Dear Associate Member,
I am JALT’s Mind, Brain, and Education (BRAIN) SIG Coordinator and I am writing to invite you to join us at the joint BRAIN X SUTLF (BRAIN SIG and NanKyu Chapter; Sojo University Teaching & Learning Forum) conference to be held in February 2024. We realize that this is very short notice, and we apologize for this, but we would love you to be part of our event.
The conference will be held at Sojo University (4 Chome-22-1 Ikeda, Nishi Ward, Kumamoto, 860-0082) from February 2nd (Friday) afternoon to Sunday 4th. The main conference will be on Saturday, February 3rd. Please consider joining us on Friday from 17:00 for the pre-conference workshop and networking event, and all day on Saturday (starting at 10:00). The event will be face-to-face, and hybrid. We expect around 70 attendees. (At the 2023 SUTLF Conference, there were about 60 attendees.) BRAIN SIG is one of the most active SIGs in JALT and holding the conference at this attractive location in Kumamoto always draws a lot of local JALT members and non-JALT educators from the area.
Here is the conference website https://events.jalt.org/event/5/. The conference theme is Language Teaching and Brain Science. Presentations on topics related to brain science and to other topics relevant to educators will be welcomed. The attendees will be primarily educators from schools, colleges and universities around Japan. The conference features a plenary talk by Glenn Magee (BRAIN SIG Publicity Chair and doctoral candidate at Anaheim University) on the theme “Hidden Connections: Relationships, Neuroscience, and Language Teaching” and a fun but informative workshop led by Jennifer Green and myself on “Profane Language in the Brain and the Language Classroom”.There will also be research and practice-based presentations that we anticipate will be of high interest to language educators.
BRAIN SIG is currently among the larger JALT special interest groups with a membership of over 110 SIG members and 1900 subscribers in 70 countries to the monthly Think Tank online magazines. The NanKyu chapter has 50 members. In addition, both BRAIN SIG and NanKyu chapter are continuously endeavoring to expand our reach by promoting inclusion and providing value to our members through events such as this conference. We believe that the combination of AM presentations and displays and our conference theme will attract teachers, widen their perspectives, and enhance their teaching practices. Our package for AMs is explained below:
JALT AM package
10,000 yen for event sponsorship including (1) a table/booth to display your company’s marketing material, (2) A 25-minute unvetted face-to-face promotional presentation, and (3) PR in our advertising and event program.
The deadline for committing to sponsor the event is January 17th , 2024. If you are not able to join via one of the options above, you may also want to sponsor a speaker through the regular vetting process. The call for proposals can be found at https://events.jalt.org/event/5/.
We are committed to supporting teachers in Japan and overseas and are looking forward to working with you at this event. Please contact me directly at this email address: brainsig+coordinator@gmail.com if you have questions.
Yours sincerely,
Amanda Gillis-Furutaka BRAIN SIG Coordinator