September 17, 2018

Happy “Back-to-School” Everyone!

We trust that you all had a restorative and productive summer and that your fall has started on a positive foot. TESL Canada has been busy during the summer months processing applications and responding to a variety of inquiries. We thank you for your questions and engagement. Our most recent board meeting was held at the end of August and we look forward to continuing our work this academic year. The new board is in place and all are committed to keeping the organization moving forward. One of our new board members, Yalda from BC, is working with her committee to propose some virtual PD ideas and we will have announcements forthcoming on this matter. Many of us are involved in provincial professional learning initiatives and TESL Canada will do our utmost to promote and participate in these events by twitter and on our website- https://www.tesl.ca/conferences.html and https://www.tesl.ca/events.html. Please let us know how we can support in this regard.

Our new Treasurer, Tony from NS, is diligently keeping our books in order and we are pleased that our financial situation has stabilized. Although we do not have full time staff, our part-time administrator is doing her utmost to attend to certification and communication matters. Twitter @TESLCanada has been very active with the involvement of Kathy from NB and, in addition to a variety of interesting and relevant retweets (e.g. @TESOLatACE; @TESOL_Assn; @TESLSASK; @isans_ca) , we will continue with our “did you know…” series and will be featuring recommended resources (books, websites, apps, etc.) from our Board members. We have received emails from people who wish to serve as community members on committees and this engagement is highly appreciated.

We will continue our communications with stakeholders and plan to hold a Zoom conference with teacher training program managers/ directors in the fall as well as continue our involvement in NLAB and consultation with IRCC. The next TESL Canada Journal issue is forthcoming and a call for guest editors of special issues was recently sent out https://www.tesl.ca/publications/tesl-canada-journal/special-issue-proposals.html. The Editors are also submitting a grant proposal to apply for continued financial support of the journal.

Wishing you a wonderful start-up to another academic year.

Paula Kristmanson

President TESL Canada

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