All A.C.E. instructors hold Master’s degrees in TESOL, the Teaching of English to Speaker of Other Languages. The umbrella professional organization, TESOL International Association, holds regular conventions to keep membership up-to-date on the latest in pedgogy, theory, research and practice. The A.C.E. lineup below has decades of teaching and management under its collective belt, but traveled to 2013 National Convention on March 20-23 in Dallas to sharpen skills and for some, meet each other for the first time.
For A.C.E. staff like Director of the A.C.E. Language Institute at the University of Rhode Island Kimberly Sizelove, sessions on Leadership in Language Program Administration are sources for her management. For the many instructors, specific courses like Practicalities of Teaching Academic Reading and Writing and Voice and Identity in Pre-University Second Language Writers will create a new classroom when they come home.
In a snapshot in the lobby before taking on the day, Sizelove, far right, shows her A.C.E. colors with a green bag. To left are Tiffany Ranalli, Cheri Ladd LeCain, and Matt Rabinsky, instructors at the A.C.E. Language Institute at Montana State University. LeCain is again in a white jacket in the next photo and far left stands Michelle Soule, instructor and Group Program Coordinator at the A.C.E. Language Institute at Seattle Pacific University. Packed bags and a flight home later, three days of new ideas are now being carefully unpacked in today’s A.C.E. classes.