TESOL 2013 Dallas, TX

TESOL International Convention 2013 Dallas, TX

…was amazing! As a green graduate student experiencing her first TESOL, I don’t think I could really imagine how many people “6,000” was until  a stampede of educators bustle through the halls of the Dallas convention center once their sessions released. The convention presentations were simply inspiring. Over 1,500 presenters from 100 countries shared their ideas at TESOL 2013. The TESOL program is THICK; nearly 240 pages. To give some perspective, from 7:30 to 8:00 each day, there were nearly 30 concurrent sessions at the same time. For the program, I was expecting a slender book with brief descriptions. However, when I was handed the program, I nearly dropped the 250 page behemoth from weight alone. ...Okay, I'm exaggerating, but the book is still big!

Critical Thinking with the World Peace Game

From before day one, my brain was exploding with information! TESOL was gracious enough to, Wednesday night, stream their plenary speaker John Hunter teaching critical thinking strategies with his amazing World Peace Game. Though the TESOL opening speech is not available any longer, his famous TED Talk is. His talk is an utterly inspiring motivator to get teachers to think outside of the box.

Comic Books in the ESL Classroom

For classroom use, I was able to find practical applications for free technology, and even comic books. Common core standards in the USA were a BIG topic this year at TESOL, as it has been for all education. "Reading as a Superpower" is a series of books designed to teach reading with subjects that all kids love-- comics, including Star Wars, Marvel, and DC!  Here is a quick write up of their awesome wares from the School Library Journal: http://www.slj.com/2012/11/webcasts/reading-is-a-superpower-comic-books-graphic-novels-literacy/



Research in NNEST
Research is a much more personal subject, and for myself I attended two research-oriented presentations on NNEST in TESOL, including the annual content-area meeting of the NNEST interest group in TESOL. Sitting next to George Braine was  unequivocally one of the nerdiest and most exciting moments of my time in TESOL and I won't soon forget it. Especially because my colleagues and I will be presenting this May at the regional SSTESOL conference on NNEST and NEST Perceptions in Asia, this was incredibly informative. http://nnest.asu.edu/

Corpora

There were also two very special presentations on corpora in ESL education. If you haven't used corpora, oh boy, are you in for a pleasant surprise! One was by Alison Youngblood, a PhD candidate from UCF as well as my former practicum director for the Soy Culto intensive English Program. Alison presented a history of corpora which was beyond mind-boggling. The amount of accumulated, searchable knowledge on the internet today is beyond staggering. Perhaps it comes as no surprise that researchers have accumulated very specific information, including the English language, in amazing databases called corpora. Corpora accumulate words from written articles, T.V. and radio broadcasts, books, and more. The other presentation was by both Alison and another student in my cohort, Christina Torres, who spoke on practical applications for integrating corpus in vocabulary lesson planning. Here is a link to the most used American Corpus, BYU's COCA: http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/

Job Marketplace
Another amazing aspect of TESOL 2013 was the job marketplace. Here, employers from around the world signed up to meet with hundreds of eager applicants. 45-minute interviews were scheduled online and then conducted in-person. It is an incredible opportunity for anyone seeking employment in the field, and even if you weren't at TESOL Convention 2013, they have a great online application as well! http://www.tesol.org/convention2013/job-marketplace

All in all, I feel incredibly fortunate and excited to be part of TESOL. As graduation looms above my head, I guess the best course of action next is to study for my comprehensive exam and get ready to experience even more amazing things in the field as I continue to develop as a professional. :)