It seems like an eternity since we gathered at the Academy High School in Jerusalem for the ETAI Summer Conference of 2014, and looking back over those long months it’s clear that those two days of “Music, Movies, Mime and More” were in fact two days of relative calm before the storm. Though clouds were already gathering, and some people opted to stay away from Jerusalem out of (justifiable, as it turned out) safety concerns,  ETAI provided those who participated with an oasis of professional and social enrichment at a time when we most needed it.

During and after the turmoil of last summer, ETAI and its members worked to take comfort and strength from each other and, in the best tradition of hard-working ELT professionals, returned to our classrooms for the school and academic year with renewed  vigor and commitment;  the ETAI events calendar is in full swing, beginning with a successful event at Kfar Vradim in early November and looking forward to the Winter Conference in Beer Sheva on December 21, “Making Your EFL Teaching Light and Bright.” As usual the conference promises a full day of lectures, workshops and materials-shopping, and features a  plenary by Chief Inspector Dr. Judy Steiner, “Aurora: The Collision Between Reforms and Teachers,” and one by national REED counselor Judie Segal, “Lights, Camera, Action! Making Movies in the Junior High.” In addition, there will be two sets of parallel sessions, book browsing  and of course, ETAI-sponsored Hanukah donuts.

Looking ahead to future events in the ETAI calendar, mark your diaries on March 30, 2015 for the Spring Conference (venue to be announced) and for the National Summer Conference on July 7-8, 2015, to be held again this year at the Academy High School in Jerusalem. ETAI will also be holding mini-conferences in various areas of the country – watch for Gan Raveh in February.  And we are also gearing up for the ETAI International  Conference, planned for July 4-6, 2016 in Ashkelon.

This year ETAI has reached out more than ever to our counterpart teachers’ associations abroad; we have developed ties with TESOL Italy and, together with ETAS, English Teachers’ Association of Switzerland, have compiled a joint Forum issue which will soon be on its way to our members. We are very proud of this joint venture, and hope it is the first of many such combined efforts. We hope you enjoy reading it and that you will gain much from its pages. As always you as ETAI members are invited to submit articles for future issues of the ETAI Forum.

As we approach the holiday season  let’s remember that ETAI offers us “a lifetime of professional development”, as well as continuing social and intellectual stimulation, whether at conferences, in the pages of the Forum, or within our staff rooms.  And that is something to celebrate.

Eleanor Satlow

ETAI Chair