KOTESOL – Time for Change. Vote!

If you are teaching in Korea, you might know about KOTESOL – the Korean branch of TESOL. I’ve been giving presentations through them at all levels for a number of years but keep a fairly distant relationship. Just teacher training / workshops. (you can see my Teacher Training page with them here).

Kotesol and its chapters do a great job on many levels Newsletters, chapter meetings/workshops, networking etc…. However there are a number of things I really think need to be changed and now there is an opportunity to vote for change.

The Kotesol elections will be held this week, closing at the end of the International Conference this weekend. See below, instructions and details with links. Please take the opportunity if you can to vote for change! Either join up and then vote or if a member vote! I don’t care how. (usually the elections are perfunctory – not this one…).

I do my best to help teachers in Korea and continually want things to get better. So I’m making this appeal to EFL Classroom 2.0 members, from the heart. There is a possibility to elect “new” people with forward ideas. KOTESOL deperately needs change. I’m endorsing wholeheartedly the slate of : Robert Capriles for President / David Kim for VP and Deborah Tarbet for Treasury. Find their platform and info. attached below or just click! Also, read this open letter from another person supporting their candidacy.

Why do I think change is needed? While in brief – Kotesol NEEDS to do more to create community. That’s it in a nutshell. But I’ll list my 4 other points that I think new leadership can and will tackle.

1. Training of NEW teachers. Korea has a constant influx and KOTESOL should take the leadership role of providing basic, necessary and accredited onsite teacher training. This should be their job if they have concern for the profession and not just discussing papers behind lecturns. Nor as of recent, seeming to be more into the “sales” and publishing side of teaching.

2. Better use of ICT and web 2.0 technology. KOTESOL is way behind the game when it comes to sharing resources, creating community and informing members through online channels. Professional development should and can also be ONLINE.

3. Accountability. There is a constant echo and ethos in the organization that rears its head. “We are only volunteers, if you don’t like it, lump it.”. I reject this. Yes, it is volunteer driven but that is or must never be an excuse for not doing things the right. I”d also like Kotesol to set up a very professional payment system. Not as is – send it to the name of the treasurer!

So in brief. Join up and vote! You’ll be helping English Language Teaching immensely. Tell others to vote too!

Robert Capriles President.doc

David Kim VP.doc

Deborah Tarbet.doc

PLEASE VOTE!

=========================================


KOTESOL E-News

Oct. 16, 2009

National Elections

=========================================

Dear KOTESOL Member,

The 2009 KOTESOL National Council Elections have begun!
Please make sure to check out the candidates’ statements
at kotesol.org.

Online voting will end on Sunday, October 25 at 10:30 am.
Members can also vote onsite at the International Conference
from 9 am to 5 pm on Saturday, and from 9-10:30 am on Sunday.

Elections results will be announced at the Annual Business
Meeting on October 25th at noon.

By this time, all current KOTESOL members (with memberships
expiring after October) should have received an electronic
ballot from ballotbin.com. Please check your spam mail
box to make sure that your ballot did not go there.

** If you are a current member and have not received your e-vote,
please mail kotesol.elections@gmail.com with the subject
heading “NOT ON VOTERS LIST.” Please include your full name (in English), Chapter
affiliation, email address, and contact details. A
scrutineer will then contact you with more voting
information.

** For those of you who are not current members, you
can renew your membership at the International Conference.
Then, all you have to do is bring your conference receipt and one form of identification to the
elections desk. A scrutineer will then register your email address to vote in the election.

By chance, if you forget to vote online, you are
welcome to use our computers at the elections table
at the International Conference. Scrutineers will also
be available to help answer any of your questions.

Make your vote count!

Sherry Seymour
Nominations and Elections Committee Chair

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ddeubel

Teacher trainer, technology specialist, educational thinker...creator of EFL Classroom 2.0, a social networking site for thousands of EFL / ESL teachers and students around the world.

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1 Response

  1. Joshua says:

    I wish they weren’t marketing themselves as a package deal. Rob and Deborah are nice, but David Kim? Massively unprofessional; he’s the LAST person we want in any authority role in KOTESOl. Pity he’s running unopposed 🙁

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