International Affairs Committee (IAC) Update

JALT members benefit from discounted conference fees at our international partner events. They’re also an excellent opportunity to network with language practitioners from all over Asia and the world. IAC maintains a list of upcoming conferences that can be viewed at https://tinyurl.com/3n7psfj4. Upcoming partner events are as follows:

The 41st Thailand TESOL International Conference was held January 21-22 as an online event. The conference was widely attended, with many participants from its international affiliates. Director of Membership Melodie Cook represented JALT and gave a presentation titled Resistance, Engagement and Resilience: Why Teachers Resist Technology and How to Engage Them. Her presentation was well-attended, and she was pleased with the questions and interaction that ensued. ThaiTESOL regularly publishes double-blind, reviewed proceedings of academic articles, research papers, and review articles of studies presented at its conference.

The Nepal English Language Teachers’ Association’s (NELTA) International Conference was held March 11-13 as an online event. NELTA also publishes a reviewed proceedings after its international conference. The theme of this year’s conference was Expanding Frontiers of Language Education: Rechanneling the Potentials in the New Normal. It was widely attended and featured speakers from many places throughout the world. Two JALT national officers attended NELTA 2022 and represented JALT throughout the three days. On the first day, IAC Chair George MacLean made a featured presentation titled Providing Accelerated Feedback for Speaking Activities Using Online Platforms, which was well attended and featured lively and thoughtful discussion. On the second day, Director of Program Wayne Malcolm represented JALT at a 60-minute international partners’ panel discussion, and he reports the following:

The conference was a joy to attend and participating in the panel discussion was informative and illuminating. The discussion centered around “Future Perspectives of Language Teaching and the Role of the Professional Organizations.” Considering the situation of 2020 and 2021 with the global pandemic, this theme was very appropriate. Representing JALT, I said that teaching associations like JALT are well placed to deal with the future because of the diverse memberships we have as well as the ability to marshal that diversity. JALT has the resources to help smaller organizations, even individuals. At the same time, JALT does not deter its members from forming or joining other communities, so we saw many JALT members give time and energy to grassroots organizations that also support furthering language education professional development. NELTA has a vibrant community that also does the same, and while people did want to be face-to-face, they also understood that being online raised awareness across a wider demographic, and provided people with the opportunity to attend this event, whereas pre-pandemic they would not have been able. Balancing this new reality is where organizations like NELTA and JALT find themselves. It was great to hear ideas and plans to move forward seeking this balance.

More information and further updates about IAC activities are available at https://jalt.org (search for IAC). IAC can be contacted at international@jalt.org.