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A Colorful Account of the 2005 TESOL Conference

- By Mike Dunphy -

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Everyone had their identification cards hanging from their neck. Scanning the names and schools, I could see there were a lot of international teachers. Most of the teachers were well-dressed and professional looking, especially the foreigners. I, however, was a glaring exception in my shorts and sandals. As far as I was concerned, after suffering New England winter, I’d be damned if I wasn’t going enjoy the warmth to its fullest.

The presentations that filled the morning were given by the big heads of the industry. There were even whispers of the possible attendance of Queen Azar herself. The titles of the presentations were stirring things like New Trends in Contrastive and Intercultural Rhetoric and Evaluating Teacher Effectiveness through Online Journals and Surveys.

The first one I attended was called The Challenges of Transitioning from Teacher to Administrator. It sounded good because I was only recently appointed Director of Studies for my school and I learned quickly that it wasn’t easy to be a manager. There were five professors from various universities giving the talk. Each of them related the different problems people in my position faced and highlighted the important issues. Unfortunately, they were not so forthcoming with solutions. This deficiency persisted through many presentations I saw that weekend, all explanation and no solutions.

The next presentation I headed to dealt with the upcoming changes in the TOEFL exam. However, when I arrived at the room, there was a line out the door. It was impossible to get in. Unfortunately, this was not the only time I faced this problem. In fact, the powers that be seemed to book all the popular and useful presentations during the week in the smallest rooms.

Another thing I realized by the end of the first day, is that good titles don’t necessarily make good presentations. I was surprised at how many people didn’t know how to give presentations. They mumbled, turned their backs, had bad visuals, and often lacked any personality at all.

I was also shocked by some of the things that passed for new, revolutionary techniques. During one presentation on increasing fluency in the classrooms, the presenter went into an extended passionate discourse that went something like this:

“See, you have to care about your students, because when you don’t care, then they can sense that. So when they speak English, you should say, GOOD, YOU’RE SPEAKING ENGLISH!!!

 

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