(March 2016) Message from the Coordinator

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

(coordinator@materialswriters.org)

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 (program@materialswriters.org) and Adam Murray (coordinator@materialswriters.org) 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