Fall conference season is officially underway, and the Ellii team is buzzing—attending eight conferences this month alone, including BRAZ-TESOL, TESL Ontario, MITESOL, VATESOL, and more. Throughout the season, different members of our team step away from their desks to share Ellii’s newest content and features and to chat with teachers and administrators about whether Ellii might be a good fit for their English language programs.
Conferences also offer something just as valuable: the chance to learn. Hearing from speakers, teachers, and publishers helps us better understand the evolving needs of today’s English language learners and inspires new ideas for improving the Ellii experience for classrooms around the world.
MITESOL 2025 – Elevate, Motivate, Unite
The 2025 MITESOL conference took place on November 8, 2025, in the Student Center at Eastern Michigan University (EMU). The venue inspired this year's clever theme: Elevate, Motivate, Unite. The date itself was also significant! Michigan's governor, Gretchen Whitmar, officially declared November 8 as English Language Educators Recognition Day to honor the dedication of teachers who support English language learners and to acknowledge the value that these learners bring to Michigan.
Though I live in Windsor, Ontario, Michigan is my closest neighbor, so I was excited to attend, exhibit, and present at MITESOL on this monumental day!
Anne Damiecka (ESOL Specialist and Territory Manager, Cambridge University Press & Assessment), Alexandra Covell (MITESOL President & 2025 Conference Chair), Tara Benwell (VP of Publishing at Ellii) at MITESOL 2025
Morning Keynote
I knew it was going to be a worthwhile keynote when Dr. Raichle (Rai) Farrelly, a professor at the University of Colorado Boulder, began the first session by talking about how she likes to "bookend" her classes with stories.
In her keynote titled Mapping Knowledge and Language for a Change Agent Mindset, Dr. Rai used personal experiences, videos, and pictures to highlight why stories matter in our classrooms. Key takeaways were:
- stories drive connection
- stories are advocacy tools
- stories tell our history
- stories convey world views
Dr. Rai also shared strategies to foster curiosity, build knowledge, and inspire meaningful action to transform English classrooms into "spaces for equity, connection, and global impact."
She illustrated the power of student agency by sharing a compelling story about young learners who launched a campaign to help school cleaners regain respect and dignity in their workplace. The young students developed an entire campaign to help change how cleaners were treated. They used this Design for Change model:
- Feel: What bothers you about the world?
- Imagine: Imagine ways to make the situation better.
- Do: Go out and put your ideas into action.
- Share: Inspire others with your act of change.
Dr. Rai also taught us about the Care-Know-Do pedagogical framework:
- Social Emotional Learning
- Meaningful Learning
- Mastery Learning
- Critical Socioconstructivism
- Inquiry-Based Learning
- Experiential Learning
Dr. Rai left us with these inspiring parting words from the late Jane Goodall.
Ellii Presentation
After spending some time chatting with teachers at the Ellii booth—where we were exhibiting next to our new publishing partner, Cambridge (Ventures)—I took a few steps down the hall to the Kiva Room, a cozy space with tiered bench seating. I was delighted to spend the hour with several teachers who were not yet familiar with Ellii (along with a few who were) during my session, Develop Oral Communication Skills in ESL Classrooms by Implementing Ellii’s Game-Based Tools.
As a content creator, the workshop was an excellent opportunity to showcase Ellii Polls and Ellii Dilemmas and get a feel for how engaged participants were in the activities. In her keynote, Dr. Rai emphasized three essential components to any student advocacy project. I was able to demonstarte how students can develop and build these very skills with Ellii’s interactive activities:
- critical thinking
- meaningful communication
- academic language
After students submit answers to a poll or dilemma, the class is prompted to look up at the teacher's screen to review and discuss the results, vocabulary, and questions in pairs or as a group. The activities are carefully scaffolded and useful language and sentence stems are provided. In addition to participating in the activity, attendees shared lots of ways that they would use these activities in their own classrooms.
This is the first time I have seen this result. 100% of participants polled said they liked their names!
If you missed this session at any recent conferences and want to learn more about Ellii's FREE interactive, game-based activities, check out these posts and videos:
After a lively morning of sessions and conversations, it was time to break for lunch—and another inspiring keynote.
Lunch Keynote
The exhibit hall was closed during the luncheon, giving exhibitors a chance to mingle with attendees and enjoy a delicious meal (falafel, chicken, and cookies!) along with a wonderful keynote.
Dr. Katie Welch—who has presented twice at ElliiCon—spoke about social-emotional health for teachers in her talk, From Fatigue to Flourishing: Supporting Teacher Well-Being in Tough Times. She shared a range of practical ideas for educators, including an “extension request form” designed to help teachers reclaim their time. Katie also recommended the Truth for Teachers podcast.
One of my favorite moments of the conference was a story Katie told about teachers advocating for fair pay in their small Texas community. She described how one teacher refused to take no for an answer and rallied others to use their voices and advocate for themselves.
Back at the booth, Katie and I spoke with an MA student who admitted it’s a challenging time to be preparing for a teaching career amid so much negativity surrounding the profession. She thanked Katie for offering hope.
Ventures 4e (+ Ellii)
Another bonus of attending the MITESOL conference was learning all about Ventures 4th Edition, set to launch in summer 2026. Now that Ellii can be bundled with Ventures, you’ll often find us side by side in exhibit halls. It was a pleasure getting to know CUPA district manager Anne Damiecka and discussing Adult Literacy needs in Michigan.
I also attended Anne and Katie's session and learned about the exciting updates coming to Ventures 4e—especially the new Lesson G, which will focus on workplace themes.
Anne Damiecka speaking during the Meeting the Needs of Adult Learners in Michigan session, presented with Dr. Katie Welch
Ellii will be developing new Ventures collections to go with the 4th edition before the updated coursebook series is released next summer.
Gratitude
MITESOL 2025 was a day filled with inspiration, community, and meaningful conversations. I returned to Canada feeling grateful for the educators who continue to elevate, motivate, and unite English language learners wherever their classrooms may be.
As we head into a season of gratitude, I want to extend a special thank-you to Alexandra and the entire MITESOL team for organizing such a productive conference and for helping Ellii feel right at home. And to Ashley, Ellii’s conference coordinator extraordinaire—thank you for planning every detail and keeping us perfectly on track during each and every busy conference season!
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