1 Learner Development SIG AGM Agenda JALT2014 Tsukuba

Learner Development SIG Annual General Meeting
Sunday, November 23rd 11:30 AM – 12.15 PM Room 101
1. PURPOSE

review, plan and discuss SIG budget, activities and goals
approve continuing or new officers for different committee positions and shadow positions
listen to SIG members’ concerns, suggestions, criticisms and comments

2. CO-COORDINATION for 2015
Co-Coordinators: Fumiko Murase & Alison Stewart
2A. Report on 2013-2014 by co-coordinators (submitted by Alison)
Following on from our 20th anniversary conference (LD20) in November last year, the LD SIG has
seen continued growth and innovation. This has been made possible by the commitment and efforts
made by its committee members in particular, working individually and collaborating in teams, tosupport and further the activities of the SIG. We would like to highlight some of the majorachievements of the year:* continued membership growth supported by sustained personalized communication with SIG
members and subscribers (membership team);* grants awarded to members for conferences and research (grants team);* excellent treasury administration (treasury team);* two issues of Learning Learning (LL editorial team);* two book publication projects, one just completed and published online, the other on target to be
published before the end of the year (publications team, editors and authors);* translation and web publication of a collection of essays on 3.11 by children in Rikuzentakata, acollaborative project involving over 100 teachers, students and editors (Tohoku Outreach team);* LD20 two-day conference in Tokyo involving over 150 presenters (LD20 organising team)* three innovative LD forums at national conferences, and Proceedings article in JALT2013
Conference Proceedings (programme team);* regular meetings of the Tokyo get-togethers, which will culminate in a mini-conference forteachers and their students on December 14th (Tokyo get-together organizing team);* regular bilingual new announcements in The Language Teacher (publicity team);* move to a new Wordpress website, creating a fresh new public face for the SIG (website team)* regular monthly dialogue column on the LD SIG website by Kay Irie and Rachelle Meilleur.

2 Learner Development SIG AGM Agenda JALT2014 Tsukuba
Such a long list of achievements is a testament to the fabulous spirit of collaboration and dedicationthat we find in the SIG. We would like to thank everyone who has contributed to these and all theother activities of the SIG over the past year.
The SIG is continuing to consolidate the team structures that were implemented under the previous
co-coordinators, Andy and Rich. Discussions are ongoing to ensure that roles of individuals withinteams are negotiated and clear and that shadow roles are constructive and participatory.
Although the last couple of years have seen an steady increase both in the number of teams withdifferent functions, and in the number of members in each of them, this year will see a trimmingback again also. The Tohoku Outreach team, which was created at last year’s AGM as a separate unit
within the Outreach team, and which has been very active through its trips and involvement withpeople in Rikuzentakata over the past nearly two years, is now disbanding, reflecting the fact that,with a major project completed, there is no need for such intensive or extensive support. Our
involvement with and interest in Tohoku continues, but we expect that it will be more at the level ofindividual or small group contacts and projects. We feel that this is a marker of the SIG’s flexibility:
we can create structures to support activity when they are needed, and equally, we can dismantle
those structures when they are no longer necessary. This highlights the primary role of thecommittee: to support activity and innovation of, with, and for, our members.
A major task of the coordinators remains communication: among the committee and with themembership as a whole. We are looking to continue and improve our use of the email accounts for
this, as well as Facebook, online surveys, and other means, for creating a sense of community andfor sharing our practice, research, trials and tribulations with each other, wherever in Japan we
happen to be. The past year has been a particularly hard one for JALT as an organization. The tragic
passing of its president Kevin Cleary last January left a dispute over the development of a new
database unresolved and the organization as a whole mired in financial difficulties. As the SIGs
representatives at JALT executive meetings, we have tried to communicate the main issues
discussed to our members, and similarly, to communicate our members opinions back to the EBM,
for example, on the question of raising membership fees. Far more than is the case with groupstructures, communication always needs to be worked at and can always be improved. We hopemembers will share their ideas for how we can notify, discuss, and share more effectively over the
coming year.
The two areas outlined above are our two major goals for 2015:
1. Continue to clarify and improve and clarify purpose of teams and roles of team members.
2. Continue to ensure communication within the SIG and as representatives of the SIG.

2B To be approved at AGM:
______________ and _______________ as shadows for co-coordination from 2015

3. TREASURY
Treasury team: Mayumi Abe, Satomi Yoshimuta, & Huw Davies
3A Treasury report (submitted by Mayumi Abe)
The financial state of LD SIG is healthy at the moment though the expenses are expected to exceed3 Learner Development SIG AGM Agenda JALT2014 Tsukuba
the revenues this year. As of Oct. 31st, 2014, we have 372,800 yen in the bank account and 368,250
yen on reserve liabilities. With higher expenses projected, we seek approval to free up funds
currently in reserve, leaving reserve liabilities of 200,000 yen.
3B Tentative goals for 2014
3 (a) Approve Mayumi Abe, Huw Davies and Satomi (Sami) Yoshimuta to continue as SIG treasurer
team in FY 2015. Treasurer duties to be divided as follows:•
Banking/OEC/Email: Huw, assisted by Mayumi•
Grants: Sami, assisted by Mayumi
3 (b) Approve draft budget for 2015 [see below]
Draft SIG budget for 2015
(April 2015 – March 2016)

FY2014

Draft 2015

（April 2014March 2015）（April 2015March 2016）(17,000)(10,000)(17,000)(10,000)(20,000)(7,500)(20,000)(7,500)

Projected expenses
Table rental for JALT National Conference
Shipping LD materials to and from JALT National
Conference
Shipping fees for other events
LD web site cost (including domain nameregistration)
Donation for Best of JALT 2014
JALT Pan-SIG conference grant (40,000 yen each)
JALT CALL conference grant (40,000 yen each)
LD SIG research grants (25,000 yen each)
Outreach grants (20,000 yen each)(25,000)(40,000)
0(25,000)(*40,000)

National conference grants (40,000 yen each)(*120,000)

Notes

JALT2014 Musashi participation
December informal conference Creating
Community: Learning Together
Co-sponsor a JALT speaker
Get-together room hire
Other miscellaneous
SUB-TOTAL(60,000)(30,000)(20,000)(40,000)(40,000)(25,000)(40,000) 2 x 20,000*used forMusashiparticipation
JALT2014(**80,000) *3 x 40,000**2 x 40,000
000(25,000)(20,000)(439,500)(125,000)(25,000)(20,000)(469,500)

Projected revenues
Membership x 1500 yen*260,000

260,000

December informal conference Creating
Community: Learning Together
SUB-TOTAL

30,0000

290,000

260,000

TOTAL (Projected revenues – expenses)-149,500-209,500*259,750 received
as of November 4,2014

4 Learner Development SIG AGM Agenda JALT2014 Tsukuba

Reserve liabilities
368,250
200,000
GRAND TOTAL
218,750-9,500
About
Expected balance in March (592,768 in March 2014: 2 About
24,288 in bank account + 368,250 as reserve liabilities)

450,000
expected in
March 2015
(About80,000 inbankaccount +368,250 as
reserveliabilities)

240,000
expected in
March 2016
(About38,250 inbankaccount +200,000 as
reserveliabilities)

3C For approval by AGM(a) Approve Mayumi Abe, Huw Davies, and Satomi Yoshimuta as continued SIG Treasurers(b) Approve transfer of reserve to cash, leaving 200,000 yen as reserve liabilities(c) Approve draft budget for 2015 [see above]

4. MEMBERSHIP
Membership team: Brandon Kramer (new), Ann Flanagan, Stephanie Corwin (new)
4A. New membership chair & shadow
Chair responsibilities:* at the beginning of every month, add new members from the JCO list to the SIG membership list,
confirm renewing members’ email addresses, note those who have let their membership lapse. (2+hours a month, but quicker once you learn the system.)* administer the SIG subscriber list (currently 2 members); Send renewal reminder letters 2 months
and 1 month before subscription expires.
* notify the database manager (currently Hugh Nicoll) of changes via Google Drive spreadsheet* update each month the Get Together coordinators (Currently: Tokyo— Andy Barfield Ken Ikeda, &Agnes Patko; Hiroshima— Jim Ronald & Ariel Sorenson; Kansai—N/A) with any changes to theirmembership lists via Google Drive spreadsheet* report the figures to the committee every month in a brief email message* periodically with Stephanie, Ann, and the shadows, update membership welcome and renewal
letters (enlist coordinator help with any new SIG business that should be included and with any
changes that have happened in relevant committee positions mentioned in the membership letters)* respond to any queries or questions from members and SIG committee members about a SIG
member’s subscription status
Committee responsibilities:* Stephanie Corwin: send out renewal letters, actively help keep the letters up-to-date* Ann Flanagan: send out welcome letters, actively help keep the letters up-to-date

4B. Tentative goals for membership for 2015
* Get used to the system and work towards a smooth transition* Continually revise the welcome, 2-month reminder, 1-month reminder letters5 Learner Development SIG AGM Agenda JALT2014 Tsukuba* Continue regular mail-outs, list updates, and personal communication when necessary

4C. For approval at AGM:(a) Approve Brandon Kramer to become SIG Membership Chair and to work with Stephanie Corwin
and Ann Flanagan on SIG membership matters(b) Approve Stephanie Corwin and Ann Flanagan as membership renewal and welcome lettercontact liaisons(c) Approve ________ to shadow the Membership Chair with a view to becoming Membership Chair
at JALT2015 or JALT2016

5. GRANTS
Grants team: Satomi Yoshimuta, Kris Sullivan (new), Jennie Morgan (new)
5A. Grants team report (submitted by Martin, Satomi, Stacey)
1. Achievements of the Grants team 2013-2014
Our duties included revising the information to be uploaded grants webpage on the LD SIG website,
including developing criteria for the new Outreach grant. We communicated with the membership
through the website, email, and Facebook, to advertise the various grants. We administered the
dedicated gmail account to accept and respond to applications and queries. The committee worked
as a three-person committee to evaluate applications and select worthy awardees.
The committee awarded the following grantsResearch Grant x 1 (Tomoko Imamura)
Pan-SIG Conference Grant x1 (Caroline Ross)
JALT Conference Grants x3 (Yoko Sakurai, Joel Laurier, Adrianne Verla)

We passed on details of all grant awardees to the publicity team, publications team and treasury
team.
2. Goals for 2014-2015
We think that finding ways to make more people aware of the grants offered, particularly
membership and subscription grants, should be a key goal. We seem to struggle to advertise thesegrants outside of existing SIG membership. Similarly, advertising the Outreach Grants. We are surethere are people out there doing the kind of things the grant is for, but they are not aware of theexistence of the grant. Advertising these grants can and should begin at the LD forum at JALT.
3. Team members and shadows to be approved at the AGM
Jenny Morgan and Kris Sullivan have agreed to join the committee.
4. Issues for discussion
There may be some issues over the deadlines – in February, many people are still settling back into
the new academic year, or might not even be in the country yet. It may be too early for people to besubmitting applications for events that are still months away.

6 Learner Development SIG AGM Agenda JALT2014 Tsukuba
Also, it might be worthwhile discussing the possibility of having a rolling application process for themembership and subscription grants, as we have for the outreach grants. Specific deadlines arenecessary for events taking place on specific dates, but we could be more flexible otherwise. Who
knows if anybody came across the LD SIG during the academic year, only to find out thatmembership and subscription deadlines were already long passed?
5B For approval at AGM(a) Kris Sullivan and Jennie Morgan as new members of the Grants team

6. PUBLICATIONS
Publications coordinators: James Underwood, Tim Ashwell
Learning Learning team: Mathew Porter (lead editor), Yoko Sakurai (Shadow editor), Chika
Hayashi (Translation coordinator), Monika Szirmai (Layout), James Underwood (New members
section), Chris Fitzgerald (Grant awardees section), Kazuko Unosawa (Creative Writing writing)
6A Report on the Publications team activity in 2013-14 (submitted by Tim Ashwell)
1.

Learner Development Working Papers: Different Cases, Different Interests (edited by Andy
Barfield & Aiko Minematsu)
Andy and Aiko are planning to publish this anthology on a website in the first instance, hopefully by
December 14th. They are talking about creating a new website, possibly looking something like this:
http://www.lesley.edu/journal-pedagogy-pluralism-practice/ira-shor/critical-literacy/
Each chapter could be downloaded as a pdf and also be available online. Rob Moreau is designing acover design. Andy has been discussing the website technicalities with James and will look into
obtaining an ISBN from JCO for this.
There are 10 chapters, nine of which are complete (or almost), one of which is still not a completed
first draft. They have bios/abstracts and key words in English and Japanese. They are also planning toorganise a limited run of 100-150 copies and are currently checking the cost of this.
2.

Collaborative Learning in Learner Development (edited by Tim Ashwell, Masuko Miyahara, Steve
Paydon, & Alison Stewart)

We have committed ourselves to publishing this as an e-book in the first instance using Smashwords.
Steve Paydon has drawn up a comparison between Lulu and Smashwords. The e-book will likely be
published in pdf format, mainly to accommodate the many figures.
We have ten chapters by authors with all but two in final draft. The editors (Masuko, Steve, Alison
and Tim) are co-writing one or two introductory chapters, and a final chapter based on authors'
reflections (which we have collected).
We are aiming to have a completed manuscript ready to convert to e-book format before JALT and
to have a published product by the Creating Communities mini-conference on December 14.
The option of a print run was discussed for both book projects. Masuko has obtained the following
estimate from the company that printed the Realizing Autonomy brochure and Proceedings:

7 Learner Development SIG AGM Agenda JALT2014 Tsukuba
1) 本文200Pの場合(200page book):
B5 本文200P 無線綴じ 100冊(100 copies) ＠1540 税込￥166,320
B5 本文200P 無線綴じ 150冊 (150 copies) ＠1140 税込￥184,680
B5 本文200P 無線綴じ 200冊 (200 copies) ＠938 税込￥202,608
B5 本文200P 無線綴じ 250冊 (250 copies) ＠816 税込￥220,320
2) 本文250Pの場合(250 page book):
B5 本文250P 無線綴じ 100冊(100 copies) ＠1910 税込￥206,280
B5 本文250P 無線綴じ 150冊 (150 copies) ＠1400 税込￥226,800
B5 本文250P 無線綴じ 200冊 (200 copies) ＠1145 税込￥247,320
B5 本文250P 無線綴じ 250冊 (250 copies) ＠992 税込￥267,840
表紙(cover) 4/0 コート紙135㎏
本文 (content) 1/1 上質紙 70 ㎏
Full or partial funding for the print run would be sought from the JALT Development Fund.
3. LD20 Proceedings
As of November 4th, we have received five presentation reports and four more are in the pipeline.
Glenn Magee and Tim Ashwell have already provided feedback on the first four reports.
The plan is to publish the Proceedings online by April/May 2015. This seems like a very feasible
timescale given the length of the reports. The Proceedings can be published as a special issue of
Learning Learning (LL) which would also include the interviews which already appeared in LL issues
last year.
4. December Mini Conference
Presenters at the December Mini Conference could be encouraged to write reflections and to post
these on the conference website by mid-January. Tim also suggested that some might like to havethe opportunity to write a fuller presentation report for an issue of LL next year, but this would
require having someone to coordinate this effort.
5. Learning Learning (submitted by James Underwood)
LL was published this year as usual in the Spring and Autumn. Although these two issues were
published as a team, the lead editors changed for each issue, which meant that the coordinator had
to help to initiate and finalise the issues.
Over the two issues some LL team members have voiced their concern over what was expected ofthem in their role and how these coincided with the role of the coordinator, thus it has been decided
that a more in-depth explanation of these roles and responsibilities is needed. In addition to this, thelayout editor has suggested that a style guide should be given to prospective contributors, to easeboth their job, as layout editor, and the publishing process for the contributor. A draft version of thisstyle guide was shared among members of the Publications team and the general feedback from it
was that although it was a good idea to have a style guide, the purpose of it should be not only clear
to the contributor but there should be clear guidelines and examples of what (and what not) theyshould do in terms of style. Both these will be added to the new LDSIG website in due course.
Also, in the past there have been some formatting issues caused by incompatibility of Macintosh andWindows. Future issues will try to avoid these by using online word processors such as google docs.

8 Learner Development SIG AGM Agenda JALT2014 Tsukuba
6. LD Journal
At a Publications Committee meeting on October 18th, we discussed the possibility of setting up an
LD Journal, an idea proposed by Andy. In brief, the plan would be to have one issue a year consistingof four or five papers put together around a common theme by a group of writers who would alsocollaboratively edit the papers. In other words, it is a formal structure within which small LD SIG"book projects" might see the light of day on a regular basis. Tim sent around a more detailed
concept outline which might form a basic proposal to put forward to the SIG for consultation. Therewas quite a strong feeling that the LD Journal would need to break the mould by actively
encouraging different genres and mixes of contributions. It would also be different in that it would
have to rely on a group of writers working to produce an issue themselves without too much outside
editorial support/intervention. The SIG Publications Committee (currently, James, Tim, editors of
Learning Learning and book projects) would act to ensure that there was a production schedule inplace and that this was being followed and would provide support with publishing once themanuscript was complete. We also discussed various possible names for the journal, the mostpopular of which was "The LD SIG Annual".
7. Website Development
The Working Papers which Andy and Aiko are editing is due to appear as a dedicated website, but
the problem remains of who can create the website. James has had a look at the template Andy
provided but feels it would require a great deal of time and effort to construct. At the meeting on
October 18th Tim suggested the possibility of the SIG paying for professional/semi-professional
website designers to do the work and we wondered if there might be students around who might bewilling to do this. We decided we would need to get estimates from developers before moving
forward with this idea. Since then, Aiko and Andy have looked at WIX (http://www.wix.com/) - theplatform used by Mathew for the Tohoku Children's accounts - and have been developing a Working
Papers website. WIX is free and easy to use.
8. LD's position about using recycled paper and trying to reduce its carbon footprint in its
publication projects
This issue was also discussed at the Publications Committee meeting on October 18th. Andy felt that
we need to have a SIG policy about this so that if we print copies of books in future they should all
be on recycled paper in line with JALT's overall policy.

6B For approvala) __________________ as shadow coordinator(s) of Publications Teamb) A new annual journal (“LD SIG Annual”). An editorial team to be approved by the AGMc) Funding for print publications of LD Working Papers and CLiLDd) Recycled paper print policy

7. PROGRAMMESProgrammes team: Ian Hurrell, Aiko Minematsu, Lee Arnold
7A Report on Programmes 2014 (submitted by Ian Hurrell)

9 Learner Development SIG AGM Agenda JALT2014 Tsukuba
2014 saw a number of achievements for Programmes in the LD SIG:
* Publication of “LD SIG Forum - Transitions in the Lives of Learners and Teachers” in collaboration
with 14 authors in the JALT National 2013 Proceedings.
(http://jalt-publications.org/proceedings/articles/3977-ld-sig-forum-transitions-lives-learners-andteachers)* Organization of three forums:
11th May 2014 – Pan-SIG 2014 in Miyazaki Municipal University – Continuity in Learning and Lerner
Development – Chief Organizer: Aiko Minematsu
8th June 2014 – JALT CALL 2014 in Sugiyama Jogakuen University – New Horizons in CALL – Chief
Organizer: Lee Arnold
23rd November 2014 – JALT National Conference in Tsukuba International Congress Center – Learner
Development Across Borders – Chief Organizer: Ian Hurrell* Set up Gmail account (ldevents1@gmail.com) for correspondence with LD SIG members.
* Google drive account established for storage of all LD Programmes publications anddocumentation.
7B Tentative goals for Programmes for 2015
* Organize LD forum for JALT2015.
* Coordinate forums of JALT CALL and PanSIG conferences and endeavor to increase LD SIG presencein other events.
* Find a shadow to help share the responsibilities of the Programmes Chair position.
* Create a ‘Programmes Chair Handbook’ to provide advice and aid transitions between successive
Programmes chairs.
* Create a historical record of achievements of the LD SIG Programmes team and store it on the
Google Drive.
* Possibly start a YouTube Channel using the ldevents1 Google account to display videos andtestimonials from the various LD Events.

7C For approval by AGMa) Create a YouTube site for LD Forumsb) Lee Arnold (membership chair), Ian Hurrell, & Joel Laurier

10 Learner Development SIG AGM Agenda JALT2014 Tsukuba

8. PUBLICITY
Publicity team: Rob Moreau, Sayuri Hasegawa, Mayumi Takizawa, Kie Yamamoto (shadow)
8A Publicity report for 2014 (submitted by Rob Moreau)
1. The achievements of the publicity department include:* Compiling and submitting the news write-ups for the JALT publication, The Language Teacher.
* Distributing logo graphics as needed for members of the SIG to use on projects such as websites orother promotional materials.
* Developing a logo for the one-day conference in December.
* Providing graphics for SIG publications. In 2014 these included the cover design for the 20th
anniversary conference proceedings and the cover for the up-coming Working Papers bookpublication.
* Posting to the Facebook page as required.
* The publicity department also has a translation team that provides excellent and timelytranslations for the SIG news articles as well as other projects if required.
2. Goals for 2015
The main goal is to keep on developing the team along the lines that have proved successful during
the past year and to take a more proactive position with regards to fliers promoting the SIG atconferences, etc., as well as more frequent postings to the Facebook page to keep people more
informed about the SIG.
3. Team members and shadows to be approved at the AGM
We have Kie Yamamoto as a shadow now, who will take over the translation duties for the new year.
We also hope to add Tomoto Imamura to the team as a translation shadow. I would like to ask to be
kept on as the publicity chair to maintain consistency in the department.
8B For approval by AGM(a) Rob Moreau as Publicity chair for 2014(b) Kie Yamamoto & Tomoko Imamura as Japanese translators editors(c) Approve ___________ as publicity shadow to support Rob Moreau, LD SIG publicity chair

9. WEB MAINTENANCE AND DEVELOPMENT
Web team: Hugh Nicoll, James, Underwood, Mike Nix, Ken Ikeda
9A Web Maintenance and Development team report (Submitted by Hugh Nicoll)
Achievements 2013-14* 2013: 20th anniversary conference web site – Mike & James* LD20 proceedings created and maintained on the ld-sig.org domain by Hugh* ld-sig.org (static web site) – maintained primarily by Hugh with input from Alison, Fumiko, otherteam members for Events, Outreach, Grants, information updates and the Learning Learning team.

11 Learner Development SIG AGM Agenda JALT2014 Tsukuba* The “Talking Points” column, monthly, written by Kay Irie and Rachelle Meilleur for the last year,
uploaded to the home page of the static site and to the blog, now hosted on a WordPress install.
* New issues of Learning Learning published biannually.
* Transition to Wordpress — currently (early November), we are in the process of transferring thecontent of the static web site to a full Wordpress (WP) site. The WP team is Hugh, James, andWilliam Hassett. Our goal is to finish the transition by JALT2014.
Goals for 2014-15* Distribute web writing, updating responsibilities among team members so as to simplify andimprove our ability to publish and update the site in a timely manner. The WP site will be friendlier
for users accessing the site from a smartphone, tablet, or other mobile device.
* Continue to work with the membership team updating subscriber lists for the sig mailing lists;* Team & Shadowing: Mike Nix and Ken Ikeda stepping down; Hugh and James currently working on
how to move forward more collaboratively, hopefully with new team members
9B For approval:a) Hugh Nicoll, James Underwood, & Rachelle Meilleur as member(s) of the Web M&D teamb) _____________________________as shadow(s) of the Web M&D team

10. OUTREACH TEAMNGO Student Ambassadors – Colin Rundle & Caroline Kocel-Ross
Tohoku Outreach – Andy Barfield & Mayumi Takizawa
Translation Project – Mathew Porter, Sayuri Hasegawa & Caroline Kocel-Ross
NGO Student Ambassadors Programme Report (Submitted by Caroline Kocel-Ross)
Achievements/Activities for 2013-2014* Nine students from Soka, Toyama, and Tokai universities represented three NGOs, Shanti
Volunteer Association, Japan Tent, and Free the Children Japan at the NGO Outreach forum at the
LD SIG's 20th Anniversary Conference in November 2014.
* At the turn of the new school year, we emailed LD SIG members to spread the word and recruit
students for the second cycle of the Ambassador program. Eight students from Gakushuin andToyama universities expressed an interest, although many said that the timing was difficult due tojob-hunting and other prior commitments. Two students from Gakushuin followed through andinterned at NGOs
* 2 students from Tamagawa university visited Minsai NGO, but didn't pursue this further.
2. Goals for the coming year
* That at least one or two student ambassadors can represent an NGO at the LD-SIG's December
mini-conference* To continue to consolidate and strengthen relationships with FTCJ, by continuing to assist them inrecruiting student volunteers* To identify an appropriate event (in Autumn/ November or December 2015) at which future
Student Ambassadors can represent their NGOs

12 Learner Development SIG AGM Agenda JALT2014 Tsukuba* To improve our system for tracking and managing students and teachers who express interest in
the program* To consider the time-scale of the program cycle - is there a more convenient time for students tovolunteer than over summer? E.g., March? Should we have more than one "recruitment push"?
Tohoku Outreach Report (submitted by Andy Barfield & Mayumi Takizawa)1. Achievements/Activities this year
Most things that happened this last year can be traced back to the LD20 Tohoku Forum last year inwhich Musashi-san, the community leader from Rikuzentakata and chair of the PTA of the Kesen
Junior High School, and Gina Horie, member of the Filipino SEELS group in Tohoku, took part. This
led first to discussion of the LD SIG translating into English the Kesen Junior High School children's
post 3.11 accounts, and then to a copy of the accounts being handed over at a 5-university Tohoku
research meeting in early December 2013 that Andy, James and Mayumi attended. The 5-university
meeting also led to Alison, Fumiko Kurosawa, and James giving a presentation about the LD's
Outreach activities at a forum in late December 2013 where students from those five universities
gave presentations about their research into different aspects of post-3.11 recovery. Thank you to
Alison, Fumiko and James for their great work here.
In early 2014 Sayuri Hasegawa took on the leadership of the translation project, where she wasjoined by Caroline Ross and, later, Mathew Porter. As this happened, a Yahoo discussion list for
Outreach was set up so that the growing number of LD SIG members involved in the translation
project could communicate with each other online. We would like to say a heartfelt thank you toeveryone who has contributed to the translation project since January 2014.
We would also like to express our particular gratitude to Caroline, Mathew and Sayuri for their
dedication, hard work, and meticulous care in seeing through the translation to completion by theend of 2014. This is probably the most complicated project the SIG has ever undertaken. All credit
goes to them for ensuring that the children's voices are protected, promoted, and heard on a muchwider scale than before both in Japan and beyond. The temporary URL for the bilingual version of
the children's accounts is here: http://mathewlporter.wix.com/test
In March 2014 five LD SIG members (Andy, Mayumi, Rob Moreau, Sayuri and Ted O'Neil) visited
Kesennuma and Rikuzentakata for a second LD SIG Outreach weekend. They made follow-up visitswith individuals and organizations from 2013 (Omose temporary housing community centre, Oshima
Elementary School, Reiko and her family on Oshima, and Musashi-san) and also established newcontacts (Yamayo Suisan’s oyster-farm on Oshima, Konno-san -- the local English-speaking guide in
Rikuzentakata -- Rikuzentakata Tourist Information Centre, and Rikuzentakata City Library). A fullaccount of this visit was published in Learning Learning earlier this year and can be found here:
http://ld-sig.org/LL/21one/March2014_TohokuOutreach.pdf
Because the March group could get funding from different Kanto-based chapters and the CUE SIG(again we express our thanks for this support), we did not make use of any LD SIG Outreach grants.
These could then be later used to help fund Musashi-san and his daughter's participation at
JALT2014 in a workshop on the children's accounts (with Alison, Caroline, Mathew and Ted).
The March group also wrote up a subsequent account of their participation in the translation project
for Tokyo Project, which is expected to be published before the end of this year in Tokyo JALT's
online journal (see http://www.tokyojalt.org/publications.html).
During the March 2014 visit, LD negotiated book donations with Oshima Elementary School and13 Learner Development SIG AGM Agenda JALT2014 Tsukuba
Rikuzentakata City Library and later sent books on behalf of the SIG to both institutions. A final
donation of books was made by the SIG to SEELS schools in Tohoku care of Gina Horie, who had
been LD SIG's other Tohoku guest speaker at LD20.
Since March 2014 most of the Tohoku Outreach activity this year has been focused on completion of
the Translation Project, the writing up of two long articles about LD's Outreach (Learning Learning
and Tokyo JALT), and arranging the visit of Musashi-san and Runa to JALT2014 (thank you Alison,
Fumiko Murase, Sayuri, and Nakazawa-sensei).
Connected to LD's Outreach activity was Nakazawa-sensei's participation in the 2014 PanSIG and his
plenary talk on "balancing regional perspectives on education and quality of life issues here in Japan
with longer-term and global perspectives on learning, teaching, and education policy discussions" our thanks go to Hugh Nicoll and Joe Tomei, pan SIG conference co-chairs, for making this possible,
and to Colin Rundle for interviewing Nakazawa-sensei about his work for the panSIG website (seehttp://pansig.org/2014/nakazawa_interview/).
2. Goals for the coming year / Outreach co-coordination & shadowing / Issues for discussion
Quite a bit of behind-the-scenes work went into the March visit this year and its follow-up. This left
us both feeling a little overwhelmed, but the contacts that have been established are, we hope, now
sustainable on a smaller scale without organised group visits by the LD SIG.
As we look to 2015, Tohoku Outreach seems to be becoming less a question of organizing group
visits and group write-ups, and more a question of creating different online platforms andmultimedia interactions about Tohoku, and with people in Tohoku, based on the contacts that havenow been established in the Rikuzentakata and Kesennuma areas.
The LD SIG's Tohoku Outreach is, it seems, becoming more a question of identifying and evolving
smaller scale interactions that pairs and trios can run with and develop over time without having to
make a hard and fast commitment to a particular visit on a specific weekend. The large-groupexperience was important this year and last year, but it does not appear to be sustainable inpractice, so a change to smaller, devolved mini-projects and interactions would be a healthy nextstage development.
This is what we both feel is important for further discussion as we look to 2015, as we step down as
Tohoku Outreach co-coordinators. From that discussion it should become clear whether there is aneed for new Tohoku Outreach co-coordinators, and how Tohoku Outreach can be dovetailed (ornot, depending on what the consensus is) with NGO Outreach and other LD SIG activities too.

10C For approval by AGMa) Caroline Kocel-Ross and Colin Rundle as Outreach team membersb) ____________________________ as members/shadows for the Outreach team

11. TRANSLATION TEAMThe LD SIG relies heavily on a team of bilingual members who provide translations and editing ofJapanese text, in particular for Learning Learning and Publicity.

14 Learner Development SIG AGM Agenda JALT2014 Tsukuba
In the past year, we have been indebted to Sayuri Hasegawa and Mayumi Takizawa for their work on
Publicity, and to Chika Hayashi for coordinating all the translation work for Learning Learning.
We are always in need of people who are able to help out with translation, based on the principle of“many hands make light work”. Please help out if you can.

12. LOCAL GET-TOGETHERSKANSAI – Brandon Kramer
What we did* We met once on January 31st at a restaurant in Umeda with about 8 people.
Difficulties* Not much luck in organizing events over the past year.
Goals* Find a new Kansai Get-Together Chair* Think of and organize some events for the upcoming year (New Years party?)
HIROSHIMA – Jim Ronald
Hiroshima's LD Get-togethers in theory meet every month, and typically there are half a dozen of us.
1. Achievements/Activities of the Hiroshima get-togethers this year
The Hiroshima LD get-togethers have continued to meet, usually every month, although there wasan extended summer break. And we continue to benefit in many different ways – as a learning
community, as a networking community, as a supportive professional community. Although we areusually a small group, many of the regular/occasional joiners are also active in the Hiroshima JALT
chapter, so our influence may well be greater than our numbers. For example, Kris Sullivan and Paul
Collett gave a well-attended talk at the chapter meeting on self-regulation in the context of foreign
language learning.
2. Goals for the coming year
To have a co-coordinator, and to work together on reinvigorating the get-togethers, maybe to havemore of an online presence – for promotion and discussion. And to keep meeting.
3. Get-together coordinators to be approved at the AGM
I’ve just asked, again, if anyone will join me in coordinating the Hiroshima get-together’s activities.
I’d like to think I’ll have a name to give to you very soon!
4. Any issues for discussion
How to keep a small group going!
TOKYO – Andy Barfield, Ken Ikeda, Stacey Vye
At the time of writing in early October, we’ve had six get-togethers in 2014 until now, with one more
to come in December, which will feature the Creating Community: Learning Together informal
conference (URL http://ld-sig.org/blog/creating-community-learning-together/ ), a relaxing Sunday
afternoon event with students and teachers taking part and presenting. This provides a new focus to15 Learner Development SIG AGM Agenda JALT2014 Tsukuba
the end of the year for Tokyo get-togethers, and we’re all excited to see how things will go in
December. (Our thanks to Rob Moreau, too, for designing the eye-catching logo, and to FumikoMurase for joining us in helping to co-organize the conference.)
The 2014 get-togethers have been collaboratively written up using Google Docs each time, where all
the participants have been invited to contribute to the write-up in the week immediately after a gettogether. For more details, please see http://tokyogettogethers.blogspot.jp/
This year, we’ve had an average of around 15 people taking part each time (January, February, April,May, June, & September), with September the largest gathering yet:
* January: 13 participants (9 apologies)* February: 14 participants (7 apologies)* April: 14 participants (15 apologies)* May: 17 participants (9 apologies)* June: 15 participants (11 apologies)* September: 19 participants (6 apologies).
One point that has been really intriguing about participation this year is that 38 different people
took part in the get-togethers from January through to September. Of these, just a little more thanhalf have participated in one or two get-togethers in 2014, and just under half have taken part inthree get-togethers or more so far:
* 1 person has taken part six times* 2 people have taken part five times* 3 people have taken part four times* 10 people have taken part three times* 9 people have taken part twice* 13 people have taken part once.
So, the get-togethers this year have had a shifting sense of identity from one month to the next. This
has led us to consider how to create better continuity and involvement from one get-together toanother, because without this it’s difficult to explore issues in depth together over time.
At the September get-together, we reported back to the whole group on the patterns ofparticipation in the get-togethers this year. We briefly talked about reducing the number of gettogethers for 2015 and trying to synchronize more with the rhythm of the school year. That mightmean, for example, holding get-togethers in April, May, June, September or October (depending on
when the JALT conference takes place), with an informal afternoon conference in December 2015,
to provide a space for teachers and students to share their work and research publicly at the end of
the calendar year.
These changes for 2015 are still just a suggestion at this point. To encourage more discussion and get
further feedback, we hope to run these ideas past Tokyo area LD members once the October 19
deadline for proposals for Creating Community: Learning Together has passed. We are looking
forward to hearing SIG members’ views and to reporting in further detail for the LD SIG AGM at
JALT2014.
In terms of co-coordination, Stacey feels that she would like to have a shadow and gradually stepback from a coordinating role, for family reasons, but is happy to participate in get-togethers next
year. Andy and Ken are happy to continue coordinating and developing the Tokyo get-togethers
further. They would be very grateful too if other people could join the coordination team for 2015.

16 Learner Development SIG AGM Agenda JALT2014 Tsukuba
Please feel free to contact us: Andy <barfield.andy@gmail.com>, Ken <kodanuki@gmail.com>, andStacey <stacey.vye@gmail.com>. Many thanks in advance.

12B For approval by AGM
Coordinators for local get-togethers:
Kansai: _______________?
Hiroshima: Jim Ronald & Ariel Sorenson
Tokyo: Andy Barfield, Ken Ikeda, & Agnes Patko (supported by Stacey Vye)

13. MEMBERS-AT-LARGECurrent Members-at-Large: Bill Mboutsiadis, Dexter Da Silver, Ellen Head, Jackie Suginaga, Kayo
Ozawa, Martha Robertson, Stacey Vye
13 For approval
13(a) Approve the following as Members-at-Large for 2014-2015: Bill Mboutsiadis, Dexter Da Silva,
Jackie Suginaga, Martha Robinson, Gretchen Clark, Mike Nix, Sayuri Hasegawa, Matt Coomber

14. Any other issues or questions arising ...