Dr Phyllis Chew and Prof Suchada Nimmannit, President of Thailand TESOL, signing the first agreement.
ELLTA(S) Signs Early Agreements
for PAC Membership
Report by Dr Robyn Cox
Vice-President, ELLTA(S)
Dr Phyllis Chew, President of ELLTA(S), signed agreements with three South East Asian TESOL Associations -- Thailand TESOL, Korea TESOL, and English Teachers' Association (Republic of China) on Thursday, 23 January 2003, during the Thailand TESOL conference.
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Dr Phyllis Chew and Prof Suchada Nimmannit, President of Thailand TESOL, signing the first agreement. |
These agreements mark the beginning of ELLTA(S) gaining membership of the prestigious Pan Asia Consortium of Language Teachers (PAC), which consists of Korea TESOL, Japan Association of Language Teaching (JALT), English Teaching Association of the Republic of China (ETA-ROC), Thailand TESOL, and Far Eastern English Language Teachers' Association (FEELTA, Russia). Once ELLTA(S) is a full member of PAC then the teacher members of ELLTA(S) will have a chance to affiliate with regional groups and to find out what is happening regionally and/or to attend and present Singapore-based teaching ideas at these regional conferences.
This new opportunity for ELLTA(S)' membership of PAC comes above the membership privileges that ELLTA(S) already offers, such as:
The first agreement which was signed was with Professor Suchada Nimmannit, President of Thailand TESOL, the host of the Thailand TESOL conference.
The second agreement was signed with Robert Dickey, Immediate Past President of Korea TESOL.
The final agreement was signed between Professor Andy Leung Yiu-nam from the English Teachers' Association of Republic of China ETA-ROC.
After these signings, there was a PAC meeting at which Dr Phyllis Chew and the Vice President of ELLTA(S) Dr Robyn Cox were able to attend as representatives of ELLTA(S) in the run up to formal acceptance into the PAC organization.
 Dr Phyllis Chew and Robert Dickey, Immediate Past President of Korea TESOL, signing the second agreement. |
 Dr Phyllis Chew and Prof Andy Leung (ETA-ROC) signing the third agreement. |
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There was discussion about the forthcoming PAC 5 conference at Vladivostock, Russia, in November 2004. Previous PAC conferences have been hosted by PAC members, as follows:
Here are some answers to questions about the PAC conferences When was the PAC series of conferences initiated? In 1994, when an agreement and eight-year business plan was signed by Korea TESOL and JALT (Japan Association for Language Teaching). Thailand TESOL signed the agreement shortly afterwards. Why was PAC begun? Because of the need for more efficient and creative methods of teaching English-as-an-Asian language. Did you know? PAC was placed under the patronage of Her Right Honorable Princess Galyani Vadhana Krom Luang Naradhiwas Rajanagarinda of Thailand at the First Pan-Asia Conference held in Bangkok, January, 1997. |
A final photograph was taken of the whole group present at the ELLTA(S) signings.
 From left to right: Simon Grenall (Chair of IATEFL, Britain), Prof Denise Murray, Past President TESOL (USA), Naraporn Chan-Ocha, Immediate Past President, Thailand TESOL, Robert Dickey, Immediate Past President Korea TESOL, Prof Suchada Nimmannit, President Thailand TESOL, Dr Robyn Cox, Vice President ELLTA(S) (Singapore), Dr Phyllis Chew, President ELLTA(S) (Singapore), S Gunakumaran, Secretary MELTAS (Malaysia), Chaleosri Pibulchol, President Elect Thailand TESOL, and Prof Andy Leung Yiu-nam, ETA-ROC. |
As to the future signings and ELLTA(S)' acceptance into PAC, this will move closer during 2003. We are hoping to sign with JALT at the forthcoming TESOL conference in Baltimore, USA, or at the upcoming IATEFL conference in Brighton, United Kingdom.
The ELLTA(S) members attending the Thailand TESOL conference managed to meet with some of the JALT members who were also delegates at the conference.
 Dr Phyllis Chew greets a JALT executive member in the foyer of the conference venue after a hard day of discussions and paper attendance. |