AGM

Minutes : JTAN AGM Meeting

Date:	20 October 2007
Venue:	Japan Foundation Sydney
Present:	Naoko Abe, Yasu Abe, Miki Alves, Paul Apostolou, Dorothy Commons, Naoko Henschke, Mami Izushi, Yuichiro Kaihotsu, Angela Lam, Shoji Matsuura, Mitsunobu Miyashita, Yasuyo Narushima, Susan Robinson, Kyoko Rodgers, Helen Sarantopoulos, Teruko Sharif, Elizabeth Sugimoto
Apologies:	None
Minutes taker:	Liz Sugimoto
Meeting Started:	4:30 p.m.

Content		Action by whom/by when
1.	Opening	T.Sharif
2.	Minutes of last AGM read
	Moved that those minutes be accepted	H. Sarantopoulos
	Seconded by passed by	E. Sugimoto
	show of hands..all in favour
3.	President's Report (see JTAN website, Minutes tag) given	T.Sharif
	Report on 2006-2007 Workshops Metropolitan Regions	N. Henschke
	Moved that President's report be accepted	E. Sugimoto
	Seconded by	D.Commons
4.	Thank you to 2006-2007 Committee & Sub-Committees	T.Sharif
5.	Treasurer's report given	P. Apostolou
	Moved that Treasurer's report be accepted	T.Sharif
	Seconded by	D.Commons
6.	Exam Director's Report given	Angela Lam
	Moved that Exam Director's report be accepted	E.Sugimoto
	Seconded by	T.Sharif
7.	Members' requests, concerns, comments
	No concerns noted
8.	Constitution Review	H.Sarantopoulos
	Reasons behind changes to new Constitution given
	Changes to responsibilities of Committee Members noted
9.	Approval of the new Constitution
	Moved that new Constitution be accepted	H. Sarantopoulos
	Seconded by	E. Sugimoto
	Passed by show of hands..all in favour
	Passed by show of hands..all in favour	10 signatures gathered
10.	Returning Officer	Paul Apostolou
	Nomination and election of new Committee members
	Nominations received and accepted from the floor
	The following nominations were accepted, moved, seconded and elected:
	President: Miki Alves
	Moved accepted by	P. Apostolou
	Seconded by	Y. Kaihotsu
	Vice President: Helen Sarantopoulos
	Moved accepted by	T.Sharif
	Seconded by	P.Apostolou
	Secretary: Elizabeth Sugimoto
	Moved by	T.Sharif
	Seconded by	D.Commons
	Treasurer: Teruko Sharif
	Moved accepted by	D.Commons
	Seconded by	E.Sugimoto
	Exam Director: Naoko Henschke
	Moved by	P.Apostolou
	Seconded by	E.Sugimoto
	Communications Officer: Angela Lam
	Moved accepted by	N.Abe
	Seconded by	S. Robinson
	Workshop Co-ordinator: Mami Izuishi
	Moved by	E.Sugimoto
	Seconded by	N.Henschke
11.	Closing	M. Alves
	Next meeting ( within 3 weeks) for Committee to be decided and Committee members informed.

Meeting closed at 5.50pm

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President's Report

AGM - 20 Oct., 2007
Teruko Sharif

The Japanese Teachers' Association of NSW (JTAN) was formed in 2005. From a humble beginning we have grown steadily. Presently, JTAN has 127 members and its activities have become more dynamic. Thanks to numerous members who have contributed to its success and to the Japan Foundation, Dept. of Education and Training, and the AIS for their continuous support.

Below is an organisational summary of JTAN and its activities from 14 Oct., 2006 to 20 Oct., 2007.

A: MEMBERS

Presently JTAN has one hundred and twenty seven (127) full-rights members from schools and two honourary members from DET and AIS.

B: COMMITTEE

I thank particularly all the members of the Committee and Sub Committees for their contribution to JTAN. JTAN could not grow without their time, energy and dedication. The members were:

The Committee
President (Public Officer)	Teruko Sharif	St Aloysius' College
Vice President (Regions)	Naoko Henschke	Kambala School
Vice President (Registration)	Helen Salantopoulos	Penshurst Girls High School
Secretary	Elizabeth Sugimoto	North Sydney Boys' High School
Treasurer	Paul Apostolou	Sydney Grammar School
Assistant Treasurer	Naoko Abe	SCECGS Redlands
IT	Shoji Matsuura	SCECGS Redlands

The Sub Committee
Exam Director	Angela Lam	Sydney Girls High School
The names of the JTAN exam coordinators, writers and assessors remain anonymous.
Voice actors	Chika Aktsu	Girraween High School
	Shoji Matsuura	SCECGS Redlands
Regional Consultant - North	Motoko Christensen
Regional Consultant - West
Regional Consultant - South	Jane Holland

C: MEETINGS and COMMUNICATION

• Several Committee meetings (9 Dec., 2006, 26 Feb., 23 May, 5 Jul., 25 Aug., and 8 Oct., 2007) and frequent email communication between the Committee were held to plan and implement the activities and discuss issues.
• JTAN newsletters were distributed by the Secretary to members monthly and on special occasions.
• JTAN website (http://www.jtan.org.au) was managed by Hai Nguyen of Concat. Each event and other pieces of information were uploaded onto the JTAN website.
• JTAN members have been given individual passwords to log into the Member Area on the website.
• Email addresses were used by members to contact the Committee:
  teruko.sharif@staloysius.nsw.edu.au (contact person)
  enquire@jtan.org.au (Treasurer and General assistance)
  support@jtan.org.au (Technical assistance for JTAN website)
  Email addresses of the Committee and Sub Committee
• For postal mail, we opened an account at PO Box 863, Castle Hill, NSW 1765 for JTAN's Treasurer. Other mail was directed to St Aloysius' College, 47 Upper Pitt Street, Milsons Point, NSW 2061, attention to JTAN or Teruko Sharif.

D: WORKSHOPS and INSERVICES

All the workshops and inservice were very successful and appreciated by the participating teachers. Regrettably, however, a planned workshop for Term 4 2006 was postponed to Term 1 2007 due to less than minimum number of applications received by its application closing date. Non-JTAN members were also invited to the workshops and inservice.

1.	3 March (Sat.)	'Beginners - Programming and Planning for the new Syllabus' was held at the Japan Foundation Sydney. Paul Apostolou of Sydney Grammar School conducted the workshop and participating teachers programmed in groups. Naoko Henschke of Kambala School collated the programmes and distributed them to the participants.
2.	2 June (Sat.)	'Continuers - Year 12 Students' Workshop (Conversation and Listening skills)' was held at North Sydney Boys' High School, Crows Nest. Elizabeth Sugimoto of North Sydney Boys School. The speaking practice was organised by Elizabeth Sugimoto of North Sydney Boys' High School and teachers of participating students. The Listening section was conducted by Naoko Henschke of Kambala School. The worksheets made last year, which were created by Machiko Naito of SCECGS Redlands, Naoko Henschke and Teruko Sharif of St Aloysius' College, were used.
3.	16 June (Sat.)	'Continuers - Year 12 Students' Workshop (Conversation and Listening skills)' was held at Trinity Grammar School, Lismore. It was conducted by Motoko Christensen of North Region Committee, and teachers of participating students. JTAN arranged for Naoko Henschke to assist with the workshop in Lismore, but Naoko could not go there due to the flight cancellation.
4.	16 June (Sat.)	'Enhancing Teaching Skills - Stage 4' was held at the Japan Foundation Sydney. The inservice, 'Learning Styles' was lead by the guest speaker, Dr. Kinoshita-Thomson of the Univ. NSW. Following the inservice, Catherine Jin of Cranbrook School (Power point-Grammar), Hiromi Terley of Queenwood School for Girls (Games), Naoko Abe of SCECGS Redlands (Audacity) and Kyoko Rodgers of St Aloysius' Collage (Reading and analysis skill for Stage 4) shared their teaching ideas. University students were also invited to attend.
5.	25 August (Sat.)	'Listening skills for Stage 5 - using Audacity' was held at the Japan Foundation Sydney. Naoko Abe of SCECGS Redlands conducted the workshop and participating teachers created Listening assessment tasks with questions and sample answers. Naoko Henschke of Kambala School collated the master audio CD. The voice actors were Shoko Kuroki of Meridian College, Kyoko Rodgers of St Aloysius' College and Shoji Matsuura of SCECGS Redlands. Naoko Abe distributed the audio CDs with the script and the questions and sample answers to the participants.
6.	20 October (Sat.)	'Listening skills for Beginners - using Audacity' has been held at Japan Foundation Sydney. Paul Apostolou of Sydney Grammar School conducted the workshop and the participating teachers created Listening assessment tasks with questions and sample answers. Naoko Henschke of Kambala School will collate the master audio CD. Paul Apostolou will distribute the audio CDs with the script and the questions and sample answers to the participants.

E: GENERAL ISSUES

It is pleasing to see JTAN's progress and growth. However, over the last year it is regrettable to report that we have had three major issues that arose. The new committee members must try to work together to seek viable solutions to these problems. Below is a brief explanation and suggestions from the present Committee:

• The biggest issue that arose over the last year has been the enforcement of the embargo date rule for our Exams. As policy, JTAN only offers the sale of the examinations to schools. However, a coaching school was able to copy one of the papers and use it for other school students as the mock test for the Trial HSC Exam.
  Our present committee feels that we should require a signed statement acknowledging the embargo date rule from the teacher-in-charge and the Principal of a schools that purchase our exams. It is also recommended that we send a newsletter around the time of the exam period and remind teachers of the embargo date.
  
  
• The second issue is breach of copyright. It came to the attention of JTAN, during the writing process, there was sufficient text of an exam that a plagiarised text was presented as individual work. Fortunately it was discovered before publication and the examination were not compromised.
  The Committee suggests that the new JTAN Exam Director provides sufficient detailed instructions and guideline to new writers to avoid such a problem arising again. Also, to review with the sub-committee current copyright legislation and practices.
  
  
• The third issue is related to teachers in the country regions. There were requests to send all the materials used or created in our workshops without attendance by teachers.
  After careful discussion, the Committee decided not to grant the request. Also, the Committee suggests Regional Consultants to lead their area to work together more closely to create more practical material and run suitable workshops for the members of the particular region and network. JTAN Committee can arrange an assistant/advisor from other areas.
  
  
• The Members' Area on the JTAN website has had some excellent contributions this year.
  Hai Nguyen (our Website Designer) has advised that he has not found a solution for Logging in twice to get into the Member Area.

The end of the President's report (Pages 2 - 4 )

With my sincere thanks to all JTAN members.
Teruko Sharif

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Treasurers' Report

Mr. Paul Apostolou; Ms. Naoko Abe (Assistant)

A. FINANCIAL SUMMARY for 2006 - 2007 Financial Year

Japanese Teachers' Association of New South Wales
Financial Summary 1st Jul 2006 - 30th June 2007
Brought forward from 1st Feb 2007			$20,614.52
Accountant
Annual General Meeting (Dinner)		1322.30
Bank Fees		7.75
Bank Interest	56.31
Communication & Transport Allowance		2131.54
Community Care Insurance (2007-2008)		1094.74
Deposits	4735.00
Exam Assessors,Coordinators, Directors, Writers, Voice Actors		6250.00
Honorariums		7970.00
Memberships	7930.00
Office of Fair Trading (2007-2008)		105.00
Production, Recording & Duplication of Exam CDs 2007		5855.30
Refunds & Reimbursements		1125.00
Sale of Exams 2006 & 2007	27229.50
Stationery & Postage		1171.67
Website Design & Maintenance		380.00
Workshops:
Afternoon / Morning Teas		483.87
Presenters Payments		350.00
Term 4 2006 Beginners Programming Workshop	860.00
Term 1 2007 Beginners Workshop	855.00
Term 2 2007 Enhancing Stage 4 Workshop	415.00
Term 2 2007 Year 12 Speaking Day Workshop	2370.00
Year 12 Speaking Day Teacher Payments		2500.00
TOTAL as at 30th June 2007 =	$44,450.81	$30,747.17	$34,318.16

B. SUMMARY of INCOME and EXPENDITURE

In the 2006 - 2007 Financial Year, JTAN remains a non-profit educational organisation for Japanese teachers in New South Wales. As deemed by the Australian Taxation Office, its function is to serve, and monetary proceeds directed to the needs and objectives of its constituent members. In addition, its assets must not exceed $100,000.00 AUS otherwise it will be required to pay capital gains tax on all revenue and income.

JTAN and the Committee continue to review its accounting documentation, practices and procedures in order to abide by these, and other, guidelines and regulations - as set out by the Australian Taxation Office and Office of Fair Trading.

JTAN's main source of income is from the annual membership fees, proceeds from sales of the Annual Exam kits, and also the workshop and or inservice attendance fees.

JTAN's main expenditure concentrated on the production, recording and duplication of the JTAN Examination Kits. Accordingly, Examination assessors, coordinators, directors, writers, and voice actors were paid for their time and commitment.

Accordingly, honorariums were given to Committee members and workshop presenters for their extensive time, commitment, and to ensure the day-to-day administration, planning and implementation of the events and services of the organisation.

This year JTAN published the following Examination Kits:

1. Beginners Half Yearly Examination
   - created by the teachers who participated in the workshop on 14 Oct. 2006.
2. Beginners Preliminary Examination
3. Beginners Trial HSC Examination
4. Continuers Preliminary Examination
5. Continuers Trial HSC Examination
6. Extension Trial HSC Examination

Website maintenance, stationery and postage, communication and transport allowance were other incurred expenses.

As part of our requirements as an organisation, JTAN must take out Public Liability Cover Insurance. JTAN's current insurance provider is Local Community Insurance Services - Policy Number: 60 A 172000 PLB. JTAN is covered up to $10, 000,000.00 for Public and Product Liability; Personal Liability is up to $100,000.00.

JTAN also annually renews its registration with the Office of Fair Trading.

JTAN is currently in a strong financial position to seek further ways of providing additional quality inservices, resources, facilities, networking, and other teaching-learning strategies for its members in the next 2007-2008 Financial Year and beyond.

On behalf of the Assistant Treasurer, Naoko Abe, I would like to thank all JTAN members and the Committee for their continued support of JTAN and its events over the last year.

Paul Apostolou
Treasurer

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Exam Director's Report

Angela Lam

Six exam papers were produced. They are as follows.

Beginners Half Yearly Exam

Beginners Preliminary Exam

Continuers Preliminary Exam

Beginners Trial HSC Exam

Continuers Trial HSC Exam

Extension Trial HSC Exam

Some teams produced high quality exam paper within the time frame given. Only some changes are necessary. The production process went smoothly.

One team produced an exam paper that was full of mistakes and unsuitable for use (eg. inappropriate style and level, not testing students' grammar structures, kanji, etc.), even though this team missed the submission deadline by three weeks. However, with numerous emails and telephone conversations with the exam team and the assessor, the paper was finally completed.

One team produced an exam paper that was also packed with mistakes and was also inappropriate for use. The team was advised that major changes were necessary. However, this team was very offended because they believed their work was high quality. They made some changes reluctantly. Even so, the paper was still unsuitable for use. This team then said the whole process took too long and they refused to be involved in the paper any more. A compromise was reached and they agreed to re-write one reading passage. However, the passage was plagiarised from a textbook. In the end, JTAN Committee finished off the paper.

A professional studio was used for the recording of the listening section and copying of the CDs. All CDs were dispatched as per the advertised schedule.

Dilemma

1. A lot of people would like to use the exam paper but very few people want to contribute to writing the paper. It is very hard to find co-coordinators and writers (not assessors).
2. Some teachers have taught many years, but have limited knowledge about the HSC style of questions and are unable to produce the appropriate exam paper.
3. Some exam papers have lots of fundamental problems from the beginning. However, the writing team of the paper does not think the paper is inappropriate.

Discussion

1. Should JTAN ask the writers to declare that their work is original, not copied from other resources? What if they make a false declaration? Whose responsibility (JTAN or the writer) if there is a lawsuit?
2. What shall we do if there are lots of problems in the exam paper (eg., inappropriate style and level, not testing students' grammar structures, kanji, etc.) but the team refuses to make any change? (Of course, JTAN can withhold their payment, but it can be argued that they have WRITTEN an exam, although it is JTAN's decision not to use their work. Should such a team be paid?
3. When do we step in to reject the writing team's work and re-write another one?
4. Should Exam Committee members be restricted to JTAN members only?

Recommendation

Recommendation 1: Because there are many exams to be produced, the following schedule is recommended to avoid clashes in co-coordinating the exams. A lot of time is also allowed for changes after the first draft.

Work	Harf Yearly	Preliminary	Trial HSC
Start working	Early term 4	Early term 1	Early term 4
First draft due	Week 8, term 4	Week 8, term 1	Week 3, term 1
Assessing & Reviewing	Week 6, term 1	Week 7, term 2	Week 10, term 1
Dispatch	2nd week of term 1 holiday	Week 3, term 3	Week 7, term 2

1. Trial HSC: The teams for the trial exams start writing the exams at the beginning of term 4 (Year 12 teachers have more time in term 4 as well). The first draft should be ready early term 1, say week 3, the following year. The rest of term 1, 7 weeks, should be set aside for assessing, reviewing, making changes, etc. (Teachers are too busy to work on the JTAN paper in term 2 because term 2 is usually a busy term). Ideally the final version of the exam papers should be ready by the end of term 1 (If there is a team with major problems in the exam, missing their deadline, etc., there is still term 2 to catch up).
   
   

   Time Line	Work
   Early term 4 (Week 1, 2)	Start writing the Trial HSC Exams (Beginners, Continuers and Extension)
   Week 3, term 1	First draft due
   Week 4-10, term 1	Assessing, reviewing, changes
   Term 2	Time available to deal with problems, eg. A team missing the deadline and delaying the production, major problems in the exam, etc.

   
   
2. Beginners Half Yearly: The team starts writing the exam at the beginning of term 4.
   The first draft should be ready before the end of term 4 (so that it does not clash with the trial). Assessing, reviewing and making changes follow. This should be completed mid term 1, say week 6. Recording of listening and the CD production should be done by the end of term 1 so that the CDs are ready for dispatch early term 2.
   
   
3. Preliminary Exams: The teams for the Preliminary Exams start writing the exams at the beginning of term 1. The first draft should be ready by week 8 of term 1. Then, assessing, reviewing, making changes, etc. should be completed by week 7 of term 2. Ideally the final version of the exam papers should be ready in week 7 of term 2. If there is a team with major problems in the exam, missing their deadline, etc., there are still a few weeks to catch up before the dispatch date in week 3 of term 3.
   
   

   Time Line	Work
   Early term 1 (Week 1, 2)	Start writing the Preliminary Exams (Beginners and Continuers)
   Week 8, term 1	First draft due
   Week 9, term 1 to Week 7, term 2	Assessing, reviewing, changes
   End of Term 2	Time available to deal with problems, eg. A team missing the deadline and delaying the production, major problems in the exam, etc.

   
   

Recommendation 2: Writers and Co-coordinators should be asked to sign a declaration guaranteeing that the work is original creation. The declaration should include the transfer of copyright of work to JTAN.

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Regional Consultant Report JTAN AGM OCT 21st, 2007

Name: Motoko Christensen

Region: * NSW North

Meetings:

JTAN Northern Region geographically covers a large area therefore we have unfortunately not been able to meet every member on the JTAN list. However the North Coast Region has regular MLTA/Collegial meetings (once a term) where JTAN's activities are tabled for discussion and circulated to members via email. Besides the circulation of these meetings' minutes, JTAN members have been in contact by email. We have been seeking advice on any activities the members wish to conduct around the region but so far there have been no replies.

Workshops

On 16th June 2007 JTAN North organised its first Workshop for Japanese Continuer's course students. The workshop offered students a chance to practise their oral and listening skills and to gather any information on HSC examination tactics. It was intended that Mrs. Naoko Henscheke would come up to assist in the running of this workshop. However due to poor weather earlier on that day, Naoko's flight from Sydney was cancelled at the last minute. Nevertheless the workshop went ahead with Motoko and a group of dedicated teachers from participating schools. The workshop was received favourably and appreciated by everyone who participated.

A tour around Northern NSW of The Rhythm Hunters: Taiko Performance was organised between 20th to 27th August. It is very difficult to organise such events for individual schools but if we can co-ordinate some dates, we can all organise some exciting cultural events for our students. Many JTAN members responded favourably via emails and the tour was conducted. All participating schools enjoyed the performances. Thank you for your support. If you have any other events that you think it is good to organise collectively, I encourage everyone to get together and schedule such events. We can also possibly organise a bus to go somewhere jointly and see some cultural events in cities.

Communication

Contacts were only made via email with people who had responded initially by sending their email address to Motoko. If anyone who wishes to be placed on the list, please let me know as soon as possible.

Travel

JTAN members and their students from Coffs Harbour, Grafton and within the north coast regions of Ballina and Lismore, travelled to attend the JTAN workshop mentioned above.

JTAN Support

The JTAN Year 12 Students Workshop mentioned above received financial support from JTAN Sydney. I would like to make a special note of our appreciation for their support.

Suggestions for improvement

Geographical distance prevents physical gathering of our members. Without any face to face contact, I think that it is sometimes difficult to have an open communication via email. Email discussion is usually one way communication. I would encourage every member to utilise this network for more communication and exchange of ideas.

It will be helpful to have some web-based discussion forum for each region as well as Sydney. I still have difficulty getting through to the homepage so somebody else might too. But once that's sorted the web based discussion and exchange of ideas should be relatively easy.

Motoko Christensen
1st October 2007

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