Warm greetings to you all!

I have been truly blessed in this issue! Why is that so? Well, there have been great contributors who have kept their collective noses to the grindstone in order that we might finish multiple revisions earlier than ever before; a delightful co-editor, Kenneth, whom I respect and like working with; a wonderfully creative team of energetic officers at the helm of our VDMIS ship; and, finally, the patient and helpful TESOL staff who have posted our newsletter yet once again to the Internet. Thank you all!

I have lived in Japan now for nearly 20 years and love this country with its incredibly beautiful scenery and traditional buildings, and its polite, industrious, and kind people. I am starting the final 3 years of my teaching career in English as a tenured professor at a new university while still retaining one course at Ibaraki University, where I retired 2 years ago as Professor Emerita. Many sincere thanks to Ibaraki University for that unexpected honour. Before retiring, I served more than 14 years as co-editor of a four-page column in The Language Teacher, the bimonthly magazine of the Japan Association for Language Teaching (JALT). Now, occasionally on weekends, I dabble in part-time work as a “minister” for a wedding company, which caters to Japanese couples wishing to live out their fantasies of a western wedding. Believe me that there are many fascinating adventures behind that photo of the happy smiling couple. After teaching for so many years, it’s like starting all over again in a brand new career, and I find it utterly enthralling. The photo is from a workshop I gave recently on Anne of Green Gables, just in case you are wondering if I have a strange fixation or if all the work on the newsletter has caused me to become slightly unhinged. It’s the best I could manage for the time being.

Finally, on a more serious note with regards to our twice yearly newsletters, I want to encourage you all to submit articles of interest (approx. 1,500 words) or shorter reports (300 words) about book reviews, polls, calls for papers, conferences in your city, and so on, in the areas of video, digital media, art, and music. Sharing your experiences, research, and insights will most certainly benefit our group as a whole. If you give presentations to your local TESOL chapters between now and the next TESOL conference, please consider writing them up for us, too. Both Kenneth and I are waiting for you and encourage you warmly to do so. If you wish to submit for the upcoming issue, please send by 4 January to Kenneth Chyi.

Wishing you all much success in your teaching endeavours,

Joyce Cunningham