Message from JETAA International Chair Shree Kurlekar
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The following is the text of an e-mail sent out to the JETAA chapter representatives listserve by newly elected JETAA International Chair Shree Kurlekar (Shiga-ken, 2005-07). With Shree’s permission, we’re re-posting a slightly edited version here on JetWit for the benefit of the JET alumni community. For more information about JETAA International, you can visit the website at http://jetalumni.org.
Greetings members of the JET alumni community,
My name is Shree Kurlekar and I was elected Chair of JETAA International at the JETAAI meeting October 1-3 in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Here’s a list of what will be covered below:
1. Introduction to me and the new JETAAI Board
2. The Future of JET and JETAA
3. 2010-11 Action Plan for Country Representatives
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1. Introduction to me and the new JETAAI Board
A little bit about my-self… I was on the JET program from 2005-2007 in Shiga-ken. I returned from Japan to the United States in September 2007 and have been living in New York City. In true JET alumni form, I am once again planning a life move, this time to London, England, where I will reside beginning January 2011.
My involvement in JETAA started as the Vice President of the New York Chapter in 2008. I have been one of the three JETAA USA Country Representatives since 2009 and am very happy to be leading as Chair of JETAAI.
The 2010 International Meeting was held in Edinburgh, Scotland from October 1-3, 2010. Country Representatives from 13 of the 19 International countries attended. Unfortunately, due to changes in the budget for both CLAIR and MOFA, there will not be an International Meeting in 2011. However, CLAIR and MOFA will revisit feasibility of funding for an International Meeting in 2012 and one of our missions for the Executive Board is to provide ideas and suggestions for additional funding.
The new JETAAI board elected at the International Meeting are:
- Chair- Shree Kulekar, USA: jetaainternationalchair@gmail.com
- Vice Chair- Barbara Gill, Scotland: jetaainternationalvicechair@gmail.com
- Secretary- Kay Dunkley, Jamaica: jetaainternationalsecretary@gmail.com
- PR- David Boyd, Australia: jetaainternationalpr@gmail.com
- Webmaster (non-elected position)- Paul Donovan (Canada) & Bob Schnyder (USA): jetaainternationalweb@gmail.com
2. Future of JET and JETAA
I am sure that across the world in your local chapters the subject of the future of the JET program and JETAA has been at the forefront. This past summer, in Sydney and New York City, an auditor from Japan came to meet with the JETAA members of those chapters to learn about exactly what the organizations do on a local level.
As I am still currently a USA Country Representative and live in NYC, I was lucky enough to be asked to attend the meeting with the auditor. In short, it went very well in both cities. We provided the Minister with some resources that I will speak about more later and described some of our local activities like the pre-departure seminar, cultural activities, etc.
I also attended both the JETAA USA National Conference and of course, the International Meeting and across the board representatives from CLAIR and MOFA have assured that JET and JETAA would not be cut in the near future. The Japanese Government is currently trying to define the success and value of JETs (English teaching vs. grassroots internationalization) and is looking at ways to better utilize JETs in Japan.
In that, JETAAI would like your help in putting together resources that will help us align our organization and easily allow us to show our worth.
The first resource that we need your help with was also the most important result of the International Meeting. At the meeting the delegates discussed our future and tried to come up with a “Statement of Purpose.” You will find a draft put together by our out-going vice chair Ryan Hart attached here, it is titled “JETAA International Positions Itself for the Future,” We would like you all to review it and share it with your local chapters so that we can collect feedback to construct the final draft. Please send feedback to Kay Dunkley at jetaainternationalsecretary@gmail.com.
Second, at the end of the JETAAUSA National conference, JETAAUSA released a press release stating, “The JET Program and JETAA are crucial to Japan’s international outreach and to increasing mutual understanding between Japan and the United States. JETAAUSA hopes that upon review, the Japanese government will rediscover the necessity and value of the JET Program and JETAA. Japan needs both JET and JETAA to continue building bridges between Japan and the United States.” This press release actually brought a lot of positive attention to JETAAUSA and JETAAI and multiple articles have been written about the alumni organization. The rest of the press release can be found as an attachment. If your chapters have put together anything like this or have suggestions for creating a template for other chapters to get media attention, please send feedback to our PR person, David Boyd at jetaainternationalpr@gmail.com
Third, we would like to have your chapter reports/election cycles, ASAP to Kay Dunkley at jetaainternationalsecretary@gmail.com. Both of these things are important for us to help MOFA and CLAIR show the Japanese government and public that it is beneficial to them to continue to fund our organizations. The reports show the events that we conduct and the election information show that we make our chapters accountable. Other resources that JETAAI suggest local chapters work to put together include a database of members including professional positions, relevant local articles on JETAA or the JET program and testimonials from members. I know that many chapters have already begun this and we would love to hear about it.
3. 2010-11 Action Plan for Country Representatives
Also attached [to the e-mail that was sent] is the Country Representatives Action Plan 2010-2011. As there is no International Meeting planned for 2011, you will see that some of the Action Items have had to be revised. I know that this was a lot of information but we believe that now is the time that we can really move forward as an aligned organization. As always, please visit the JETAAi website and get some ideas for events from other chapters across the world. We would also appreciate you forwarding this e-mail to all of your local e-mail lists.
Thank you very much for all the hard work you do,
Shree Kurlekar
Chair, JETAA International
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