Dear Readers,

There is a bright sun in the bluest sky. Its rays tinge the yellow of the maple leaves outside my window radiant gold. Autumn is the time of fulfillment and gratitude, reflection and thanksgiving. But – unlike nature, for us teachers it is the time of new beginnings. And there is always room for changes which make our lives more interesting.

For example – the present issue of our Newsletter has caught me by surprise... It is mostly thanks to David’s indefatigable energy and commitment that we have kept the deadline as promised. The regular Editor namely (yours truly, in other words) had to withdraw temporarily from regular activities, leaving putting the issue together in our co-ordinator’s capable hands.

Learner Autonomy is constantly moving forward, developing and perfecting new tools of the teacher-student interaction. Dialogue journals seem to be in vogue these days, although they are by no means a novelty, having been around for some decades. Originally implemented in adult education, they have gathered momentum as the means of fostering a meaningful communication in writing – thus additionally creating an opening for practising this difficult skill. Beata Opałka brings us her experiences and conclusions in one of her articles.

It is, however, not her only contribution to the present issue, winning the Editor’s respect and gratitude for being the most prolific writer to our periodical.

This year members of our SIG have traveled far and wide. In the previous issue I recounted my reflections from the Tenerife Autonomy conference; now the turn has come for David, who crossed the ocean in summer to participate in another important event – the IDEC (to find out what this acronym stands for, read his article!) His report, like our earlier contacts with the ASSA School, heralds the broadening of interests from the pure “Learner Autonomy” sphere to the issue of alternative education. Thus we are true to the other part of our SIG’s name – Teacher Development.

And once again we present “the voice of a student” – this particular contributor has already published in one of the earlier issues. It is a vision of “alternative language teaching” as presented by a successfully autonomous learner, Zosia Barańska. Should we send a complimentary copy to the Ministry of Education?

We are meeting in Łódź in Novemeber – and hopefully that is where this Newsletter reaches your hands. I also hope you will enjoy reading it during long-and-getting-longer autumn evenings and well into winter. Let me take this opportunity to wish you and your students Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Your editor,

Zosia Grudzińska