The PanSIG 2022 conference will take place face-to-face from July 8th to 10th 2022 at the University of Nagano.

The TD SIG is delighted to be facilitating a forum with the College and University Educators (CUE) SIG on the theme of Communities of Practice (CoPs) on Sunday July 10th (11:45 – 13:15).

CoPs can be teachers, students, company workers, or otherwise, who form in organic or natural ways. The CoP members hold a common aim or concern for the activities they do and learn how to improve as they interact regularly within the group. Some participants may be more senior in age or experience than others, thus giving way to a learning experience and successful conclusion of their efforts for everyone. The forum speakers are university and professional educators with a specific background as a member or researcher of CoPs.

James Bury will inform us about the positive outcomes achieved as a result of encouraging colleagues at two separate workplaces to interact with research, question their own teaching practices, engage in their own practice-based investigations, and then share their findings with each other.

Yoshifumi Fukada will explain how Japanese EFL/ESL learners actively engaged themselves in English-mediated socialization and grew as English users and as persons in a project-based English education program held in Japan and during studying abroad.

Daniel Hooper will describe the shared goals, interpersonal relationships, and local repertoire of tools that emerged from a small reflective practice group for university teachers that met regularly to discuss critical incidents they experienced in their working lives and to explore their own professional identity.

Barbara Hoskins Sakamoto will talk about the potential of informal online communities to improve teachers’ professional and personal lives, sharing specific examples of the meaningful impact observed with teachers in a unique English for Teachers program, and the factors that made positive changes possible.

Looking for an Extra Incentive or Boost for your Resume?

We are opening up the opportunity for any interested TD SIG members to expand their horizons by becoming a Member-at-Large, specifically to assist us by being Proposal Reviewers for our upcoming Teacher Journeys 2022 Conference. 

As a Member-at-Large, you can get a glimpse into how we plan, discuss, and work as a team via our Basecamp platform, and be involved in the discussion. And if you decide you’d like to step up for other event-related roles when needed, you can enjoy some of the perks that come with it.

This chance certainly enhances our well-being while also putting a shine on our resumes. So, what could be better than that?

If you hope to join our always evolving and dynamic team, please reach out to us with a short message expressing your interest at jalt.td.sig@gmail.com.

Our team is comprised of officers and members-at-large with diverse backgrounds, skills and interests. With the understanding that our jobs and families are first priority, TD SIG expanded its Officer List so that each volunteer has about the same consumable proportion of work each year. That’s why we have multiple program chairs, publications chairs, and members-at-large – and why things get done so well.

We are eager to meet and work with you!

The Teacher Development SIG will be facilitating a forum on “Students’ Aiding Teacher Development” at the JALT2022 International Conference in Fukuoka.

With people positively influencing each other in every walk of life, it is understandable that within a language classroom, students can and do positively impact their teachers in direct and indirect ways all the time. When shared, these stories of how students have aided teacher development can be fascinating to hear and can have important lessons for educators. We invite presenters to share their own reflections on this fascinating area of education.

In the forum, tablets, laptops or paper will be used to share experiences of creating communities through PechaKucha-like sessions. Presenters will give 5 minute presentations, followed by short Q&A periods. Each presentation will be given several times to multiple audiences so that attendees are provided a range of topics. This is in accordance with our goal of ensuring all of those in attendance at least one valuable takeaway from their development aided by students.

The deadline for proposals is Wednesday, May 11th. Click here for the proposal submission form.

The PanSIG 2022 conference will take place face-to-face from July 8th to 10th 2022 at the University of Nagano.

The TD SIG is delighted to be facilitating a forum with the College and University Educators (CUE) SIG on the theme of ‘Communities of Practice’.

Please watch this space for information on the forum details including the invited speakers, session format, and the date/time.

Join us on Sunday, November 7 from 10-11am (JST) to hear four Teacher Journeys 2021 presenters discuss topics such as the process of creating videos, lessons learned from others, and ways that these experiences might inform professional teacher development post-coronavirus.

At JALT2021, we’ll be holding our Annual General Meeting (AGM) and forum on Saturday November 13, from 2:05 to 3:35 PM.

This year, our meeting and forum will be combined into one session. Officers of the SIG will first report on the recent activities of the group, as well as share information and news about the SIG’s events, membership, publications, and other related matters. This will be followed by a forum which addresses both the challenges and opportunities for teacher development during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Our session, along with the rest if the conference, will take place online. We look forward to your participation!

We are happy to announce that the call for proposals for Teacher Journeys 2021 is now open! Please find it at the conference website.

Over the past ten years, the Teacher Journeys conference has traveled around Japan to highlight teacher narratives. This year, following the model of Teacher Journeys 2020, in place of a face-to-face conference the Teacher Development SIG will curate a collection of videos sharing reflections on teaching in these new circumstances.

These videos will be shared on the conference site from late summer to early fall. We would also like to include a written version of all accepted presentations in a special issue of the TD SIG journal, Explorations in Teacher Development, to appear in 2022.