Grab a hold of a paintbrush. Illustrate the first image that comes to mind when you hear the word ‘conference’. If you’re like me, you start drawing a room… perhaps an auditorium. You sketch out a presenter with a microphone. Hundreds of faces come next, listening attentively to the speech (or if you’re a realist painter, looking down at their smart phones). What you don’t paint is KOTESOL Gives Back, the fundraising event that added new color and shaped new meaning for one of the greatest English language teaching conferences in Asia.
A conference is about so much more than sharing ideas, swapping business cards and gaining new insights into a profession. It’s also about making a difference in people’s lives. While the KOTESOL International Conference has always made an impact in the lives of teachers and their students, there has been a great need to help better the lives of people all over Korea. Step forward Luis Roberto Caballero Orozco, the International Conference Program Director, and Vanessa Virgiel, the Program Manager.
They had the creativity and drive to make the concept of KOTESOL Gives Back a magnificent reality. KOTESOL would team up with two of the most important non-profit organizations on the peninsula: Teach North Korean Refugees (TNKR) and Korea Unwed Mothers’ Families Association (KUMFA). Both organizations play pivotal roles in improving the lives of Korean people. TNKR “assist North Korean refugees" and KUMFA “advocates for the rights of unwed mothers and their children in Korea.”
The plan? The KOTESOL International Conference would host a brand-new fundraising event. There’d be presentations by representatives from both organizations, as well as tables for people to donate and learn more about how to help. The result? Over 1.3 million Korean won was raised and KOTESOL achieved its aim of not only hosting an unforgettable conference, but raising the standards of living for countless people all over Korea. KOTESOL Gives Back turned out to be such a raging success that it will likely become a permanent fixture for future International Conferences.
Now grab that paintbrush again. Don’t just draw presenters and enraptured audiences, but bring the conference to life with a picture of fundraising events like KOTESOL Gives Back! Events that change how we view conferences and change the lives of people all over the country.
Learn more
Teach North Korean Refugees: https://lovetnkr.org/
Korea Unwed Mothers’ Families Association: https://kumfa.or.kr/
Author
Wayne Finley is the Publicity Chair and Teacher Training Coordinator for Korea TESOL. He served as the Publicity Director for the 2019 KOTESOL International Conference and recently helped judge TNKR’s 10th English speech contest.
