Sep 21, 2021

We hope that you are having a great summer. We wanted to update you on the activities of the Calgary local.

Our last PD session for before the ATESL Conference will be on Tuesday, September 21 at 5:00 pm. For the first hour, Julia Lane (Writing Services Coordinator) and Emily Lam (Writing and Learning Peer) from the SFU Student Learning Commons, will present on Introducing a Suite of Inclusive and Antiracist Writing Guides. After the presentation, we will have the draw for the free ATESL 2021 Conference registration.

We are also in the process of planning for 2022. We are very pleased to welcome Nura Mohamed, who will be one of the local co-chairs. She brings experience and enthusiasm to the role and we are looking forward to working with her. We also are very grateful to Peggy Jubien, who will remain in her role as treasurer. Peggy has been part of the local committee at various times through the years and provides continuity and insight. Priscilla Lee has recently stepped down from her role as co-chair and we thank her for all her contributions this past year. She was instrumental in getting our PD sessions up and running on a virtual platform! Nancy Robertson will also be stepping down at the end of this year after being in the co-chair position for 3 years.

We are looking for a co-chair and secretary for 2022. If you are interested in finding out more information about either role, please contact us at calgary@atesl.ca and we would be very happy to chat with you!

We look forward to seeing you in September!

Nancy, Peggy, and Nura

ATESL Calgary Local Committee

Introducing a Suite of Inclusive and Antiracist Writing Guides

Are you looking for ways to actively support antiracist work and make your writing and/or language instruction more inclusive? Are these areas in which you would like to better support your students as they work on English language learning? 

In this session, Julia Lane (Writing Services Coordinator) and Emily Lam (Writing and Learning Peer) from the SFU Student Learning Commons will introduce a suite of inclusive and antiracist writing guides, providing some context for their creation and some tips on how they can be used in the classroom and beyond. The guides are Creative Commons licensed and available online for widespread use. 

Trigger warning: Toward the end of the session, we will also discuss some common racist words and tropes that can appear in the context of English language and writing instruction. We recognize that hearing these terms discussed can be harmful for some people. We will do our best to discuss them respectfully and with a consistent eye toward eradicating that terminology from our instruction contexts. We also welcome participants to excuse themselves for this part of the discussion if that is safer for them. 

https://www.lib.sfu.ca/about/branches-depts/slc/writing/inclusive-antiracist-writing

http://www.sfu.ca/sfunews/stories/2021/04/this-new-sfu-writing-guide-champions-inclusivity.html

This new SFU writing guide champions inclusivity - SFU News - Simon Fraser University

www.sfu.ca

From a simple guide to a 50-page suite: learn the story behind a new writing guide from SFU’s Student Learning Commons that aims to help the community write more inclusively.

ATESL Chapter: Calgary