Material Writers Special Interest Group

Coming Events

Our next big event will be the PAN-SIG Conference 2008 to be held in Kyoto May 10 and 11. We will have more news later.

At last year's National Convention in Kokura in 2006, we ratified a new Constitution for the group. You can take a look here (This will open in a new window).

Beginning January 1, 2007, all books will need to carry an International Standard Book Number (ISBN) with 13 digits, instead of the 10 digits we are used to seeing, because the limit to the possible combinations of 10-digit numbers is fast approaching. With the introduction of the new 13-digit ISBN, the old 10-digit ISBNs will also need to be expressed as 13 digits. To help with the conversion process, you can download an Excel file that will do the conversion for you. Here is the link.

Between the Keys

Fall, 2006 (vol. 14, num. 2)

• The Coordinator's Column
• From the Editor
• Getting Feedback: Having Materials Peer-Edited, by John Nevara
• Preparing Materials for Athletes, by Daniel Droukis
• Writing English Texts for the Japanese Market, by Jacoba Akazawa
• Textbook Design for Scientific English, by Brian Cullen

Spring 2006 (vol. 14, num. 1

• The Coordinator's Column
• From the Editor
• Publishing-related Sessions at JALT2005, part 2 of 3, by Kristofer R. Bayne
• Classroom materials: One Teacher's Story, by Jim Smiley
• Reflections on a Survey of Materials Writers in Japan, by Greg Goodmacher
• Comprehension Questions, by Marc Helgesen

Note:
‘Executive Officer Position’ refers to the names we supply to JALT Central Office (JCO) and are put on the web. We need to have these positions filled. ‘Non-Executive Officer Positions’ are positions that are non-JCO registered names, but are, none-the-less extremely valuable to the group. These people are, of course, recognised at the group level as committee members.

Membership

What your membership gives you

Membership in the Materials Writers Special Interest Group will make you part of a growing network of instructors nationwide who are striving to produce high quality foreign language teaching materials.We currently number close to 90, and many of our members are well-known published authors. Whether you are a published writer yourself or a devoted teacher creating quality materials for your own students,check us out. We feel certain that you will be inspired by our newsletter, Between the Keys (3-4 issues published annually) and our conference activities--and perhaps decide to contribute something yourself. We'd love to hear from you.

How to become a member or renew your membership

Membership in the Material Writers SIG costs ¥1,500 per year. The easiest ways to join or renew are at any local or national JALT meeting OR through the post office, by using the postal transfer form ('yubin furikae youshi') available in each issue of The Language Teacher. Make sure to indicate your full name, mailing address, phone number and e-mail address, as well as the name of the SIG you are joining. It is advisable to keep your JALT membership and SIG membership in synch, so that you don't miss out on any of our activities.

For further information, please contact Cameron Romney, our membership chair.

Statement of Purpose

The establishment of a JALT National Special Interest Group for Materials Writers would be of great benefit to JALT members hoping to translate fresh teaching ideas into useful classroom materials by helping interested JALT members keep pace with the rapidly accumulating research data and evolving theoretical constructs of language teaching and learning.

We propose this N-SIG as a mutual assistance network to promulgate accurate information regarding copyright law, share practical advice on publishing practices, including advice on self-publication, and help each other achieve continually rising standards of professionalism in the creation of language teaching and learning materials in all media, both traditional and visionary.

Within budgetary constraints, we propose to meet these needs in the following ways:

• by publishing a regular newsletter
• by sponsoring events at the annual JALT conference
• by organizing regional mini-conferences
• by participating in similar events organized jointly with other N-SIGS

Contributing to Between the Keys

Our newsletter, Between the Keys comes out three times a year, in March, July and November. Submissions are accepted up to one month before the distribution date. Please contact the editor, Jim Smiley for exact dates.

Contribution content should be related to any aspect of the materials production process. To get a firmer idea of what our goals are, please read our mission statement. Previous contributors have written about new web-based programmes for the development of instructional material, how to self-publish, the use of road signs in classrooms, writing for a newspaper, successful lesson plans and many other topics, the range is as wide as your capacity to relate your ideas to materials making.

Images, graphs, tables and other non-text items are accepted. The preferred method of sending articles is by e-mail, with the article attached as an .rtf document, although other formats are accepted. Please, do not format the article beyond the basic headings, italics, and so on. Art work can be sent by post or by e-mail attachment. If the quality of the art work is important to you, please contact our newsletter layout chair, Derek DiMatteo for instructions.