Remembering Marc Helgesen
By: Think Tank Team
It is with great sadness that we are bringing you this news. Marc Helgesen, a key person in the Think Tank team and a regular contributor, has passed away after putting up a brave fight against cancer for several years. He will be greatly missed by all those who knew him and worked with or learned from him in Japan and around the world. For those of you who didn’t know Marc, allow us to share a little about who he was and what he achieved. And for those of you who did know him, there may be new things to discover because Marc was, above all, a person of great humility, who was most comfortable when working unobtrusively behind the scenes as a role model drawing attention to what could be done better.
In addition to his many published textbooks including Pearson’s popular English Firsthand, over a hundred papers and articles he published, his hundreds of presentations at conferences, and his help building the Extensive Reading Foundation, Marc was also deeply involved in our mission to bring brain science to language teaching.
Marc was one of the Four Founders of the “First Annual Brain (FAB)” Days (that grew into a series of 12 conferences). Along with Curtis Kelly and Robert Murphy, he did most of the planning for the conferences that took place in Sendai, Manila, Baguio, and Cebu, using his extensive contacts. The JALT Mind, Brain, and Education (BRAIN) SIG evolved from these FAB conferences.
Marc contributed enormously to the BRAIN SIG, such as designing one of our favorite presentation techniques, book talks, which are like round robin poster sessions with timing. Also, he provided many of the wonderful video clips used in the Think Tank magazines, along with cartoons, humorous anecdotes, and wonderful teaching tips. We officially called him our “muse.” In the BRAIN SIG, he enhanced the SIG’s image and performance by making badges to hand out at the BRAIN SIG table and providing lists of brain-related presentations at conferences, things which other officers had overlooked, but have learned from. Marc was also a wonderful mentor to many of the BRAIN SIG members, lending his books on brain science to newcomers to help them improve their presentations and making a point of attending the presentations of the not yet famous to offer advice and support. A browse through his website https://helgesenhandouts.weebly.com with hundreds of free copiable lessons and teaching tips shows the breadth of his creativity and generosity.
Marc was always reaching out to bring new people into organizations and projects that he was deeply involved with, such as the Online Teaching Japan (OTJ) summer workshops, the Extensive Reading Foundation, with their annual Language Learner Literature awards which he created, and their world congresses, and he worked tirelessly to support his local JALT chapter, Sendai. His efforts have been recognized and he was awarded the Extensive Reading Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award in 2023, as well as the JALT Lifetime Achievement Award in 2024.
Marc’s specialty was positive psychology as can be seen on his site, and he was a real-life example of the power of positive psychology and mindfulness. He lived according to what he researched and taught and always repaid kindnesses and help extended to him–even showing the level of his sincerity to his chosen home country, Japan, by taking Japanese citizenship. We hope you are resting peacefully, Marc. You will be remembered for a long time by all those whose lives you touched.
