Tell us a little bit about yourself, Judith.
I am from the North of England and went to the University of Sussex in beautiful Brighton as well as later to Birmingham University where I did an MA in Applied Linguistics in the early 1980s (no Internet then!!). The defining factors in my personal life are, firstly, that my mother was from South India originally and my father from Wales and that I spent my childhood in Indonesia and Singapore as well as travelling the world with my parents. I later (in the late 1970s) went overland to India and probably all this travelling made me into something of a home lover. Secondly, my home and my workplace have been in Germany for the last 48 years and I am very happy here. I have been a teacher in adult education and universities as well as a teacher trainer and a language test developer. I retired from being Head of Languages at a university in Frankfurt a few years ago and still do freelance work in different areas of ELT. Thirdly, I have a multicultural family with German/English children and Spanish and Ethiopian children-in-law and grandchildren. And, of course, there is IATEFL, which has been my professional community for the last 44 years. I became a member in 1980 and a volunteer around 2005.
How was your experience as a trustee of IATEFL?
It was generally 100% positive but of course there are also sometimes downsides. Although I was a Trustee all the through the Covid-19 pandemic, the Board I worked with was a wonderful team, so this experience was absolutely positive as far as our teamwork and, in fact, continuing friendship was concerned, although it was of course very time-intensive, as we were meeting every week sometimes during the crisis! Of course, there are always disappointments in any work, but these were few and far between and usually concerned with individual members or other volunteers. They are all part of the job anyway, even if sometimes annoying or frustrating. The experience as a whole was wonderful though and I would definitely recommend it. I have only now, after three months, really got used to being on the outside.
What’s the role of SIGs for an organisation like IATEFL?
My role as a Trustee was SIG Representative. I did not have a committee as such but the group I worked most closely with was made up of SIG Coordinators and, to a lesser extent, SIG committees. I started as a volunteer for TEASIG and was discussion list moderator, newsletter Editor and SIG Coordinator (sometimes simultaneously). SIGs are vital to IATEFL, as they provide members with a smaller and manageable community and are definitely the place to go to start volunteering. IATEFL would definitely not be the same, and I doubt as successful, without its SIGs, but there are, nonetheless, some questions about SIGs which could be considered. These would include the number of SIGs, possible overlaps between the SIGs, the possible restrictions of joining or volunteering for more than one SIG as well as probably a few others I have not thought of. But, basically, IATEFL SIGs are vital and they rock!! For the SIG Rep on the Board of Trustees, it is not always easy working with all the SIG Coordinators. Not only are SIGs diverse in their interests, numbers, forms and levels of activities (all these are connected), but the Coordinators are all individuals with their own different personalities. In general all the Coordinators I worked with were great and definitely all doing their best for their own SIG as well as IATEFL. I would also like to give an enormous shout out to the team at Head Office, and especially the person responsible for supporting the SIGs. In my time this was Eleanor Baynham and Hazel Frost, both of whom were marvellous.
Would you like to share your plans for the future?
As far as my personal future is concerned, now that I am retired from full-time employment, I want to spend even more time with my family and friends as well as travel and do all the things I couldn’t do while I was working. That includes spending time on and for IATEFL but in a different way. I am looking forward to being an “ordinary” member at the Conference, spending time talking to people and doing things I didn’t have time for as a volunteer. I am also looking forward to representing my local Teachers’ Association at Associates Day, which I have never been able to attend.
About Judtih
Judith Mader has worked in number of academic positions, including as a full-time test developer and until recently, as Head of Languages at a German university. She is based in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. She has also published course material and tests and articles and books on teaching methodology and testing. Judith was a Trustee of IATEFL for 6 years, representing the sixteen IATEFL Special Interest Groups and was the Newsletter Editor and the TEASIG Coordinator of the Testing Evaluation and Assessment Special Interest Group (TEASIG).
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