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.
