Designed. Cultivated. Showcased. The presenters and attendees at Yongin's annual conference were asked to consider their English Langauge Teaching (ELT) and Learning experiences. A driving question: Can we intentionally design these kinds of experiences? The regional conference was held on November 9th at Kangnam University, which turned out to be a beautiful fall day. Over 50 participants helped to make this the highest turnout in recent memory. To close the evening, a Bar-B-Que reception was held under the bright light of the passing moon. However, more important than the numbers, the food and scenary were the conversations, stories, and numerous exchanges among peers. Withoug a doubt, the Yongin Chapter has once again been a place where 'teachers helped teachers' all throughout the day.
Experienced KOTESOLers and First-Time Presenters Welcomed
With the 2019 International Conference still lingering in people's memories, the planning committee of this chapter conference was very intentional about advacing ELT on a variety of topics. One area was to fully take advantage of the skills and experience of those who have a reputation within Korea TESOL for offering stellar presentations. During the general call for abstracts there were a number of "first time" presenters who submitted presentation proposals. In the end, there was a healthy balance of classroom leaders, research specialists, and Special Interest Group (SIG) represtatives to lead the sessions. These proved to be valuable examples and concrete reasons why we can be certain future of Korea TESOL is moving in the right direction. In terms of human resources available for sharing content, skills, ideas, and other valuable information across all of the areas in ELT, we have a wealth of talent and will hopefully celebrate this throughout the chapters and up through the national events.
Cultivating Culture
An additional focus for this conference was to give special attention to the culture being maintained and created. As mentioned above, the SIGs were well represented and this is a tangiable indicator about the amount of effort being given to developing healthy, formidable relationships throughout the organization. Our chapter recognizes this will take continued effort and wanted to take a moment to display some of the ways individuals are celebrating the rich diversity that does exist within our professional learning community.
A huge Thank You to all of you who helped to make this year's conference a time of significance.
End of Year Chapter Elections: Join our Team!
With just one more chapter meeting to be held in 2019, the Yongin Executive Team is looking forward to welcoming leadership for 2020. Members of Yongin Chapter who are considering one of the following positions, should please reach out to someone currently in a position.
President
1st and 2nd Vice-President
Treasurer
Member-At-Large
as well as a number of additional ways to help out the chapter.
