Alliance of Associations of Teachers of Japanese

WHAT: Fieldwide clearinghouse for information and professional connections; mechanism for collaboration within the field of Japanese language education and for advocacy to the wider professional, academic, and government community.

WHO: Organizations active at the national level in the teaching of Japanese language and culture. Initial partners are ATJ (Association of Teachers of Japanese) and NCJLT (National Council of Japanese Language Teachers). Prospective partners include organizations representing heritage language teachers, immersion teachers, and others.

HOW: Central office established April 1999 at University of Colorado; half-time Executive Director hired; Executive Board of representatives from member organizations named; funding obtained for communications infrastructure and organizational support for first year of operations.

The Alliance will work to collect and disseminate information on Japanese language education; to disseminate information on best practices and assist in their implementation; to assist and support teachers of Japanese at all levels; to encourage the development of new programs of instruction in schools from K to 16 and the expansion of existing ones; to support the development of new ideas in instruction, learning, and instructional delivery; to create and strengthen links among people and programs in the field; and to raise the profile of Japanese language education (and foreign language education in general) in the US. In addition to providing administrative support and resources for its member organizations, the Alliance will focus on three priority areas in the immediate future:

Communications

--Surveying and information gathering and dissemination;

--Centralized job information and candidate registry;

--Information bank on Japanese language programs and teacher certification programs;

--Development of Web site for more sophisticated delivery of information, research results, and curriculum plans and instructional materials; for teacher networking; and for on-line discussion of issues;

--Publications (member organization newsletters; project reports; Standards for Japanese Language Learning and Framework for Post-Basic Japanese Language Instruction; information on intensive language programs, study abroad, and pre-service and in-service training opportunities).

Professional Development

--Collecting and evaluating information on resources available for pre-service and in-service training of Japanese language teachers;

--Identifying professional development needs of teachers at all levels (e.g. language training for non-native-speaking teachers, training in use of new technologies, support for standards-based teaching models and for classroom materials collection and development);

--Supporting and developing workshops and conferences on issues related to professional development; facilitating improved pre-service preparation;

--Establishing links between teachers and programs;

--National leadership conferences focusing on issues central to the field--for example, on implementation of standards-based language learning.

Projects to Strengthen Japanese Language Education

--Advocacy for Japanese and the other "less commonly taughts" in professional organizations and in the education community at large;

--Identifying and supporting an increasingly diverse population of language learners (by defining and expanding learner profiles, promoting Web-based instruction and curriculum delivery mechanisms, and developing new assessment instruments, etc.);

--Promoting study abroad in Japan by disseminating information on programs, supporting and disseminating research on the relation between study abroad and language learning, and expanding the new Bridging Scholarships;

--Collaboration with other languages in exploring the long-term goal of Web-based delivery of appropriate learning materials and opportunities to learners with diverse needs.

Watch this space for announcements of new programs and other developments.