CATESOL Newsletter Fall 2013 | Page 24

EDUCATION FOUNDATION The Report: Another Leadership Grant, PD Opportunities, and the Sizzle By Dan Fichtner, PhD Education Foundation President G reetings to you all. Much has happened in the Ed Foundation in the last few months. You can find more information about the following on our website directly at www.catesolfoundation .org or by navigating the www.catesol.org website. One of the exciting projects we are embarking on is a CSUF Leadership Grant project that will help develop leadership for CATESOL among students who are in the Master’s in TESOL Program at California State University, Fullerton. It is based on the successful Tippy Schwabe Grant that works with graduate students at the University of California, Davis. Our Karen Dennis and Jan Eyring of CSUF, with the help of Margaret Teske and Don Sillings, have worked on this project and it was ready to commence in September 2013. Dan Fichtner The Ed Foundation will fund the project and the CSUF Philanthropic Foundation will administer the grant. It is a project that will reap many benefits for teachers of ELs and their students. Jan Eyring will be the project director on the CSUF campus. We will be giving away the Rock Talk texts that have been donated to us by Jenny Redding and Chas Ferry. The texts help students to learn the rules of grammar and vowel sounds of English through songs. They will be available on a first-come–first-served basis at the Education Foundation table during the CATESOL Annual Conference, “Riding the Waves of Success,” October 24-27 at the Town and Country in San Diego. So be sure to come see us early in the conference if you wish to receive some of these effective texts. Another development for us is professional-development opportunities that will be facilitated by trusted members of CATESOL. Topics included in the PD are listed on our webpage mentioned above. Judy O’Loughlin and Gail Simons have been working diligently with the conference committee to develop a Saturday Nite Sizzle Event as a money-raising event for the Foundation (see page 9). For the Saturday Nite Sizzle Event we are anticipating a raffle, entertainment, and some after-dinner foods to entice conference participants to attend free of cost and help us raise funds through the raffle to finance our projects and enable us to maintain our mission “to provide education opportunities to teachers of English learners and to inform the general public about strengths and needs of these students.” The proceeds from the event will help us remain proactive in the field of English language development. You can buy raffle tickets online and also tickets for guests (conference badge holders get in free). The Education Foundation will again be sponsoring the Sunday morning speakers at the conference, and we look forward to a successful and energetic annual conference in San Diego. Come see us at our table and say hello. You can buy tickets for the raffle and receive the free Rock Talk texts while you are there. We would be happy to meet you. Visit us at our website and see what is happening. See you at the CATESOL Annual Conference in San Diego. CATESOL to Weave Strand of ESL “Hot” Topics Into CRA’s Institute C ATESOL is proud to partner with the California Reading Associat