Teaching in China: Trying to start PRC TESOL

9:20 a.m. - 2005-12-05
It Begins

Okay, It took me hours to finalize the constitution and the bylaws of China Tesol, but I have it finished. Now I have been arrangeing activities and a membership drive in this area. So now I have to start finding board members for the first year of China TESOL. I need someone in the Xian, someone in Beijing, and someone in Shanghai. These people would be responsible for advertising information about China Tesol and recruiting members in their respective areas... they would be Executive Board members and considered "members at large". The good news is that I know people in each of those areas, the bad news is that I have to encourage them to join the TESOL organization before asking them to become Board members.

Well, they have the option of becoming TESOL members after they become ChinaTESOL members. The difficulty is that I am worried that people will not see the benifit of becoming a TESOL member (or for that matter a China TESOL member). This is just a baby step though. With an official organization that can be affiliated with the TESOL organization, teachers in China who are serious about ESL or about being professionals will be able to justify their time and effort. They will be in a community of like minded individuals and be able to communicate regularly with people who face the same conditions and the same problems and challenges.

Right now I am working on so many projects I have no time to do anything else. I have my regular courses that I teach, I have my seminars, I have the textbook that I am still in the process of collecting materials for, I have the curriculum that I am designing which is based firmly on a language program design that I am attempting to remodel for this location, I have my project of altering my course for online access and use in the computer lab, I have added this TESOL affiliate project and of course I have my family which takes priority over all.

The China TESOL project will officially be open for membership enrollment in February (the start of the Chinese second college semester) at which time I will be trying to reach the minimum requirements for affiliation with TESOL. Then I will apply for affiliation next september. We will hold the first elections for official offices in November of next year, so there will be board positions as well as non-voting memberships available. I have to get the word out slowly but firmly that this is now a done thing. I have two members that are TESOL members in good standing (that would be me and a friend in Beijing) and when there are three TESOL members involved and 50 other members, following the official elections in November we will be able to apply for an affiliate position, which will make membership a very good thing.

I know that there will be three people in the Fujian province that I can invite to membership in September, and I know a few more people in Shanghai and Beijing, so now it is just a matter of spreading the word and arranging a conference for next year and a newsletter. I am thinking about doing an online newsletter due to the extraordinary spread of members, but the conference I would have to arrange in one of the main cities (so not at my location). All of this and I have papers to grade. I think I will post the announcment about the group on Dave's ESL cafe or something to get the news out about it. Maybe I should set up an information web site first? Yeah, most likely that is what I will have to do.
Anyway, wish me luck.