When my colleague Margaret had registered for CamTESOL 2010 (see more here about how I came to hear about CamTESOL and present myself!), she heard about the sponsorship for Cambodian provincial teachers. She and I did a fundraising campaign at work and collected donations from our colleagues to sponsor 5 teachers and I also asked our local professional association ATESOL ACT to sponsor 5 more teachers. After attending CamTESOL Margaret reported back how meaningful that sponsorship had been, enabling so many provincial teachers in Cambodia to attend the conference.
As soon as I was accepted for CamTESOL 2013, I was back on the fundraising bandwagon again! We managed to raise enough money at the ATESOL ACT annual dinner (matched $-for-$ from association funds) to sponsor 8 teachers. My colleagues in CIT Vocational College sponsored another 5 teachers.
Before I left, my institution's media and marketing area got wind of these efforts and interviewed me for our newsletter: From social media to the classroom. It was terrific to have our efforts recognised and get more promotion for the sponsorship, it will help next year!
I was very proud to see the direct results of our small contributions in the participation of the many (458 in all) enthusiastic teachers who were helped to attend through this magnificent program! It was also lovely to see my institution's and professional association's names beamed up on screens at the major venues and in the conference handbook, and on the website.
I urge you to consider sponsoring teachers to attend the next CamTESOL Conference, and the one after that, and...
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This is one of 3 posts I've done on my CamTESOL 2013 experience. Also read about:
- how I came to present at CamTESOL 2013 and the workshop I did with Andrea Wade
- my brief report on my conference experience
