Committee nominees 2009

Elections for committee positions 2009

At the BESIG conference November 2009 elections will be held for a number of positions on the BESIG committee. Details of the posts are available here and information about the nominees is available below.

Elections will be held at the AGM on Saturday, 21 November, 18.30 – 19.30. All paid-up IATEFL BESIG members are eligible to vote.

 

BESIG Coordinator

Marjorie Rosenberg and Paul East (running jointly as co-coordinators)

After a year on the BESIG committee as one of the three events-coordinators, I feel that I could serve BESIG well as a joint coordinator, continuing in the tradition begun by Eric Baber and Ian McMaster. In planning the annual conference as well as being involved in helping to organise the PCE event at the annual conference, I have seen how important it is to plan such events in a team. For this reason, I have decided to stand as joint coordinator with Paul East as we have been able to support each other in the challenges involved in these new tasks. We have both gained insight into various aspects of BESIG including intensive contact with members, speakers, sponsors and IATEFL headquarters.

Regarding my own background, I have been an IATEFL / BESIG member since 1995 and through my various jobs as a teacher trainer, materials writer, business English teacher in private, public and tertiary education, Cambridge ESOL examiner and presenter I see the need for an umbrella organisation to support other trainers around the world. As business English becomes more and more global so do the needs of those of us working to train businesspeople in communication skills and language. Serving for eight years (two of which as Chair) on the national committee of Teachers of English in Austria have given me experience in both organisational and interpersonal skills. These are qualities I feel I can bring to the joint coordinator position of BESIG. In addition, I have always embraced new challenges and enjoy the chance to take on new responsibilities and opportunities. I look forward to the chance to work with the BESIG committee as we continue to grow and develop as a professional organisation.

 

A year on the BESIG committee has given me numerous insights into many areas of the association. Being part of the events team has meant that I have had the opportunity of intensifying and expanding my already large number of contacts throughout IATEFL/BESIG including speakers and sponsors. Ian McMaster and Eric Baber have skilfully and effectively led BESIG over the past three years showing that having co-coordinators has been the right option for the BESIG association of today. Marjorie Rosenberg and I can continue this successful partnership by bringing on board our many years of experience gained as head of a range of organisations. My activities include President of IATET (International Association of Technical English trainers), Chair of ELTAU (English Language Teachers Association of Ulm/Neu-Ulm) and board member of EULETA (European Legal English Teachers Association). BESIG can also benefit greatly from my strong connections to industry, publishers and experts in the Business English sector. Furthermore, through my membership of the German marketing club, I can bring new impulses to help promote and strengthen BESIG activities.

Backed up by my organisational and inter-personal skills, I would relish the challenge of helping BESIG grow and develop even further.

 

Sabrina Mallon-Gerland

My name is Sabrina Mallon-Gerland and I would like to stand for the position of Besig Coordinator. I believe that I have the qualities required for this position because I served on the Besig Committee from 2000-2002 as the newsletter editor, and was one of the Besig conference organizers for the Annual Besig conference in Munich, 2000. My motivation for joining the committee is based on my commitment to the maintenance of a community like Besig that allows teachers to meet, exchange ideas, and develop professionally. As I see it, Besig is a special organization that has grown beyond its original western European boarders to include people round the globe who contribute to the know-how of business English. I would like to continue with this trend by helping to further build the network between organizations and individuals involved in the world of Business English.

My background is in anthropology and applied linguistics, and my special interests are pragmatics and sociolinguistics. I have been engaged in the teaching of Business English since 1990, and then became involved in intercultural communication training in 1998. Momentarily I am in the process of submitting my PhD research titled: Towards and appropriate framework for teaching intercultural communication in Business English.

 

Newsletter Editor

Julia Waldner

My name is Julia Waldner and I originally come from the land of song and rain (Wales). I moved to Germany in 1991 and have been working here as an EFL teacher ever since. I do mainly in-company courses and, like most of you, I suspect, I love the job - the variety of the work, the people and the different industries.

I joined my local ELTA (ELTAF in Frankfurt) way back when and soon become involved in committee work, initially as the inter-ELTA liaison. As the name implies, my role was to liaise with the other ELTAs in Germany to exchange ideas and find out what each was doing.

For the past 10 years I've been the editor of the ELTAF Newsletter, which comes out on a quarterly basis. As with any editing work, this involves contacting publishers for review books for our members, following up on contributors, liaising with the proof-reader, graphic designer, mailing team and printer and, last but not least, editing submissions.

Last year at the BESIG conference, the very first ELT person I saw just happened to be JoAnn (in the breakfast room on the Saturday morning, as I had driven through snow and arrived too late to attend the Friday night opening ceremony) and when we got talking, she told me that the editorial position for BESIG would be open for applications in 2009. I decided to apply.

 

Administration and Development & Events Organiser

John Warner

I am a teacher of BusinessE nglishi n North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany and have recently helped in the process of setting up our own English Language Teachers' Association here in Ostwestfalen-Lippe called ELTA-OWL eV .

Having trained as a teacher in the UK I worked there for many years both in teaching and in industry as well as providing management training both in house and as an outside consultant. These have all been useful in my career in Germany.

My involvement in BESIG started in Berlin when attending the BESIG conference in 2007- I ended up helping the committee and local organisers with registration and trouble-shooting problems. This led to me being involved in the 2008 conference in Bonn where I had the privilege of welcoming BESIG members and speakers to the event and will be the local organiser for the 2010 conferencein Bielefeld.

I have acted as secretary in a variety of voluntary organisations and organised events both small and large in a range of locations and settings. I am familiar with computer technology and have managed and maintained computer databases and websites.

I believe that with these skills hopefully leavened with a little humour will help the committee in functioning fully and I can support and assist the events team in their work too.

 

Website Coordinator

Carl Dowse

I am a business English trainer based in Germany, where I teach business undergraduates and corporate clients. I am keenly interested in the use of ICT in teaching and have facilitated a number of online training courses designed to help teachers make effective use of these new technologies. Recently, I have been able to combine these two areas of interest as co-author and moderator of a new online Cert IBET training course, which has proven a great success.

As a BESIG member I have benefited greatly from the SIG’s website, wiki and email discussion and LinkedIn groups. I have contributed to these whenever possible as I am a great believer in actively participating in teacher communities. I think these communities are playing an increasingly important role in our professional development and it is for this reason that I would like to take on the responsibility of acting as Website Coordinator.

Being dispersed across the globe can sometimes result in our feeling isolated and at times even alienated as professionals, but as our SIG’s discussion group activity has often demonstrated, this perceived weakness can also be transformed into a strength with the well-judged use of online technologies that bring us together and enable us to share ideas, experiences, and expertise. Building on and enhancing the collaborative nature of BESIG’s online presence is I think of key importance in ensuring that BESIG continues to serve the interests of the international business English teaching community as effectively as it has done to-date.

 

Events Coordinators

In the event of Marjorie Rosenberg and Paul East being elected as co-coordinators, two positions as Events Coordinators will become vacant. The following have agreed to stand for the posts of Events Coordinators should the need arise:

Cornelia Kreis-Meyer

Since I joined IATEFL/BESIG in 2000 I have never missed a BESIG conference. As a freelance English trainer and translator based in Germany, I greatly appreciate the networking and knowledge sharing opportunities at the annual conference and the benefits of being a member of such a prestigious teacher organization. I know from experience what commitment and hard work is involved behind the scenes. From 2000 to 2007 I was on the committee initially as Membership Secretary and then President of ELTAS (English Language Teachers’ Association Stuttgart). Furthermore, I am the co-founder and Vice President of the recently established association IATET (International Association of Technical English Trainers) and one of the three organizers of the bi-annual English for Specific Purposes Conference.

Prior to my involvement in ELT, I worked for an international engineering company and was responsible for organizing trade fairs, international events and liaising with the worldwide network of distributors.
My first encounter with a computer was back in 1979. Ever since then I have been an avid technophile and know how to use computer technology confidently and effectively.

Originally from the States (Texas, Alaska, Colorado) with a bilingual education and background, I moved around a lot in my life and learned to adapt to new situations quickly, meet new challenges and communicate with people from different cultural backgrounds.

I would love to have the opportunity to be a part of the events team and develop new ideas to make BESIG an even more attractive organization.

 

Andrzej Stesik

In 1988 I graduated from the English Department of Poznan University with an M.A. in English. In October 1988 I started work as a teacher of English at Poznan University.

I became interested in teaching ESP, specifically Business English, very early on. In 1992 I became Coordinator of the newly formed BESIG of IATEFL Poland. In 1994 I was one of the organizers of a very successful BESIG conference in Poznan, the first international event of this kind in Poland. In my work as BESIG Poland Coordinator I was instrumental in organizing various seminars and workshops on teaching Business English, and often acted as presenter myself.

Together with my wife Ania I have been running an English language school – INTERSECTION - in Poznan since 1995. Over the years we have managed to create a professional teaching and training institution. In 2002 INTERSECTION became British Council and Cambridge ESOL Examination Centre for the region. The school has also been a full member of EAQUALS for several years now. In my capacity as Director, Training I coordinate and supervise all aspects of Business English / in-company language training at INTERSECTION.

I believe that I can offer BESIG Committee and BESIG members my expertise and willingness to contribute to the organization, as well as my management and organizational skills. I am an enthusiastic person who is good at working in a team as well as on my own. I therefore believe that I can make a substantial contribution to a further development of BESIG.

 

Karenne Sylvester

I’m a prolific blogger, webmaster, materials writer, teacher-trainer, Ning mistress of a group of ELT bloggers, a Business English language teacher specializing in IT English.

Efficient and organized, a hard worker and a motivator dedicated to my profession - particularly in inspiring other language teachers to develop professionally.

Originally from Grenada in the Caribbean, I've lived, traveled and worked all over the world - including Ecuador, Hong Kong, Australia, UK and the US - providing me with experience and a good understanding of intercultural issues.

Via my blog and active web 2.0 community practice I am very well connected to the thought leaders in our profession, EFL teachers, other teacher-trainers and authors in the TEFL industry.

I'm also a member of Seth Godin’s exclusive Triiibes and therefore am also connected to leaders and authors in the entrepreneurial and business world.

What I can bring to BESIG

Marketing and communicating with others are my greatest strengths.

I would especially like to help BESIG with this aspect, especially in terms of social-networking.

As an ex-DOS in a Latin American country, I have experience vetting applications, dealing with visa problems and as the ex-director of a non-profit organization in Hong Kong, I have skills related to sorting out scholarship applications.

My strong IT skills will also be an asset and most importantly, I am good at keeping people smiling.

 

 

 

All materials © BESIG. Site design by Matthew Taylor & Eric Baber. Last updated 07/2006