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In computer-mediated communication, connections are everything. We connect because of shared personal or professional interests, similar points of view or opinions, common contacts, preferences in books or films or music, involvement in the same (or closely related) professions or projects, or in a hundred other ways.

International, intercultural connections are particularly meaningful to me. I value my friends and colleagues from parts of the world other than the corner that I call home immensely, and I've created this blog to serve as an online meeting place with them.

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International Connections through Collaborative Projects

I'm fortunate to have been involved in international collaborative projects with colleagues in México, Brazil, Kuwait, and Portugal.

On Monday, October 25th, I'll be beginning a new collaborative project, E-Tutoring, with my dear friend Carla Arena, and I'm greatly looking forward to it. Carlinha is Educational Technology Supervisor for Casa Thomas Jefferson, the Brazil-U.S. Binational Center in Brasília, Brazil.

Carlinha and I met five or six years ago during a class we were both taking as part of the TESOL, Inc. Principles and Practices of Online Teaching certificate course. We immediately hit it off, and collaborated in an intercultural blogging project, "An International Exchange," that lasted for about two years and involved us and our students in Brazil and the U.S. Since that time, I've assisted with other courses Carlinha has done for Thomas, and we've also been part of the Electronic Village Online Seminars presented for five or six weeks prior to each year's annual TESOL convention. Carlinha is engaging, forward-thinking, energetic, incredibly productive, highly creative, and fun . . . so working with her is always a joy.

October—A Month for Renewing Connections

I was fortunate to renew connections to six old friends this month and am delighted to be in touch with them again. I'll also be beginning a new collaborative project with my dear friend Carla Arena in a couple of days, and I'm equally pleased with this development.

Among the six old friends, at least four (and possibly five) have a connection to ELS, where I worked from late 1972 until early 1983. Two of my ELS connections are in Oregon, one is in California, one is in Texas, and another is here in Phoenix. The last old friend may well have an ELS connection, but I remember him most from Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, where I did graduate work in ELT and Applied Linguistics in the early 1970s.

The Oregonians are the wife of one of the founders of ELS and a talented video editor whom I worked with on the Oregon Coast and in Portland from 1983 until 1990. The Californian was the CEO of ELS until it was sold to Berlitz and now owns and operates an ELT-related company that sets up schools and has developed a very fine English language proficiency test. The Texan was a regional director for ELS when I worked in the company headquarters in the L.A. area, and the Phoenix connection was once with ELS but is now involved in an entirely different field.

It's only natural that friendships sometimes go dormant over time, but it's wonderful when they're reawakened. I hope these renewed contacts remain vital for a long, long time.