25 September 1999, Boulder, Colorado

Attending: Ericson, Hatasa, Hijirida, Kataoka, Makino, Marcus, Matsumoto, Noda, Rabinovitch, Sekine, Sherif, Tsuda, Watabe, Yasuhara (ATJ Board); Childs, Heinrich, Wetzel (Journal Editors); Miller, Rodd, Schmidt, Snyder, Takahara (ATJ Officers).

The meeting was called to order at 9:30 a.m.

• President's Report
• Secretary's Report
• Treasurer's Report
• Newletter Editor's Report
• Journal Editor's Report
• Committee Reports (a.m.)
• Bridging Project Report
• Other
• Announcements
• Old Business
• Newsletter Contents
• New Business
• Committee Reports (p.m.)

President's Report
1) The Alliance of Associations of the Teachers of Japanese (AATJ) is now functioning, and Susan Schmidt has been hired as Executive Director. The founding members of AATJ are ATJ and the National Council of Japanese Language Teachers (NCJLT). The Executive Board of AATJ consists of the Presidents of the two organizations (Rodd, Thurrott) and two members appointed from each organization, currently: Ericson, Kataoka, Kawamoto, and Rolbin. 2) National Working Group (NWG) for Implementation of Standards, funded by the U.S.-Japan Foundation, is now in its second year and is funding 11 projects nationwide in the areas of standards familiarization; development and assessment of standards-based curriculum; and local/national standards interface. The NWG will meet in October in New Orleans and will produce reports on these projects. A grant application (pending) to the U.S.-Japan Foundation would fund online and print publications for the field and a series of professional development/leadership seminars. 3) The Bridging Project (funded by the Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission) continues to provide a clearinghouse for information on study abroad opportunities in Japan and scholarships for U.S. students studying in Japan. The first round of these scholarships was awarded for fall 1999. 4) The National Foreign Language Center, in conjunction with the Ford Foundation and FIPSE, is supporting a three-language (Japanese, Spanish and German) project to develop technological resources for field-approved online distance learning/teaching materials. 5) A scholarship fund to support training in Japan of current or future teachers of Japanese has been established by the Japanese Language Scholarship Foundation, chaired by Agishi Akiko.

Secretary's Report
ATJ Membership Breakdown

Treasurer's Report
January 1-August 31, 1999

Newsletter Editor's Report
The Editor thanks Susan Schmidt, who filled in during his research leave; Atsushi Fukada will begin reviewing software/technology for the Newsletter; correspondents are needed for reporting regional news to the Newsletter--Board members are requested to send information about activities in their region (such as conferences, speech contests, personnel changes, etc.); proposal to collate information from regional newsletters for ATJ Newsletter; discussion of adding "Books Received" column; need for coordination of information dissemination activities with NCJLT (through AATJ).

Journal Editors' Report
Issue 32:2 of the Journal has been mailed (the second 1998 issue); the Tables of Contents for the next two issues have been completed, issues in process; issues averaging $8500 per issue to produce and mail (1400 copies), up approx. $1500 due to increase in paper costs; discussion of requirement that authors be ATJ members, consensus that membership shall be required but exceptions allowed; a new Advisory Board for the Journal is being constituted, to be published in an upcoming Newsletter; the editors would like to express their thanks to the outgoing Advisory Board; occasional papers still be published when appropriate material becomes available; question as to indexing practices re Occasional Papers.

Committee Reports
• Nominating Committee (Matsumoto [chair], Hijirida, Sekine, Snyder Ohta, Yasuhara): At the suggestion of last year's committee, deadlines have been moved up, with "Call for Nominations" now appearing in Sept. Newsletter; new deadline is Dec. 10.
• Seminar Committee: report deferred to p.m. session.
• Professional Development Committee (Kataoka for Tohsaku): The committee is pursuing projects in seven areas: 1) A leadership institute: An AATJ-sponsored institute will train selected Japanese language teachers to be regional leaders for field. This project, originating in the NWG and with funding pending from the U.S.-Japan Foundation, will be an ongoing leadership institute, a venue where teachers could continue training on standards-based language education, focusing on technology, implementation, etc., and receive training for advocacy for Japanese language learning. Envisioned as a two-year summer institute gathering 20 teachers for ongoing seminars, with requirement that teachers disseminate material in home region. 2) Language training for non-native teachers (K-12): as a follow-up to the recently completed program sending teachers to U.S. summer intensive language programs, this new program would offer similar training for teachers in Japan, including language training and a pedagogy component. Funding pending. 3) National survey of pre-service/in-service training programs: the Japan Foundation has been conducting this survey, though there are difficulties determining what is offered by which organizations; The Breeze will publish survey results. 4) National conference on pre-service Japanese language training (for certification) will invite teachers of Japanese and officials responsible for certification programs from related Schools of Education; list of these programs (with links) should be maintained on ATJ website. 5) Workshops sponsored/endorsed by ATJ (or AATJ): discussion concerning possible models (clearinghouse, organizer; the NWG is also preparing a list. 6) Online Institute for Teaching Japanese: A project sponsored by the Laurasian Institution for developing software for teaching Japanese has been offered to ATJ for further development; collaboration under consideration. 7) Professional development component for the ATJ Journal and Newsletter: possibility of special issues on pedagogy (K-16).

Bridging Project Report
The Bridging Project (funded by the U.S. Japan Friendship Commission) provides: 1) a clearinghouse/counseling service with information on study abroad opportunities, with information on the website and in printed brochures; the director of the Project (Schmidt) has done presentations at campuses for teachers and study abroad administrators; 2) scholarships for undergraduate students of Japanese to study abroad; Project specifically targets non-majors who may study in Japan in fields besides language and literature; scholarship selection committee (Ericson, Marcus, Rabinovitch, Rodd, Yokochi-Samuel) reviewed large number of applications for fall 1999, awarding 30 scholarships, and soon will begin selection of recipients of 15 scholarships for spring 2000; funds for scholarships (solicited primarily by the Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission) are spent each year; need to consider fund-raising for endowment; discussion: concerns that funds not go to students already receiving aid; need to fine-tune application and review process to ascertain aid levels for recipients; suggestion to publish excerpts from out-take essays by recipients; suggestion to survey out-going students on quality of programs.

Other
Report on LangNet--NFLC project to put language-learning resources online; board: Makino, Ujie, Chance, Tompson, Thorton, Tohsaku; group will identify learner profiles, identify tasks related to identified learners, identify language-learning resources (and criteria for their selection), put material on Internet. To date, three learner groups with particular needs have been identified: 1) heritage learners; 2) accelerated learners; 3) remedial learners. Reading needs primary for each group, thus efforts will focus initially on reading. NCOTLCTL is funding technician to load database. Materials that could be used in this format are still needed.

Announcements
Rodd attended the Japanese Heritage Language Meeting in California for discussion of all aspects of heritage language teaching. This group is considering forming an organization of heritage language teachers. One of the dedicated ATJ panels on the AAS program will be "Border Crossing," on heritage language and other cultural issues. Hijirida is representative from ATJ to Nihongo Kyoiku Gakkai.

Old Business
Change of State of Incorporation: The Association's attorney has recommended a second vote of the board on the procedure to change state of incorporation to conform with NY state requirements. Procedure would create new Colorado tax-exempt entity, merge this entity with the existing NY entity, and then dissolve the NY entity. The resolution, "Plan of Merger," read into minutes. Reason for change in state of incorporation is not current location of ATJ office but the difficulty of complying with NY tax-exempt rules and the relative simplicity of CO regulations. Motion to accept "Plan of Merger"; second; vote 14 "for," 0 "against," 1 absent.
[Suggestion (Noda) to change name of ATJ Business meeting (at AAS) to "General Meeting of ATJ Membership"]

Newsletter Contents
Discussion of definition of "regional/local" news; role of Board Members as correspondents; suggestion that ATJ office receive newsletters from all regional organizations for regional news; suggestion that Newsletter include more international information; reminder that Newsletter (like ATJ itself) is not limited in scope to university-level or U.S national interests but is intended to serve entire field; suggestion that Newsletter include announcements of and results from regional speech contests; suggestion that Newsletter include more articles of substance; examples of types of regional news: sister city relationships, sabbatical correspondents, personnel changes, current enrollment figures; suggestion that Newsletter include a regular report on activities of Nihongo Kyoiku Gakkai; need for Canadian correspondent; discussion of future need for limiting access to ATJ website, since Newsletter is now available online to general public, it no longer constitutes a benefit of membership; suggestion that ballot for Board election be mailed earlier (perhaps separate from Newsletter) to ensure arrival well in advance of spring meeting at AAS.

New Business
• Proposal to Change Dues Structure: Discussion of "Proposal to Change ATJ Dues Structure" (document generated by Officers); current dues not adequate to cover basic expenses of membership (printing/mailing of Journal, Newsletter, maintenance of records, etc.); suggestion that ATJ consider a graduated, income-based dues structure on the MLA/AAS model; discussion of possibility of creating joint membership plan with NCJLT; suggestion that funds from dues beyond operating expenses go toward creation of endowment; motion to accept "Proposal"; second; discussion; motion to modify proposal; motion to accept modified proposal; second; discussion: other models for dues structure should be considered in the future; suggestion that endowment be established but funds be kept separated from dues and that dues be kept at fixed amounts rather than income-based (with extra funds going to endowment); vote: 14 "for," 0 "against."
• JNCL/NCLIS (Joint National Committee for Languages/National Council for Languages and International Studies): This organization (of which ATJ is a member) lobbies the federal government on language-related issues. JNCL/NCLIS is proposing a dues increase, raising ATJ's contribution from $1000 annually to $1500; discussion; motion to continue membership at increased dues rate; second; vote: 14 "for," 0 "against."
• Special Interest Groups (SIGs): Discussion of perceived need to organize SIGs within the larger membership at places where people can discuss shared interests/concerns (e.g., classical language pedagogy; teacher training; literature; etc.); discussion of practicality of formally constituted groups (on ACTFL model); suggestion that in conjunction with AATJ heritage, secondary teaching, etc. could constitute interest groups; suggestion that idea of SIGs could be endorsed by board and actual structure/formation be left to interested members; suggestion that column space in Newsletter could be afforded SIGs; possibility that SIGs could be asked to propose panels for seminar or for AAS set-aside panels; suggestion that mailing labels be provided to forming groups; suggestion for announcement in Newsletter encouraging formation of SIGs (with call for contact persons).
• Membership Campaign: Membership numbers are down in all categories (see Secretary's Report), due in part to more accurate record-keeping. Discussion of possible strategies for a general membership campaign; discussion of restricting access to Seminar to encourage membership; suggestion to advertise in Nihongo Kyoiku Gakkai publications to encourage Japanese membership; suggestion to publicize membership via listservs; suggestion to encourage membership to students in graduate and certification programs; request to Hijirida to take membership applications to NKG meetings.

Committee Reports
• Seminar Committee: The next Seminar will be held Thursday, March 9, 2000, prior to AAS; sessions (up to 3 concurrently) will run from: 10:30-12:00, 1:00-2:30, and 2:45-4:15; from 4:30-6:00; former ATJ presidents will appear on Blue Ribbon panel; proposals to Seminar will be screened by Committee and Board members will be consulted in their area of specialization; each paper will be 20 minutes in length with a discussant per panel; suggestion that AATJ explore possibility of Sat./Sun. stand-alone conference, more accessible to secondary school teachers.
• Nominating Committee: Deadline for nominations is Dec. 10; general call for nominations to be sent to Matsumoto; format for nominations appears in September Newsletter; nominees will be categorized according to geographic area, specialization, gender, academic rank, with slate constituted for diversity; biographical statements will be solicited from each nominee by 1/20/00 for separate mailing of ballot to membership; suggestion that ballot include names of continuing board members for distribution comparison; suggestion that biographical statements include information on highest degree earned; suggestion that nominators be urged to consider diversity.

Respectfully submitted,
Stephen Snyder, ATJ Secretary