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TESOL Matters Vol. 10 No. 2     (June/July 2000)

by Kip Cates

TESOLers for Social Responsibility (TSR) became TESOL's sixth caucus after its official approval by the TESOL Board of Directors in October 1999.

TSR comprises TESOL members who are engaged in working for a better world by integrating language teaching and learning with social responsibility, world citizenship, and an awareness of global issues such as peace, human rights, AIDS, and the environment.

TSR is the result of much deliberation, planning, and campaigning that date as far back as the 23rd Annual TESOL Convention (1989, in San Antonio, Texas). The decade since has been an exciting period of activity resulting in a rich variety of articles in TESOL publications and in annual conference sessions (e.g., colloquia, breakfasts, preconvention institutes) on topics related to global awareness, international understanding, and social responsibility.

Highlights of this decade include the designation of TESOL as an official United Nations nongovernmental organization in 1990, the setting up of a global peace and environmental education ad hoc committee in 1992, a TESOL summer institute on peace education at St. Michael's College in Vermont in 1995, and a series of special conference events that allowed TESOL professionals to meet and learn from international experts. These events included TESOL Day at the United Nations (25th Annual TESOL Convention, 1991, in New York), when TESOLers studied with UN staff about the teaching of global issues as classroom content, TESOL Day at the Carter Center (27th Annual TESOL Convention, 1991, in Atlanta, Georgia), when TESOL members learned how to use and teach conflict resolution skills, and TESOL Day in the Rainforest (28th Annual TESOL Convention, 1994, in Baltimore, Maryland), when participants attended lectures on environmental education.

Although the drive to establish TSR as a caucus got into high gear at the 32nd Annual TESOL Convention (1998, in Seattle, Washington), the group owes its existence to the hard work over the past decade of a number of visionary TESOL colleagues committed to teaching for a better world. These include Darlene Larson for her work as UN liaison, Anita Wenden for laying the groundwork for the caucus, H. Douglas Brown for his unswerving support, Chris Renner for his organizational skills, and many others. We give special thanks to these people and to all those who showed their support by signing our caucus petition.

TSR is concerned with a wide range of areas. These include

• global issues (e.g., war, peace, human rights, environment, development, hunger, AIDS) social issues (e.g., prejudice, sexism, racism, violence, poverty, crime, social inequality)
• ideals (e.g., social responsibility, global awareness, international understanding, world citizenship, tolerance, social justice, respect for diversity)
• skills (e.g., critical thinking, creative conflict resolution, cross-cultural communication) educational fields (e.g., global education, peace education, human rights education, environmental education, AIDS education, development education, education for international understanding)
• teaching approaches (e.g., content-based teaching, cooperative learning, critical peda- gogy, service learning)

The initial aims of the new caucus are to build up the membership, create an international network, and begin to provide members with information, ideas, materials, and resources. The specific goals of TSR goals are to

• research language teaching content, methods, and approaches that can help students become active global citizens in their local cultures develop instructional strategies that promote tolerance, global awareness, international understanding, and social responsibility
• work to overcome national stereotypes and negative images held by teachers and learners that hinder peace, cooperation, and trust help teachers and learners around the world better understand the causes of and solutions for global issues
• disseminate teaching ideas through publications, research, ready-to-use classroom mate- rials, and the World Wide Web arrange workshops that introduce TESOL profession- als to fields such as global education, peace education, environmental education, and AIDS education
• work to further the profession by making English language teaching more relevant to world realities
• provide a forum for TESOL professionals to share experiences so as to more effectively promote social responsibility through content-based approaches to English language teaching
• link TESOL members and affiliate groups worldwide who are working in areas linked to global issues, peace education, and social responsibility
• establish links with professional associations such as Educators for Social Responsibility to explore ways of working together to achieve mutual goals
• establish links with relevant national and international organizations such as the United Nations; the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization; the United Nations Children's Fund; and Amnesty International.

At the 34th Annual TESOL Convention in Vancouver, Canada, in March of this year, TSR made its official premiere appearance. In addition to holding its first open meeting, TSR hosted a breakfast seminar, Building a Culture of Peace, and staffed a caucus display booth in which members of the TSR team introduced the new caucus to conference-goers and networked with TESOL members involved in education for social responsibility.

The main caucus activities will be to issue a twice-yearly newsletter, prepare sessions for the annual convention (e.g., preconvention institutes, colloquia, workshops), and set up an e-mail discussion list and World Wide Web home page.

Kip Cates, chair of TESOLers for Social Responsibility, teaches at Tottori University, in Tottori City, Japan.