Save the Dates!
Hats Off to New Mexico Teachers!
Online Fall Conference – September 18, 2020
It’s an online conference, it’s on FlipGrid, so it’s a Flip-erence!
Dear NM TESOL family,
In the article “Zoom Fatigue Is Taxing the Brain” Andrew Franklin who is a professor in cyber-psychology believes people are surprised by how difficult they are finding video classes given that the medium seems neatly confined to a small screen and presents few obvious distractions.
At our last Board Meeting, NM TESOL decided to change the format of our fall workshop because we believe many teachers are suffering from “Zoom Gloom” right now. It is not such a surprise to us how difficult it can be to watch hours and hours of webinars and Zoom meetings. We have only received one submission for our conference which we think may be related to the fact that so many of us are indeed suffering from Zoom fatigue!
Thus, we have decided to organize a different kind of online conference format for our fall event.
We are inviting our members to contribute teaching ideas in the form of a FlipGrid video. If you are not familiar with FlipGrid, we encourage you to watch the short video below for students. To access our Flip-erence, you will use the Join Code of nmtesol2020 at flipgrid.com, or just click here to go directly to our Flip-erence board. When you get into the FlipGrid, you can access all the topics with the blue menu below the main photo where it says “View 6 topics.” We have posted several topics to help us focus our discussions, but if you feel strongly that another separate topic would be helpful, email us at nmtesol@gmail.com and we will set that up!
You can also watch the teacher video about how to use FlipGrid in your classroom. This free software has been popular with our students, and we hope you can use it with yours. Watch it here.
On September 18, 2020, at 9:00 am MST, we will have just a one-hour Zoom meeting where we will highlight the different features on our NM TESOL website and then publicly release the FlipGrid videos that have been produced. You can submit your FlipGrid video at any time. We are going to keep it open for this fall semester. You may want to share a favorite app, or icebreaker, or activity to do during a synchronous meeting, etc.
We want to encourage everyone to wear a wacky or not so wacky hat to the Zoom meeting, so that we can ceremoniously take them off to honor the commitment we have to our students and to professional development.
Hats off to teachers everywhere!
Amy, Claire, David, Laura, Judy, Judith, and Julie
NM TESOL Board
‘New Decade, New Ideas’ Spring Workshop
Our theme this year is “New Decade, New Ideas”. The workshop will be held at CNM’s Montoya Campus in Albuquerque on March 6th from 8-12.
Register here by March 3rd
Here you can download an outline of the program and session descriptions.
Here is a preview of our program:
8:00-8:30: Sign in and breakfast in H 128.
8:30-9:30 (60 min sessions)
- Nathan Farmer: Communicative Language Teaching: Using Tasks to Teach Grammar with the Focus on Form Approach
- Amy Christensen, Laura McIndoo, David Williams: Best Practices in ESL Orientations
8:30-10:00 (90 min sessions)
- Linda Koran: Hands-on Grammar with English on a Roll: Fun and Effective!
- Miriam Corneli, Maxine Swiza: Learning and Lesson Planning with the Brain in Mind: From Synapses and Serotonin to Safety, Satisfaction, and Success
9:45-10:45 (60 min sessions)
- Amy Zhupikov: Interactive Activities to Facilitate in Context Vocabulary Learning
- Rebecca Sherry: Using Blackboard (or your LMS) to Organize Your ESL Classroom.
10:30-12:00 (90 min sessions)
- David Williams: Reflect it Back: Using Mentor Observations to Examine Pedagogical Practices
11:00-12:00 (60 min sessions)
- Christina Trujillo: Effective Reading Comprehension Strategies for English Learners
- Radi Abouelhassan: Project-Based Learning: Insights to Build ESL Students’ Cognition
Also:
9:30-11: Networking session
8:30-12: Open PERC (Professional ESL Resource Center) time
Spring Workshop “New Decade, New Ideas” March 6th
SAVE THE DATE!
Our theme this year is “New Decade, New Ideas”. The workshop will be held at CNM’s Montoya Campus in Albuquerque, and will be a half-day workshop. We are looking for presentations that are either 60 minutes or 90 minutes and that highlight fresh ways or strategies to teach English as a second language.
Call for presenters!
Click here to download the submission form. Please complete and email it to us by February 7th. Send it to nmtesol@gmail.com.
The PERC
New Mexico has a professional and comprehensive ESL (English as a Second Language) Resource Center available for New Mexico educators and learning communities statewide. In a unique cooperative venture, private donors Catherine and Mac Lewis, NM TESOL (New Mexico Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages) and CNM (Central New Mexico Community College) have come together to establish the new Professional ESL Resource Center (PERC) on CNM’s Montoya Campus. The PERC houses an extensive array of commercial and custom-developed ESL teaching materials, accumulated and created by the Lewises over more than a decade in support of Catherine’s highly successful ESL work with English language learners. The materials range from pre-K to adult and off er a broad variety of resources to help students learn, practice and improve their English skills.
Currently, the PERC is closed due to the Pandemic and the Delta variant. We will reopen as soon as we can do if safely.
Board of Directors – Nominate by Dec 6th
Would you like to serve?
The following NM Board positions are up for election this year: President, Treasurer, Web Coordinator and Membership Coordinator. Please send in nominations by December 6. Elections will be held online from December 8-15. You DO NOT have to debate, create campaign advertisements, or attend any state fairs to schmooze with the people to be a candidate in this election!
The term of service for these Board members will be the years 2020 and 2021. Please take a moment to consider whether you or someone you know would be able and willing to serve in one of these capacities.
The President’s primary job is to lead the association, for example, by conducting meetings, representing the association to other professional associations and government offices, and taking a major role in organizing conferences.
The Treasurer has responsibility for maintaining the association’s financial records and serves as liaison with the association’s accountant, and other duties. (Knowledge of QuickBooks is preferred but not required. Our current very adept Treasurer has offered extensive training if needed.)
Web Coordinator has responsibility for the association’s email, online presence, social media, and other duties.
Membership Coordinator has responsibility for maintaining the membership database including sending the welcome email. In addition, the Membership Coordinator works on publicizing NM TESOL to attract more members.
In addition to being willing to fulfill the basic duties outlined above, the candidates must meet these criteria:
· They must be willing to become a member of NMTESOL (if not already a member).
· If elected, they must be willing to serve in the position for the duration of their two-year term.
· If elected, they must be willing to take part in monthly NMTESOL Board of Directors meetings, which are generally conducted online using Zoom (a free online video-conferencing app). The meetings are generally for 45-minutes monthly with a break in the summer.
Anyone can recommend a person for the NMTESOL Board. If you wish to recommend yourself or someone else, please send recommendations to this e-mail address (nmtesol@gmail.com) along with a short introduction of the candidate. Send your candidate recommendations by December 6, 2019.
Voting will be conducted online. Results will be announced at our annual meeting, via email, and website.
Thank you for considering it!
Laura & Amy
The PERC will be open by appointment only for the month of December.
Please contact us at nmtesol@gmail.com if you want to schedule an appointment, and we will try our best to accommodate you. Thanks!
Can you join us for our PERC Opening Reception on October 18th from 4-6? Come see all the professional ESL resources that will be available for you! RSVP here
View the full Fall Conference schedule here
Programs and links to handouts from various past workshops
2019 Spring Workshop Program
- Amy Christensen’s Teaching Critical Thinking Skills More Creatively
- Claire Schneider’s Reading Resources and Activities for Lower Levels
- Laura McIndoo’s Color Vowel Basics: links:
- Dr. Xiaofei Rao and Dr. Wenjie Wang’s Cultivating Information Literate ELLs in the University EAP Classroom: A Project-Based ApproachCultivating Information Literate ELLs in the University EAP Classroom
2017 Spring Workshop Program
2016 Fall Conference Program
2015 Fall NMTESOL + NMAEA Conference
2015 Spring Workshop
- Aaron Combs – What Do You Want to Do
- Amy Wetterau Zhupikov – Lesson Plans Out of the Ordinary – Using the News to Teach
- Kat Green – NEEPO – New Phonetics Technology
- Mary Hudgens Henderson – Semilingualism
- Melanie Mullen – Grammar Hammer
- More to come soon!
2014 Spring Workshop
- Best Practices from Call to Collaborate by Claire Schneider
- What is Cultural Scaffolding? by Monique Stone
- More to come soon!
2013 NMTESOL + NMAEA Fall Conference
- Motivating Learners – What is my role by Neil Anderson, keynote speaker
- Curricularizing Reading Fluency by Neil Anderson, keynote speaker
2013 Spring Workshop
- Multilevel ESL Instruction by Amber Gallup Rodriguez
- Creating a WOW Classroom by Yolanda Denny
- The Communicative Method: Speaking to Different Cultural and Learning Styles with Idioms and Idiomatic Phrases by Gabriel Roybal
2012 Spring Workshop
- End of Term Planning by Monique Stone
From the November 2009 Workshop
- Preparing ESL students for College Writing by Tom Pierce
- Musical Echoing by Lonnie Dai Zovi
From the April 2009 NAMEA Teachers’ Institute
- Six (6) Tasks for Task-based learning by Jennifer Herrin
- Lesson Planning by Jennifer Herrin
From the March 2009 Mini-conference at Santa Fe Community College
- Transition: Bridging the W I D E Gap by Susan Tollefson
- Sponge Activities by Bill Ancker
From the February 2009 Workshop
From the October 2008 Workshop
We’re Turning Over a New Leaf
Heraclitus wrote “there is nothing permanent except change” which helps explain why NM TESOL is experiencing a refresh. NM TESOL was reestablished in 2008, and ten years later here we are again hitting the refresh button to update our website and social media presence, our membership list, and our professional development opportunities.
Since this is a non-profit organization managed by volunteers, we are counting upon your input to help make NM TESOL a more vibrant useful resource in the educational community in New Mexico. Laura McIndoo and Amy Christensen are acting as Co-Presidents until the official election in December. They hope to be joined by three other interested New Mexican educators to fill the remaining board member roles of Secretary, Newsletter Editor, and Web Coordinator.
Please consider being someone who helps us make these changes. The board meetings are held online once a month and the job descriptions are below.
If you don’t have the time to serve as a board member, we would still value your input on how to make NM TESOL a more user-friendly organization. We will be creating a Survey Monkey poll after the New Year to solicit your ideas.
In the meantime, look for an email announcing our social media updates as well as information about our first workshop in the spring. To conclude, Andy Warhol states “they always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself.” We look forward to getting your help to change and improve NM TESOL!
If you are interested in one of the following positions, please contact us at nmtesol@gmail.com.
- Vice President: performs all of the duties and responsibilities of the President in the absence of, or as directed by, the President. In addition, this person takes responsibility for professional development activities and chairs the annual conference. May be assigned special projects by the President.
- Secretary: records minutes of board meetings and other special meetings needed for organizational activities; submits a copy of minutes for approval at each board meeting
- Newsletter Editor (known also as Director B ): Director B has responsibility for creating the association’s newsletter as well as soliciting content.
NMTESOL 