Symposium Keynote Speaker Associate Professor Misty Adoniou

Biography

Misty Adoniou is an Associate Professor at the University of Canberra, Australia. She is a past President of TESOL Greece and the Australian Council of TESOL Associations, and is currently on the Board of Directors of TESOL International. She was lead writer for the Australian Curriculum’s English as an Additional Language document and support materials, a contributing writer for the Literacy Continuum, and an advisor on Equity and Diversity in the Australian Curriculum.

Her current research activity is as co-investigator on a federally funded investigation of pathways into higher education for refugee background learners in Australia; lead investigator on an evaluation of language, literacy and multilingualism in the International Baccalaureate PYP and MYP programmes, and lead investigator on an evaluation of the off-shore and on-shore orientation programmes offered to refugees by the International Organisation for Migration and the Department of Social Services.

Keynote Abstract

Many of us enter the TESOL profession for the genuine joy of teaching English to EALD learners. The job, however, is much bigger than teaching English and the role of the EALD teacher is expanding to fit changing social and economic circumstances. In this presentation I outline the changing role of the EALD teacher, from being a teacher for our students to being an instructional leader for our mainstream colleagues and an advocate for our students and their families.

I talk about the ways we can take on these new roles by connecting to the larger TESOL community and migrant services and communicating our messages clearly to the public. Embracing our expanding role is key to ensuring our profession not only survives but thrives into the future.

---

Click here to find out more about the VicTESOL 2016 Symposium