Category Archives: Collaboration

Join Us at the 2025 TESL Ontario Annual Conference – Call for Presentations Now Open!

Mark your calendars! The TESL Ontario Annual Conference returns from November 19–21, 2025, and this year’s theme, “Igniting the Future of Language Education,” promises to spark meaningful dialogue and innovation in our field.

We’re excited to announce that the Call for Presentation Proposals is officially open! This is your chance to showcase your knowledge, share your research, and contribute to the evolving landscape of language education.

Presenting at the TESL Ontario Conference offers more than just visibility—it’s a platform for professional growth. Engage with a dynamic audience, gain fresh perspectives, receive constructive feedback, and take part in conversations that inspire future collaborations and ideas.

By stepping into the role of presenter, you’ll enhance your communication skills, expand your professional network, and establish yourself as a leader in the TESL community. Whether you’re an experienced speaker or a first-time presenter, this opportunity can boost both your confidence and career.

Presentation formats include:

  • Papers
  • Individual or Group Presentations
  • Panel Discussions
  • Publisher’s Showcases
  • Technology-Focused Sessions

Why Present? Here are just a few of the benefits:

  1. Complimentary one-day registration on the day of your presentation
  2. A certificate of five (5) hours of Professional Development for your one-hour session
  3. A chance to sharpen your virtual presentation skills
  4. A meaningful way to expand your professional learning network
  5. The opportunity to contribute to and learn from your peers through vibrant exchange

New to presenting? No worries! You’ll have access to a detailed, self-paced training package, plus the support of our experienced organizing team, moderators, and technical staff.
Returning presenters won’t need to repeat training unless they choose to, but a quick “What’s New in 2025” orientation video will be available to keep you up to date.

To learn more about this year’s theme, session requirements, and how to submit your proposal, visit our Call for Presentations page. Be sure to submit by 12:00 PM (ET) on June 13, 2025.

We look forward to your ideas—and to seeing you in November!

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The Importance of Selecting Appropriate Reading Materials – How to Help Learners Find the “Right” One

Image taken from: Big Stock Photo

Learners often come to me with questions about their English reading materials. They wonder if the books they’ve chosen are good for practicing English or why certain expressions differ from what they hear daily. For instance, one of my students asked why “you shall” was used in a text. This highlighted a common issue: many learners struggle to distinguish between reading for pleasure and reading to learn English as a second language. This leads to a vital question: How does one choose a book that benefits English learning? However, selecting the right materials involves more than just finding any English text—it requires careful consideration of the learner’s proficiency level and the regional variation of English they are exposed to. 

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Good Habits for Managing Learning Material

 a poster for Good Habits for Managing Learning Material
Generated with ChatGPT

Introduction

Over the past months, thousands of language instructors across Canada have been unwittingly or intentionally taking on instructional developer responsibilities. They have been cobbling together, rearranging, and refining digital resources and activities from various sources to meet the needs of their students. Many instructors have been generating original learning resources to fill in gaps that appear while teaching online.

Usually, learning materials are prepared ‘on-the-fly’ to anticipate or adapt to challenges that arise from our classroom lessons. What happens to these documents? Often, they are forgotten on a computer drive and discovered on a slow day when you are considering which files to remove to free up hard drive space. These files are hastily named, filed, and saved, so they are lost.  Sometimes, it is too much trouble to save and properly file a document that is created just before your online class is about to start. If you are currently teaching online, I am sure you will agree with this! Continue reading

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#CdnELTchat Summary for April 27, 2021 Building Community in Online Classes

Image Source: #CdnELTChat Team
Image Source: #CdnELTChat Team

Post by Bonnie Nicholas

As we continue with online teaching and learning, I think all of us have discovered the importance of building community in the online spaces in which we spend so much time. I suspect that we have all also discovered that it’s more challenging to build a community in an online environment than in a face-to-face class. #CdnELTchat hosted a Twitter chat to talk about this ongoing challenge.

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Make the Most of Breakout Rooms

One of the biggest challenges with online classes is getting students engaged and working collaboratively. Breakout rooms seem to be the answer to both engagement and collaboration issues; however, these rooms can pose a whole new world of challenges. How do you utilize your breakout rooms to optimize student group work?

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#CDNELTCHAT & #TESLONCHAT : JOIN THE CHAT ON THURSDAY!

Image Source: #CdnELTChat Team
Guest Contributor: Jennifer Chow
 
Join #CdnELTchat & #teslONchat to chat about designing inclusive pedagogies in #ELT on Thu, Feb 25 (note the date) at 6PT 7MT 8CT 9ET 10AT.

If you can, join @Jessifer ‘s webinar earlier on Feb 25 as this will be the basis for our chat (but not essential): https://asuevents.asu.edu/content/design

Below is a recap of the January 26 chat written by #CdnELTchat moderator Jennifer Chow.

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Summary of the #InstructionalDesign discussion with Anna Bartosik

December 11th, 2020 marked our final #teslONchat of the year. We gathered on Twitter to discuss Instructional Design with Anna Bartosik (@ambartosik). Anna is a doctoral candidate, an instructional designer, a teacher, and a teacher trainer. Anna develops online and blended courses and works on curriculum development. Her interest in self-directed professional development informs her work as a teacher and instructional designer, but also inspired her research of teacher professional development on social media platforms, like Twitter.

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