December 2009 Foreword
The Asian EFL Journal held its first Philippine TESOL Conference in Cebu in August of 2009. Over 450 delegates attended and listened to speeches from 45 speakers from 39 countries. Key speakers were the internationally famous Rod Ellis who gave a talk on Task Based Teaching filled my Professor Phyllis Chew from Nanyang University in Singapore. Her lively speech had the large audience enthralled as she discussed learning scenarios in Singapore and the Philippines. Professor Carlo Mango from De La Salle University, and Chief Editor of the Philippine ESL Journal gave the third plenary on Second Language Acquisition in the Philippines.
As a result of the conference the Governor of Cebu has established a Committee known as CHELE – Cebu Hub for English Learning Excellence – whereby the quasi government authoritywil be responsible for establishing standards and accrediting of Language providers in Cebu where over 15, 000 students come monthly to study English.
A city within the city will be built and is designed to hold 100,000 international student who will study English in first class conditions. CHELE is tasked with the welfare of all international students. This is the first English Hub in the world and the progress is being keenly observed by such cities as Dubai and Singapore who hope to follow suit.
The next conference is scheduled for August 2012 in the International Convention Center which has been donated to the Conference by the Governor. The conference will become an annual even to show case Cebu. We look forward to seeing you in Cebu as this event takes proportions that will exceed the TESOL Convention in the USA. Supporters of the Cebu Hub project are the Australian College, Clark Education City, TESOL Aisa and the world’s first TESOL radio – TESOL F.M.
We look forward to your support and participation.
Roger Nunn
Paul Robertson
