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Dear members of the italian-studies list, I have sympathy with ALL whose Rugby staff are a wonderful team of people who have literally saved the existence of the association after the shock resignation of the Director last March. It has been very difficult without a director to maintain the level of external contacts and policy development that is needed, as I know as a member of the Executive Council. The latest meeting of the EC of ALL, however, radiated an air of confidence that financial problems have been solved and measures put in place which would avoid getting into a similar situation in the future. Economies are being sought in some areas, but the association retains a strong commitment to keeping its role as the major subject association for language teachers in Britain. This means support for journals and language committees will continue. It might be borne in mind that ALL has 9 full language committees (F, G, I, R, S/P, and Arabic, Asian languages, Dutch and Japanese) many local branches round the country, many training days (and accreditation is now being negotiated for these), and the Language World conference, probably the single biggest yearly language event in Britain. It is difficult to keep everyone happy all the time! The problems mentioned by Dr Orsini-Jones don't seem to have affected the other "less-common-language" committee (Russian) in the same situation as Italian, and I'm sure that it is not really the case that Italian is being disadvantaged because of lack of interest. The very professional staff at Rugby have worked heroically to keep the association going without the director. Our voluntary contribution as subject specialists is essential, for the sake of the teachers in schools and FE who use our services. And our expertise will continue to be called upon every time ministries, exam boards or public enquiries call upon ALL for consultation. Andrew Jameson Chair, Russian Committee, ALL Reviews Editor, Rusistika Listowner, allnet, cont-ed-lang, russian-teaching 1 Brook Street, Lancaster LA1 1SL UK Tel: 01524 32371 (+44 1524 32371) ---------- From: Marina Orsini-Jones <[log in to unmask]> To: [log in to unmask] Subject: ALL/Tuttitalia/Ulteriori precisazioni Date: 20 October 2000 12:51 Dear all, I was trying to keep out of the above issues even if I agree with Mr Jameson that the lack of an Italian ALL committee is a sad affair. As someone who has turned down the offer of being the Editor of Tuttitalia, I would just like other interested parties know the following: 1. Due to lack of funding, the ALL office in Rugby is unable to provide the support it used to provide to either committee members or editors of Tuttitalia (I believe Loredana can confirm this); 2. I set up, jointly with a very committed committee, two years of ALL activities to promote Italian language and culture well in advance of the dates in which such activities would take place, only to find out that the publicity had not gone out about such activities because of lack of staff/money/organisation at the ALL main office; 3. the relationship between the Italian Committee and the ALL main office became slightly strained (eufemismo) because of the above points. I have been a member of ALL since 1985. I have a research interest in Teaching Italian as a Foreign Language and I have always been strongly committed to the well-being of Italian Language Teaching and Learning in the UK, however, since the departure of Bob Powell and of Christine Wilding (both Italianists) from the ALL executive, I witnessed a decline in the interest for Italian amongst the ALL 'upper-echelon'. I used to have the will and the way, and people who know me know I am not easily discouraged. But there is a limit. From January next year I shall not renew my subscription to ALL and I personally do not think the Association represents the interests of Italianists any longer. Just a word of warning.... Ciao, Marina Orsini-Jones Subject Leader for Italian/Teaching and Learning Fellow School of International Studies and Law Coventry University %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%