TESOL 2012

Well, it's been over a week now since TESOL, so I better post an update! Overall, I think the conference went really well. Our travel, though complex, went about as smoothly as it possibly could have, and it seemed like everyone in our group got along well. We're a very collegial bunch, but having 5 ladies in one room could have become tricky. Thankfully, there didn't seem to be any major issues.

The two presentations I was part of went pretty well, although the humongous crowd at one made me a bit flustered, so I don't think it was my best presentation ever. Still, we had a really good response from the people who attended. From what I heard, the other presentation that I wasn't in also went well. I was able to go to some really great sessions, and I came home with a a lot of things to think more about and follow up on. In particular, I'm reading up on work by Eli Hinkel, who was my favorite speaker from this year. I saw her twice, and not only was she talking about issues that were really relevant to my current teaching situation, but she was also hilarious--a totally unexpected perk.

Actually, the coolest part of this conference was the fact that I do have a specific teaching situation to apply what I've learned. The last two times I attended, even though I was teaching first-year comp at the time, I felt more like the conference was a chance to explore any and all areas of interest, which meant that I was attending sessions on all kinds of topics--immigration, adult ed, writing, etc. And I loved that, but it was really great this time to focus in on the kinds of sessions that were about issues I'm currently thinking about in my own teaching. As a result, there were many connections between the different sessions I went to, and I've been thinking a lot about how the things I learned (and the things I want to study further) can inform my teaching, especially as I'll be planning classes for the fall.

The other neat thing about this conference was having the chance to share it with so many colleagues--sometimes we went to the same sessions and discussed them; other times we went our separate ways and compared notes later. And besides interacting on that professional level, it was really fun to get to know them better personally. I also got to meet up with one friend from grad school--seeing her was really great, too.

So, I've got a few pictures to post, but I'm missing a big chunk of the trip because I had misplaced my camera (thought I lost it, but thankfully I didn't!). I might get some pics from a colleague to fill in the gaps, but for now, here are a few highlights that I did manage to capture on film (so to speak).

At the convention:

 Plenary from William Labov--a really famous sociolinguist.

These weird blue cutout people were out in one of the main hallways. We thought they were kind of lame, which is what I'm trying to express with my own weird face and body language. Turns out, they look cooler in the photo than in person.

Some of my colleagues and me outside the convention center.

Around Philly:

There's a walking tour of murals in the convention center area--we saw about 4 of them. This was one of my favorites.

A cool old church. There's another awesome mural right next door, but I didn't get any pics of that one.

That's the capitol building in the background.

 Another pretty church.

At a lovely park with the kids--a friend and I were kidsitting while mom and dad presented.

Food:

Our hotel had free breakfast, and some awesome freshly baked soft pretzels in the afternoons. So dinners were the main exciting meals.

Thai on our first night there. Our hotel was practically next door to both the convention center and China town.

The complimentary cheese and meat trays we received at the swanky "Parc" restaurant in the French Quarter after we waited two hours to be seated (when they had told us it would be 40 minutes).

 My entree--gnocchi with parsnip puree, mushrooms, and Brussels sprouts. Tasty and pricy.

Another nice group shot!

All in all, I think we had quite a good adventure! Now, it's back to the real world--only 3 weeks left of the semester. It'll be a race to the finish, as usual.