PAC Meeting Minutes

In attendance:
PAC Partner Official Representatives
JALT  Steven Nishida (Meeting Chair)
KOTESOL  Phil Owen
Thai TESOL  Maneepen Apibalsri
FEELTA  Galina Lovtsevich
ETA-ROC Taiwan  Johanna Katchen
ELLTAS  (not in attendance, but voting rights were kindly waived in writing by ELLTAS President to allow PAC business to be conducted; see below)
PALT  Helen Parcon (PALT was accepted as a full member of PAC mid-way through the meeting).

Others in attendance:
Ubon Sanpatchayapong  Thai TESOL
Sayoko Yamashita  JALT
William Balsamo  JALT
Robert J. Dickey  KOTESOL
Marilyn Plumlee  KOTESOL
Richmond Stroupe  JALT
Suchada Nimmannitt  Thai TESOL
Juanita Heigham  JALT
Paul Mahoney  CamTESOL
Perry Roebuck  Thai TESOL
Ted O'Neill  JALT
Alan Mackenzie  British Council
Denise Murray  TESOL
Stephen Ryan  FEELTA
Edizon A. Fermin  PALT
Margarita C Ballestros  PALT
Carl Dusthimer  KOTESOL
 

Meeting called to order at 16:35.

Comment from the meeting Chair: Time is limited. We have 60 minutes to cover a full agenda, so it is likely that some items will have to be moved to our (underutilized) email list for further discussion.

Roll call (With the exception of FEELTA, all PAC partner associations were represented to start the meeting. Galina Lovetsevich arrived to represent FEELTA at 16:56, all votes were held until she arrived and quorum was reached.)

Old Business

None.

Point of Clarification

The unanimous consent issue:
The issue of unanimous consent for all PAC decisions was revisited as some reps wanted to hear why such an inconvenient policy had been implemented. It was explained that the regulations (see http://www.pac-teach.org/admin/ ) were written when PAC had only 3 members. All representatives present agreed that it would be worth investigating whether some of PAC's regulations need to be amended/replaced to reflect the current makeup of the consortium.

It was agreed this investigation would be moved online.

New Business

1.  ELLTAS non-participation during 2007

One PAC partner, ELLTAS (of Singapore), was not represented at the meeting. However, ELLTAS President Maha Sripathy kindly sent along an email communication which stated clearly that ELLTAS had voluntarily withdrawn its participation during 2007: "It is with great sadness that [I] announce that ELLTAS will hold off any participation till 2008."  During the PAC 6 meeting, ELLTAS' letter was recognized by the PAC partner association representatives present as a self-declaration of non-participation during 2007, allowing a full quorum to be reached, and allowing PALT to be accepted as a full member of PAC although they had not yet signed a reciprocal agreement with ELLTAS.

(Note from Meeting Chair: Special thanks to ELLTAS' leadership for allowing PAC business to be conducted as a direct result of this conscientious communication.)

2.  Acceptance of PALT to the PAC consortium

PALT was accepted unanimously as PAC's newest partner association.

(The ceremony at which KOTESOL and PALT signed their reciprocal agreements was actually held immediately following the PAC meeting. The PAC partners voted unanimously to treat the documents as signed, allowing PALT's acceptance as a full PAC partner.)

(Note from meeting chair: A joyous and monumental occasion indeed!)

Helen Parcon (PALT): "Thank you very much for accepting us as the youngest member of PAC!"

3.  The PAC discussion list

There has been periodic confusion regarding the PAC discussion list, often when new representatives join the list, as to the following: i) who is on the list, ii) how the list functions, and iii) what the list should be used for. In order to avoid such confusion in the future, and in order to encourage regular use of the list, periodic clarification of the 3 points above would be helpful.

After a brief history of the PAC list was provided by Robert Dickey of KOTESOL and confirmed by Suchada Nimmannitt (ThaiTESOL), the following points were agreed:

i)  A maximum of 10 representatives per PAC partner association will be allowed to post messages to the PAC list. This is an increase from the previous maximum of 3 representatives per partner association.

ii)  Each PAC partner association has one vote only and each association agrees to declare who its online voting representative will be.

iii)  The list should be used as a means to facilitate discussions related to the PAC activities and operations. Votes may (should?) be held online to expedite the decision-making process and to ensure that all PAC partner associations are represented when possible.
 

Suggestion from meeting chair: After hearing initial reactions, let's embark on a fuller discussion on list and start using the list as it was intended to be used.

Marilyn Plumlee (KOTESOL): Supports this idea in principle and would like to pursue it further, especially as planning committees need to secure an appropriate venue well in advance.

Meeting chair (JALT): JALT would like to see the process become as clear and cooperative as possible to avoid unnecessary tension and/or confusion regarding future conference hosts.

Alan Mackenzie (B.C.): "It was my understanding that the most recent PAC partner was meant to host the next PAC conference. Is that correct?" (eyebrows raised in the direction of PALT's representatives;-)

Meeting chair: That's one of the issues we'll need to address in our online discussion.

(Tabled for further discussion on the PAC list.)

5.  Can we 'pencil in' the next 1, 2, 3 conference hosts?

(This agenda item was also tabled for further discussion on the PAC list.)

6.  Raising the profile of PAC through partner association activities.

Stephen Ryan of FEELTA led a discussion on the merits of raising the visibility of PAC as a brand and as an entity that binds us all together, especially in the years between conferences. This has been suggested frequently over the past 2-3 years. We should think about some practical ways of ensuring that there each of our local conferences includes PAC elements, perhaps highlighting activities and/or representatives of partner associations.

Robert Dickey (KOTESOL): We have to be careful to differentiate which of our partners and affiliates are connected with PAC and be careful not to create confusion or ill feelings by placing heavy emphasis on PAC partners. (PAC 3 and the misunderstanding that KATE (another partner of JALT) was a PAC partner was cited as an example).

(Tabled for further discussion on the PAC list—discussion to be led by Stephen Ryan (FEELTA.)

7.  Is PAC ready to consider and/or commit to the idea of China as a 'guest' host for a PAC conference?
(cf. Wu Zongjie's suggestion at the Nov 2006 PAC meeting in Kokura, Japan. He has volunteered enthusiastically to be the local contact once we are ready to move forward.)

Background provided by meeting chair: Due to its challenging political climate, Chinese educators are unable to form national associations on par with PAC partner associations. This preempts the possibility of reciprocal agreements, and in turn membership in PAC, with teacher associations in China. Nonetheless, some PAC partners are interested in investigating the possibility of collaboration with colleagues in China. Wu Zongjie has offered to mediate discussions on that front and has suggested a conference hosted in China as a first step.

Summary of responses:

- Unless we are talking about cooperating with a specific association of language educators, setting goals and fostering sustainable ties becomes difficult (impossible?).

- Additionally, it's unclear what it would mean to host a "PAC" conference in China if it will primarily serve to raise the profile of the organizers and their institution(s) and not a larger body of language teaching professionals.

- It may be worthwhile pursuing a discussion on list to establish guidelines in anticipation of similar situations in other regions.

- Finally, in the case of China, it is clear from past precedence that the Chinese government will not allow activities by any organization that recognizes the government of Taiwan or a 'Taiwanese' teaching association—effectively making PAC activities impossible in China.

8.  PAC's Strategic Goals and possible regional collaboration with the British Council.

Alan Mackenzie (British Council, Thailand ):

- Being in contact with local British Council representatives can give PAC partner associations, and PAC on the whole, increased access to project and speaker funding, as well as cooperation toward other ELT activities in the area.

- Regional BC offices may also provide inroads to areas in which no nationwide language teaching association exists (E.g. China.)

- PAC needs to raise its profile, as a fair number of ELT professionals in Asia have no idea what PAC is.

- Following up on the objectives of the PAC Journal idea, I (Alan) am approaching the BC for funding to produce a publication which aims to encourage a wider readership for the excellent research being done in Asia. Simultaneously, the publication would serve to raise the profile of PAC, its member associations, and the publications produced by each PAC partner. If approved, this project would allow BC to function as a conduit to encourage international distribution of papers that have already been published in Asia-based journals (i.e. produced by Asian universities, language teacher associations, etc.).

9.  PAC 7

Date:  November 21-24, 2008 (Tentative)

Location:  National Olympic Memorial Youth Center, Yoyogi, Tokyo (Japan)

Theme: ?

Main Speakers: ?

Suggestions for the theme and main speaker selection process, as well as recommendations on how to make PAC partner collaboration a highlight of the conference to be discussed online. Discussion to be led by JALT Director of Program, Phil McCasland.

Meeting adjourned at 19:38.
 

The minutes were taken by Steven Nishida, JALT Vice President. This version was last updated  October 13, 2007.