WorldCall 2008 scholarship granted

Today I was informed that I have been selected to attend WorldCall 2008 in Fukuoka, Japan.

WorldCALL is the worldwide professional association for teachers and educators interested in Computer Assisted Language Learning. Members of WorldCALL are drawn from established, professional affiliated associations working in the areas of CALL throughout the world. The current members of WorldCALL are:

EUROCALL (European Association for Computer Assisted Language Learning) (Europe-wide) (http://www.eurocall-languages.org)
CALICO (Computer Assisted Language Instruction consortium) (USA based) (http://www.calico.org)
IALLT (International Association for Language Learning Technology) (USA based) (http://www.iallt.org)
LET (formerly LLA) (Japan Association for Language Education and Technology) (http://www.j-let.org);
CERCLES (Confédération Européenne des Centres de Langues de l’Enseignement Supérieur) (http://www.cercles.org)
CCAQLL/CELAO (Canadian Association for Computer Assisted Language Learning)
ATELL (Australian Association for Technology Enhanced Language Learning) (http://www.atell.org)

Take a look at the email I received:

Announcing the WorldCALL 2008 Scholarship Awardees

The scholarship committee has reached its final decisions. We had an extremely difficult time deciding the awardees. Many highly qualified applicants had to be turned down purely because of budgetary constraints. Our goal was to decide on individuals who met these criteria:

• People who have been active in CALL (not just language pedagogy or administration) as evidenced by recent publications, presentations or on-going projects.
• People who exhibited in their “Statements of Purpose” a clear goal for their attendance at WorldCALL 2008 and a plan to disseminate the knowledge so gained upon their return home.
• People who represent a wide spectrum of geographical areas, balanced by gender and years of experience. Geographical selection was also, to some extent, determined in proportion to the number of applications from that area of the world.

Congratulations to those who have been selected. At the same time, we thank those who applied and sincerely regret that they, too, could not be included.

Thomas Robb, Ph.D., Chair, WorldCALL 2008 Scholarship Committee

The Awardees

Cruvinel Teixeira Alves, Erika	Brazil
Elramady, Asem Aly Elsaid	Egypt
Fang, Ying	China
Fawzi, Hala	Sudan
Isharyanti, Neny	Indonesia
Izquierdo Mujica, Evelyn de Los Angeles	Venezuela
Kilickaya, Ferit	Turkey
Lyulkun, Nina	Russia
Marandi, Susan	Iran
Mo, Jinguo	China
Quintana, Nelba	Argentina
Verschoor, Jennifer	Argentina
Viswanathan, Revathi	India

As you can read from the list I will be travelling with Nelba Quintana from La Plata. This is how this story started. We were both taking a course with Intel in downtown. Dafne a great webhead sent an email informing this great community that there was a scholarship to attend WorldCall 2008. We both have been dreaming about going to Japan together while taking the course. Now I can say that dreams come true!!

Webheads in Action  is a group of teachers that are making a difference in the world. Teachers share their knowledge and experience incorporating CALL in their daily teaching. This group is vibrant and shines!!! Thanks Webheads for teaching me all I know and for always being an inspiration. This award is also for YOU!!!