ELLTAS Annual Report 2007

 

After a difficult year, putting the Association in order, ELLTAS started the new society year in October 2006 with a talk entitled “ Does the World Understand Us: Spoken English in Singapore”. This session, which was attended by teachers in the West Zone was conducted by Assoc. Prof Low Ee Ling from the National Institute of Education. This was followed by a talk in November 2006 for parents on “Preparing for Primary One”. The talk, held at Stamford Primary School, was presented by Dr. Maha Sripathy and Mr. Jeremy Tan - a parent who shared his experiences and knowledge of home schooling his two sons. This talk was well received and several parents requested for more sessions on reading and book selection. Information on workshops for teachers was sent out to schools in December 2006. However, given that less than twenty participants expressed interest in the various workshops, ELLTAS could not run the workshops because they were not economically viable to do so. December 2006 and January 2007 were quiet months.

 

The ELLTAS Constitutional changes were approved by the Registrar of Societies in January 2007.

 

In December 2006, ELLTAS approached Singapore Press Holdings Foundation (SPHF) to sponsor the ELLTAS Conference for teachers. The first meeting was held in late January 2007 and following a concept paper presented to SPHF in February, approval was finally received on 21 March 2007. The conference “Multiliteracies: Connecting with the Language Classroom” was aimed at providing language teachers with pedagogic knowledge on the teaching of multiliteracies. SPHF agreed to a sponsorship amount of

$60 000 and 500 teachers were targeted. With the professional assistance of Spark Planners, information was disseminated to all local and international schools and institutions of higher learning. The response was lukewarm and upon investigation, it was discovered that the email blast done by the conference planners had not reached the teachers due to technical problems. A second email blast was done. Checks showed that teachers were still not receiving the information. It was then decided that Spark Planners would fax through the information to all schools. This was only possible three weeks before the conference. The Conference Secretariat diligently called up schools and chased for registration and payments. However, due to the delays, it was understood that various schools and teachers had already planned for programmes during the June holidays and committed to various activities. As a result, ELLTAS received only 180 registrations.

 

Despite the shortfall in expected numbers, The Multiliteracies Conference was well received by teachers. Positive feedback from participants indicated the success of conference content and organization. Prof Koh Tai Ann, from the School of Humanities, NTU delivered the keynote address. Assistant Professors Mark Chavez from NTU and Tan Sun Sun from NUS gave the two plenary addresses. The conference budget was exceeded by $300. This deficit will be reimbursed to SPHF using ELLTAS funds.

 

ELLTAS invited Prof Koh Tai Ann to be the Advisor (2007-2008). Prof Koh has been very active in the field of Language and Literature and is known for her passion in promoting the use of Good English, particularly amongst teachers in Singapore. She has been very supportive and enthusiastic in placing ELLTAS on the professional map of English Language teachers in Singapore.

 

With the Association’s matters (Constitutional Amendments and appointment of Advisor) having been settled, ELLTAS is now ready to embark on a membership drive and to organize professional and informative content workshops for teachers and parents on a regular basis. Today’s talk on Book Selection is the first in the series of talks/ workshops to kick start the new society year. This will be followed by a talk on “Learning the Language of Science” in September 2007.

 

On behalf of the Executive Committee, I wish to thank all members for their support and invite them to come forward to contribute and participate in the growth of ELLTAS- the association for all English Language teachers.

 

President

Dr. Maha Sripathy

27 July 2007

 

 

 

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