JALT Event

The Niseko Tourism Zone, which includes the three Hokkaido municipalities of Rankoshi, Niseko, and Kutchan comprises one of the largest international communities in Japan by percentage of foreign residents to Japanese residents. Nearly 10% of the long-term residents in the Kutchan and Niseko municipalities have foreign resident status, a higher percentage of the overall population than any ward in Tokyo. This is particularly unusual in Japan, a country where approximately 98% of the overall population are Japanese nationals. However, with the decreasing domestic birth rate and growing number of long-term foreign residents in the country, Niseko may be the beginning of a long term trend in Japanese towns that make use of foreign labor.

Despite its relatively small population, Niseko Town has 5 CIRs, a number comparable to cities a hundred times larger. Niseko has embraced a form of “town building” (machidzukuri) that encourages foreign residents to play an active role in the local community. The Niseko CIRs engage in a variety of activities meant to facilitate this intercultural communication. During my time working in Niseko, I translated Japanese documents into English and helped interpret for residents who needed to complete municipal paperwork at the town hall. I also taught introductory Japanese language classes for foreign residents. Sometimes I found myself serving as an intermediary between the foreign community, Japanese community, and the municipal government. Foreign and Japanese residents alike share concerns over issues such as the environmental and economic impact of overdevelopment. Niseko’s CIRs are often the first point of contact when these groups reach out to the government with their concerns.

In my presentation, I will introduce the Niseko international community and explore a few of the challenges and opportunities that emerge when a substantial portion of a Japanese municipality is made up of people from around the world.

Bio: Michael Burns previously worked as a Hokkaido CIR in the Niseko Town Hall Industry and Tourism Division from 2019 to 2021. His work primarily involved translation and interpretation for Niseko’s foreign residents. He is currently a master’s student at the Council on East Asian Studies at Yale University, where he specializes in Japanese history.

Join us for a panel discussion of the basics of getting published in the journal format, with a specific emphasis on JALT-related publications. It will be followed by a Q&A session and end with an introduction to the new format of the Tokyo JALT Journal.

Panelist Bios:

Paul Lyddon is Co-editor of The Language Teacher (TLT), a position he has held since late 2020. Before that he served for 7 years as a TLT manuscript reviewer. Since 2011, he has also reviewed manuscripts for a number of other academic publications, including The Modern Language Journal, CALICO Journal, and Language Learning & Technology. In addition to several articles in the JALT Proceedings/Post-Conference Publication as well as book reviews in JALT Journal, he has published his own work in venues such as The Modern Language Journal, Foreign Language Annals, and English for Specific Purposes. Paul teaches in the School of International Relations at the University of Shizuoka. He has been a JALT member since 1997.

Dennis Koyama has been the editor of the JALT Journal (JJ) since early 2022 after serving as associate editor of JJ for two years. He has been a manuscript reviewer for JJ and the JALT Post Conference Publication as well as other internationally peer-reviewed research journals, such as Language Testing, Language Assessment Quarterly, The International Journal of Educational Research, Journal of Second Language Writing, CALICO Journal, Language Learning & Technology, and IEEE Transactions on Emerging Topics in Computing. He has experience publishing research in edited volumes in addition to being the editor of a book, and he has published in several of the journals for which he has been a reviewer. Dennis has been a JALT member since 1998 and currently teaches in the Faculty of Liberal Arts at Sophia University.

Jeremie Bouchard is associate editor of the JALT Journal. He has reviewed manuscripts for a number of academic publications, including Asian Englishes, Current Issues in Language Policies and Planning, Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, and Asian Studies Review. He has published two monographs and co-edited three volumes for Springer, Routledge, and Palgrave Macmillan. He has also published four peer-reviewed articles in venues such as JALT Journal, Asian Englishes, and Journal of Critical Realism, and two more articles will be published this year as well. Jeremie is professor in the Faculty of Humanities, Hokkai-Gakuen University, Sapporo, Japan. He has been a JALT member for approximately twenty years.

EdTech practical workshops are for language teachers who want to know more about EdTech and look for different ways to implement new ideas in their teaching. The presenter will demonstrate an EdTech tool and give the audience some hands-on experience.

Abstract:

Test drive your own Free Moodle: In this hands-on workshop, participants will be guided through setting up a test-drive Moodle and then how to design a Moodle course to enhance classes. Setup is simple: access the URL https://SOMETHING.demo.wisecat.net and replace “SOMETHING” with a word of your choice. Then follow the on-screen instructions to make your user account and give your new Moodle a name. Note: these test-drive Moodles will be open from the day of the workshop and deleted two weeks later.

Participants will then be guided through applying the SDCE model to scaffold Moodle use and augment F2F teaching effectively. Several modules will be covered, followed by some tips on how to reduce teacher labour including grading the easy way. Finally, the floor will be opened for questions.

Bio:

Adam Jenkins is an educator at the Shizuoka Institute of Science and Technology where he created and is the administrator for the iLearn@SIST e-learning platform. In his role, Adam oversees nearly 500 online courses taught by more than 80 professors and delivered to over 1,600 students university-wide.

Adam also has a pair of YouTube channels (WiseCat), in English and Japanese, with videos to help teachers and administrators use educational technology, especially Moodle.

Historical thinking for EFL students by Eric Gondree from 6:30 - 7:20pm

Teaching listening while improving social skills by Naoko Kato from 7:30 - 8:20

At the Nagoya International Center on the 3rd floor

Join us online (Zoom) for a discussion of how new developments in AI, particularly ChatGPT, will impact our work as English teachers.

Summary: As the number of researchers around immersive learning and tangential fields grows, so does the number of groups, events, and activities you can join. This presentation will introduce collaborative projects and activities between a few groups based in North America.

Speaker: Amany Alkhayat, Columbia University Teachers College

Bio: Amany Alkhayat is an adjunct faculty at New York Institute of Technology.. She is currently pursuing her Doctoral degree in Instructional Technology and Media at Teachers College, Columbia University. She is also the founder and Chair of the NYS TESOL Technology Enhanced Language Learning SIG and the VirtuaTELL conference.

Amany is also the co-founder and CEO of Language Cities and a Udemy Instructor. She received her first MA degree in TEFL from the American University in Cairo and her second MA in Instructional Technology and Media from Teachers College, Columbia University.

As an author and instructional technology designer, Amany is always exploring emerging technologies to enhance the learning experience. She is committed to using her expertise to help learners and trainees reach their full potential.

Online event (Zoom -Akita JALT members with be sent a Zoom link for the presentation)

All others who would like to join JALT member or not is invited to fill out the form below. In April Akita JALT and JALT CALL will send out emails with the zoom link and information.

Our next ZPD will be on Tuesday, February 28th, 2023 from 8 PM - 9 PM Japan Time. Sign up here for the Zoom information: https://bit.ly/ZPDRSVP

This month our topic is higher education. We'll break up into small groups to discuss it and other issues. As usual, we will also have an orientation for new officers and new members, tips and best practices in teaching, getting published, Eikawa & ALT Issues, Online teaching, Hybrid teaching, and more. 

Please join us for networking, informal chat, and in building a community of practice with JALT members and prospective members.

This event is free and open to all.

Title: Global Citizenship and Linguistic Awareness: Teaching about World Languages and Writing Systems
Date: Sunday, March 12th, 1pm-4pm @ Rental Space Holly 
Summary:  In order to function effectively in our increasingly global age, our students need to have a basic knowledge and understanding of the various languages of the world. The EFL classroom can be an exciting place to provide this linguistic awareness.

This workshop will introduce a thematic teaching unit on “world languages and writing systems” developed for college-level Japanese EFL learners over the past 20 years. The unit comprises content-based activities, tasks and projects that engage students in critical thinking, discussion, research and presentations.

In the workshop, the presenter will demonstrate task-based EFL activities through which students explore language families, study about world languages, learn to recognize major writing systems and practice conversational expressions in foreign languages. He will argue that teaching about world languages stimulates student interest in language as a whole, improves language learning motivation, promotes international awareness and empowers students to engage more effectively with foreign peoples and cultures.
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Participants who attend this workshop will get a chance to become “instant linguists” and take home a rich variety of ready-to-use handouts. They will learn how thematic teaching about the world’s languages and writing systems can promote English skills, linguistic knowledge, global awareness, cross-cultural understanding and curiosity about the wider world.

As inclusive language policies become more widespread in the real world, it is generally absent from English language learning textbooks and can be regarded as a hot-button issue, yet it is important for English learners to understand and consider these practices. This 2-hour online presentation and workshop will focus on the topic of inclusive language and its impact on English as a Foreign language education. The purpose of the presentation is to provide English Language teachers with information and practical strategies for addressing inclusive language in their classrooms. Attendees will learn about the benefits and challenges of using inclusive language and gain a deeper understanding of its significance in the evolving language landscape.

The workshop will feature real-world examples of inclusive language and provide opportunities for attendees to discuss and formulate strategies for introducing inclusive language to their English language students. This presentation is designed for English Language teachers of all levels and aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the current practices and trends surrounding inclusive language.

Attendees will gain a better understanding of the changing language practices and be better equipped to educate their students on inclusive language and its role in effective communication.

LILY THUKRAL is an educator and independent consultant with over 20 years of experience in intercultural communications and English language instruction. With a MA in Creative Writing and an MA in Interdisciplinary Studies focused on Intercultural Communications, Lily is an adjunct instructor at various universities in Tokyo, including Shirayuri Univerity, Kyoritsu Women's University, and Tokyo University of Science. She also leads professional development workshops for public school educators and delivers seminars for businesses and community organizations. Lily's research focus is on facilitating students' career readiness and global awareness.

We will take a short break midway through the event.

This is an online event hosted by Gunma JALT. See below for access information.

Back to School 2023 is Osaka JALT’s 13th annual spring conference aiming to share ideas on a wide range of topics related to language teaching and learning to help everyone in the new academic year. This year's conference is back in person at Osaka Jogakuin University for the first time since before the pandemic, but we are making it partially hybrid as well so as to allow online participation for people throughout Japan and around the world, which we really enjoyed the past three years during the pandemic. It will also be an Open Campus day at Osaka Jogakuin, so there will be additional presentations by Osaka Jogakuin professors, and we expect to have more students, parents, and high school teachers on campus than in past years, which will be nice.

Our featured speakers this year are Tamara Swenson and Steve Porritt, presenting:

A Brave New Era: Educating With Generative AI
Technological change is altering education in ways we did not anticipate at the start of our careers. The introduction of generative AI tools is going to make as big of an impact on education as the introduction of the moveable type. Taking a Luddite position will not prevent students, whether they are studying English or any other subject, from employing the available tools to complete coursework. This presentation will define the problems with generative AI tools such as ChatGPT, give an overview of generative AI use for the types of writing and other activities that students typically undertake in L2-English classes at Japanese colleges and universities, and provide some solutions that might work within reading, writing, and discussion courses, as well as for grammar instruction. We are all entering a brave new world. Let’s explore it together. 

Tamara Swenson (Ph. D. Communication) first used a computer in 1974 (remember punch cards?). Since then, she has updated her skills regularly to take advantage of technology in English and media studies education. She is currently a professor at Osaka Jogakuin University and an adjunct instructor for graduate-level classes at Temple University, Japan. 

After decades wandering the desert as a copywriter/technical editor, Steve Porritt found his way to Temple University, Japan, and earned his MS (TESOL) at the age of 63. He thinks he can make up for the lost years by teaching nine writing and four discussion classes at Osaka Jogakuin, Kwansei Gakuin, Kobe, and Ritsumeikan Universities. 

We have a record number of presentations this year and look forward to what is sure to be a great conference!

Click here for the SCHEDULE for the day.

REGISTRATION is now open! Click here to register and to receive the Zoom link for the remote presentations.

This event is again co-sponsored by Osaka Jogakuin University's Research Institute of International Collaboration and Coexistence Research on Language Learning (RIICC). OJU is a short walk up the hill from Tamatsukuri station on the JR Loop line or metro system. Doors will open at 9:30, with opening remarks starting at 10:00, followed by the opening session.

Abstracts of this year's presentations and presenters' bios are now posted on our chapter website.