Veronika Williams Conference Summary

Veronika Williams

Ph.D. Graduate, Spring 2016                                                                    
Second Language Acquisition & Teaching GIDP

Conference Summary
Teachers of English to Speakers of other Languages (TESOL)
Baltimore, Maryland
April 5-8, 2016

With the support of Herbert E. Carter Travel Award, I was able to attend and present at an annual international conference of Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages organization.  This was the biggest and most influential conference I have ever had a chance to present.  My colleague and I shared our work with an audience of about sixty people and received very positive and encouraging feedback. We presented on the Program for Intentional Learning and how effective it is in terms of helping students of the Center for English as a Second Language in becoming successful English language learners and getting ready for an American university.  After our presentation, we were able to make connections with English language educators from all over the world and exchanged our contact information.  I have attended several educational sessions at the conference and learned about new developments in my field that I am interested in: a model for mentoring new language teachers, qualities and competences needed to become a language program administrator, and insights into cultural differences between Saudi Arabia and the US.  At the conference, I made many professional connections and interacted with colleagues from various countries which would hopefully lead to future collaborations. I also met the past president of TESOL and had an opportunity to talk to him.  I am hoping to attend and present at this conference every year from now on and really become an active member of TESOL professional organization!!! I am very grateful for the support I received from H.C. Carter Award! I would not be able to go to this conference otherwise!