ISSN #2331-6845 

 
From the Immediate Past-President of 

Georgia TESOL 
By Francisco J. (Harvey) Oaxaca 

Oaxaca@fultonschools.org 
 
 
IS THIS THE END? 
The Winter Season.  The End of the Year.  The End of the Semester.   
 
These concepts and phrases indicate a time of stopping and of transition.  
Winter is a time when nature goes into hibernation in anticipation of new 
growth and development of the spring.   As we near the end of every calendar 
year, many people take time to stop and reflect on all their New Year’s 
resolutions both realized and broken.  At the end of any school semester, 
students and teachers alike complete their final moments or assessments and 
look forward to the changing of classes, topics, or units in the new semester.  
However, winter is not the end of the seasons and the end of one year or 
semester actually indicates the beginning of another.   
 
Interestingly enough, professional research can be very similar.  The writers 
of the articles in our journal have spent much time researching, planning, 
implementing, and compiling their work.  Many have spent months writing 
what you will read finding just the perfect way to express themselves and 
their ideology and how it supports or counters other leading research in our 
field.  Once they submit their work, in essence, it is the end; the completion of 
a time in their educational career.  However, their work in the pages that 
follow should not be seen as a stop or end, but rather the beginning of your 
new understanding and growth and development.  This journal provides an 
opportunity for transition of information from writers to practitioners.  The 
completion of one article leads the way to application of new understanding 
for each of us as language educators.     

1                                                                   GATESOL in Action, Vol. 2, Fall 2014 

mailto:Oaxaca@fultonschools.org


 
So, no, this is not the end.  Rather, let this journal and its content be for you a 
new beginning of understanding and application of current practices that may 
transform our teaching and understanding of language development for years 
to come.  

2                                                                   GATESOL in Action, Vol. 2, Fall 2014