Greetings from the Coordinator: Eric Skier

July 2, 2007

Hello everyone,

Well, it is official; we are now the Lifelong Language Learning (LLL) SIG! Thank you to everyone who participated in the various online debates and votes that made this a reality. Moreover, since March, we have had one SIG event after another, all of which have been positive and educational. It has been a lot of work, but the LLL SIG is making its presence known through collaborations with various individuals and groups. As you will see in this issue, we participated in PANSIG 2007 and the CALL Conference, and, of course, we held our first-ever mini-conference. Working with others is what JALT is all about, and I hope those of you currently looking for something to do will contact me. I am sure your various talents will be put to good use! In particular, anyone familiar with creating and maintaining simple homepages would be greatly appreciated! Malcolm Swanson will be stepping down as our homepage editor, and we will need a replacement by the end of summer. It will be sad to lose Malcolm; I am not sure I know a better man.

While much has been accomplished this winter and spring, the year is far from over! There is still the national conference coming up in November. At JALT2007, we will have our own forum, so please feel free to attend and share your knowledge about the teaching of lifelong language learners. We will also have our general meeting and we hope to arrange a dinner party just for LLL SIG members where we will have a chance to talk and get to know one another even better. Looking forward to the rest of 2007,

Eric M. Skier
LLL SIG Coordinator