Dear JALT Sendai Community Members,

Happy New Year to you and yours. On behalf of the entire JALT Sendai
executive committee, I would like to wish you all a very happy, healthy, and
successful 2014.
As I expect most of you are aware, this week has been an extremely sad and
shocking one for the entire ELT community in Japan and beyond. JALT
National president Kevin Cleary passed away this Wednesday after 5 days in
intensive care following a sudden heart attack. Kevin was struck while doing
what he dedicated much of his life to serving JALT at a Board of Directors
meeting in Kyoto. The JALT Board of Directors has been working tirelessly
with Kevins family to help them in this time of need. There will be
opportunities coming in the next few weeks and months to pay tribute to
Kevin, and I encourage you to take part in whatever way you feel
appropriate. I am sure that Kevin would want us to work hard to build upon
his great efforts to make JALT a stronger and more appealing professional
development organization, and I will proceed with this foremost in my heart
and mind.
Next weekend we will host our first event of the year- a very special event
focusing on Extensive Reading taking place in the main library of Tohoku
University. Please make some time and join us!
2014 is shaping up to be a very exciting year! We have a wide range of
presenters already confirmed, and just a few dates left to fill in our very
busy schedule. We welcome suggestions and requests from you, and would
love to hear about topics or presenters you would like us to include in
upcoming JALT Sendai events. Please email our Programs Chair Joanne Sato
if you have something in mind: jaltsenprog@gmail.com
We are looking for participants in our annual My Share event in March on
motivation. Please see below for more information.
Following this message you will find a wide range of information including:
January meeting notice
February meeting preview
March meeting- CALL FOR PRESENTATIONS
Research project collaboration opportunity (with Aprils presenter)
NPO Japan Association of Translators (JAT)- Sendai meeting info
Scott Thornburys new website

Local Member Ron Campbells recent publication

Recruitment of Native English speakers for brain and language study
JALT Sendai Invite a Friend campaign information
JALT Sendai Event Calendar
You can always find the most current information for JALT Sendai on our
website: www.jaltsendai.org and for a complete listing of ELT events
throughout Japan and Asia please visit the ELT Calendar at:

www.eltcalendar.com
I look forward to seeing many of you at the meeting on the 26 th,

Cory Koby- JALT Sendai President

January Meeting Notice
Date: Sunday January 26
Time: 2pm - 5pm (14:00 ~ 17:00)
Venue: Tohoku University Library, Kawauchi Campus
Location: Meet in library lobby
Access: Building #20 on this MAP
Parking available in lot adjacent to library
Transportation: Bus from Sendai Station (stop #9), 15 min., 180
Fee: Free for JALT members, 500 yen for students, 1000 yen for visitors
Speakers: Ben Shearon, with Daniel Eichhorst, Cory Koby, Domenic
Jones, Marc Helgesen, and John Wiltshier
ER Program Design by Ben Shearon of Tohoku University: Extensive
reading is gaining traction in Japan thanks to the efforts of classroom
teachers, but institutions often lag behind in understanding and adopting ER
as part of their curriculum. This short lecture will delve into the factors
affecting ER program design at the system level and suggest some metrics
for setting goals and practice. Participants will receive a free bilingual
handbook.

Introduction to ER Programs by Various Local Teachers: Various local

teachers will introduce their ER programs. A common format will be used in
order to facilitate comparisons and better understand the similarities and
differences between various approaches.
Here are the questions the teachers will consider about ER in their context:
1. Where is ER placed in your curriculum?
2. What is the disposition of faculty/administration towards ER?
3. How many students/classes are doing ER?
4. What are the goals of the program? Who sets them? How are they
evaluated/revised?
5. How do you measure student achievement? Is there any follow up after a
student completes the program?
6. What system do you have set up to order and manage books?
7. How many books do you have at what levels?
8. What is the future of ER at your institution?
Panel Discussion / QA session: All the presenters will discuss issues
relevant to ER program design and answer questions from participants.
There will be an optional tour of Tohoku University Librarys Readers Corner
and one of the universitys ER classrooms.
Please consider joining us for what promises to be a wonderful afternoon of
professional development.

February Meeting Preview

Date: Sunday February 23
Time: 2pm - 5pm (14:00 ~ 17:00)
OUR USUAL MEETING PLACE
Venue: Sendai Shimin Activity Support Center, Seminar Hall 6F
Location: Ichibancho 4-1-3, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-0811
North side of Hirose Dori, just west of Higashi Nibancho Dori

MAP

Fee: Free for JALT members, 500 yen for students, 1000 yen for visitors
Title: Why are Japanese entrance examinations different from all
other language tests?
Speaker: Melodie Cook- University of Niigata Prefecture
Abstract: Based on a Japan-wide survey of expatriate ELT university faculty,
Melodie Cook attempts to answer the eternal 4 questions about English on
Japanese entrance examinations: Who creates these tests and what
assumptions do they bring to the test development process? What is the
purpose of entrance examinations? Why do we hold certain beliefs about
good tests? And how and when can we change tests in order to improve
them?

March Meeting Preview

Date: Sunday March 30
Time: 2pm - 5pm (14:00 ~ 17:00)
OUR USUAL MEETING PLACE
Venue: Sendai Shimin Activity Support Center, Seminar Hall 6F
Location: Ichibancho 4-1-3, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-0811
North side of Hirose Dori, just west of Higashi Nibancho Dori

MAP
Fee: Free for JALT members, 500 yen for students, 1000 yen for visitors
CALL FOR PARTICIPANTS: My Share: Motivation What Motivates
You? What Motivates your Students?
We are looking for people to contribute to this annual My Share event. This
year we are focusing on motivation, and invite you, your colleagues, and
your students to get involved in this cooperative event. Presentations length
and contents are flexible. Please contact Joanne
Sato: jaltsenprog@gmail.com for more information.

Research Project Collaboration Opportunity

Greetings JALT Sendai members!

I am very much looking forward to a visit to your chapter at the end
of April and am always delighted to find a group of language teachers
interested in hearing about statistics. Not to worry, I will work hard to make
it both practical, accessible, and fun!
Prior to my arrival, I thought it might be of interest to some of you to
learn about the 2014 Quantitative Research Training Project that will be
getting underway very soon. This is the second generation of a project that I
ran a couple of years ago involving over 40 language teachers from around
Japan who were interested in learning about quantitative research methods.
That project served as the basis for a successful research grant (kakenhi)
application that funds this new project.
In this professional development project, teachers will be guided
through a set of readings and activities from an excellent (readable)
quantitative methods textbook and then independently conduct a study on
writing fluency in their own classrooms. Throughout the process, we will stay
connected, ask questions, and share experiences using a Moodle-based
online coordination site. Along with some valuable knowledge and skills to
be gained, there should be some nice connections developed and a tangible
product in the form of a publishable manuscript at the end of the
experience.
Please take a look at (CLICK) the overview and schedule and feel
free to send me any questions via email (gsholdt@gmail.com). Or, if you
think this looks like something you would like to do, please click HERE to
sign up. It would be great to have responses by January 20th, and even if
you cannot quite yet commit, please do the survey by the 20th so I can get
a sense of the numbers.
Finally, just to be clear, there is nothing 'for profit' about this; there
are no fees involved. My non-teaching activities and research interests
center on helping other language teachers get involved with quantitative
research. I am quite excited to get this project underway and think it truly
can be a valuable experience for those willing to commit and put in the
work.
Hope to see you soon!
Greg Sholdt
Kobe University

NPO Japan Association of Translators (JAT)

If you know anyone local who is interested in the work of translation, would
you share the news about an upcoming event? A non-profit group I belong
to, Japan Association of Translators, is holding a large conference this June in
Tokyo and will host an pre-event in Sendai next month. Information available
in Japanese and English by clicking on your language preference.

Scott Thornburys New Website

Scott has a great new website online with a wealth of information about his
work. Please visit www.scottthornbury.com/

Local Member Ron Campbells Recent Publication

Even if you don't teach TOEFL or business English, you're going to love local
JALT member Ron Campbell's Parking Lot Archaeology. It's a brilliant idea
that would work in many other types of classes, too!
http://www.teachingvillage.org/2013/12/10/parking-lot-archaeology/

Recruitment of Native English Speakers

Language and brain researchers from Tohoku University and Miyagi
University of Education are looking for some native English speakers for a
research project that involves magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
Participation involves no more than 3 hours of your time, and compensation
is offered. Click HERE for details. Although only a few dates are left, there is
a chance that more will be added as they have yet to fill their sample
requirement.

Invite a Friend Campaign

JALT Sendai is asking YOU to help spread the word about our group and the
professional development events we host. Please visit our website, or ask
your colleagues and friends to visit our website to download a coupon for
free admission (first-time only) to any of our regular monthly meetings
(special events excluded). Simply visit our homepage www.jaltsendai.org
and click on the free coupon. Either print it out, or show an electronic copy
at our event sign-in desk.

Upcoming JALT Sendai Events

February 23: Why are Japanese entrance examinations different from all
other language tests? Dr Melodie Cook, Associate Professor, University of
Niigata
March 30: My Share: Motivation What Motivates You? What
Motivates your Students?
April 27: Professional Development through Collaboration on
Quantitative Research; Gregory Sholdt- Kobe University
May 25: Title TBD- Full day event; Kim Horne
July 6: Title TBD; Dr. Paul Kei Matsuda- Director of Second Language
Writing-Arizona State University, President-elect American Association for
Applied Linguistics

E.O.M.- Whew! If you are reading this- THANKS! ck