A Changing of the Guard:
Yoko Wakui takes over the Membership Chair from Amanda Harlow

We would like to thank Amanda for her work as the SIG Membership Chair. She not only kept the members’ list in order but also sent out greetings to new members, helped the SIG become involved with proofreading the textbook Making Friends and contributed to the newsletter. Thanks Amanda!

We are pleased to welcome our new Membership Chair, Yoko Wakui. Yoko attended the mini-conference in June where she officially began her SIG duties. We look forward to working with you Yoko!

Membership Chair Farewell

By Amanda Harlow (from Sapporo in faraway Hokkaido)

I am sorry to be stepping down as the Membership Chair of the SIG, but I am delighted to know that I am leaving my position in the capable hands of Yoko Wakui.

Ishida-sensei asked me to be Membership Chair when the SIG was forming and I went to the national conference in Nara that year to meet others who were involved with the group. That first gathering was very exciting and emotional. We felt that JALT needed a SIG that would address issues related to older language learners and we were eager to get to work.

Over the years, I have welcomed new SIG members and have tried to help them feel connected to the group. In particular, by making members aware of the location of other members, I hoped to encourage those who belonged to the same local chapter or who lived in the same geographical area to work closely together. As we learned when our online forum boards were overtaken by spammers, face-to-face meetings are an important element for group dynamics.

Again, I am sorry to step down, but as I live in Hokkaido and I do not have a travel allowance from my employers, it is hard to get involved in SIG/JALT events. I am sure Yoko will be a more hands-on officer and will bring in many new members!

Finally, I would like to say a big thank you to Ishida-sensei and all the officers for their help and encouragement. You people almost make me want to move to Honshu just so I can get really into the LLL SIG!

Greeting from the Incoming Membership Chair

By Yoko Wakui

I'm Yoko Wakui, a new member and the new Membership Chair for the LLL SIG. Currently, I am not teaching middle-aged or older learners, but I do live with my mother, who is a senior citizen, and I occasionally work at a nursing home as a volunteer.

I teach at Aoyama Gakuin Junior College and Keisen University. My research interests include, in particular, lifelong learning and lifelong teaching, autonomy, psychology, and learner motivation. I recently published TOEIC(R) テストで730点を目指そう, a textbook for middle-aged people who wish to raise their TOEIC scores so that they can look for more challenging jobs. Please check it out at Amazon.co.jp. Thanks.

Yoko Wakui

生涯学習，生涯教育！

LLLの新メンバーで、メンバーシップチェアーの涌井陽子です。現在中高年者を教えてはいませんが、年老いた母と同居し、ときおり老人ホームでボランティアをしています。又青山短期大学、恵泉女学院でも教えています。特に生涯学習、生涯教育、そして自立学習、心理学、モティベーションの研究に興味があります。最近中高年を対象にしたトイックテストで730点を目指そうを出版しました。Amazon.co.jp でご覧ください。

涌井陽子