(MAY 2017) Message from the Coordinator 

Dear MW-SIG members,
I hope that everyone had a wonderful Golden Week and is ready to go for the next part of the semester. I am pleased to officially announce that our Program Chair, Greg Goodmacher, has begun an exciting initiative that will be very useful for our members - the Member Publication List on Materials Creation. Although it is still in the planning stages, it looks like we will have another exciting Forum at JALT2017. If you are interested in participating, don't delay! Also, we are looking for submissions for the upcoming issue of Between the Keys, if you or one of your colleagues are interested in submitting something, please contact the Publication Chair, Jim Smiley (sendaismiley @ gmail . com) Please see here for more information regarding our submission policies. And please note that the next deadline for submissions is July 10th.

Yours in Service,
Adam Murray
(coordinator @ materialswriters . org)

 
Contents of this message:
1. Member Publication List on Materials Creation
2. JALT2017
3. Links/Articles of Interest

1. Member Publication List on Materials Creation
First, we request that you read about the accomplishments of some of our members. This table illustrates a small number of our accomplishments. It is a great chance to promote your work and to learn what your colleagues are doing. We thank you in advance for helping make our group better by adding your information. Please check your email for the link.

2. JALT2017
Do You Want to Join Our MW Forum Panel?
For the Materials Writers Forum at the next JALT national conference, we want to gather five of our members to join the renowned author and presenter Curtis Kelly on a panel to discuss materials writing. Each panelist will speak for about ten minutes. Your topic must connect with the conference theme: Language Teaching in a Global Age: Shaping the Classroom, Shaping the World

If you are interested, please fill your information in the Member Publication List on Materials Creation (Google Doc listed above). Do not miss the last column which asks if you are interested in giving a presentation. If you have already filled in the form and want to join the panel but have a new idea that differs from what you earlier entered, write Greg Goodmacher (ggoodmacher @ hotmail . com) directly.

The deadline for sending in the abstract for our forum, which is unvetted, is May 24, but earlier is better.

3. IATEFL 2017
As always, the IATEFL 2017 conference website is a treasure trove of content. Here are some materials-related talks and interviews that may be of interest to you.

"Let's listen to the learners" - Brian Tomlinson (30:48)
An excellent talk about involving the learners in the textbook selection process. The handout is also available for download.

Scott Thornbury interviews Angelos Bollas (14:46)
He talks about the representation of LGBT people in course materials.
https://iatefl.britishcouncil.org/2017/interview/scott-thornbury-interviews-angelos-bollas

An interview with Jonathan Bygrave (7:33)
He talks about how to get started writing course materials and the difficulties of making applications.
https://iatefl.britishcouncil.org/2017/interview/interview-jonathan-bygrave

An interview with Jeremy Harmer (13:51)
A short interview about teaching and course books in the future.