1. At the risk of using a baseball analogy, ATEK needs someone who can step up to the plate, hit solid singles and doubles, and avoid striking out. The concept of a national organization attempting to help English teachers in Korea still feels fairly new. It's far from institutionalized, and is far from reaching everyone - while far from scientific, my recent poll showed a lack of name recognition for ATEK (possibly because half of you wonderful readers hail from somewhere other than Korea). Promoting ATEK as a legitimate organization with legitimate goals - and as something with staying power - are two areas that need to be expanded.

2. One of my criticisms of ATEK is that what they do seems to perpetually stay in the dark. It's been said that Greg and the ATEK team are quietly helping English teachers, but the people reporting that are the people that stand to gain the most. I'd love to hear some independent verification - even if they're stories that omit people's names or specific circumstances. I'm happy to hear of press-release-ready statements talking about a new relationship or partnership formed, but it's the 'ground-level' stories that are supposedly happening more often. The perceived inactivity, punctuated by press-release stories of some high-level activity, does little to help me feel any change for the better.

3. Next steps? ATEK needs to establish itself as an organization with actual power and success stories. It doesn't need to be done in a flashy way; something as simple as a tweet could work, as would the occasional e-mail sent to members. Also, getting involved needs some more opportunities - something other than 'be a part of ATEK'. Sorry, don't have time for a lot of extra projects right now. I might go to a fundraising something-or-other, but ATEK needs to show their effectiveness publicly to help reestablish people's belief in it. That would be one step towards giving people a reason to join. What do people need to join ATEK for if they can get all the benefits without membership?

4. The bigger question seems to be 'how do people support ATEK?'. Helping as an officer is not something we all have time for; helping to write the second edition of ATEK's guide for English teachers isn't exactly something everyone has the energy for. Maybe it's as simple as a consistent social networking campaign when a significant member presence is needed. Also, what sort of support is required or requested? Financial, time, energy, etc.? Right now, 'becoming a member' has little benefit outside of its intrinsic value.

With that said, one ideal goal would be to discredit the Anti-English Spectrum - that a single group has managed to legitimize a racist, xenophobic belief regarding foreign English teachers scares me. That they have the ear of some powerful lawmakers and people in the press means at least a few people in power are listening to them.

Another would be to really connect with and sign-up the new teachers arriving - the ones still looking to Dave's ESL Cafe for information about Korea. You know, the ones who haven't yet plugged into the larger expat community. They're arriving at fairly predictable times, going to fairly predictable places - they can't be that hard to find.

If you're interested in becoming the next ATEK president, here's one final quote from Rob: