KATESOL is the professional organization in the state of Kansas for ESL teachers and others who work with English language learners from Pre-K to 12 as well as adult and college intensive English programs. One challenge for KATESOL has been to organize the annual conference so that topics and issues of relevance to all constituencies are reflected in the conference program.

The 2004 KATESOL Conference, March 12-13, in Hays, Kansas, will come very close to achieving this goal. In addition to a number of sessions of interest to public school teachers and administrators, there are also presentations of relevance directly to the important work done by adult educators and those who teach in intensive programs at universities throughout the state.

It is hard to imagine anyone who has not heard of Dr. Stephen Krashen, who speaks at Friday's opening ceremony, on the evening of March 12th. Dr. Krashen's research and tireless efforts on behalf of language learners are an inspiration to every ESL, foreign language and regular classroom teacher, instructor and professor.

Read Dr. Krashen's Achievement Profile Interview on ESL MiniConference Online!

Saturday's keynotes and concurrent sessions run all day, starting at 9:00 a.m. and ending at 4:00 p.m. Every time slot includes at least one and often several sessions pertaining to the needs of adult and university ESL learners.

At 9:00, Dr. Eada Arbab Jenab and Melissa Renfrow, both of the Applied English Center at the University of Kansas, will present "Adaptable speaking activities for advanced students," demonstrating advanced speaking activities that can be used with any course curriculum.

Also at 9:00, Mary Giles, of Harvard University's National Resource Center for Russian, East European and Central Asian Studies, presents "Speak out! Culture and student self-expression," using video clips to discuss ways students can be helped to raise their voices creatively to benefit themselves and their classmates, American and international.

At 10:00, Dr. Bill VanPatten, of the University of Illinois-Chicago, presents a keynote address, "The fundamental similarity hypothesis and the contextual difference hypothesis," where he will argue that the processes of child first language acquisition and adult second language acquisition are not fundamentally different from each other. Dr. VanPatten is the Director of the Basic Spanish Language Program at the University of Illinois-Chicago, and author of many very popular Spanish-learning as well as language education textbooks.

Read Dr. VanPatten's Achievement Profile Interview on ESL MiniConference Online!

At 11:00, Peggy Hull, of Dodge City Community College, will speak on "Letting our learning inform our teaching," sharing insights she has gained from reflecting on her own continued language learning experiences, and how these reflections, seen through the lens of current language learning research, can help tailor instructional approaches.

Read Peggy Hull's Achievement Profile Interview on ESL MiniConference Online!

Both the lunchtime keynote address, by Jacqueline Boyd, a teacher educator at Haskell Indian Nations University, and the panel discussion on the conference theme, "Advocating for Language Learners in the Era of No Child Left Behind," will be equally relevant to the work of public school educators and adult or IEP instructors. Ms. Boyd will discuss "An American Indian Perspective on Diversity and No Child Left Behind." The keynote panel will include participation from Stephen Krashen, Joy Reid, Bill VanPatten, Jackie Boyd, Rebecca Kopriva, and facilitator Lupe Martinez, from Metro College of Denver.

At 2:15, Dr. Joy Reid, of the University of Wyoming, will give a keynote address, "Ear learners and learning styles," in which she will discuss how ESL teachers can bridge the gap between learning style preference and successful language learning. Dr. Reid is the author of numerous ESL classic texts on the teaching of composition. She is retiring after this spring, following a distinguished career in which she has contributed immensely to the knowledge base of the TESOL profession.

Read Dr. Reid's Achievement Profile Interview on ESL MiniConference Online!

At 3:15, Mary Giles, of Harvard University, will present a second session, "Mind my manners!: Culture and student etiquette," will explore ways that ESL teachers can help students to prevent, process and even enjoy cultural differences in etiquette as part of their education, both in school and in their social lives.

Also at 3:15, Alejandro Sanchez-Aizcorbe, of Fort Hays State University's Modern Language Department, will present "Spanish vowels and English vowels: Opposite worlds?," suggesting that students whose mother tongue is English should be trained in the contextualized production of Spanish dipthongs and triphtongs, so as to avoid frustration and improve their acquistion of the Spanish language.

These Saturday sessions make it clear that the teacher of adult and college ESL students will find a lot of useful information and refreshing exchanges at KATESOL 2004. In addition to the academic sessions, there are exhibits and representatives from the following companies:

Complete conference information, including registration forms, is also available online at: http://www.fhsu.edu/katesol/spring2004 .

Article by Robb Scott
Robb@ESLminiconf.net

2004 ESL MiniConference Online