Keynote Speakers
We are thrilled to announce our keynotes for the ATESL 2022 Conference
Keynote Session - Creating a Culture of Well-Being in a Post-Pandemic World
The COVID-19 pandemic affected millions of teachers and learners worldwide drawing attention to the critical role of wellbeing. Learning happens best when teachers and their students are well and when services and schools support staff well-being. It has a positive impact on staff retention, job satisfaction, productivity, and student outcomes (Cherkowski & Walker, 2018; Kim, 2016, Naylor, 2019). In “helping professions”, including English language teaching, self-care has been promoted to reduce stress, build resilience, and improve well-being. Many teachers believe that the responsibility for their well-being is their responsibility alone however Skovholt & Trotter-Mathison (2016) argue that self-care is a personal, interpersonal, and organizational responsibility. As language teaching professionals plan for a post-pandemic future, how do we take the lessons learned regarding well-being and refocus with a sense of renewal? Now is the time to create and build on a culture of well-being.
Patrice's presentation has been generously sponsored by:
Keynote Session - Creating Culturally Sustaining Online Literacy Education for Adult Learners
Online learning would appear to be anathema to learners engaging in basic literacy education, but in fact, creating fertile spaces for such students in a digital learning environment is not only possible but potentially transformative. As we look to refresh our perspectives, we can re-energize around innovative flipped learning frameworks to implement culturally sustaining instruction online. To accomplish this task, we address access, motivation, participation and ownership of learning through the Synchronous Online Flipped Learning Approach (SOFLA®) and the Mutually Adaptive Learning Paradigm (MALP®).
Keynote Session - English Lessons and Unsettling Pathways Forward
In order to refocus, we have to consider equity and inclusion and translate our stated intentions and values into action. What we were doing before wasn't working for language learners or instructors. The pandemic has exacerbated and exposed these cracks, from mental health to inequity to all out racism and oppression of vulnerable, marginalized, and racialized folx. From an EDI perspective, many of these cracks are by design and make it difficult, if not possible, for us to put our intentions or values into practice. To quote Audre Lord, "the master's tools will never dismantle the master's house... they will never enable us to bring about genuine change". The expectation and burden of change and transformation often falls on the shoulders of instructors. There is much we can do to refocus our teaching and curriculum so that it advances equity, inclusion, anti-racism, and Reconciliation. But there is also much needed change at the coordinator/program level, including within the CLBs themselves. We need to focus on our own house and our own tools. What does EDI, anti-racism, decolonization, and even social justice look like within TESL, from a 360 perspective-- bottom up, grass roots, top down, and side to side? This is not just a session for instructors but refocuses on and invites program directors, coordinators, and decision-makers who may not have seen themselves as part of the conversation or relevant to the change.
Amy's presentation has been generously sponsored by:
Keynote Session - Discover the Superpower of Stories with The Shoe Project
Every journey begins with a pair of shoes. Join Noreta from Jamaica, Ting from the Philippines, Manna from China, Layla from Syria, Mary from the Philippines, and Jenny from Vietnam as they share their powerful stories on how they've traveled and made a new life in Canada.
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