JALT Talk Newsletter

Hello, and welcome to another monthly edition of JALT Talk, the announcements newsletter of the Japan Association for Language Teaching. A special welcome is extended to new readers, including new JALT members and some JALT2022 attendees. Today's issue has several announcements about JALT2023, our next Annual International Conference.

New this issue, we've brought the "New Publications" section up higher, and put all "Reminder" announcements below. Also, the "Upcoming JALT Events" section at the end of our newsletter includes several medium-sized conferences, so we've decided to highlight them to help you notice them when scanning the list of events. Let us know what you think of these innovations.

JALT2023 International Conference News

JALT's 49th Annual International Conference on Language Teaching and Learning & Educational Materials Exhibition will be held November 24 - 27, 2023 at the Tsukuba International Congress Center (Epochal Tsukuba) in Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture. The conference theme is "Growth Mindset in Language Education", or 言語教育における成長マインドセット.

Announcing the JALT2023 Plenary Speakers:

We have a great lineup of plenary speakers for JALT2023:

Gary Barkhuizen (University of Auckland)
Kathleen Kampa (Oxford University Press)
Judy Noguchi (Kobe Gakuin University)
Akiyoshi Yonezawa (Tohoku University)

You'll find more infomation about these speakers on our JALT2023 plenary speaker page.

Also, JALT has released our first Plenary Speaker Interview video. In this interview, JALT2023 Conference Chair Takaaki Hiratsuka interviews Gary Barkhuizen (University of Auckland). https://youtu.be/0oEE1Ppfbgg

JALT2023 Registration Fees and Early-bird discount deadline

Conference fee information for JALT2023 is now available. Preregistration (early-bird discount) rates are available until October 31st. Full registration information and processing is coming in August.

Details: https://jalt.org/conference/jalt2023/registration-fees

JALT2023 Hotel Registration through JTB and JALT

As in past years, JALT is teaming up with JTB ("Japan Travel Bureau", 株式会社ジェイティービー) to offer hotels for the weekend. With the Tsukuba marathon taking place the same weekend as JALT2023, and considering the number of hotels in Tsukuba that closed due to the COVID shutdown, we strongly encourage all attendees to book on their own or through the JALT website as soon as possible. (We will have hotel information and booking details available soon, so please check our conference website in early August.)

One recommendation is to stay along the Tsukuba Express Route, which runs from Akihabara in Tokyo to Tsukuba in 45 minutes. Scroll down the Tsukuba Express webpage for a visual overview of the locations and travel times involved from Haneda, Narita, Tokyo, and Tsukuba.

JALT is looking for interns for the 2023 International Conference.

If you've attended one of our Annual International Conferences before, you'll remember seeing these volunteers in pink t-shirts helping with registration, the cloak room, presentation timing, and more. If you know university or graduate school students with English skills that they'd like to put to use, please refer them to our "Call for interns" page. Some universities actually fund teachers to bring a group of interns each year as part of a work internship experience.

Take a look at what our interns have been doing at past conferences by browsing this photo album of Pink Shirt interns over the years. We also have a short recruiting video on YouTube (with Japanese subtitles).

Koen Meigi for JALT2023

JALT is proud to announce that we received koen meigi (後援) for JALT2023 from a number of prestigious government boards and organizations.

A koen meigi is a letter of endorsement from a government body, media group or organization that sees merit in a program or event that is being held by another organization. This letter is offered as a way to increase visibility and raise the status of the event in the eye of the general public. The organization sending the koen meigi generally has no financial interest in or legal responsibility for the event. At some schools, an event with koen meigi can be treated as a work day; ask at your institution if the koen meigi adds any benefits to your conference attendance. Bilingual details are available on the koen meigi page of the conference website.

We received koen meigi for JALT2023 from the following organizations:

Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology - Japan
The Japan Foundation
Science Council of Japan
City of Tsukuba
Ibaraki Prefectural Board of Education
Tsukuba City Board of Education

We are pleased to announce we are able to hold the conference in Tsukuba with the aid and kind assistance of the Tsukuba Tourist Convention Association and City of Tsukuba.

The JALT Publications team has finished gathering and digitizing our extensive back catalogue, and it’s now available online. Our first publication was called Kansai Association of Language Teachers Newsletter 1-1 (1976), and our first publication as JALT was JALT Newsletter 2-1 (1978). Go see what teachers in those days were talking about: https://jalt-publications.org/tlt/archive?page=19

The Global Englishes SIG would like to announce the call for papers for the first publication of its journal. Submissions are accepted in English and Japanese. The deadline is 1st April 2024. Please see the website for the submission guidelines.

Call for presentation proposals: Teacher Development SIG's Teacher Journeys 2023 Conference

Since 2011, Teacher Journeys has evolved in many ways: from a face-to-face annual conference to a collection of curated videos online, and to a synchronous online conference. Yet, one feature has remained constant: it is one of the best venues for teachers across Japan and beyond to share reflections on their classroom situations.

This year, Teacher Journeys aims to facilitate a continuous dialogue between presenters and viewers culminating in a synchronous online conference on December 16th, 2023. Whether you want to share a well-thought educational insight with your colleagues or engage in exploratory conversation with your peers, Teacher Journeys is the place to be.

Announcing JALTCALL 2024 Conference Venue (May 17-19; submissions open in December)

The annual conference of JALT's Computer Assisted Language Learning SIG (CALL) will be returning to central Japan next year at Nagoya's splendid Meijo University.

We are talking to CALL and AI speakers and groups all over Japan and the globe to bring you the biggest and best face-to-face CALL conference to date.

The role of Global Englishes SIG Treasurer is going to become available soon. This is a great opportunity to get involved with the SIG. Those without experience in such a role are welcome to apply, as JALT supports new treasurers by pairing them with experienced treasurers from other SIGs in a buddy system. If you would like to put yourself forward for the role, please send an email to the following address: global-englishes@jalt.org

JALT has released The Language Teacher - Issue 47.4; July 2023. The Language Teacher, or TLT as we usually refer to it, is JALT's bimonthly publication. It publishes articles and other material related to language teaching, particularly in an Asian context. https://jalt.org/main/tlt

JALT's Testing and Evaluation SIG has released Shiken: 27.1. Shiken is the journal of the Testing and Evaluation SIG. https://hosted.jalt.org/teval/node/124

JALT's Mind, Brain, and Education SIG has released MindBrainEd Think Tank+Bulletin of the JALT Mind, Brain, and Education SIG, Co-published with the Materials Writers SIG: Materials Writing: Volume 9 Issue 7 July 2023. For this issue, we joined forces with the JALT Materials Writers SIG to produce high caliber advice, inspiring stories, and a wealth of information on materials writing. 今月号は「教材開発研究部会」と協働し、教材開発に関する貴重な助言・納得のストーリー・豊富な情報を掲載しています。https://www.mindbrained.org

Reminder: Call for presentations: The Global Englishes SIG Online Conference 9th December 2023

The Global Englishes SIG would like to announce that its first conference will be held online on December 9th 2023. Also, the call for proposals to present at the conference is now open. All topics related to Global Englishes are welcome. This call is open to JALT members and non-members. Contexts may focus on Japan or other countries. The deadline for submitting proposals is 31st August. Please visit our website for more information: https://jaltgesig.wordpress.com/

JALT has awards for teachers and researchers at various stages of their careers: Early Career Excellence Award, Mid-Career Scholar Award, and Lifetime Achievement Award. Any member is welcome to nominate another JALT member for an award--simply complete the Google Form in English or Japanese by 23:59 on Monday, September 11, 2023.

06 August 2023, 2:00pm to 4:30pm
Unmasking the ALT Experience: Insights into Foreigner and Dabbler Identities
Gunma JALT Chapter

29 August 2023 (Tuesday), 8:00pm-9:00pm
[Online Event] JALT Zoom for Professional Development (ZPD) Networking Event
Preregister: http://bit.ly/ZPDRSVP

10 September 2023, 1:30am to 4:00am
Turning Trauma into Triumph: Communicative Language Teaching helps L2 students
JALT Toyohashi Chapter

10 September 2023, 10:00am to 12:00pm
[Online event] Nara JALT MyShare Event 2023
Nara JALT Chapter

15-18 September 2023, 6:00pm to 12:00pm
CUE Conference 2023
JALT College and University Educators SIG
Location: University of Toyama (富山大学) in Gofuku, Toyama
Conference website: https://cue2023.edzil.la

16 September 2023, 9:30am to 5:00pm
ICLE & GILE Joint Conference 2023
A face-to-face joint event between the JALT ICLE (Intercultural Communication in Language Education) SIG and the GILE (Global Issues in Language Education) SIG.
Location: Kanda University of International Studies
Conference website: https://jalticle.org/course/view.php?id=6

16 September 2023, 6:00pm
Early finishers: What do students do when they finish tasks early, what does this tell us about tasks, and how should we treat early finishers?
Fukuoka JALT Chapter

That's all for this month. You can subscribe and / or access back issues here. Alternatively, if you'd rather not receive more information from JALT, you can unsubscribe here: https://hosted.jalt.org/membermail/unsubscribe-success.php?c=152