Official Greetings and Remarks
Prof. Leslie M. Beebe

Colleagues, Alumni, Honored Guests, and Graduates:

Tonight we wish to say Congratulations to a group of teachers who have worked extremely hard over the past few years. Graduates, you have gone that extra mile to earn a Master's degree in TESOL-to become better, more informed teachers. By joining this program, you have explored new ideas and experimented with new practices, you have found new professors , you have made new friends and professional contacts, gotten job offers and library access.

You have also taken on a life of late nights and weekends that are more like work days. You have a stack of fun books in your "to read" pile. Your vacations were?well? nonexistent. What vacations??? Did anybody actually get a vacation? More likely you have a list of places to go and movies to see in your mental wish list. There was a lot of sacrifice for you and your families in completing the mountain of homework we heaped upon you.

Tonight we must ask ourselves: Is it worth all the sacrifice and hard work to get a Master's degree in TESOL? We hope the answer is "yes". Not just on an individual level, but on a national level. It is our hope that Japan will benefit from having highly qualified professionals in the field of English Education.

The benefits seem pretty clear. English is now the international lingua franca-the language of the internet, the language of diplomacy, the language of international business, and often, the language of tourism. There are more nonnative speakers of English than native speakers of English in the world. There are more nonnative teachers of English than native teachers of English. There are more nonnative varieties of the English language than native varieties. Yes, this is indeed a new millennium.

What is new is that the greatest challenge before us today is NOT communication! It is understanding and cooperation. Communication is a "given" in the era of globalization. "Talk" is instantaneous worldwide. Data is cheap. Information hits us in tidal wave proportions through multimedia.

What we need is not information, but analysis of information. What we need is not communication per se but understanding and cooperation that grows out of communication. For peaceful coexistence in a world filled with political and economic tension, we must find our common concerns-that common core where our interests are the same. I hope that the teaching of English, a common language, will contribute to international understanding and cooperation-the building of a global community where "community"means working for a common good.

I hope you will indulge me in a somewhat personal story that illustrates what I want to say. I have a cousin who is an environmentalist in the Northwestern United States. His professional life is devoted primarily to saving rainforests. I once asked him, "Spencer, how do you do it? I mean, you have lumber men who only want to cut down trees. They have to cut down trees to make money. You have fishermen who only want to catch and sell fish. They have to do this to make money. And then you have environmentalist who only want to end the logging and fishing to save the trees and the fish. How can we ever resolve this problem of conflicting interests?"

"Leslie," he said, "Their interests are basically the same. The lumber men can't cut down trees unless we maintain our forests. There won't be any more trees to cut down. The fishermen can't catch fish if we clear cut the whole mountain side because soil runs down the mountain side into the sea when the whole mountain is clear cut and the soil then chokes up the bay, killing the fish. So both groups have a profound interest in guarding forests. And that's where I start: the common interest."

Graduates, we have trained you to teach for cultural understanding-not just communication at its lowest grammatical level, but talk that promotes true understanding and a desire for international cooperation on the basis of common interest.

You are the leaders-the pioneers of the 21st century. We are placing our trust in you. We wish you luck in your efforts to make English classrooms a place where understanding and cooperation are fostered.
Good luck , and once again,
Congratulations!