November / December 2007 MinneTESOL Minnesota Teachers of Other Languages From the President MinneTESOL Members, I want to express what an honor it is to be president of MinneTESOL. This past year I was fortunate to have learned from dedicated people who have given so much of their time, effort and energy to our organization. A heartfelt thank you to Andrea Poulos who will continue as past president, Scott Endo, Anita Dualeh, Kim Johnson, and Nima Salechi. Five new members were elected to serve on the Execvutive board. We welcome Laura Funke as First Vice President, Kate Jensen as Third Vice President, Carrie Jerome as Secretary, Ellen Lewin as Membership Director, and Cecilia Oberg as Treasurer. MinneTESOL is our organization. We all have the common goal of providing education and support to students acquiring English. Many of you participated in the fall conference indicating that professional development is important to you personally and professionally. I encourage you to continue to be active in MinneTESOL. Support and attend Interest Section functions; offer your talents; share your expertise. Let's work together to have a very good year. Rosie Sharkey President MinneTESOL MinneTESOL Conference Wrap-up Thanks for a wonderful conference! Conference and session evaluations were overwhelmingly positive, and we have the hard work of a great conference team and many, many volunteers to thank for that outcome. To all those who were part of that effort – thank you! We have a lot to celebrate: · Terrific new venue at the University of St Thomas-Minneapolis · Record number of proposals submitted · Successful first year for online conference registration · Record for conference registrations - nearly 500 · Over 150 new or renewing members · Excellent speakers and presentations, including expanded poster presentations · Over $600 raised for MinneTESOL grants through our First Annual MinneTESOL Grants Silent Auction · New post-conference college alumni events for people to network and reconnect The conference is MinneTESOL's single-most important professional development event. Thank you to all our members for helping to ensure that MinneTESOL remains vibrant and relevant. We look forward to another great event in November 2008! Your 2007 Conference Co-chairs Kim Johnson kjohnson60@hamline.edu Becky Uran Markman uran0005@umn.edu Outgoing President Andrea Poulos with Incoming President Rosie Sharkey at the Fall 2007 MinneTESOL Conference Harold B Allen Award winners Congratulations to Betsy Parrish and Jenise Rowekamp, this year's Harold B Allen Award winners. Betsy works at Hamline University in the Graduate School of Education, and Jenise works at the University of Minnesota. Both have made tremendous contributions to the field of ESL and to MinneTESOL. Congratulations! Conference go-ers browse the items for sale at the First Annual Silent Auction. All proceeds (over $600!) will go towards the 2008 grants budget for MinneTESOL members. Thank you to Mike Anderson (far left in photo below) for providing all of these photos from the conference! This year's conference included alumni gatherings. These were a great chance for conference participants to get together with their former classmates and instructors. The above photo is from the U of M-MA in ESL program alumni gathering. From our Outgoing President Thank you At the wonderful fall conference in the beginning of November, I officially passed the gavel over to the new incoming MinneTESOL president, Rosie Sharkey. Over the past month, and including Thanksgiving weekend, I've done some reflecting about the vibrant, important work of MinneTESOL. Thank you to each of you who have contributed to the profession of teaching English to speakers of other languages over the past year by your good teaching and teacher training, your advocacy on behalf of the communities we serve, and your involvement in MinneTESOL. You have made working with MinneTESOL so much fun, and so fulfilling for so many of us! We very much have an organization that does a lot of good in the world, and that we can all be proud of. Whether you have a lot of time and energy, or just a teeny bit, MinneTESOL has a place and a way for you to get involved. Don't hesitate to email me at andrea.poulos@gmail.com for ideas, or Patsy Vinogradov, the executive assistant, at admin@minnetesol.org. Andrea Poulos, Past President Note: We are so thankful to Andrea for all of her hard work and dedication during the last two years. Her expertise, generosity, insight, and energy have been truly amazing. The MinneTESOL Board wishes her all the best in her next adventure! * * * * * CALL FOR PAPERS MinneTESOL/WITESOL Journal Special Topic Issue: Research and Best Practice Concerning the Instruction of ESL Learners with Low Levels of Literacy The MinneTESOL/WITESOL Journal seeks contributions for Volume 25 to be published online in the summer of 2008. This volume will be a special topic volume, and we especially seek contributions related to the theme. Submissions of the following type will be considered: • Articles (15-20 pages) or Reports (7-10 pages) about: Instructional methods, techniques, and materials Work-in-progress or research with implications for ESL Issues in ESL curriculum and program design Testing, assessment, and evaluation in ESL Professional preparation Sociopolitical issues in ESL Learner perspectives about language learning • Reviews (500-1,500 words) on recently published ESL materials Journal articles; print or online Texts for professional development Instructional materials for learners Educational ESL websites or software Complete details on submission guidelines and categories can be downloaded from the MinneTESOL website at http://www.minnetesol.org. Click on "Journal" and download "Author Guidelines". Submissions must be emailed to one of the following editors as a Word file. Submissions and questions can be addressed to: Mike Anderson Bonnie Swierzbin ande1819@umn.edu swie0006@umn.edu Deadline for submissions is January 15, 2008 * * * * * Have you seen the MinneWI TESOL online journal yet? It's available at www.minnewitesoljournal.org. Take some time to read through the table of contents below, and then visit the journal online! MinneWITESOL Journal Volume 24 Table of Contents: -Educating English Language Learners in a Rural District: A Case in Point by Tina Scott Edstam, Constance L. Walker, & Karla Stone -Overcoming Limitations: How a Filipino Speaker of English uses Compensation Strategies by Jennifer Lloyd -Improving Literacy of L1-Non-Literate and L1-Literate Adult English as a Second Language Learners by Julie Trupke-Bastidas & Andrea Poulos -Making Decisions about ESL Curriculum by Patricia Hoffman & Anne Dahlman -...And the Beat Goes On: Further Evidence to Support the Need for Accommodations and Universal Design in High Stakes Testing of English Language Learners by Andrea Erichsrud & Christopher Johnstone ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Reviews: The Lion's Share and Dhegdheer by Said Salah Ahmed and Marian A. Hassan reviewed by Katie DeKam All New Very Easy True Stories: A Picture-based First Reader by Sandra Heyer reviewed by Michael Coggins Sourcework: Academic Writing from Sources by Nancy E. Dollahite and Julie Haun reviewed by Tor Lindbloom All Clear Listening and Speaking 3, 2nd Edition by Helen Kalkstein reviewed by Cameron Jaynes CALL FOR PROPOSALS FOR TESOL 2008 ELECTRONIC VILLAGE SPECIAL EVENTS TESOL 2008: April 2-5, 2008 New York Hilton & Sheraton New York New York, New York, USA EV FAIRS, EV MINI-WORKSHOPS, Ask the CALL Experts and DEVELOPERS' SHOWCASE ***DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS: January 4, 2008*** You are invited to submit a proposal for participation in one or more of these TESOL 2008 CALL Interest Section Special Events. You are welcome to submit proposals to more than one event, and it is possible to have more than one proposal accepted (depending on space availability and quality of the submission). Windows and Macintosh equipment will be available at no charge, along with CD ROM Drives, Internet connections, and (for the Showcase, EV Hardware Fair and EV Mini-Workshops) projection equipment. Plan to bring a minimum of 100 handouts per Fair/Showcase acceptance slot since these are very popular events! WHAT HAPPENS AT THE FAIRS: Presenters have approximately 20-30 minutes to demonstrate their material on 1-2 computer(s) without projection equipment in a presentation format similar to a "poster session." Participants walk around the EV, dropping in and out of demonstrations, thus precluding highly structured presentations. A demonstration may be repeated a second time (an additional 20 to 30 minutes), if interest warrants and space allows. PROPOSALS Please submit your proposal(s) for the EV Fair online at http://www.langconcepts.net/ev2008.html More information is available on the TESOL CALL-IS Website: http://www.call-is.org/moodle/ * * * * * At its recent meeting, the TESOL Board of Directors approved the following position statements: · Position Statement on the Role of Teachers' Associations in Education Policy and Planning · Position Statement on Terminal Degree for Teaching English as a Second, Foreign, or Additional Language In addition, the Board approved an amendment to TESOL's Statement of Principles and Preliminary Recommendations for the Reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) supporting the use of weighed assessments for accountability. Copies of the position statements are attached to this message, and are also available for download on the TESOL web site at http://www.tesol.org/PositionStatements. You are encouraged to share these with your members either electronically or through your newsletters. (When printing in your newsletters, please indicate that the statements were reprinted with permission from TESOL.) Sincerely, John Segota Advocacy and Communications Manager Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, Inc.