Letter From the Editors
Jennifer Ramos and Patricia Moon, English Language Institute, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA
Dear TESOL and ICIS Community,
My name is Jennifer Ramos, and it is my pleasure to come on as co-editor of the ICIS Newsletter. Thank you to my co-editor, Patricia Moon, for her mentorship and to the ICIS Community for their warm welcome and support.
Our interest section has been doing some exciting things since our last issue! Please check out the letter from our Chair to see all we are doing and what we have coming up soon.
We are pleased to offer a robust issue of the ICIS Newsletter featuring a diverse range of articles, from theory, to the experimental, to classroom practices, and personal experiences:
- THE BICULTURAL EXPERIENCE OF MORALITY
- 2. INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION AND UNIVERSAL DESIGN FOR LEARNING: DESIGNING COMMUNITY-CENTERED ELT FOR EQUITY, ENGAGEMENT, AND CULTURAL AGILITY
- CULTURE TREE DISCUSSIONS-LESSON PLANS
- THE POWER OF A THREE-HOUR LUNCH IN AN ENGLISH CLASSROOM
Michael Byram’s article, “The Bicultural Experience of Morality,” explores possible ways in which people who move between two cultures mitigate conflicting moral values. In the second featured article, “Intercultural Communication and Universal Design for Learning" Egle Slezas and Jennifer Lacroix explains the integration of UDL principles in ELT course creation. Next, Melina Jimenez presents a lesson plan for incorporating “Culture Trees,” a tool for bringing hidden culture to the surface. And finally, our fourth article “The Power of a Three-Hour Lunch in an English Classroom,” reveals shared discoveries on the time-space continuum.
We would also like to highlight some fascinating contributions to look forward to at TESOL 2026:
Co-presenters Hillary Bamukunda, Ashima Gupta, Jay Albaytar, and Itay Bahar will present "Integrating Social-Emotional Learning in Project-Based English Language Classrooms"at the Pre-Conference Institute (PCI). The session will delve into practical strategies for embedding SEL into the fabric of project-based learning. This connects to their panel discussion "From Local to Global: Fulbright Exchanges Transform ELT Practices Globally, " in which they will examine how the personal and pedagogical growth nurtured through SEL is amplified when teachers themselves become crosscultural learners.
Other upcoming Convention sessions of interest include the following:
“Building the IMAGE: Navigating Negative Feedback With Cultural Awareness”
This session focuses on helping learners navigate tone, hierarchy, and effective feedback strategies in the workplace using the IMAGE framework.
“Carnival of Dialogic Thresholds: Transformative Approach to ELT Intercultural Competence”
This session introduces a teaching model that draws on Bakhtin’s ideas of carnival, threshold, and dialogism to build intercultural competence in EFL/ESL classrooms. This model helps learners engage with cultural differences with empathy, curiosity, and shared understanding.
We hope you enjoy this issue and we look forward to our next issue! Our next issue, which will be published in July 2026, will have some highlights from the Convention.
If you attend the TESOL Convention in Salt Lake City, Utah, next month, please be sure to join our interest section at meetings and events! If you are interested in contributing to a future issue of the ICIS Newsletter, here is the link to the author guidelines: Please email your submissions to [email protected].
We hope to see many of you in our upcoming events as mentioned in Nichole McVeigh’s Letter from the Chair! Thank you to Nichole for her year of service with this Interest Section. Have a wonderful season!
Jennifer Ramos
Patricia Moon
Jennifer Ramos, MFA, MAE, is an instructor at the English Language Institute (ELI) at the University of Florida. She has also taught in Europe and Latin America. Jennifer enjoys helping students attain the academic language skills they need to pursue their dreams. She currently serves as the ELI’s reading and writing skills coordinator.
Patricia Moon, MA, is an administrator/instructor at the English Language Institute (ELI) at the University of Florida. She has been at the intensive English program at the University of Florida since 1994, and has taught a variety of levels and courses in the IEP and in the ITA program. For the past 20 years, most of her time had been dedicated to service to the program in teacher-training and administration.