President's Letter

On behalf of the Washington Association for the Education of Speakers of Other Languages Executive Board, I would like to say hello and welcome to an exciting new year! We have an eager and energetic group of leaders on our board already making plans for our 2008 conference October 25^th at Highline Community College. Our theme for 2008 is Educators as Advocates. I think this is a very inspirational theme and will help to generate some very thoughtful as well as practical presentations and workshops.

For us to be effective advocates we need to be heard and we need to be visible. One way that WAESOL, an organized body of educators, does this is by hosting conferences with recognized leaders in our field and workshops on cutting edge technology. By sharing our expertise and skills with each other, we present ourselves as professionals who deserve respect from our institutions and government leaders. We conduct ourselves as responsible, accountable, and competent peers.

To be perceived as worthy advocates, we need to be informed, approachable, and available. Sometimes this means we need to give our time and effort to those issues and events that depend on people like us to make them happen.

I strongly recommend that we all ask ourselves, “Who are we advocating for and what can I do?” If you want to change the way your WAESOL board does something, or you think that your area of TESOL isn’t well represented, maybe it’s time to get involved and start advocating for yourself. There are many ways you can do this. Submit a proposal or volunteer for the next conference, write an article for the newsletter, or run for office. We welcome your comments and suggestions.

I’d like to invite you to attend one of our WAESOL board meetings. Any WAESOL member is welcome to attend board meetings. Meetings are at Highline Community College in Building 14, Room 104 and start at 9:00 a.m. We represent you and welcome your input. Hope to see you there! Dates of our upcoming meetings are:

September 27, 2008

October 25, 2008 (General Meeting at the Conference)

December 6, 2008

Sincerely,

Linda Louie

Your 2008 WAESOL President

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Linda is an adjunct ESL instructor for Highline Community College and teaches ESL/Citizenship for the Center for Career Alternatives, a nonprofit organization in Seattle. She has been with WAESOL for many years, and is the President for 2008.