Monday, May 2, 2016

REFLECTING FORWARD: 50 YEARS OF TESOL INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION

 

Maryland’s largest city , Baltimore, is known for its magnificent inner harbour, Edgar Alan Poe, The Orioles baseball team and delicious Crabs. This colorful and diverse city was the next stop in my ELT endless journey.

Author: Fazli Rrezja

I had the opportunity to participate and present at the 50th anniversary of TESOL International Convention & English Language Expo, one of the largest gatherings of English language teachers in the world, which was held in April in Baltimore, Maryland USA. The act of walking into the Baltimore Convention Center, for the first, was itself a unique and life changing experience. Being in this linguistic cosmopolitan venue, among  more than 6000 ELT professionals and 122 exhibitors, I was tremendously  excited  to  learn through  presentations from teachers all accros the globe.  After the long flight crossing the Atlantic Ocean, I could not escape the jet leg, but the huge and diverse ELT community in TESOL International Convention still inspired and energized me. In this event, there were about one thousand sessions and it was impossible to attend all of them, however I was able to take part in many inspiring sessions, workshops and keynotes. I was part of a group presentation with nine other english teachers from Southeastern Europe. Our presentation  aimed at sharing the experiences of being part of the course ‘English for Journalists -The Little MOOC That Could’. This course offered by UC Berkeley and www.edx.org, was sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, and developed in partnership with the RELO in Central and Southeastern Europe, the Voice of America, and English language educators across Central and Eastern Europe.
My conference anticipation was magnified during plenary sessions by three keynote presentations. The first plenary presentation of Aziz Abu Sarah, ‘Revolutionizing Education: Building Peace in a Divided World’ was beyond the scope of English teaching. His talk, based on his experience as a teacher, in very simple terms gave the message that teachers can help students to open their minds to prosperity, overcome cultural diferences, break the walls of fear and think out of the box, beyond politics and religion.  ‘Reflecting Forward, Reflecting Back: Looking in the Mirror at 50’ was the next presidential Keynote by Andy Curtis, the 50th president of TESOL International Association. This plenary was thought-provoking which pointed out the idea of reflective practice of teachers based on the questions: What has changed in English language teaching and learning, how did we get here and where are we going?  The last keynoteby Anne Curzan ‘Survey Says . .. : Determining What English Usage Is and Isn’t Acceptable’ emphasized how english has changed over the past five hundred years. She talked about the usage panel who decides on new english words and highlighted that language is always changing and in this aspect, therefore even native speakers struggle with issues related to usage of language.
It is always a pleasure to see familiar faces when you are far away from home. At the conference  I met two former English language fellows whose poster presentations I enjoyed. Beside the conference, I thoroughly enjoyed the visit to the small museum house and grave of my favorite American writer Edgar Allan Poe at the grounds of Westminster Hall. On my last day I visited Baltimore harbour, filled with  ships  and was impressed as I walked into ‘United States Coast Guard High Endurance Cutter’, known as the last ship floating that fought in the attack on Pearl Harbour.

On my way back home, I had extra luggage with me: a luggage full of  enlightenment and wonderful memories. Reflecting on my conference time, I figured out that TESOL has created many outstanding opportunities for English language professionals in the field and has significantly contributed to English language development, an evolution that touches me and the lives of all scholars, worldwide. 

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