The Language Teacher
April 2002

Come to FEELTA4 in Blagoveschensk, Russia, June 24-26.

Stephen M. Ryan

FEELTA, the Russian Far Eastern English Language Teachers' Association, will hold its 4th international conference from June 24th to 26th, at Amur National University in Blagoveshchensk. It promises to be an exciting opportunity for language teachers from throughout the Far East to learn from each other.

FEELTA has held conferences every two years since 1996. Before that time, a conference organized by a professional association of language teachers was unheard of in the region. With a lot of dedication, limited resources, and boundless energy, Conference Chair Maria Lebedko and her team put together a world-class conference in Vladivostok on their first attempt. Since then, the organization has grown and each subsequent conference has introduced innovations and improvements.

For Russian teachers, the biennial conference offers a rare opportunity to meet with colleagues from around this far-flung region of Russia and discuss matters of professional interest, as well as networking with professionals from abroad. For teachers attending from outside Russia, it offers a fascinating window on language teaching in an area of the world that has been closed to us for many years.

The location of the conference alternates between Vladivostok and Blagoveshchensk, the host city of this year's conference, west of Khabarovsk on the Amur River, close to the border with China. Access is by plane to Khabarovsk (from Niigata, or via Vladivostok, from Toyama) and then an overnight ride on the Trans-Siberian Railway.

The theme is Quality in Language Teaching. Papers, workshops, and poster sessions will be held on a range of areas including English in the Pacific Rim, Business English, Teaching Literature, CALL, Interpreting and Translation, and Teacher Development.

Over 300 language teachers are expected to attend. As FEELTA is now a member of PAC, the Asian regional grouping of language teaching associations, it is expected that a number of teachers from Korea, Thailand, Taiwan, and Japan will also come.

What awaits them (and you) is a warm welcome, a feast of scholarship, opportunities to interact with fellow professionals, a full social programme, and a chance to explore a new part of the world.

So welcome to FEELTA4 in Blagoveshchensk.

For more details, contact Stephen Ryan (FEELTA representative to Asia) at <RX1S-RYAN@asahi-net.or.jp> or t/f: 0726-24-2793.

Reported by Stephen M. Ryan

The Language TeacherApril 2002

Come to FEELTA4 in Blagoveschensk, Russia, June 24-26.

Stephen M. Ryan

The Language Teacher
April 2002