It was a cold and habitually gray afternoon of August 2007 in Lima, and I heard this proposal from who was my boss at that time (and still is today), Marita de la Lama, Director of Centro de Idiomas de la Universidad del Pacífico. Naturally, I was dazzled and delighted to have been chosen since the speakers at that now historical happening were just a handful. Something that has varied substantially with time.
Many years have passed and many congresses have taken place with brilliant success, eleven to be exact. The event became a tradition in the environment of language learning; in fact, it acquired enormous importance and an international scope. And my participation in each one of them became customary as well, which demonstrated the bounteous tolerance of my superiors. As a matter of fact, I think I can proudly say that only Marita and I have been constant lecturers in each one of these renowned and splendid celebrations in the milieu of language teaching. And taking the risk of sounding stuck up I feel tempted to say that on the occasion of the coming 12th congress, I won’t only be in charge of a workshop but, for the third time, in addition to this, I’m going to dare to participate in one of the semi-plenaries, precisely the one with which the event closes, the round table. That makes me a happy man. My enthusiasm and passion are being recognized.
Due to my professional mass media upbringing I don’t use the first person in my writings. But in this case I’m presenting a very personal account of something I have seen sprout, grow and bloom since its inception as a seed in my boss’ ever restless and innovative brain. She has always thought that we cannot be just “another language school.” As part of a university we have the mission to shed light on the path, to lead the way in our endeavor of teaching languages, to steer the professional educators in the field toward the achievement of improvement, innovation and progress. And this is what we are trying to do. The annual congress is one of the ways to do it. That first assembly congregated just 80 enthusiasts. Now 330 people participate wholeheartedly in the event. They come from the whole nation and even from beyond our borders. Many more would like to attend but, we cannot accommodate them in our facilities and we wouldn’t like to make the event massive anyway.
Our first congresses took place in a major hotel facility. As a matter of fact, I remember when we arrived to prepare everything and found in horror that there had been a sweet fifteen party and the place hadn’t been cleaned and tidied. Marita and Karen, our Administrative Coordinator, were on the verge of having a heart attack. But I don’t exaggerate when I say that our CIDUP administrative team has always done miracles, through the years and since the very beginning. By the time the first guests began to arrive, everything was ready and perfect, nothing was out of place and the organization of our congresses’ has thus been characterized for being impeccable, from the first to the last of them.
That is why I can foresee, with absolute confidence, that our 12th Congress this year is going to be equally successful and flawless. And I expect to see you there!
Estimated reading time: 2 minutes, 51 seconds
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