Being recognized as one of the recipients of the TEFLIN Teacher of the Year Award at the 72nd TEFLIN International Conference was indeed a great honor and a meaningful milestone for me as an English teacher. I am grateful to TEFLIN for this recognition, and for giving educators like me a chance to connect, learn, and grow together. The conference also gave me so much new insight.
This conference was special to me because of how much I learned from the sessions and discussions. I had come across some of new theories, technology and perspectives that I have never heard before, and I found them interesting. The conference also opened up my world to many possibilities for making English language learning and teaching more effective, engaging, and meaningful.
Furthermore, I had a fantastic opportunity to meet and socialize with many new friends. It was fascinating to interact with fellow teachers, lecturers, researchers, and educators originating from different regions of Indonesia and other countries. They all came from different backgrounds, and talking with them inspired me and gave me ideas I would never have come up with by myself.
The discussions and feedback on my projects were especially helpful. The comments, questions, and suggestions helped me spot areas I could improve, and talking it over made it clearer how to develop my work further. Those conversations made me want to keep exploring my ideas and improving them, so that they can make a real contribution to English language teaching.
The award recognizes what I have done so far as an English teacher, but it also gives me a reason to keep going. I want to keep learning and reflecting on my teaching, because I know there is still a lot I can improve. I also want to share what I learn with the others. I believe this conference is a great platform for sharing ideas and gaining new insights with a wide range of people.
My sincere gratitude to TEFLIN, the conference organizers, and everyone who made this experience possible. I came away with new knowledge and new connections. I’m also more inspired and motivated than when I arrived. I plan to bring what I learned back to my classroom and keep developing my projects and research. I hope that sharing what I know will help English language teaching in Indonesia move forward. This experience showed me that teaching isn’t a journey we have to take alone. The more we stay curious, share our experiences, and learn from each other, the more we grow.
