Teaching & Learning in a Global Community
Santa Clara Convention Center & Hyatt Regency Santa Clara
Santa Clara, California April 22-25, 2010
The theme of this year’s gathering was “Teaching and Learning in a Global Community”, meant to inspire global perspectives around current teaching methods and practices. As arbiters between international cultures, ESL professionals were reminded of the need to balance diverse stances, traditions, and learning styles in this aim. The latest on a diverse range of topics in English language teaching was offered this year through interesting plenary sessions, hands-on workshops, and panel discussions. We had a number of current MA TESOL students presenting at the April conference. Here’s a sampling of some of their abstracts:
Prof. Kathleen Bailey and current students, David Chiesa and Ryan Damerow presented on the way in which dialogue journals have the ability to facilitate the development of new knowledge and awarenesses on the part of both students and teachers.
Amber Vanderwoude examined student and teacher perceptions of the identities of Japanese students studying English in California. Students’ written reflections, the teacher‘s journal, and classroom recordings were analyzed for patterns revealing students‘ identities. Differences were found in student and teacher perceptions of identities and in students‘ identities throughout the course.
Jennifer Hickey presented on successful multilinguals, examining the views and experiences of high-level multilinguals to determine what tactics they utilized while learning their non-native languages.
David Chiesa’s inspirational session showed how language teachers can do more than teach language.In fact, each of us has the ability in the choices we make both inside and outside of the classroom to change attitudes, beliefs, and lives.
Erin Strickland studied her own attitudes and perceptions toward extensive reading (something she hated the thought of doing in her L2 and was yet assigning to her ESL students!). She kept a diary as she read in French for eight weeks.
Heather Kokesch participated in a job panel discussion on Teaching English Internationally: Teachers’ Stories and Teaching Suggestions. Presenters shared their teaching stories, offered suggestions for teaching with limited resources, and advised participants on finding international teaching jobs with organized programs and as independent contractors.
From those attending the conference:
“It was my first time going to a conference in my field and I enjoyed my experience. I am in my last semester and I was really encouraged by the networking opportunities especially since the job force seems rather glum. I also felt motivated by my peers and MIIS alum who presented at the conference. I hope I will have the chance to contribute something interesting in the future at a TESOL conference.” – Xenia Lal
“I thought it was incredibly helpful and fun. I learned a lot of practical ideas that I can use in my future classrooms and look forward to attending (and possibly presenting) at another one!” – Tamatha Roman
“I felt proud to be following in the footsteps of the MIIS alumni who have helped to give the program the great reputation that it has today and I can’t wait until the next one!” – Sky Lantz-Wagner
An MATESOL Alumni reception rounded out the conference on Friday night, with over 20 alumni in attendance. Thank you all for coming!