Welcome to another issue of JALT Talk, the monthly newsletter of the Japan Association for Language Teaching. For many of us teachers, our semesters are coming to an end, and we’re looking forward to some relaxing days in the August heat. The hot topic these days is Coronavirus vaccination -- have you had it, have you had the second one, what side effects if any did you feel? Wherever you and your loved ones are in this process, we hope you feel safer soon.
In this issue:
1. JALT2021 dates: One weekend in person, one weekend online
2. Technology Advisory and Support Committee (TASC) seeks members
3. New JALT Publications
4. Upcoming JALT Events
5. General Union Survey
1. JALT2021 Dates:
The JALT2021 International Conference will be held over two weekends.
November 12-14 (Friday to Sunday) will be an in-person conference in Shizuoka.
November 19-21 (Friday to Sunday) will be an online conference.
Director of Program Wayne Malcolm and his team will be working very hard this August on finalizing many of the details that we will announce in a few weeks, such as pricing, plenary speakers, and more.
If you’re interested in hearing more about how these decisions are made, and how you can volunteer to get involved with the conference, please come to our August Zoom for Professional Development meeting on Tuesday, August 31st.
https://jalt.org/event/jalt-central/21-08-31
2. Technology Advisory and Support Committee (TASC) seeks members
The TASC (Technology Advisory and Support Committee) is looking for new members, and would love to have you on the team. They are looking for people with a wide variety of tech skills. For example: Web development, Zoom experience, Moodle, Content and video creation, networking, coding, website management, mailing lists etc. Please reach out to Jason Hill on JALT’s Basecamp with a Ping, or simply email him via the TASC committee page, https://jalt.org/groups/specialty-groups/technology-advisory-and-support-committee-tasc
3. New JALT Publications
JALT has published The Language Teacher - Issue 45.4; July 2021. https://jalt.org/main/tlt
The Nagoya JALT Chapter has released Nagoya JALT Journal: 2(1). https://sites.google.com/view/nagoyajaltpublication2020/the-jalt-nagoya-publication/the-nagoya-jalt-journal
The Teacher Development SIG has released Explorations in Teacher Development - Special Issue: 27(2) . This Teacher Journeys 2020 conference edition features 16 highly practical, informative, and personal narratives of issues relating to emergency remote teaching. https://td.jalt.org/index.php/latest-issue/
4. Upcoming Events in JALT
Please see https://jalt.org/events for details.
31 July 2021, 7:00pm to 9:00pm
Shizuoka JALT Chapter Get Together
Zoom
31 July 2021, 8:00pm to 9:00pm
(1) Implicit Instruction of Pragmatics; (2) Shouldn't We Teach Email Pragmatics?
Pragmatics SIG
Zoom
08 August 2021, 2:30pm to 4:00pm
Enhancing learners'' intercultural awareness and linguistic politeness: Rethinking instruction for pragmatic translanguaging
West Tokyo Chapter
Online
20 August 2021, 2:00pm to 5:15pm
Action Research Lecture and Workshop
CEFR and Language Portfolio SIG
Online
28 August 2021, 6:00pm to 8:00pm
Role Playing Games in Classrooms - Here Not Be Dragons
Fukuoka Chapter
Zoom
31 August 2021, 8:00pm to 9:00pm
August Zoom for Professional Development (on a Tuesday!)
JALT Central
5. General Union Survey
Are you a high school, college, or university teacher? The General Union would like to hear from you!
The General Union is currently running two surveys, one concerned with university and college teachers' koma (more information available here: https://www.generalunion.org/higher-eduction/2433-hands-off-don-t-touch-our-koma-updated) and another concerned with private high school English teachers and the new 2022 curriculum (more information available here: https://www.generalunion.org/education/2436-working-at-a-private-high-school).
Best regards,
Bill Pellowe
JALT Director of Public Relations
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