Category Archives: Professional Development

Celebrating 50 Years – History of PLAR Service at TESL Ontario


Written by - Allison Keown
Image source: TESL Ontario

Allison Keown is the Executive Director of TESL Ontario

TESL Ontario introduced certification for Ontario English language educators in March 2000.  The introduction of this provincial certification helped advance the TESL profession and the TESL Ontario certification swiftly became the sector standard for the hiring of English language educators in Ontario.

2004 – Expanding Access to Language Instructor Certification through PLAR

At a time when language teaching was gaining traction as a valued profession worldwide, internationally trained individuals (ITIs) with significant experience were struggling to obtain certification in Ontario, because their education did not meet the certification standards that had been established.  As a result, these qualified professionals were often having to repeat education that they already possessed, in order to become employable in Ontario.   

Continue reading →
Categories:
POST COMMENT 1

Interview with 3 Board Members – A Year in Review (Part 2 of 2) 


Written by - teslontario

In Part 1 of this two-part series, you were introduced to three of the TESL ON Board members who have completed one year of service. In Part 2, we dig deeper into their responses about their perspectives as Board members.  

Interview (continued)

What have you learned from your fellow Board members in the last year? 

Cecilia: Where do I start? Everyone is truly focused on the continued strengthening of the organization and to share their individual talents to make this happen. We have only Zoomed since I joined but I have felt welcomed from the very first time we met. New members are matched with a mentor who we can call on anytime and that’s reflective of the spirit of collaboration that exists within the Board and our organization as a whole. David Hezell, past Chair and treasurer, became my mentor and that helped me to transition to my current role as treasurer.  

Continue reading →
Categories:
POST COMMENT 0

Interview with 3 Board Members – A Year in Review (Part 1 of 2)


Written by - teslontario

The Blog Team had the opportunity to interview three TESL Ontario Board members who were appointed one year ago. Following is Part 1 of a two-part blog series in which the members reflect upon their experiences thus far. Part 2 will be posted Wednesday, January 5.  

Board Cohort 2020-2023 – Member Bios

Cecilia Aponte-de-Hanna, M.A, OCELT, OCT

Cecilia continues to be a very active member of TESL Ontario. Her commitment to second language education along with her experience and skill set led her to her current role as a TESL Ontario Board Member and most recently Board treasurer. 

Continue reading →
Categories:
POST COMMENT 0

Why Do We Need a Mentor?


Written by - Bei Zhang

If you google the meaning of “mentorship”, you can find the literal meaning in the dictionary. According to Merriam-Webster, mentorship means “the influence, guidance, or direction given by a mentor” (n.d.).  But what does this mean in practice? Why is having a mentor important? This article discusses the importance of mentorship at work, how to find a mentor, and how to maintain a healthy and successful mentorship.

Continue reading →
Categories:
POST COMMENT 7

Five Reasons To Attend The 2021 TESL Ontario Annual Conference


Written by - teslontario
Image source: TESL Ontario

Post by Dave Fraser

TESL Ontario’s 49th annual conference, Forging Ahead: Building New Normals Together, will be here in no time! The conference, taking place November 3-5, will once again be held virtually this year.

Why should you make time in your calendar to attend? We’re glad you asked!

Continue reading →
Categories:
POST COMMENT 0

Good Habits for Managing Learning Material


Written by - John Allan @mrpottz
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 →

Categories:
POST COMMENT 0

Meet Catherine, TESL Ontario’s Newest Career Coach


Written by - Guest Contributor
Image Source: Catherine Crawford

Guest Contributor: Catherine Crawford

Do you struggle to reflect your value in your resume and cover letter? Ever wonder what exactly a hiring manager is looking for in the interview? Feeling stuck in your career and don’t know where to begin? We all seem to know there is a recipe for success when it comes to job competition, but few of us have sought professional guidance on what that is.

Let me introduce myself. I’m Catherine Crawford, a Certified Career Strategist and Resume Strategist, and I’m very excited to help support TESL Ontario members with career strategies for better outcomes.

Continue reading →
Categories:
POST COMMENT 0

#CdnELTchat Summary for June 1, 2021 Self Directed Professional Development with Anna Bartosik


Written by - Guest Contributor
Image Source: #CdnELTChat Team

Post by Jennifer Chow

#CdnELTchat was happy to have Anna Bartosik (@ambartosik) share her expertise on Self-Directed Professional Development (SDPD) on June 1. Anna is an English language teacher at George Brown College, instructional designer, and PhD Candidate at OISE. Her research is in self-directed professional development in digital networks. Learn more by reading her blog: https://annabartosik.wordpress.com/.

Before we started our discussion, we had a moment of silence to mourn and remember the #215children in Kamloops. #CdnELTchat is also taking time to reflect and plan a future chat with #teslONchat later this month to talk about what we need to do in order to move forward with the 94 Calls To Action from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and work for #Reconciliation.

Continue reading →
Categories:
POST COMMENT 0

Put Your Reading Socks On!


Written by - Daniela Greco-Giancola

A Perfect Time to Read

Image source: www.bigstockphoto.com

“Books are a uniquely portable magic,” as Stephen King wrote, so spend the rest of this pandemic with your reading socks on! It is a stressful time; reading a good book or an educational article can be extremely therapeutic! 

In this blog entry, I will briefly review some professional articles and Canadian books I think you might enjoy. I would love an exchange of ideas if you read or have already read some of my suggestions listed below.

Continue reading →
Categories:
POST COMMENT 0

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


Written by - Guest Contributor
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.

Continue reading →

Categories:
POST COMMENT 0