JALT Event

The process of getting my first TOEIC guide published was painfully long and frustrating. Everything changed after I finally found a publisher — more writing work, seminar jobs and an offer to start a publishing company followed. If you have original materials or a unique teaching method, my story will provide some tips about approaching a publisher or self-publishing your work.

The Internet has long been recognized as a valuable aid in language study, but its use for practicing speaking and writing in EFL classrooms has been limited. This talk focuses on adopting the Internet as a tool for enhancing writing activities. Maintaining the most desirable environment for learning presents many challenges and a Social Networking System may offer solutions.

JOINT SEMINAR
Hosting organizations: Tenri University, Nara JALT, KELES (Kansai English
Language Education Society) Nara Chapter, NET Forum

Presentation 1) 1:20 – 12:30pm
"Connecting Elementary School English to Junior High School English"
by Nobuyoshi Osawa (Takada Nishi Junior High School)
Presentation 2) 2:40 – 3:50pm
"Our Favorite English Language Activities for Elementary School"
by Steven Nishida (Nara Institute of Science and Technology)
and Ann Mayeda (Osaka Shoin Women's University):
Co-Coordinators of the MEXT-funded Manabinaoshi Practical Teacher Training
program
at Osaka Shoin Women's University.

In this workshop the presenters will outline a few of their favorite
activities for promoting communication in elementary school English classes. We
will briefly look at the build up of a lesson and each activity in terms of what
is being taught, what is being learned, and the way in which each sequence
promotes some form of authentic communication.

Lecture 4:00 - 5:30pm
"Language Acquisition and Use in Children and Adults"
by Shigenori Wakabayashi (Chuou University)

Snack Party 5:40 - 6:50pm
For further details or to register, please contact Hidetami Nakai of Tenri
University at: h-nakai@sta.tenri-u.ac.jp (Just write your name and "I will
attend.")
DIRECTIONs:
For directions to the event, please refer to Tenri University's official
website.
If you drive, first go to Tenri City Hall which is on route 169 (Nara to Tenri
to Sakurai). Turn left (if you are coming from Nara) and go along Gingo Avenue
for about a kilometer, then you'll reach to Tenrikyo Headquaters. Tenri Univ is
across the street.
Alternatively, if you get off at the Tenri Higashi exit of Meihan highway and
drive along for about 2miles, then you'll hit Isonokami Shrine.
You can see Tenri Univ from there. (You'll see the two tall chimneys.)
Just turn right at the first traffic signal in front of the Shrine.
From there you'll find the event posters.
NOTE:
Tenri University has two campuses, the PE Department right behind Tenri station
and Somanouchi campus in front of Tenrikyo Headquarters (kyokai-honbu).
The venue is on the Somanouchi campus, which is near Isonokami Shrine.
If you come by train, please walk up the main arcade up to the Headquaters. It
takes about 25 minutes. 5-10 minutes by taxi.

Admittedly, translation may not be the preferred pedagogical method for many non-Japanese EFL teachers. However, this presentation shall explore how translation activities of manga can be effectively implemented in EFL classrooms. Robert S. Murphy shall begin the presentation by discussing the TEFL significances of intercultural understanding and emotion analysis. He will then introduce his framework for measuring translational effectiveness (TRIDENT) and demonstrate the usage of TRIDENT on Matsumoto Leiji's manga. The presentation will end with a fun "hands on" of TRIDENT and an open discussion of the positive aspects of manga translation in the classroom for deeper understanding.

Based on his Masters study with Monash University, Matthew will start by outlining some of the key differing theories in SLA. As each of the SLA theories is introduced, it will be immediately followed up by a discussion on how it can be applied in a classroom, and difficulties that might be encountered.

Matthew Jenkins has university teaching experience, runs an English school with his wife, and teaches both junior high school and elementary school children.

This session features two CALL-based presentations.
Microblogging in the classroom

Paul Collett will demonstrate some easy ways to work with the Twitter stream, bringing this rich authentic language source into the classroom in a controlled way. He will also consider the possibilities Twitter (or microblogging) offers to teachers and students. Finally, solutions to create a personalized microblogging service to provide community-building possibilities for your learners will be presented.
Social networking as a language learning activity

Social networking websites, such as Facebook and Mixi, have proliferated in recent years, but their use in the classroom is limited because of their sheer breadth of scale. In this presentation, Malcolm Swanson will introduce Elgg, an open source networking solution that is perfect for use with small groups. Swanson will explain how to install and set up the software, and how it can be used within language classroom settings. Attendees will be able to "play" in an Elgg installation in the week following the presentation.
Paul Collett teaches at Shimonoseki City University, and is the administrator of JALT's internet services.Malcolm Swanson is teaching in the English Department of Seinan Jo Gakuin University. He is also heavily involved in JALT's various publications.

Eoin Jordan works as a short-term overseas language program coordinator and
translator at Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University. His research interests
include English pronunciation, L1 transfer in language learning, and
vocabulary acquisition and assessment.
Despite the massive popularity of spoken 'English conversation' classes
in Japan, clear guidelines regarding which form of English pronunciation
students should aim to use productively seem to be rather thin on the
ground. While the Japanese government promotes increased exposure to native
speakers of English in the classroom as a measure to increase general spoken
English ability, research suggests that the vast majority of learners will
be unable to master such 'native' pronunciation for their own productive
use.
This presentation reports on a study conducted in response to this
perceived mismatch of pronunciation goals and learners' ability to fulfill
them. By means of an online questionnaire the presenter sets out to measure the attitudes of a group of Japanese university students towards two native forms of
English pronunciation and one form of Japanese English pronunciation, all
taken from interviews with Hollywood movie stars. The results indicate that
while students appeared to recognize the benefits of Japanese English
pronunciation in terms of achievability and comprehensibility, they found it
significantly less attractive than both of the native speaker models. The
implications for the classroom are that some students have unrealistic targets for their own English pronunciation, and that if left unchecked this may have a strong demotivational effect. Finally some possible approaches to remedy this situation will be discussed.

JALTCALL 2010 will be held at Kyoto Sangyo University in Kyoto, Japan from May 29-30, 2010. Our Keynote Speaker will be Joy Egbert, Washington State University.

Many academic journals in Japan require "native checks" for English abstracts accompanying submissions in Japanese. However, the efficacy of such native checks has not been confirmed empirically. It has even been suggested that native checks done by English teachers on texts produced by scientists may be superficial at best, and harmful at worst, particularly in terms of lexical cohesion. The presenters, an English teacher and a Nursing instructor, will describe an ongoing study that centers on the nature and efficacy of native checks. Ten native English speakers were asked to edit an abstract produced by a Japanese nursing researcher, and the changes made were identified and categorized from a socio-cognitive perspective. Follow-up interviews were then conducted. Results reveal a variety of approaches and attitudes towards editing, suggesting that a simple native check is in fact a complicated phenomenon yielding diverse results.

Event Description
This event will feature a number of educational technology professionals from the Shikoku region and will include both hands-on workshops and digital poster sessions.
Tech Workshops
The workshops will include topics such as eLearning systems, mobile learning and multimedia content production, and will allow participants to explore technologies and their application in education and pedagogy.
Digital Poster Sessions
The poster sessions' unique digital format, situated around tables and using notebook PCs, Internet access, digital video and still cameras, allows presenters to demonstrate digital course material, useful websites, student projects, and lessons, and offers participants hands-on experience with applications and content.