Welcome to 2008, The Year of the Rat. If you are also a rat, like me, you might enjoy this:
Wikipedia's article on "The Rat: Sign of the Zodiac" (Harry Potter's mum and dad were rats, too, by the way). And, with a bit of old back-to-the-future, welcome to the last Between The Keys for 2007 and my first as the new editor. I hope I can keep up the fine work of my predecessor, Jim Smiley. That will be, for the most part, determined by you, our members. It always seems to be quite a struggle to gather enough for an edition of BTK. This has always surprised me considering the contributions from MW-SIG members at conferences and the fact that, as materials writers, most of us are ferreting away at something or other, either on the academic side or the practical. It would be nice to see overviews of up-coming or successfully delivered presentations, or even just a commentary on ideas or approaches you use. So, take a look at what you are doing, write it up (in an organized fashion, please!) and send it in to The Editor.
In this edition of Between The Keys we have a cross-section of pieces. We have some administrative pieces. Firstly, Suzy Connor, our new Records Officer, offers us the not-to-be-missed Minutes of the 2007 Annual General Meeting, held during the JALT Annual Conference in November. Ratified changes to the MW-SIG Constitution, voted on during the AGM will also entertain us. Our feature article is by Jamar Miller who, with somewhat of an understatement, delves into various aspects and models of lesson planning. Jane Joritz-Nakagawa reports on the inaugural Japan Writers Conference, which she also helped to organise (congratulations!). We hope that both the conference and also a report on it can become a regular yearly feature. Robert Long gives us his candid opinion of some pitfalls with traditional publishing and floats the idea of 'The Writer's Cooperative'. Kris Bayne kicks off a new column, 'Toot Your Own Horn', as an avenue to learn a little more about each other through self-introduction. And, as usual, we have our always thoughtful and though-provoking Coordinator's Report from Jim Smiley.
Enjoy and engage!
Kris Bayne
Editor