Chairman. The term originated in Britain in the Middle Ages. The Lord or Baron sat on an elaborately decorated chair while others sat on plain benches. As furniture was scarce, the chair and other furniture were transported to his different properties as and when he visited them. The term Chairman of the Board as in “occupying a position of authority,” first emerged in the 18th century.

While Andy Vogt-Nas is not a Baron, she most definitely is a fine Chair, and is doing a wonderful job in these difficult times.

Rebecca Sprengel, Editor

On our ELTAS website we have a quote by John Cotton Dana “Who dares to teach must never cease to learn” or as in my case who dares to chair.

My first 100 days as ELTAS chair can be described as a huge learning process.

Before I first started in my position as ELTAS chair I had tried to prepare myself a little. The tasks of a deputy, which I had undertaken in the previous year, closely collaborating with my predecessor Katrin, did by no means cover all the issues a chair has to deal with, which I came to quickly realize.

The first weeks turned out extremely busy, as a highly motivated committee sprang into action as of day one.

Initially, at times, I must admit, it did feel a little overwhelming, as I felt I could not keep up with the speedy professional work on all different levels. As mentioned in my little inauguration talk at the ELTAS AGM in February, what I really appreciate about our association is the diversity within ELTAS and the committee. Usually, when talking about diversity we are thinking in terms of national culture or gender, maybe health. Here it is intellectual diversity which goes beyond and includes all aspects of a group’s opinions, experiences and perspectives. This may not always be easy to handle and may ask for some extra people management skills, but at the same time this is definitely what brings us forward and lets us progress not only innovatively, but also successfully.

We have such a dedicated and effective committee who will meet any new challenge and turn it into a profit for ELTAS. Be it our video/social media team who has kicked into action and has given ELTAS a rejuvenating spa by going onto YouTube with a very professional series of head-to-head talks with ELTAS members (let us know, if you would like to take part, too!), soon to be complemented by a ‘how to’ series on special language teaching aspects. Be it our busy events team, who always looks for and finds amazingly interesting new speakers in accordance with our members’ wishes (this is why the feedback forms are so important!!). Be it the extremely busy organizers behind the scene on website, finance, social media, secretarial work or advertising. There is a lot of effort which goes into publishing blogs and the everlasting search for yet another monthly feature article.

Early May, we needed to have a second election for the position of treasurer and luckily found replacement in our long-standing committee member Koi so that the hand-over of tasks and important issues went extremely smoothly! This, too, is ELTAS. The matter of course which people simply agree to step in and help out, support and sustain is something I personally have been able to experience on several occasions and this simply is true for everyone else, as well. Our retired committee members Katrin and Ingrid are still available to the newcomers and are tremendously supportive in assisting us to get accustomed to the new positions. It does help, too, when you are good friends at the same time!

This is what I had referred to as psychological safety, a measure of how free people on a team feel to share their ideas, their experiences and their whole selves with each other. Psychological safety makes team members more willing to submit (even crazy) ideas that can lead the team in a new and different direction. Ever since I have joined the committee, I have experienced intellectual diversity and psychological safety to go hand in hand and to shape our team. I do feel this is true for the whole committee and has been ever since I first joined ELTAS seven years ago. The support I personally have received over the past years has helped me grow, has caught me more than once, and is challenging me in a very positive sense of the word.

I find that our daily work is transformed from work that needs to be done into work which needs to defend and enhance values in the teaching world. As team members we gain a stronger sense of group identity. The work we are investing into ELTAS defines and bonds us. The members’ expertise has let ELTAS progress immensely over the past year. Instead of letting the lockdown and a loss of work bring us down, we began to perk up on digital literacy. The ELTAS Tech group, which takes place every other week has offered a platform for trying out apps, teaching tips and much more. What is so nice about it is the atmosphere, where everybody can put their question, no matter what and you practice together until you got your head around the topic in question. We are working as much for each other as we are working for our teaching mission and thus for our members, the teachers/trainers/coaches.

We do follow a vision, a mission and a purpose at ELTAS, all of which are all hugely important. Of course, these three rarely fall into place on their own. These three aspects require leadership in the form of a group of people, the committee, who are together leading a team, our ELTAS team.