65 Chapter Three When language teacher educators, language policy makers and politicians meet: Lessons from the South 1 Adriana Gonzalez M. Universidad de Antioquia, Colombia Abstract Language policy design and implementation often create scenarios where teacher educators, policy makers and politicians meet, even though they are rarely interlocutors. In this paper, the author critically explores the role of Colombian language teacher educators in the implementation of the National Program of Bilingualism -a language education policy that aims to promote mass English teaching - and presents ten lessons learned in their interaction with policy makers and politicians. The paper highlights the need for more social and political engagement on the part of teacher educators and the inclusion of more North-South dialogue for the purposes of consolidating teacher education agendas. Key words Teacher education- language policies - politics – bilingualism-globalization Introduction The theme of the CARLA 7th International Conference on Language Teacher Education, Expanding Our Horizons, is an excellent framework for this paper. The conference welcomed me as a plenarist and I was deeply honored to bring into this academic space the voices of many teacher educators. I felt committed to spread the message of those who will not be able to attend the conference because they cannot 1 An earlier version of this chapter was presented at the 2011 International Language Teacher Education Conference sponsored by the Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition (CARLA) in Minneapolis, Minnesota.