John Sivell, third from left, gets an award from TESL Niagara.

An Applied Linguistics professor has received a lifetime service award for his contributions to teaching English as a Second Language.

John Sivell received a Lifetime Service award from Teachers of English as a Second Language (TESL) Niagara on May 7. The award recognizes his contributions to TESL Niagara, TESL Ontario and TESL Canada.

Sivell, who is department chair, was a founding member of TESL Niagara and has sat on various positions on its executive board. He also helped develop TESL Canada’s online Teachers’ Resource Centre and has served as editor of the TESL Canada journal for the last five years.

Sivell has been involved in TESL Niagara since 1983. Over the years, he’s been pleased to see his own students join the association too, he said.

“It’s a great professional community,” he said. “All of that makes this generous award something I especially appreciate.”

TESL Niagara is a non-profit organization that supports the professional development of teachers of English as a Second Language.

David Atherton, chair of ESL programs at Niagara College, received a member of distinction award at the event, which was at Chang Noi’s Thai restaurant in St. Catharines.