TESOL CONVENTION 2015HIGHLIGHTS FROM A HALIFAX ELTBy Tony Rusinak, ECSL, ACE

OUTLINE• What is TESOL?

• What is the TESOL Convention?

• Current trends in ELT

• Findings: Saudi Learners

• Findings: Chinese Learners

• Top 5s from the Convention

WHAT IS TESOL?• International ESLT Association

• 50 Years old in 2016

• Collection of educators, researchers, administrators, and students.

• 12000+ members in 156 countries

• Holds International Conventions

• Representing the voice of ELTs, advocates to shape public policy.

• Career Services and Volunteer Opportunities

• Major publisher of ELT Resources

• A leading voice for setting professional Standards in ESL/EFL field

• Largest ESLT/EFLT event worldwide

• 900+ lectures/ discussion sessions

• 1500+ speakers from 50 different countries

• Topics: language testing and assessment, technology and language, bilingual education, education standards, refugee & immigration concerns.

• English Language Expo with 120+ exhibitors, products, services, and educators.

• The App

CURRENT TRENDS IN ELTPlenaries• Presidential Keynote - Building Bridges: Journey to a

Better Future for TESOL, Yilin Sun, TESOL President

• Redefining Communicative Competence and Redesigning ELT in the 21st Century – Jun Liu, Lourdes Ortega, Michael Byrum

• Evidence-Based TESOL: Teaching Through a Multilingual Lens Jim Cummins

PRESIDENTIAL KEYNOTE - BUILDING BRIDGES: JOURNEY TO A BETTER FUTURE FOR TESOL, YILIN SUN, TESOL PRESIDENT

“We are in an age of critical importance and language is the enabler which connects us as a whole.”

1. Language Teachers in 2015

2. Trends between 2015 - 2066

YILIN SUN – ELTS IN 2015 Language Teachers of 2015 must…

• Remain effective • Remain relevant• Embrace new ideas• Combine the local language and the global language• Cross fields• Be supported by institutions• Engage in professional development• Be given time to critically reflect• Advocate for social justice

YILIN SUN: TRENDS IN THE NEXT 50 YEARS• English will change with more new varieties

• English will be better aligned as the lingua Franca

• Technology will allow Ss to learn much more effectively

• English will be a second language for 50% of the world

• English will lose dominance to Russian and Chinese

• ESL world will need to adapt to many changes

• Students will have more power to fire teachers and there will be less geographical riffs.

• Translating technology will become much more accurate and efficient

• Technology will dominate our lives and play a much larger role in the classroom

• Need for real life social interaction between teachers and students will NOT diminish

REDEFINING COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE AND REDESIGNING ELT IN THE 21ST CENTURY – JUN LIU, LOURDES ORTEGA, MICHAEL BYRUM

There are 6 strains of English:

1. Accuracy – how correct is the language?

2. Fluency – how much effort is used to produce it?

3. Complexity – what level? /the language’s ‘nuts and bolts’

4. Appropriacy – is the language suitable for the context?

5. Capacity – how much of the language can you use to express yourself?

6. Intercultural Communicative Competence – what knowledge of the language do you have?

REDEFINING COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE AND REDESIGNING ELT IN THE 21ST CENTURY – JUN LIU, LOURDES ORTEGA, MICHAEL BYRUM

A Focus on the Intercultural• Language is not only instrumental, also a critical aspect of culture.

• World Englishes, like cultures, are not equal.

• How do classrooms convey the negotiations of meanings that different Englishes bring?

• Teachers MUST turn language based discrimination from a negative to a positive.

• Teachers MUST be careful on who they designate as “Native speakers” and be aware of what values are attached to the language.

• Teachers must realize that language goes two ways. The teacher’s culture – the students’ culture.

EVIDENCE-BASED TESOL: TEACHING THROUGH A MULTILINGUAL LENSJIM CUMMINS

It is crucial to review research on TESOL constantly to prevent ideological narratives from trumping evidence.

• Examples of failures: ELLs in USA are often taught to read using phonics which is only marginally effectiveIn Ontario, teaching programs in languages other than English or French is illegal

Consequences: Wasted student success & Wasted Money

EVIDENCE SHOWS: Literary engagement & identity affirmation are crucial to learning to read, but this has been ignored.

CUMMINS CONT…

We cannot ask our students to leave their languages and cultural identities at the school door. Key example – English Only policy.

Teaching English Through a Multilingual lens can improves literacy engagement & identity affirmation.

Incorporating students’ languages into the classroom shows that knowing another language is an intellectual achievement.

ELLs should be encouraged to use their L1 for planning, research, & note-taking.

Teacher’s need to reclaim agency at the school level and have a Hippocratic oath for teaching: First, do no harm.

FINDINGS: SAUDI LEARNERS• Mothering and Tough Love as a Bridge Saudi Success

• Crossing Boarders: Teaching and Researching English in the Middle East

• See no Evil: Human Rights on the Middle Eastern Campus

• Toolkit for Teaching Beginning Grammar and Writing to Arabic Speakers

MOTHERING AND TOUGH LOVE AS A BRIDGE SAUDI SUCCESS MS. TERRI LORE, OKTESOL

A general background to Saudi culture:

• Trust and Respect: Hard won

• Family related: 99% of Saudi life

• Critical thinking: not popular but not impossible

• Honesty: less important than disappointment

• Islamic values: “Everything is seen through its filter.”

• Decision making: consensus and consultation

• Women: Powerful in their own way

• Morality: Non-flexible. If you mess up, you’re in TROUBLE.

CONT…ADVICE FOR TEACHERS OF SAUDI STUDENTS:• Knowledge and interest for Arab culture & family important

• T’s more trustworthy than general public for advice & authority

• Be aware that absence of family support affects their success

• Ss have Limited experience with independent decision making- let them learn the hard way, but give them advice.

• ‘KSA or the Highway’ is a common response. Voicing independent opinions has to be taught.

• Teach time management, deadlines, pacing.

• Encourage structured debate and discussion of multi-theistic communities.

CROSSING BOARDERS: TEACHING AND RESEARCHING ENGLISH IN THE MIDDLE EAST DR FATIMA ESSEILI, UNIVERSITY OF DAYTON DR SILVIA PESSOA, CARNEGIE MELTON UNIVERSITY QATAR

Key points from the lecture with a focus on KSA:

• English is the lingua franca in many surrounding countries

• Overall there is a positive attitude to learning English

• University hiring and pay scales: based on nationality, race, gender, ethnicity, etc…

• Having Arab experience &/or cultural background is an asset. a high demand for educators who are also role models.

• Universities are often ‘bubbles’ which have their own laws of equity within the campus.

SEE NO EVIL: HUMAN RIGHTS ON THE MIDDLE EASTERN CAMPUSMR ROB CLEMENT, SOHAR UNIVERSITYMRS EARLENE GENTRY, RETIRED

Teachers are not to talk about these. May result in loss of job or more:

• sexuality

• abortion

• pre-marital sex

• LGBTQ

• Environmental issues which compromise oil industry.

• Freedom of speech

• Apostasy

TOOLKIT FOR TEACHING BEGINNING GRAMMAR AND WRITING TO ARABIC SPEAKERSBARBARA HANSEN, UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON

Some typical issues with KSA ELLs:

Metalanguage: not accustomed to it/ grammar explanations

Spacing: Paragraph, punctuation, & b/w words.

Capitalization: used randomly

Floating letters: g, y, p, q, j,…

Verb ‘to be’: overused or omitted

Double subjects

Missing vowels

Articles misused

B and P indistinguishable

KSA ELL STRENGTHS• Strong sense of community – support each other in

academics

• Focus on rules – want to have rules/ able to apply.

• Strong oral and memorization backgrounds

SUGGESTIONS FOR TEACHERS• Assign roles and responsibilities to particular Ss

• Lots of pair-work and sharing activities

• Explain north American system of ‘random pairing/ grouping’

• Lots of interviewing activities

• Have sentence memorizing quizzes rather than just single words

• Dictation tests with follow-up activities

• Build on their technology strengths – texting, videos, pics

FINDINGS: CHINESE LEARNERS

• Chinese Education Placement Service Agencies: Making Informed Student Admissions Decisions

• Do English Names Build Bridges for Chinese Students?

• Ten things you should know before teaching your Chinese Students

CHINESE EDUCATION PLACEMENT SERVICE AGENCIES: MAKING INFORMED STUDENT ADMISSIONS DECISIONSDR KAREN NEWMAN, UNIVERSITY OF INDIANAPOLIS

Background • Chinese money boon to North American Schools• Fastest growing enrollment group on campus• Huge business in recruitment

Education Placement Agencies• Most Ss use an agent to prepare, apply, and arrange studies

abroad. • Services include test prep., translations, recommendation

letters, CVs, applications, email correspondence, etc…• Information can be doctored even falsified – mostly in soft data• Ss pay agent on condition of successful admission. The better

the school, the higher the pay.

CHINESE PLACEMENT AGENCIES CONT…

Concerns

• To what degree could publishing or addressing this issue receive push-back and lost market opportunities for recruiting schools?

• How can this issue be addressed diplomatically?

• How do school administrators/ admissions judge validity of applications that are so difficult to verify?

DO ENGLISH NAMES BUILD BRIDGES FOR CHINESE STUDENTS?TEAM HEADED BY PAUL MCPHERSON, HUNTER COLLEGE

Why English Names?

• Easy for foreigners

• School Practice

• Fun

• Us and them mentality

Issues

• Third person confusion

• Unintentional embarrassment

• Inconsistent names

• Identity loss

As their first point

of contact, what

is our role?

TEN THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW BEFORE TEACHING YOUR CHINESE STUDENTS KE XU, CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK

1. Mandarin is lingua Franca. 6. Call ELTs Laoshi (Teacher)- a sign of respect.

2. Mandarin rooted in N.E. China 7. Disinterested in group-work. Want direct T-S learning.

3. Only 18% of CHN use Mandarin as L1.

8. Creative writing is for the masters. Emulating the masters is a valued skill.

4. Written mandarin is the national bond.

9. Value careful reading and error correction of their work.

5. Mandarin is a product of the Chinese school system

10. Vocabulary issues: idioms and appropriate usage of words.

TOP 5 LISTS: CONVENTION• Exhibitors

• Technology

• Buzz words

• Speakers

• Websites

• Stresses

• Quotes

TOP 5 EXHIBITORS• British Council

• TESOL

• Longman

• Electric Village Participants

• Poster Project Area

BUZZ WORDS

• Empower

• Take-aways

• You rock my world

• Layers

• unpack

TOP 5 SPEAKERS• Jim Cummins

• Lourdes Ortega

• Andy Curtis

• Michael Byrum

• Mike Landry (the only Nova Scotian presenter)

TOP 5 ONLINE RESOURCES DISCOVERED• The TESOL Convention app

• Google docs simultaneous editing

• The TESOL Teacher Resource Center http://www.tesol.org/connect/tesol-resource-center

• British Council Resource Packs http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/category/publications/books-resource-packs

• Kwintessential – Global Culture Guides http://www.kwintessential.co.uk/resources/country-profiles.html

TOP 5 STRESSES • Coffee and Snacks

• Overlapping sessions

• Electronic Village and Round Table Mauls

• Overwhelming amount of info to process

• Not enough Nova Scotians!

TOP 5 QUOTES“IELTS has grown exponentially to more than any other test in the world. It’s currently at 2.5 million tests a year. Ss like it because it’s a person-to-person pencil and paper test.”

IELTS USA

“Immigrants in Iceland, mostly Pilipino & Polish, believe that learning Icelandic is a waste of time.”

English among Immigrant Students in Iceland: Problem or Solution?

“For fear of being deported, international Students and immigrants are very reluctant to report being duped by diploma mills, financial aid scams, and fraudulent debt collectors.”

When Scammers Target Your Students: Tips and Tools for Teachers

“Some North Korean defectors had zero knowledge of English even though they took English courses there for several years.”

North Korean Defectors’ Struggle With English in South Korea

“What is the Socio-political impact on grade school ELL learners when English is valued more than their language?”Language Policy Enactment in Secondary Biology Classrooms: A Translanguaging Space.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS• English only policies effective? Many schools attending here

have one. Does it work?

• Regarding the Chinese and Saudi Cultural milieus, is there anything you as an educator agree/ disagree with?

• What’s your prediction for the ELTs classroom of 2065?

• How is your school/ class incorporating the aspect of intercultural language into the classroom?