NEWS FOR SPEAKERS AND THOSE WHO WOULD LIKE TO BECOME SPEAKERS

TESOL-SPAIN IS ONCE AGAIN OFFERING TWO INDIVIDUAL GRANTS AT THE 2005 NATIONAL CONVENTION IN MADRID

Grant 1: A first time speaker AT THE TESOL-SPAIN NATIONAL CONVENTION

Grant 2 (Robin de Andrés Grant): For presentations related to primary or secondary education in Spain.

CONDITIONS

1. Speakers must be residents of Spain.
2. The applicant has to be a current member of the organisation.
3. Applications must be sent in to the Regional Coordinator in your area or, if that post is vacant, to the Regional Coordination Officer on the Board, Mr. Robin Walker, specifying which of the 2 grants the writer is applying to.
4. The full application must be received before November 1^st, 2003.
5. Nobody holding an official post in the organisation of TESOL-SPAIN can claim this grant.
6. The grant includes: free conference registration, travel and accommodation costs up to a maximum of 250 Euros (original receipts need to be provided for reimbursement).
7. The grant will be paid by the Treasurer of TESOL-SPAIN after the talk has been given.
8. The applicant has to send in the Presentation Proposal Form and corresponding documents plus a 1 to 2 page letter of application explaining why he or she should be given this grant.
9. If there are several candidates, a committee consisting of the Regional Coordination Officer, Speaker Resource Coordinator, Convention Speaker Coordinator, Vice-President and President will select the candidate.
10. Grants can be split if there are two equally appropriate presentations. Grants will be withheld if none of the presentations is considered of suitable standard.
11. The decision of the grant committee is final and no correspondence will be entered into.
12. Candidates will be informed of the decision by January 16^th, 2004.

Concerning the grant for presentations related to primary and secondary education in Spain, the TESOL-SPAIN Executive Board has decided to change its name to "The Robin Bjoraas de Andrés Grant for Presentations Related to Primary and Secondary Education" in honour of Robin de Andrés, a long-standing member of TESOL-SPAIN and local coordinator for Gijón in recent years, who died under tragic circumstances in the past year. Below we would like to explain why the Board feels that Robin de Andrés's dedication to the profession of English Language Teaching merits awarding a grant in her name. The biodata has been kindly provided by Robin's family.

Robin Bjoraas de Andrés was born in Battlecreek, Michigan, on July 22, 1954. As a child, she travelled widely throughout Europe, which aroused her interest in cultural and linguistic differences, a feature which later became a core element of her teaching. She graduated cum laude from the University of Texas in Austin in 1975, majoring in bilingual education. She then started to work in that area and, in 1979, obtained an MA in Foreign Language Teaching Methodology from the same university. Later, in 1983, she obtained yet another MA in Business Administration. From that time on, Robin worked in bilingual education in various North American School districts, basing her methodology on the practical use of audio visual material together with the use of arts and crafts as well as pictures. Her teaching reflected a concern for using authentic English to develop communicative competence, always keeping in mind that she was teaching young learners. She was recognised as a prestigious speaker at numerous seminars and conferences, in particular at the annual conventions of Bilingual Education in Texas and Virginia as well as at TESOL International conventions.

Robin also contributed to many publications including Logoi, the English Teaching Professional magazine and the TESOL-SPAIN Newsletter. Beginning in 1998, Robin lived in Spain and taught in several academies and bilingual schools. At this time ,she began to give talks and courses dedicated to teacher training and teaching English to young learners. Robin travelled widely throughout Spain giving talks sponsored by major publishers, was invited to speak at several teacher training centres in the country and gave presentations at several conventions dealing with bilingualism. Her practical talks such as "Tell Me A Story", "Puppets are Great" (including explanations of how to use toilet paper tubes to make puppets) and "Learning English is Fun" were always received enthusiastically by teachers who were often tired of the purely theoretical approach.

Robin died suddenly on June 14, 2002 , but she will always be remembered for her dedication to the field, enthusiasm and her delightful personality.