ICIS Newsletter - March 2021 (Plain Text Version)
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LETTER FROM THE CO-EDITORS Leslie Bohon, University of Richmond, Richmond, VA, USA
Dear Intercultural Communication members, This special issue of InterCom is our Pre-Convention issue, in anticipation of the TESOL 2021 International Convention being held completely virtually. A pandemic may have caused us to re-group, but it can’t keep TESOL or ICIS from doing their good work! To launch our preview of the Convention, Co-Chair Amy Alice Chastain lists for our convenience the special sessions our membership may want to attend at the TESOL Virtual Convention. Our members will find numerous sessions dedicated to intercultural teaching and learning, including collaborations between ICIS and other interest sections, panels, poster sessions, a teaching tip session, and dozens upon dozens of presentations. Keep this list handy as you plan your schedule for the Convention. To launch our preview of the Convention, we offer you three articles from members who share meaningful work in professional development, intercultural learning through gamification, and anti-racism collaborations. Author Estela Ene shares several years’ of work to put together extensive professional development for faculty at her university. Her article, “Setting the Stage for Intercultural Engagement via Professional Development” explains the rationale, format, and results of a PD initiative that focused on intercultural competence for faculty across a mid-sized U.S. university campus. Ene’s detailed account may inspire readers to start such PD at their own institutions or add to what they are already doing. We appreciate that our members are willing to share their ideas for promoting intercultural learning. Along these lines, authors Kelly Torres and Aubrey Statti return to our newsletter to share their work with students using gamification. Their article, “Engaging Language Learners through Gamification” emphasizes instructional benefits and outlines a 5-step process to gamify your lessons. Finally, reflective professional development is essential for English language educators in all areas. To promote anti-racist awareness among TESOL professionals, ICIS co-hosted a coffee hour with the Black English Language Professionals and Friends (BELPaF) Interest Section. Authors Ramin Yazdanpanah, Amy Alice Chastain, and Kisha Bryan, recount the collaborative effort and offer lessons learned for future critical conversations. Not only do these three pieces highlight the varied interests and practices of our ICIS membership, but they also illustrate the multitude of ways to continue learning as TESOL professionals. As TESOL’s interest section for intercultural communication within the context of language teaching and learning, we believe that a diverse set of voices will enrich our work and our lives. We welcome you to join us as you are able. There are several ways to share and to connect. Once a month we have informal “Coffee Hour”, which affords ICIS members opportunities to meet and connect for work or research possibilities. Coffee Hours are Wednesdays or Fridays early afternoon, third week of a month. For all events, please stay tuned in to our social media channels on Facebook and Twitter. They will keep you up-to-date on all ICIS activities. Another way to connect with ICIS is to submit a piece to the ICIS newsletter. Share your insights, issues or experiences regarding intercultural learning, teaching intercultural competence or cultural exchange in your educational setting. The deadline for the call for submissions to our spring/summer newsletter is Monday, April 19, 2021. Please email your submissions to newsletter.icis.tesol@gmail.com. Additionally, you can “Meet Your ICIS Leadership Team” through a brief set of bios. We look forward to working with everyone in the TESOL ICIS community as we explore together the art and science of intercultural learning. Please feel free to contact us with comments, suggestions, or questions. Finally, as we look forward to engaging with our colleagues at the upcoming TESOL 2021 International Convention, we hope you enjoy this edition of the ICIS Newsletter. We look forward to hearing from you. Warm regards, Leslie Bohon Josephine Prado ICIS Newsletter Co-Editors |
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