We’re off to another great semester!  The students, from more than sixty different nations, have come to us to learn English.  Why?  Some of their reasons for studying English are to go to a university here in the U.S., and finish graduate degrees or start undergraduate degrees; many hope to improve or upgrade current job possibilities by improving their English and taking technical courses; mothers and fathers alike want to be able to better help their children with their homework; some simply hope to improve their opportunities to participate in the American society;  and the list goes on.  The students range in age from 18 to 70 years old and bring with them a gamut of knowledge and life experiences that I can only imagine.  I have so much to learn from them!  In turn, I and my colleagues work to give our students the tools they need to communicate in English in order to develop in them strength and self-confidence  so that they will become American citizens and gain an improved sense of self-worth through participation in the mainstream culture.   We will endeavor to model for them and inspire in them the desire to be lifelong learners.  We strive to build bridges of peace by instilling in our students the ability and the willingness to communicate, work with, and live among peoples from countries around the world including those who have been considered “their enemies” for many, perhaps hundreds of years.  We teach English as a second language, but we strive to do so much more.  In TESL , we have the opportunity to touch souls as our students continue to touch ours.

Personally-
As a wife:

1. I promise to be more present at home.  I will put the computer down from time to time to engage in conversation with my husband.   I used to tell him that I didn’t want to compete with his computer for attention, and now he has to compete with mine.  Maybe we should introduce our computers to each other.

As a mother:

1. I will send hand-written notes to my children occasionally in addition to all the emails and texts that I send.  I don’t really know if I should designate this as a promise as a mother since it qualifies even more as a gift to myself.  I realize that my emails and texts can disappear as quickly as the delete button is clicked.  But, just as I am happy to have saved letters from my parents and other relatives, I’m hoping that some of my handwritten notes will be equally hard “to delete” and that maybe one or two might make it for posterity.

For myself:

1. I need to lighten up on myself and remember that tomorrow is another day; not everything has to be finished before I go to bed.
   My being able to relax and sleep more will probably be a gift to all of us!  You know, when Mama ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy!

Professionally-
In the classroom:

1. I’m going to videotape myself teaching at least once this semester.  It’s been awhile since I’ve done that.  And I also promise myself to focus more on the way I perform as a teacher rather than on how I look with those extra pounds… (Ouch!)
2. I’ll develop and incorporate more educational games  in my classes.  My students love learning that way, and how much they enjoy and learn from the games will make the work twice as worthwhile.
3. I plan on using Google+ to create more opportunities, “hangouts,” for my students to communicate with each other and with me after class.
4. I’ll try harder to help the students learn how they learn best and to develop in them a better self-awareness of their learning styles and strengths.

As a colleague:

1. I’ll work at being  a better colleague by encouraging others to speak for themselves and to trust the process.
2. I will remember that I can’t control what people say or what they do, or the political climate both large and small, but I can control how I perceive and deal with it, and make it work for my institution as best I can.

For my own professional development:

1. I commit to doing all of the above
2. I’ll attend TESOL in Philadelphia this March.
3. I look forward to developing at least one podcast and encouraging students to do the same.  This will be a learning experience for me.  I’ll continue to use Audioboo for pronunciation and my audio discussion board, but I’ll have the students experiment with Audacity this semester as well.
4. I’ll continue to collaborate globally with Skype,  Twitter,  Scoop.it, and this blog.
5. I will continue to work collaboratively on the development of at least one new online ESL resource .

I wish all of you success at keeping your resolutions for 2012.  Keeping ourselves fresh and excited about teaching and learning, our students motivated and successful, and our families healthy and happy will surely make for a great new year.

Merry Christmas to all of you who visit this blog wherever you are in this world. Like Santa Claus, I can’t see you. but there is evidence that you are there. You keep me inspired and joyful. Have a wonderful holiday season and only the best in 2012.

This Christmas tree was designed on Tagxedo