Blog

Message from the Coordinator (November 2016)

Dear MW SIG members,
The autumn semester has been flying by and the JALT International Conference will soon be here. I’m sure that it will be a great conference for professional development!
Best,
Adam Murray
SIG Coordinator

1. MW SIG Annual General Meeting (AGM)

MW SIG Annual General Meeting
Sun, Nov 27, 11:35 AM – 12:20 PM; Room 1208

At this meeting, we will elect new officers, report on our activities over the previous year, and discuss ongoing SIG matters. Please plan to attend the AGM – we need your support! If you are considering becoming more active in your SIG, this is the perfect opportunity!

2. Between the Keys

Got something to share with your colleagues in Japan and around the world? The deadline for submissions for the next issue is November 10^th. We publish a wide range of articles including reviews, and “My Share”-style articles. For more details (and the style guide) take a look here.

3. MW SIG Forum: Materials Writers Forum: Writing & Publishing

Sun, Nov 27, 1:05 PM – 2:35 PM; Room 1208
Two publishers and eight materials writers will share ideas and experiences in the field of materials design, writing, and publishing. Some writers publish and present internationally. Others concentrate on writing for niche markets or their own classes. Cengage and ABAX editors will explain how to work with them. Presenters will sit at separate tables. Attendees will listen to a brief explanation of their topics and then join whomever they wish for short focused conversations.

Adam Murray - Thoughts on Developing Listening Materials

Gregg McNabb - Professional Level Self- Publishing in Japan

Jim Smiley - How a Non-Medic Can Write Medical texts: A Methodology

Gregory Strong - Five Principles in Writing Graded Readers

Tsuyoshi Yoshida (Cengage Publishing) - TBA

Gregory Hadley -Making the Most of Student-Generated Vocabulary Materials

Tim Frandsen - How to Self-Publish Through Amazon

Junko Yamanaka - Creating Materials that Promote Critical Thinking

Barbara Hoskins-Sakamoto - Designing EFL Materials for Young Learners

Hugh Graham-Marr - The Writer-Publisher Relationship: One Publisher's Perspective

4. Presentations by SIG Members

In addition to our Forum, there are three presentations by SIG members that you certainly won’t want to miss!

1. Sourcing Images for Teacher-Made Materials
Romney, Cameron - Doshisha University
Sat, Nov 26, 12:05 PM - 12:30 PM; Room 1201
We are increasingly living in a visual world. Our students are comfortable with deriving meaning by both textual and visual means and they often expect visually rich learning materials. But where can educators find images for their materials? How can they legally use images without violating copyright? In this presentation the advantages and disadvantages for three leading sources of images will be analyzed to show how educators can legally source images for their materials.

2. Language Teaching: Culture & Environmental Issues
Goodmacher, Greg - Keiwa College; Kajiura, Asako - Keiwa College
Sat, Nov 27, 1:15 PM - 2:15 PM; Room 1003
What principles should teachers consider when teaching culture, environmental issues, and language to Japanese students? The presenters have been teaching courses covering these three subjects as content-based language instruction (CBI) for many years. They will share ideas about organizing language lessons and creating effective teaching materials. Attendees will leave with teaching ideas for their classes after examining a new CBI textbook and experiencing interactive activities that stimulate students to communicate about culture and environmental issues.

3. 10 Top Tips for Getting Your Textbook Published
Capper, Simon - Japanese Red Cross Hiroshima College of Nursing
Sun, Nov 27, 12:30 PM - 2:00 PM; Room 1002
This poster shares the knowledge of an experienced writer of over a dozen commercially published textbooks, providing (at least) 10 tips to enhance the book-birthing process, from conception to delivery. Those wishing to get involved in textbook publishing will also find suggestions that may help to transform their projects. The tips to avoid labor pains include: getting your foot in the door; finding your ‘gap’; establishing your principles; common pitfalls, and post-publication promotion.

Message from the Coordinator (March 2016)

Dear MW-SIG members,
It seems that spring has finally come! In my part of the country, the plum blossoms are in full bloom and the cherry blossoms will soon be making their appearance. Of course, that means that new academic year is just around the corner. Without further ado, here’s a short message to keep you informed of the happenings of your SIG.

Yours in Service,
Adam Murray
(This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)

Contents of this message:
1. Future SIG Programming
2. Presentation Opportunity
3. Links/Articles of Interest

1. Future SIG Programming
A short message from Greg Goodmacher, our Programs Chair:
Hello MW Members,
Our Materials Writing SIG is looking for presenters to join a round robin style presentation at the next national JALT conference. In such a forum, a number of people, give short presentations at tables arranged in different sections of one large room. Each presenter has a MW-related topic that he or she thinks is important. Audience members can choose which presenter they wish to speak with. After a time period (usually 15 minutes), members of the audience move to another table, and presenters alternate, too.

At the start of the forum, each person gives a one-minute introduction to what they will present. The audience listens and decides which person to listen to. Then we start. At the end of the forum, there can be summaries of what transpired, if time allows. If you are interested, please me (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) and Adam Murray (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) with your proposed title and a short summary of 50 words or so. The deadline is April 20th.

Sincerely,
Greg Goodmacher

2. Back to School Conference (co-hosted with Osaka Chapter)
April 23 at Osaka Jogakuin University
Still in the early planning stages, the MW-SIG will be co-sponsoring this mini-conference. For members located in the Osaka area (and those who are interested in visiting/presenting there), there are plenty of presentation slots of available: poster, 25-minute, 45-minute, and 60-minute. The deadline for short presentation abstracts (60 words or less) is March 31. The proposal submission form can be found here at: http://tinyurl.com/zvcmezz

3. On the IATEFL MaWSIG’s website is a guest post by Marcos Benevides, our featured speaker for the upcoming JALT conference about writing graded readers. http://mawsig.iatefl.org/?p=2486

Another excellent posting on John Hughes’ blog about writing dialogues and scripts. http://elteachertrainer.com/2016/03/18/a-five-minute-history-of-script-writing-in-elt-materials/ It is an excerpt from a series of affordable e-books published by ELT Teacher 2 Writer http://www.eltteacher2writer.co.uk/modules/modules-available-now