International Affairs Committee (IAC)

The International Affairs Committee (IAC) of the Japan Association for Language Teaching (JALT) supports JALT by establishing, maintaining, and developing international contacts and joint activities between JALT and other partner organizations and groups.
 

The responsibilities of the IAC fall into six categories:

1. Ensure that Reciprocal Agreements are kept up to date and are satisfactory based on the interests of JALT and our Partner organizations. Partner organizations often include national or international language teaching associations. Additionally, JALT is an Affiliate organization of the International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language (IATEFL) and an Associate organization of the TESOL International Association.
2. Investigate additional potential partnerships and collaborative opportunities with other groups in the region and globally, including teaching associations and other potential partners. While Partner organizations have traditionally included national or international language teaching associations, which will continue to be a focus of future partnerships, developing relationships with other non-national association groups could also be mutually beneficial.
3. Organize and help to coordinate JALT representation at Partner conferences, and liaise with the Board of Directors in organizing Partner representatives and/or speakers at JALT conferences.
   JALT representatives at Partner conferences will:
   • Provide a presentation which is relevant to the Partner conference theme and representative of JALT;
   • Meet with key Partner organization executives / officers;
   • Attend relevant meetings and official events;
   • Promote JALT activities and publications; and,
   • Investigate possible collaborative activities between JALT and the Partner organization and / or our membership.

   Regarding Partner organization representatives at JALT conferences, the IAC coordinates with the JALT Conference Program Chair / Organizing Committee in the disseminating of information to Partner organization representatives including:

   • Schedules for activities related to Partner organization representatives;
   • Conference venue (including location and access);
   • Accommodation (including duration, location, and access);
   • Conference fees waiver; and,
   • Information / publicity tables (possibly shared).
4. Disseminate relevant information with the goal of encouraging the involvement of the JALT membership at large in international activities by:
   • Providing information about international collaborative opportunities to members of the EBM; and,
   • Advertizing international collaborative opportunities through JALT publicity outlets.
5. Assemble and keep up-to-date information on each Partner organization, and,
6. Investigate / encourage possible opportunities to collaborate on projects between JALT and our Partner organizations, such as promoting joint research, co-authorship of papers, hosting conference panels, and/or supporting the Pan-Asian Conference series.