from this preview of things to come in this training journey I’m about to go on is that it helps ESL teachers guide other teachers, administrators, schools, and even districts in figuring out what their needs are in terms of professional development related to teaching English Learners. Not only that, but it provides actual lessons and activities to help facilitate this PD. I am excited about the slow, but still moving change of thought that the language development of our English learners does not land solely on the EL or ESL teacher but is a responsibility of all educators within a school and district. I’m excited to learn a new approach to supporting language development.
The TESOL International Conference is definitely one worth attending. There are so many chances to network and of course, check out amazing products and services at the Expo Hall. If you are like me and you get rejuvenated by surrounding yourself with others who have similar passions, then this should go on your list of things to attend. The 2024 TESOL International conference will be in Tampa, Florida, for anyone looking to catch some sun in the sometimes-snowy days of March that occur in the Dakotas.
If you aren’t already a member of TESOL International and are a member of Dakota TESOL, please reach out to a member of the board. We are awarded seven (7) complimentary memberships a year, but only Dakota TESOL members who have never been TESOL international members before can use them. We still have five (5) left to use for the 2023 year. Networking, book discounts, and access to scholarly journals on ELT are just a few of the benefits of membership.
