May 19 - Task-Based Language Teaching in Asia: Challenges and Opportunities
TBL JALT (Task Based Learning Special Interest Group, Japan Association for Language Teaching). May 19 (Sat), 9:00-17:00 in Osaka. Plenary Speakers David Carless and Michael Thomas, two days of presentations and workshops.
May 19 - Spreading the Good Word: Introducing the Vocabulary SIG
West Tokyo JALT (West Tokyo Chapter of the Japan Association for Language Teaching). May 19 (Sat), 10:30-17:15 in Kokubunji, Tokyo. Charles Browne, Rory Rosszell, Jeffrey Stewart, Charles J. Anderson, and Rob Waring..
JALT Omiya May meeting - Genevieve Ruff and Ivan Botev presenting
Date and Time:
Sunday, 13 May 2012 - 2:00pm - 5:00pm
Speaker:
Genevieve Ruff
Speaker:
Ivan Botev
Global Education in the English Classroom
Genevieve Ruff
Genevieve Ruff will talk about her experiences designing and implementing thematic teaching lessons at an English conversation school. She will discuss the rewards and challenges of combining themes with English lessons. She will walk participants through the process of choosing themes, grammar patterns, and activities through a simple workshop. Groups of participants will be given time to brainstorm and create a lesson on global education themes like children’s rights, cultural diversity, and protecting the environment. She will also discuss how beneficial thematic teaching is in preparing students for the Eiken Step Test.
Genevieve Ruff is an Industrial Engineer who came to Japan to experience the culture and learn the language eight years ago. What began as an adventure quickly turned into a teaching career. She is currently the Training Head at Saiei International where she manages and trains 35 foreign teachers. When she isn’t studying Japanese, she is usually trying to learn how to cook Japanese food.
Social Networks: You and Your Institution
Ivan Botev
This workshop will show you how to brand and sell your organization and yourself through social media. In addition to a tour of the various social media platforms Ivan will talk about his adventures in the world of Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Participants will be asked to share their personal experiences in promoting themselves on-line. Those planning to attend should come prepared to actively particpate with ideas and anecdotes.
Ivan Botev M.Ed. Applied Linguistics, currently works for the Saitama City BOE and is involved with developing and teaching English Communication Abilities Development (ECAD) Program classes. He serves as PR Chair for the JALT Omiya Chapter and also as a Social Media Chair for Saitama City Educators (SCE). He has been teaching ESL/EFL in Japan for seven years. He is a father of two and his interests outside the education field include exploring the beauty of Japan with his family.
This is a walk not only for your health but also for your brain! We will walk halfway around Lake Suwa (approx. 8 km) while learning about the local environment from Shinshu University researchers. After lunch at Kamaguchi Suimon in Okaya, a forum starts at 12:00 which includes a short talk and quiz game about the lake’s environment as well as some “fun time”. The forum ends at 1:30, after which we catch the Swan Boat (free of charge!) at 2:00 and reach the starting point at 2:30. Please bring your own lunch and pencils. This is a family-friendly day, so bring the kids!
1) Mike Guest of Miyazaki University (and Daily Yomiuri columnist on culture/language teaching)
Speaker:
2) Jim Ronald of Hiroshima Shudo University
Speaker:
3) Grant Trew of Oxford University Press and author of "Tactics for TOEIC Listening and Reading Test"
Speaker:
4-1) Jennie Kern
Speaker:
4-2) Sean Burgoine
Speaker:
4-3) Harry Carley & David Paterson
Speaker:
4-4) Samuel Barclay
1) 1:10-1:50 Keynote:
Deculturizing language for communication - Can it be done?
Although most teachers are aware that cultural baggage may be attached to language, explicit 'culture learning' in the EFL classroom may actually serve to distance learners psychologically from the target language by presenting yet another communicative hurdle, one that is particularly susceptible to 'othering'. Perhaps we can relieve students of this burden by taking some leads from the emerging analysis of ELF (English as a Lingua Franca) and-- of all things--modern approaches to teaching grammar.
2) 1:50-2:30 Matsuyama Chapter Featured Speaker:
Bringing Pragmatics to the Classroom
Pragmatics is in the air we breathe in how we express what we say or write, in how we catch each other’s meanings or feelings, in how we respond…
…Except in our language classrooms, where, very often, meaningful language use is filtered out, leaving only sterile, context-free language practice. This English many of our students experience is an alien language: direct, grammar-bound, and unsociable. Through this presentation we will explore various ways to increase real, pragmatics-sensitive communication in the classroom.
3) 2:30-3:10 OUP Featured Speaker:
Tactics for TOEIC
4-1) 3:30-4:00 The Effects of Planning and Task Type on Narrative Evaluation
4-2) 4:00-4:30 Incorporating Pronunciation Activities into Conversation Classes
4-3) 4:30-5:00 The past, present and future of a Travel English course
4-4) 5:00-5:30 Do we have an accurate picture of our students’ vocabulary
2012 May Two-day Overnight Conference (Need pre-registration!!)
Date and Time:
Saturday, 12 May 2012 - 2:00pm - Sunday, 13 May 2012 - 12:00pm
Speaker:
David Barker, Atsushi Iida, Dan Waldhoff (May 12)
Speaker:
David Barker and Hidenori Kuwabara (May 13)
Please pre-register at the chapter website http://ibarakijalt.blogspot.jp/
(The venue has rather strict regulations, and we are required to pre-register to attend the meeting.)
May 12th Program
Session I: 14:00 - 15:20 - Featured Speaker Presentation
David Barker, Tokai University
Title: What is “English conversation,” and how can it be taught?
Almost every teacher in Japan will have some experience of teaching a conversation class. In many cases, the aims of these classes do not extend beyond a general notion of “getting the students talking,” and this is all too often reflected in the very limited results that they achieve. I believe that many conversation classes fail to produce measurable results because the students simply do not have a sufficient command of the language that they need to converse. To use a theatrical metaphor, teaching English conversation to Japanese university students is a bit like trying to teach dramatic skills to actors who don’t know their lines. In this presentation, I will consider what English conversation actually is, how it can be taught, and what kinds of knowledge students need to have before they can reasonably be expected to learn how to do it.
David Barker is from North Wales in the United Kingdom. He has been teaching English for almost 20 years, and he has taught in the UK, Singapore, New Zealand, and Japan. He has the RSA Diploma in TEFLA, an MA in applied linguistics, and a PhD in English language education. He has worked full-time at three Japanese universities, and part-time at four more. He has also taught in several junior high and high schools. He is the author of seven books and various magazine and newspaper articles for Japanese learners of English, and he is the owner and founder of BTB Press.
Session II: 15:40 - 16:40
Atsushi Iida, Gunma University
Title: Learn to write in a second language: Issues and challenges of teaching writing in Japanese EFL contexts
The aim of this presentation is to discuss how Japanese learners can learn to write in English. The presenter will address some issues of second language (L2) writing in Japanese contexts and share one of his methods of teaching L2 writing for communicative purposes.
Session III: 16:50 - 17:25
Dan Waldhoff: Ibaraki University
Title: An Update to Using Contemporary Technology Tools in the Classroom - The Adjacent Possible Revisited
As promised in my May 28, 2011 Ibaraki JALT presentation and article in the January 2012 JALT Journal: In this presentation I'll explain what I have learned and applied to previously incorporated internet and hand held technologies. I've achieved further reduction in the volume of paper being cycled through the classroom and taken better advantage of students' networking know how to make their learning experience and my own work life even more efficient.
17:35-18:20 Business Meeting
(18:30 Dinner, Drinks, and Sleep)
(Overnight stay including two meals: 3,500 yen)
May 13th Program
Session IV: 10:00-11:00 - Featured Speaker Presentation
David Barker, Tokai University
Title: What I learned in French Class
In April last year, I decided to join a beginner’s French class at a culture center in Nagoya. This was partly because I regretted having forgotten all the French I learned at school, but also partly because I wanted to once more have the experience of being a beginner in a language classroom. In this presentation, I will discuss some of the things I learned through experiencing a language classroom from a student’s point of view. In particular, I will focus on the teacher’s use of the students’ language, and how learners in my class responded to different patterns of interaction. I will discuss how my experience has affected my own teaching, and I will suggest that many current mainstream ideas about what constitutes effective language teaching may be misguided.
As a co-editor, I'm happy to announce the publication of a new issue (Vol. 13, No. 1, February 2012) of CALL-EJ (http://callej.org/). The following two articles are available.
-Japanese University Students' CALL Attitudes, Aspirations and Motivations
--Thomas Lockley, Kanda University of International Studies, Japan
--Lara Promnitz-Hayashi, Kanda University of International Studies, Japan
--pp. 1-16 (pdf)
-Use of Wikis in Second/Foreign Language Classes: A Literature Review
--Mimi Li, University of South Florida, U.S.A.
--pp. 17-35 (pdf)
We look forward to receiving many well-written manuscripts by May 30 for the next issue (August, 2012).
Cheers,
Kazunori Nozawa
2011年度 第2回学術講演会
「バイリンガリズム研究学術講演会・ワークショップ
Harmonious bilingual development:
what it is and how it can be fostered」
講師 Annick De Houwer博士 エアフルト大学( ドイツ) 教授
特別講演と国際シンポジウム
日時： 2012年3月4日（日） 13:00 - 15:30
場所： 立命館大学衣笠キャンパス 研心館3 階631 教室
子どもの言語習得、特に生後すぐに2言語に触れるバイリンガルの子供たちの2言語習得研究において、世界的権威であるAnnick De Houwer博士をお招きして、バイリンガル言語習得に関する講演会を行います。
ワークショップ
日時： 2012年3月5日（月）-6日（火） 開催時刻はいずれも 10:30 - 14:30
場所： 立命館大学・梅田キャンパス・多目的教室
すべて無料ですが、事前登録が必要です。詳細はRits LEIS Lecture & Workshopをご参照ください。
Task complexity and second language development: tools to promote speaking
Date and Time:
Saturday, 12 May 2012 - 6:30pm - 8:00pm
Speaker:
Colin Thompson
This presentation discusses the role of task complexity for developing L2 speaking skills in terms of fluency, accuracy and complexity. The presenter will begin by reviewing the theoretical background of task-based learning, its advantages and disadvantages before focusing on the role of task complexity, and how tasks can be designed and sequenced to promote learners’ L2 speech, referencing Robinson’s (2003) Cognition Hypothesis as a framework. The talk is supported with quantitative and qualitative data which investigates the impact of task complexity for developing Japanese learners’ L2 speaking skills at the University level.
Colin Thompson is a PhD student at the University of Central Lancashire, UK. He has been teaching in Japan for five years and his research interests are task-based language learning and teaching.
Corpora in Applied Linguistics (Cambridge University Press, 2002)やCorpus Approaches to Evaluation: Phraseology and Evaluative Language (Routledge, 2011) を始めとする多くの著作で知られる Susan Hunston 氏（英国Birmingham大学教授）に，下記の要領で、英語コーパスやフレイジオロジー研究の最新動向を中心としたご講演をしていただきます。多くの皆様のご来場をお待ちしております。
日時：2011年11月26日（土）午後2時30分−午後4時30分
場所： キャンパスプラザ京都 5 階第 2 −第 4 演習室
※京都駅北側にある伊勢丹と中央郵便局の間の通りを西に徒歩 3分；ビックカメラ前。（Tel: 075-353-9100）
講師： Susan Hunston 氏（英国 Birmingham 大学教授）
演題：Phraseology and Evaluative Language: Issues in Corpus Linguistics
概要：This lecture presents aspects of phraseology in English that relate to evaluative language, including the phraseology of modal meaning, of semantic sequences, and of local grammars. The studies presented are all based on corpus linguistics. Some questions relating to corpus linguistics that arise from the research are discussed, and some metalanguage for distinguishing 'flavours' of corpus linguistic research is proposed.
対象者： コーパスを用いた英語およびその関連領域の研究に関心のある人
参加費： 英語コーパス学会員 無料 非会員 500円
懇親会： 午後 5 時−午後 7 時
会場： ホテル京阪京都 3 階「菊の間」
※京都駅八条口から，左手に見えるアバンティの左隣，徒歩 4分。（Tel: 075-661-0321）
参加費： 5,000 円〔学生は 2,500 円〕
※懇親会参加希望の方は下記お問い合わせ先まで，メールでお申し込みください。
お問い合わせ先：英語コーパス学会事務局 井上永幸（inoue@v.email.ne.jp）
イベント 
予定