Gulf Coast Japanese Teachers Need Help

In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Japanese language teachers who live and work in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama have suffered along with their neighbors and commuinties. Some of them have lost their homes, jobs, computers, books, and other valuables. Schools and universities in New Orleans are closed for at least one semester. The Louisiana Association of Teachers of Japanese has appealed to the national professional organizations, NCJLT and ATJ, for help. If you would like to contribute to the Katrina Aid for Japanese Fund, which has been set up in Baton Rouge to help teachers and other Japanese residents of the afflicted areas, please send your tax-deductible contribution by check to Katrina Aid for Japanese, c/o Akiko and Yoshinori Kamo, 897 Baird Drive, Baton Rouge, LA 70808. 225-767-3694. katrinajapan@hotmail.com.

Call for Proposals: JHL SIG Session at ATJ Seminar

The Japanese as a Heritage Language Special Interest Group (JHL SIG) will host a SIG session on April 6, 2006, in San Francisco, in conjunction with the annual Association for Asian Studies (AAS) conference. We invite proposals for paper presentation. This year we focus on graduate students’ research on JHL. We would like to encourage submission of papers on work-in-progress or completed works by M.A. and Ph.D. students or those who have recently completed their degrees. The topics include but are not limited to language acquisition, learner variables (such as motivation to learn JHL), and pedagogy of JHL. Language of the abstract and presentation: English or Japanese.

Time limit 20 minutes, with an additional 5 minutes for discussion. Abstract length: maximum 300 words in English or 700 characters in Japanese.

Time limit 100 minutes per session; maximum of 4 papers per session (if a discussant is included, maximum of 3 papers plus presentation by the discussant). Abstract length: maximum 300 words in English or 700 characters in Japanese per abstract (include one summary abstract describing the focus of the panel plus an abstract for each of the individual papers).

Please send abstracts by November 23, 2005 as an email attachment to: Masako O. Douglas at mdouglas‌@csulb.edu. 562/985-5280.

Please note that presenters need to be ATJ members. Membership fee for students is $20. Information and applications for membership are available at www.colorado.edu/ealld/atj/ATJ/member.html.

On-line Membership Renewals Coming in 2006

ATJ members will be able to renew their memberships for 2006 on-line. A secure web site for accepting credit card payments is being developed and will be ready for use in December. Watch for your renewal letter in the mail!