Letter From the Incoming Chair: Spanning the Globe, Tides of Change
Michael Pasquale, michael_pasquale@cornerstone.edu
The month of March was an invigorating and sometimes exhausting one for me and reminded me of the reasons I absolutely love my vocation and ministry as a TESOL professor and teacher-trainer. As I reflect on the theme of the 2007 TESOL Convention, "Spanning the Globe: Tides of Change," I would like to give you a brief introduction and also share some thoughts about the future.
I began the month of March with a trip to Budapest, Hungary, during our spring break at Cornerstone University. I went to help train English teachers from Hungary, Romania, Ukraine, and Poland. I spent time with expatriate teachers from the West and look forward to more interaction in the future with national EFL teachers. My travels as a teacher-trainer have also sent me to Brazil, Central Asia, Spain, and Great Britain. I am so encouraged that CETC has begun to build a relationship with the Nonnative English Speakers in TESOL caucus over the past year. This kind of collaboration is vital for supporting and encouraging NNES teachers around the world, and an area of service in which Christian English teachers should take the lead.
The Christians in English Language Teaching (CELT) conference at Seattle Pacific University and the following TESOL convention in Seattle were my next stops in March. I come from a university with a small TESOL program, so it is wonderful to be able to fellowship and network with others from CETC and TESOL to exchange ideas and encourage one another. I am excited to join the ranks of CETC leadership, and I look forward to working with Gena, Eleanor, Michael, Meredith, Anne, and Frank.
My last stop in March was hosting the 6th annual ESL ministry conference at Cornerstone University in Michigan. We have hosted this conference as a way to train church-based ESL teachers and administrators and to provide a small dose of the idea exchange and encouragement we can find at a larger CELT conference or TESOL convention. We were taught by a fellow CETC member, Dr. Laura Hahn from Illinois, who helped explain pronunciation issues in ESL classrooms. It is my hope that smaller regional gatherings such as these will help CETC members connect on a regular basis!
So, the month of March was one of "spanning the globe" on a very literal basis for me! It was also one that revealed some "tides of change." I join the CETC leadership with excitement and with a bit of anxiety. Being a part of the leadership team is a change for me, but one I look forward to!
