Saturday Plenary speech

“Two (or More) Heads are Better than One: A Success Story of Collaboration”

Learners, teachers, teacher educators and administrators all play a part in successful ESL programming, but the pressures of the job often lead us to work in isolation. A way to combat that isolation is through collaboration with others inside and outside of our own programs.

The presenters use their experience working together on a mentoring project for teachers of adult ESL as an example of successful collaboration. What made the project so successful? There was a shared sense of purpose, trust, and a desire to learn from everyone involved -learners, classroom teachers, teacher educators and administrators. In sharing their experience, the presenters explore the following questions with the audience: What are the benefits of collaboration? What does it take for collaboration to work? What are some unexplored areas for collaboration within your programs?

Betsy Parrish is associate professor and coordinator of the TEFL and Adult ESL Certificate Programs in the Graduate School of Education at Hamline University. She established the TEFL Certificate at Hamline in 1991. Prior to that, she was a trainer for the TEFL Certificate Program of the American University of Paris. She has worked in the profession of English as a second or foreign language in the US and France for 21 years as a classroom teacher, teacher educator, consultant and writer. She is co-author of the book Business Review: Revision and Extension for Intermediate Level Students, (1992) Longman Ltd. and has just completed Teaching Adult ESL: A Practical Introduction (forthcoming Dec. 2003) McGraw Hill/Contemporary. Betsy has contributed articles to Language Learning, The English Teacher’s Assistant, as well as a co-authored chapter in Readings on second language acquisition (H.D. Brown (ed.) Prentice Hall). She is a frequent presenter at local and international conferences and she often consults with organizations and companies that employ large numbers of immigrants. Betsy’s areas of special interest include teacher reflection and development, teacher collaboration, and workplace ESL.

Diane Pecoraro is the ESL/ABE Program Specialist at the Minnesota Department of Education where she administers grant programs in the areas of civics, self sufficiency and workforce development. She has consulted over the years on numerous major national adult education/ESL initiatives such as the development of the TESOL Adult Education Standards, the BEST assessment and the MELT curriculum. Currently, she is on the advisory board for the National Clearinghouse for Literacy Education (NCLE). A frequent presenter at conferences, she addresses policy as well as classroom issues. In elementary school, Diane got high marks on her report card in “works and plays well with others” so her career has been filled with collaborations ranging from partnering on individual writing projects to chairing two state government interagency councils concerned with literacy policy. In addition to holding firmly to the view that collaborative efforts are a sound way to use resources more effectively, she thoroughly enjoys the creative energy generated by two or more heads working together.

Friday Night Event

MinneTESOL is proud to invite Theater Mu to open the conference with their performance "FOB." Friday night's events will start at 5:30, with a reception and early registration that will continue until 7:00. The performance FOB will begin at 7:00 and will be followed by a discussion of the performance, concluding by 9:00. Please attend!

FOB by David Hwang is a groundbreaking comedy about Chinese American identity. "FOB" stands for "Fresh Off The Boat", a derogatory term used for recent Asian immigrants. The play revolves around three Chinese American characters, Grace, Dale and Steve. Grace and Dale are "ABCs", American Born Chinese who often identify more with their American upbringing than their Chinese heritage. Into their world comes Steve, a recent immigrant who comes loaded with money and claiming he is Gwan Gung, the ancient Chinese God of power, gambling and prostitutes. When their worlds collide, as Dale and Steve vie for the attention of Grace, the play rocks with humor and action.

About Theater Mu

Theater Mu began as a dream in the Spring of 1992, as Rick Shiomi, Dong-il Lee, Martha Johnson and Diane Espaldon got together to imagine an Asian-American theater based in the wheat fields of the Midwest.

They began with their seminal work Mask Dance. They tapped into the canon of Asian American plays with Yellow Fever, Paper Angels, and The Sound of a Voice, and have since produced new works such as River of Dreams, Legend of the White Snake Lady, Hand Women/ Men Swing, The Walleye Kid, Circle Around The Island, The Tale of the Dancing Crane, Maui and the Soul of the Sun,and Tiger Tales: Hmong folktales.

Through their annual New Eyes Festival, they continue to cultivate new plays and playwrights, and their outreach programs to schools, community organizations and corporations are expanding exponentially so that they are now reaching an audience of over 50,000 people annually.

The company has grown rapidly over the past ten years, both artistically and organizationally, with no letup in sight. In this their tenth season, it is exciting to look back and see so much groundbreaking growth, and look forward to so much more potential. Find out more information about Theater Mu by visiting their website at www.theatermu.org