The ATESL Calgary Local would like to invite you to our September PD session. It will be hosted via Zoom on Tuesday, September 21 at 5:00 pm. For the first hour, which is open to all ATESL members, 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. Please see below for a full description of the session.

After the presentation, we will have the draw for the free ATESL 2021 Conference registration for the Calgary local members. For every PD session that you attended in 2021, your name will be entered into the draw. If your name is selected, you do need to have an active membership in order to receive the free conference registration. We do ask that if your name is selected but your institution will be covering your conference registration, please let us know so that another local member can have this opportunity. (Please note that if you are not part of the Calgary local, your local will be holding its own draw for a free conference registration. Please contact your local co-chair for specific information.)  

If you would like to join us on September 21, please email Calgary and we will send you the meeting link.

On another note, we are looking for a Local Co-chair and secretary for 2022. If you are interested in finding out more information about either role, please contact us and we would be very happy to chat with you!

We look forward to seeing you!

Nancy, Peggy, and Nura
2021/2022 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: Provincial