President's Message
I hope that this has been the start of another exciting year for all of you. As we reflect on our many successes, we also acknowledge our continuing challenges and the need for innovative means of addressing them. With the arrival of increasing numbers of temporary foreign workers, immigrants, refugees, and their families, we face growing demands for new and expanding ESL programs to meet their general and specific needs in both urban and rural areas of the province.
ATESL is continuing to explore ways of providing increased support for the dedicated work that you do. One of these has been the development of special interest listservs. We are hoping that these will promote a sharing of useful ideas and experiences in the coming year, and we look forward to your participation in future online discussions. The ATESL Resources webpage is also designed to support ESL teaching and learning; if you have suggestions to contribute, please forward them to us. The TESL Canada Journal will be available online, beginning with the Fall 2008 issue. We hope that this will improve access to articles of relevance to your teaching and that you and your colleagues will consider contributing to the journal, as well.
Over my past year as President, I have been continually impressed by the breadth and depth of your experience and by your commitment to the field. Thanks to the Calgary, Central Alberta, and Edmonton committees for their work in providing quality workshops at the local level, and to the Provincial Board for their support and guidance. I am very grateful to the ATESL 2008 conference co-chairs and committees who have volunteered their time and expertise to put together a stimulating conference, and I look forward to collaborating with the co-chairs and committees who will be organizing the TESL Canada 2009 conference in Banff. I also wish to express appreciation for the strong support for ESL learners, instructors, and assessors in our province from Citizenship and Immigration Canada and from Alberta Employment and Immigration. I look forward to seeing many of you at the conference this fall and to working more closely with all of you in the coming year.
Sincerely,
Marian Rossiter
ATESL President