PRESIDENT’S WELCOME

Rachael Harris

My first Journal as ETAS President! Firstly, let me thank everyone who has put their trust in me since I started, including the Executive Committee and especially our Vice President, Pamela Gonzalez, whose efficiency and drive have already brought so much to ETAS. It is an honour to take up this post in an association that has meant so much to me since I joined so many years ago.

Having started teaching ELT in pre-internet days (remember those?!) I can still recall the feeling of being alone in a wasteland, with no one to turn to for advice or suggestions. What on earth was I doing in class? Was it ok? Would my students learn anything? I don’t think I even considered that teaching methods and methodology might change with time and that I should keep up with that.

ETAS arrived on the horizon like an oasis, and amazing talks by presenters such as Jeremy Harmer, Herbert Puchta and more recently Daniel Xerri and Sarah Mercer opened my eyes to a whole new world of teaching and learning research.More importantly, ETAS provided me with a tribe of like-minded people. After a week of listening to grumbling in the staffroom, arriving at a conference and catching up with amazing people, who soon became friends, was like stepping into the sunlight. The buzz from an ETAS event still keeps me walking on clouds for weeks afterwards!

I gave my first talk for ETAS in Geneva in 2014, and at a conference in 2016, I remember my nerves, but more importantly, I remember the satisfaction of learning a topic and presenting it to my fellow teachers. What stands out the most is the warmth and support I have consistently received from participants; never in all the presentations I have given have I encountered negative or hurtful comments or feedback. If you want to learn more about an area of your teaching, then I thoroughly recommend submitting a proposal for a talk at one of our upcoming events, and drop me a line – I’ll be in your front row!

All this reminiscing brings me round to the subject of this Journal, AI in teaching. It will personally be my next challenge to keep my methods relevant and up-to-date in an ever-changing profession, and I look forward to reading how to do so in the pages that follow. Some may be asking whether we will still have jobs after Elon Musk has predicted most will disappear; however, anyone who has ever attended an ELT conference, workshop or even one of our regular So-Pro events (social professional get-togethers in key towns in Switzerland) will know that there’s far more to teaching and learning than simple information transfer. Although we are still in the blurry, early stages of AI and have no idea how or even which areas of our lives will be affected, being part of ETAS has made one thing clear for me: it’s the deep connections we make with people, our students, colleagues, fellow participants that bring the shine into our lives, and AI can never change that.

I hope you enjoy reading this issue and informing your opinion on this topic as much as I have, and I look forward to discussing it with you at our next event.