My 3 Takeaways from TESOL 2018

Throngs of individuals, some traditionally dressed, beautiful colors and exotic fabrics all crossed before me, excited
voices eagerly chattering back and forth, the energy and wonder of being at my first convention was jaw-dropping.
There before me was a sea of international professionals from every kind of teaching background including student
teachers speaking a plethora of “Englishes”. I just stood in the middle of the registration lobby and soaked in all the
sights, saving them one by one to a special album in my memory palace.

I am very grateful to my local affiliate for the constant encouragement to make the commitment to attend for
myself. I was fortunate to attend together with other members of our affiliate so I did not feel too alone on my first
trip and we were able to share our experiences with each other from different workshops we attended.

My top 3 takeaways come to mind right away! At one of our very first sessions for the affiliates I discovered that I
am an advocate or that I had been an advocate for biliteracy in my country of residence. Defining my policy position
helped me to better steer my energy and focus for the rest of the convention and for my own personal planning. It
helped strengthen my resolve to make a positive impact in bilingual education for both teachers and learners alike.

My second takeaway was falling in love with Research and Investigation in the classroom. Our TESOL International
Convention showed me so many ways I could evolve as a teacher, that my voice could be heard via the on-going
Action Research in my classroom as well as having the #myTESOL platform to share and collaborate with other
likeminded peers. I was reenergized to take my work to a whole different level.

Number three for me was Networking! The internet has opened a whole new world to us as educators and there are
so many avenues to explore one of which is Teacherprenuership. Many times when teachers retire they may ask
themselves what else is out there? Or even young teachers who become frustrated by policies can find an outlet for
their talents. At our TESOL International Convention attendees get an eyeful of a whole new market place for: online
educators, content material production, freelance teaching, software collaborations, meet-ups with teacher authors,
teacher illustrators, teacher musicians etc.

I so look forward to #Tesol2019 as I now have even more great expectations! I will be on the lookout for friends from
2018 convention, seeking out new ideas to bring back to my classroom, reaching out for Action Research
collaborations to forward the biliteracy movement as far and wide as is possible and filling my luggage with
informative books, magazines, games etc. from the TESOL marketplace.

I urge any teacher, be you new to this vocation or even if you have been at it for years- it just takes one visit to get
you inspired. At #myTESOL2019 there will be many opportunities to be encouraged and be heard. Our students
deserve the very best of us and TESOL2019 is a great place to start out on a Continuous Improvement journey for
Educators. You will be on a rollercoaster of best practices surrounded by a buffet of further education opportunities
both in the USA and abroad. I invite you to click https://www.tesol.org/convention-2019/registration and register
early today for Atlanta #TESOL2019.

Author Bio:

Suzanne Rajkumar, one of our seven TESOL Ambassadors 2019, is a volunteer at her local TESOL affiliate, a
teacherpreneur and language game developer. In the last 23 years, she taught 8 years in Trinidad & Tobago as a
middle school and Adult ESL & EFL teacher, then upon moving to Honduras, she has spent the last 18 years
accumulating over 29000 hours teaching Adult ESL classes for upper and middle management executives. This
experience has inspired Suzanne to guide other teachers to becoming “Teacherpreneurs” too!