"You had me at ready-made lesson plans." —New ESL-Library subscriber

ESL Library Attends the TESOL Convention in Dallas

We received hugs at the ESL Library booth at the TESOL convention in Dallas this week. Vee Govan even subscribed to our site before I could show it to her. What does this tell me? Teachers are overworked! And yet, they still take time out of their hectic schedules for professional development. I always come home from teacher conferences feeling inspired and excited to get back to work. TESOL 13 was a fantastic experience, and ESL-Library will be a better resource site for teachers because of it.

Our Goal at TESOL

Our goal this year was to discover new trends in ELT publishing and introduce ESL-Library to busy teachers and administrators. Having three members of the team (from Winnipeg, Toronto, and Vancouver) at the convention instead of two allowed us to attend more sessions, have longer chats with teachers, and even take coffee breaks from time to time. Tanya and I taught English together in Vancouver over ten years ago, and it is a pleasure to be working with her again. 

Highlights from TESOL 13

We attended great sessions on grammar, pronunciation, authentic materials, vocabulary, and publishing. We also chatted with fascinating people who have great ideas about modernizing the ELT industry and making language learning more engaging. Here were some of the most memorable people, places, and things we stumbled upon during our trip to Dallas.

The Incredible Slapping Head Lady - On the plane from Toronto to Dallas, the man sitting beside told me his whole life story. (You can learn a lot about raising chameleons in 3 hours.) I was so busy practising my listening skills that I didn't notice David Deubelbeiss sitting right behind me. I caught up with David during a shuttle ride from the Dallas airport. As we drove to the convention center we both noticed a female driver (in the fast lane) who was slapping her head repeatedly with one hand while she used the other to hold her cell phone. She went on like this for several minutes, and it wasn't until our shuttle driver passed her that we all realized she was driving with her knees!  When you're at a teaching conference every experience and observation inspires a classroom activity. Why is the crazy lady slapping her head? We all made our predictions, and David taught our taxi driver some new vocabulary (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder).

Language Cloud - This learner management system just might take over the ELT world. The platform is still in progress, but we think it's worth waiting for! Co-founders John and Billy put together an excellent demo for TESOL, and we wish them the best of luck. (Read about the magic behind Language Cloud in the Japan Times.)

David Harrington's textbooks - We know what it's like to be a small publisher in ELT, and we always love catching up with David at the conferences. This year he had some really fun titles to show us.

Nick Robinson's 'Balancing Act' session for materials writers - So it wasn't Nick's session per se, but as 'the only ELT agent in the world,' he was a key player on the panel and had some excellent advice for materials writers and publishers. We wish Nick the best of luck with his launch of 'Small Epic' at IATEFL next week. If you have ever thought about publishing your own materials, be sure to keep @nmkrobinson on your radar.

Cosmic Café - We discovered this great vegetarian restaurant. It had excellent food, service, and atmosphere.

Uptown Dallas - If you've ever been to downtown Dallas, you might wonder where all the people are! Thank goodness for chatty cab drivers who helped us find our way around. Uptown Dallas is the place to go if you're looking for life after 10pm.

What our subscribers told us about ESL Library

One of my favourite things to do at the TESOL convention is chat with current subscribers. I take notes madly after they tell me what they love, what they need, and what we can do to improve their user experience. Here are a few things they told us about ESL-Library this year.

• It's easy to navigate.
• They use it to supplement their core textbooks.
• Their teenagers love the content.
• They love the layout of the lesson plans.
• They no longer have to make their own lesson plans.
• They appreciate how integrated the site is.
• They set their accounts to auto renewal.
• They appreciate our customer service.
• They want more academic English materials.
• They want the ability to customize our materials.
• They hope we add more materials for pre and post-assessment.

Thank you!

I'm going to use this space to say a quick thank you to all of the new subscribers (like Nance from Kuwait, left) who signed up excitedly at our booth. Your enthusiasm made us feel like we are on the right track. Thank you to our long-term subscribers who took the time to stop by to offer us praise and feedback. Thank you also to TESOL for the iPhone app that made it so easy to keep track of the sessions we wanted to attend! And finally, thank you to Ben for the great trip, and for giving us the opportunity to learn and grow.

See you in Portland at TESOL 14!