After reading David's entry for the Pro-D experience, I wanted to offer my greatest learning experience, which in a sense echoes his experiences in the Phillipines. 
I teach ESL to international pre-university students who come from 50 different countries.

About 7 years ago, how I had been teaching and what I had been teaching seemed to be faltering- I wondered what was wrong as all my previous methodology and practice had been 'working'. 
In order to find out what the challenge was, I decided to become one of my students. 
I took a university level, year one Spanish course and was set to go to Mexico to become one of my students. I lived in home-stays, studied Spanish 4 hours a day (albeit not academic) and lived through the language acquisition challenges that were sharply punctuated by two bouts of culture shock. 

In the first two weeks I was in the mountains, surrounded by an international group who were dedicated to learning the culture and language. Great fun as we struggled our way through dinners. The first encounter with culture shock revolved around the lack of language ability- I was frustrated that my university level course had not prepared me for simple daily dealings; the other was the change of lifestyle in terms of expectations of having the same water/sewer systems that I took for granted at home. Minor problems, but I understood far better how a new language learner in a foreign culture can suffer the feeling of utter ineptness- even though in their own country they are capable of much, and how a disruption in eating and sleeping patterns can lead to tiredness, grumpiness and frustration. How can one focus on learning when struck with a smashed ego and disfunctional body? During the second two weeks I was on the beach (looking forward to an even better time of it) where the entire group except one was from Germany.  This posed another culture shock situation. 

As learning a new language- at any level- is exhausting, during the breaks, I was isolated from the group as they reverted to their first language of German. I was exhausted too and craved to have a 
real discussion about the world, news, movies- anything that I could actually produce a paragraph about without faltering. But at school I was alone. Compounding this was that my homestay was really not interactive with the 2 people upstairs. I lived downstairs in my own 'hall' with my room at the end, behind the locked door to the street. My hosts were upstairs behind a locked door on which I'd tap once in the morning for breakfast and once for dinner. Conversation, due to my lack of ability was very nerve wracking. Much of the last 2 weeks were spent alone with attempts to talk to the busy restaurant guy which of course were not real conversations. To top it all off, I had purposely taken myself away from home during Christmas time to try to get a feel for what my students go through when they miss important family gatherings. In addition to missing the festive part of life, during my time away a colleague passed away and I was so far from home. So, by the end of the four weeks, my Spanish had not improved, my sense of aloneness was gigantic, and my empathy for my students enormous. Living this was nothing I could get from a book or chat.

What I learned from this experience that I brought back to my curricular efforts and classroom behavior: 
1. Students need to have a vested interest in what they learn. Previously students had come to learn English. Now they were coming to learn academic English. I couldn't justify the 'how to date in Canada' topics or other text ideas before I checked with them. I began to do a needs assessment.
2. Students come with life experience, lived experience. When one of my teachers in Mexico got angry because I could conjugate the verb but didn't know what it meant (ironically entendar means to learn!), he threw me a piece of paper and told me to write it out 5 times. I wasn't so angry at this, because what it revealed to me was that he hadn't asked me what the problem was- for me it was that none of the exercises led to any application of the language. Now I talk to my students about Bloom's Taxonomy and explain to them (more frequently I ask them to explain to me) why I would ask them to do a certain task. I've noticed more higher level thinking. Of course they were capable of this before, but I hadn't necessarily been demanding it. 
3. Because my students are not empty vessels, and they come with a variety of learning and life experiences, the topics and tasks I choose are 'real' in the sense that they either mimic the language or behavior that will be necessary in the academic classes. Granted, some things have to be memorized, but only if they are applied somehow. I've noticed much better retention and fluency. 
4. The white piece of paper with the list of things to cover- the course outline, the curriculm used to pose a constriction for me. So much to cover in so little time....In the mountains, we sat in a freezing cold class where the teacher had gloves on when she wrote on the board. I asked if we could do a class in a restaurant, over coffee (partly to use the language). Adamantly the answer was no. I didn't understand why there was no allowance for a shift. While I cannot hold classes in restaurants or swimming pools, I can and do interrupt my 'curriculum' to get feedback from students. What have you learned that is useful? What do you still need to know? How would you plan the next class in order to reach the goal of educating everyone in the room? Flexibility has interrupted the list on the course outline. 

I think that these 4 major learnings amount to a couple of things that are directly related to professional development. 
1. Experiential learning is an extremely valuable way to develop. I had read about culture shock for years but nothing was like living it. As much as I can, I ask students to experience the topics/tasks that I expect them to learn. 
2. Task based learning and experiential learning I think work together to promote reflective practice and transformative learning. But neither of these will be as rich, if the educator doesn't choose what he/she wants to work on and have a strong understanding of why.
3. Every offering  by a conference or PD participant is a sharing of what is important to them, and an idea for the recipients to ponder, evaluate and use as he/she wishes. I think every offering is a useful experience, even if it is to realize that the timing is relevent/not, the topic is doable/not (what topics do I choose that may not be doable??) or the task is doable/not (materials, size of class etc.). I have gained from all PD activities- hands on, lecture and my own reading, but the ultimate measurement is whether I have been able to provide my students with a relevant learning experience. 
4. The reiteration of participating in PD is sometimes necessary for me to 'get it' in another way. 
5. Flexibility with curriculum - employing a 'living curriculum' can take much pressure off the teacher and encourage student autonomy and buy in. The most gratifying part of this is that I continue to learn in tandem with the students which I feel is a great demonstration of respect for who they are and what they offer to the community of learning. 

These changes have come in increments over the last couple of years and continue to be tweaked. I think the greatest reward that PD offers is the chance to risk to learn and the more uncomfortable part of that is the shift in practice.
I applaud those who offer PD- it aint easy standing up in front of your peers and saying, 'hey guess what- I learned this/tried this and it worked and I think it's important enough to share'. 
emma 

Emma Bourassa
English as a Second or Additional Language/ Teaching English as a Second Language Instructor
ESAL Department
Thompson Rivers University
900 McGill Road. P.O. Box 3010
Kamloops, B.C. V2C 5N3
(250) 371-5895
fax 371-5514
ebourassa at tru.ca