PAC Meeting Minutes

Return to
PAC Minutes Index

Meeting held during Thailand TESOL Conference (Bangkok, Thailand): Thursday January 20, 2005, 5:40 p.m. to 6:45 p.m.

In attendance:

Chaleosri Pibulchol – Thai TESOL – Meeting Chair
Maneepen Apibalsri – Thai TESOL
Santhana Suthadarat – Thai TESOL
Leung Yiu Nam (Andy) – ETA-ROC
Dai Wei-yang – ETA-ROC
Johanna Katchen – ETA-ROC
Steve Brown – JALT
Sayoko Yamashita – JALT
Mary Christianson – JALT (Recorder) – records@jalt.org
Maria Lisak – KOTESOL
Phyllis Chew – ELLTAS
Ganakumaran Subramaniam – MELTA
Edizon A. Fermin – PALT
Denise Murray – TESOL, ATESOL
(FEELTA could not send a representative this time)

The meeting began at 5:40pm

I.   Chaleosri Pibulchol (ThaiTESOL) gave gifts to welcome the representatives from each PAC member organization and thanked them for coming.

II.  Andy Leung (ETA-ROC) gave a report from the last PAC meeting at the JALT conference in Nara (November 2004)
    1. It was confirmed that the next PAC conference (PAC6) would be hosted by Thai TESOL in January 2007.
    2. The theme will be determined by Thai TESOL – preliminary idea “Critical Pedagogy and Learning”.
    3. The idea had been brought up that there should be some other PAC activities in the years between PAC conferences – on a smaller scale, perhaps a symposium, workshop or panel

III.  Discussion of small-scale PAC activities for 2005-2006
    1. Steve Brown (JALT) commented on the impact of the Asia TEFL organization, and that PAC must respond by maintaining the frequency of its activities. If we don’t organize anything for a long time, we may lose our effectiveness as an organization.
          i. PAC should have more visibility
         ii. PAC should be planning its conferences several years in advance, not only for the next conference
        iii. For JALT, it is not that much more effort to organize a PAC conference than a regular JALT conference – how about for other organizations?
    2. Johanna Katchen (ETA-ROC) commented that at this level, all that’s needed is publicity, time slots, and organizing for panelists to come – but what format?
          i. Symposium style: If we did this, it would involve some preparation – there would have to be an organizer, and panelists would have to prepare some paper to present with the aim of publishing the paper.
         ii. Featured Panel Discussion: This format would be informal, quick and easy to prepare, easily recycled at different conferences. (Phyllis Chew recommended this style.)
    3. Phyllis Chew reported that ELLTAS is having their next conference March 16, 2005 in Singapore. She sees the need to have a PAC Panel at this conference in order to
          i. educate the language teaching public about ELT in other countries
         ii. raise the visibility of PAC and its member organizations,
        iii. to proclaim ELLTAS’ membership in PAC (finalized in 2004)
     4. PAC representatives used to be sent as featured speakers, but this has changed – Phyllis Chew suggested that perhaps we should bring this idea back
     5. Ganakumaran Subramaniam (MELTA) mentioned that it would be desirable if something concrete (a paper, a project, a plan) could come out of these panels/ roundtables/ activities.
     6. Each country / group has its own needs (such as ELLTAS’ above), so the PAC activities/events should be designed especially to meet those needs.
     7. Plan for 2005-2007
          i. March 2005 – Panel discussion in Singapore
         ii. Fall 2005 – Advertise Call for Papers in ETA-ROC, KOTESOL and JALT conference handbooks.
             (1) Perhaps also do PAC Panel discussions? This depends totally on the member organizations conference committee organizers.
             (2) KOTESOL may be able to arrange something(?)
         iii. Summer 2006 – Ask FEELTA if they would be interested in hosting some small-scale PAC activities
         iv. Fall 2006 – Further publicity for PAC in Bangkok, possibly more panel discussions
             (1) ETA-ROC is interested in doing a panel discussion about assessment systems in PAC countries (panelists would prepare summaries in advance)
          v. We need an open invitation to all PAC members for 2005-2006 – What kind of event could member organizations put on which would promote the PAC partnership in the lead-up to PAC6? (for example: PAC panels or forums at their conferences, etc.)
         vi. Who should be in charge of facilitating these activities?
              (1) There needs to be a point of contact, and someone to make sure that everyone is informed about the activities that are being organized.
              (2) Chaleosri Pibulchol suggested that the organization in charge of the upcoming PAC conference should do this
              (3) Others felt that it’s too much pressure for that group
              (4) Maria Lisak (KOTESOL) volunteered to get this information updated on the PAC website so all groups could stay informed.
              (5) Johanna Katchen volunteered to be the contact person who would gather the information from each group for the website.

IV.  PAC6 Call for Papers should go to ETA-ROC, KOTESOL and JALT for their conference handbooks by August 15th, 2005.
      1. Essential information – website, contact person, date and location of conference
      2. Possibly also some information about PAC?
      3. Other details can come later

V.  PAC website matters < http://www.pac-teach.org/ >
      1. Maria Lisak mentioned that we need to make sure that each member organization’s website is linked up to the PAC website and vice versa.
      2. Should also include information for potential member groups about how to join PAC
      3. Should have a mission statement (recorder’s note: the mission statement does appear on the PAC website)
      4. Needs to be updated regularly (at least once a year)

VI.  Applications for PAC Membership
      1. The PALT representative Edizon A. Fermin announced PALT’s intention to join PAC.
           i. He distributed PALT publications, and bylaws and regulations.
          ii. PALT will soon become a TESOL affiliate
         iii. PALT is the longest running ELT organization in the Philippines (44 years) and has the largest membership of any Philippine ELT group (540 active members)
      2. The MELTA representative Ganakumaran Subramaniam also formally announced its intention to join PAC.
      3. The PALT and MELTA representatives were informed by Phyllis Chew of ELLTAS about the procedure for applying for membership
          i. New member applicants must sign individual agreements with each existing member group.
         ii. This can be difficult with JALT because their Executive Board must approve the partnership – this board only meets 3 times a year (winter, summer and fall), so timing is important.
        iii. They should communicate by email with the presidents of all PAC member groups in order to facilitate this process.
      4. Chaleosri Pibulchol proposed that, once they have signed agreements with each PAC member organization, PALT and MELTA be accepted as member organizations of PAC. This proposal was approved by acclamation.

VII. PAC needs a “Secretariat”
      1. This would be an individual who will be a point of contact to the public.
      2. It was suggested that the Affiliate who will host the next PAC conference appoints a person to be the Secretariat.

The meeting ended at 6:45pm.

The minutes were taken by Mary Christianson, JALT Director of Records, and checked by all meeting attendees. This revised version was last updated February 7, 2005.