Professionalism and Integrity: CELT at CATESOL 2006 in San Francisco
Michael Lessard-Clouston, [email protected]
Over the past several years there has been a series of informative Christians in English Language Teaching (CELT) conferences. The first, a full-day event held in Long Beach, California, was planned by Kitty Purgason and coincided with TESOL 2004. The following year, a CELT evening conference was held again in Long Beach, at the same time as CATESOL 2005, the California TESOL statewide conference, and was planned by Greg Bock. This past January a 3-day CELT conference chaired by Brad Baurain was held at Payap University in Chiang Mai, Thailand, just after the Thai TESOL 2006 conference (see www.payap.ac.th/english/celt). Most recently, another CELT evening conference was held during the CATESOL 2006 conference on April 7, 2006. This article reports briefly on this most recent CELT evening conference.
Many participants met up at the CATESOL conference and enjoyed an optional, informal group meal on the way to San Francisco Lighthouse Church. Following registration, the evening offered three sessions, under the theme “Serving our Students With Professionalism and Integrity.” Approximately 40 attendees had a choice of hearing Susan O’Reilly speak about a successful church-based ESL program in Portland, Oregon, or a panel presentation on being a Christian teacher in a secular setting. I attended this latter session, where Don Harootian (Defense Language Institute), Jee-Eun Oh (University of California Irvine), and Christine Anketell (Los Angeles Valley College) each shared eloquently about their experiences as Christians who teach ESL in a variety of contexts, including an intensive English program, an adult school, and a community college. The question period at the end became a time of thanksgiving for the presenters’ reflections.
The second and third sessions were delivered in the church sanctuary. Rich Robison (Azusa Pacific University) spoke on truthfulness in English teaching by presenting an expanded version of his talk from the CETC colloquium at the TESOL 2006 convention in Tampa. Although I heard both versions I especially appreciated this fuller discussion of a range of ethical and professional questions that Christians face in ELT. Kitty Purgason (Biola University) ended the evening with an overview of popular songs and spiritual issues in the classroom. This presentation incorporated a clear rationale and many creative ways to use songs in ESL and EFL classes; the audience received new ideas and was impressed by Kitty’s use of a range of media for this final session.
As one of the last people to leave this wonderful evening gathering, I can report that participants appeared to appreciate the fellowship and networking that this CELT conference at CATESOL 2006 provided. Special thanks go to each of the presenters and to conference manager Vivian Wang and program planner Kitty Purgason, each of whom modeled the conference theme by serving attendees with professionalism and integrity. If you would like to learn about or plan a similar event in your area, Kitty Purgason has set up an online Wiki for CELT conferences with further information, at http://christiansineltconferences.pbwiki.com. Also, this conference series will continue next March in Seattle, where a CELT conference will be held the day before the TESOL 2007 convention. If possible, please plan to attend. Although a call for participation has not yet been sent out, you may contact conference chair Kathryn Bartholomew, of Seattle Pacific University, at [email protected] with suggestions or offers to assist with this upcoming full-day event.
Michael Lessard-Clouston has taught in Canada, China, and Japan, and now works in the department of applied linguistics and TESOL at Biola University in La Mirada, California.
