From the President’s desk
It has now been nearly four months since the Great Tohoku Earthquake struck Japan, and the devastation will unfortunately be with us for a long time to come. Many friends of JALT from around the world have expressed their concern and their desire to help those in need. We have given them some avenues of support, and will be able to give JALT members and friends advice that is more concrete now that we have held our June Executive Board Meeting (for your reference, the EBM is the decision-making body of JALT; representatives of every chapter and SIG attend the meeting, as do other JALT officers).
As the Tohoku region recovers, and the residents or evacuees rebuild their lives, there are sure to be many more ways that we, as language teachers, can lend a helping hand in the months and years ahead. Please continue to check the Emergency Response web page for more information on how you, individually and through JALT, can help those in the affected region to help themselves: <jalt.org/emergency_response>.
Speaking of websites, have you seen the new JALT Publications site? If not, I think you’ll be very impressed! The site is easy to use and has a deep amount of information on every aspect of the great publications that JALT produces: <jalt-publications.org/>. I hope you will consider submitting an article or other material to TLT or JJ in the near future.
I’m glad to note that an increasing number of JALT members are volunteering their time and energy despite their busy schedules. If you are interested in volunteering but don’t know where to start, please send a message to <volunteer@jalt.org>. Another route would be to check the opportunities listed in this issue ofTLT or on the JALT Publications website: <jalt-publications.org/recruiting>.
Do you have any feedback on JALT? Please share your ideas, opinions, and suggestions with us at <feedback@jalt.org>.
Also, if you have any ideas for long-term goals that JALT should pursue, please send your suggestions to <2020@jalt.org>. We hope to come to a consensus on some key long-term goals within this year, and then align our efforts towards achieving them.
In closing, I’d like to urge you to check the Conference Preview included with this TLT to see what a great lineup of speakers and events we have for JALT2011. It’s going to be a tremendous conference, and I look forward to seeing you there!
As always, thank you very much for your membership and best wishes for your teaching.
Kevin Cleary
President, NPO JALT