Virginia TESOL Fall 2009 Conference Update

Tanya Gray, President VATESOL

VATESOL held its annual fall conference on October 3. Two special preconference workshops were offered on October 2 for those wishing to have an expanded conference. One preconference workshop focused on the sheltered instruction observation protocol (SIOP) method and the other on cross-cultural awareness.

The conference was held at Tidewater Community College in Virginia Beach, Virginia. We were excited to have Judie Haynes, author of numerous books and the Web site Everything ESL, as our keynote speaker. Judie Haynes’ keynote speech focused on strategies for mainstream K-12 teachers of English language learner students. The theme of this year’s conference was newcomers. Newcomers are newly arrived English learners to the United States school system. Breakout sessions focused on issues related to newcomers and teaching techniques to reach them.

For more information about VATESOL, please visit our Web site.