The American Association of Teachers of Esperanto (AATE) is an organization of persons in Canada and the United States who teach Esperanto or are interested in teaching the language. AATE collects and disseminates information about Esperanto teaching in the United States, publishes articles on teaching techniques in its Bulletin, and offers examinations at three levels for students of Esperanto.

Members of AATE are automatically also members of the international organization Internacia Ligo de Esperanto-Instruistoj (ILEI) and receive the Internacia Pedagogia Revuo from ILEI and the Bulletin from ILEI. Both are published quarterly.

AATE also works together with Esperanto-USA, the U.S. Esperanto organization, and our annual meeting takes place as part of the U.S. national Esperanto convention.

Esperanto is a language that's remarkably easy to learn and spoken on every inhabited continent by an estimated two million people ¹⁾. Contrary to a common misconception, it was never intended to be a magic road to peace or a replacement for other languages but only a politically neutral, relatively quick-to-learn medium of communication for people of different cultures and nationalities. Originally a “constructed” language, Esperanto has long since become a naturally evolving tongue with its own lively literature and culture and a large selection of books, magazines, web sites, Internet mailing lists and international broadcasts from countries in Europe, Asia, and the Americas.

Esperanto is an excellent introduction to the study of foreign languages. Because students can grasp the basics relatively rapidly, it helps build confidence while still developing the necessary skills for language acquisition in general. Students who go on to a Germanic, Romance, or Slavic language will encounter many words and forms of expression already seen in Esperanto.

Esperanto is also surprisingly useful in its own right. While the speaking population is small relative to the major languages, it's large enough that Esperanto speakers have no trouble finding contacts all over the world. The easy trans-border contacts made possible by the Internet have sparked a rapid growth of interest in Esperanto in recent years. Corresponding in a language foreign to both parties puts them on a more nearly equal footing.

For more information about Esperanto in English and other languages, see http://esperanto.net. Excellent free Esperanto courses can be found at http://lernu.net.