JALT Event

Abstract:

Interactive communication activities to foster learner autonomy were integrated into the first-year curriculum of the English as a foreign language (EFL) course. Using "authentic stories" and providing "real talk time" outside the classroom increased opportunities to use English in a fun and relaxing atmosphere and develop social interaction skills. Likewise, participating in the International Virtual Exchange (IVE) Project allowed learners to exchange opinions in writing with participants from various cultures and enhance cross-cultural understanding and intercultural communication skills. Even though poor interest and motivation in EFL learning remain, the pre and post-assessment results showed progress in language skills. The presenters will share the challenges and outcomes of adopting an interactive curriculum to promote learner autonomy in keeping up with language teaching and learning developments.

The GRAPE is designed to help authors write and publish graded readers. On the day of the event, participants will learn from experts in the field on the major aspects of the creative and publication process. After the event day, participants will continue to work together in an organized peer-support system via Google Classroom, with the goal being to publish stories on an online extensive reader platform.

Organized by the Materials Writers SIG and Extensive Reading SIG, Co-sponsored by Osaka JALT

Event Chairs: John Carle (MW SIG), Pat Conaway (ER SIG)

Special "Thank You" to David Beglar and Temple University for providing the venue

The next Multilingual Cafe (OLE SIG) is scheduled for Wednesday January 25th, 2023 from 7:30 pm to 9:00 pm and will be held online. - Eric Fortin, an Instructor of English and French as a Foreign Language at St. Mary’s College in Fukuoka, will present on the peculiarities of the pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammar of the French spoken in Quebec, Canada, as compared with standard European French. The OLE SIG wants to provide a space to meet and share using languages other than English, creating a community of practice. This is the Multilingual Café: meet and chat in your favorite language. The languages available depend on those attending on the day (for example French, German, Spanish, Thai, Hungarian, Chinese, Tagalog, Japanese and many more). After a short presentation we will meet in breakout rooms where different languages are used for further discussions. (Lingua Franca: English and Japanese) We meet online using zoom, please sign-up for receiving the zoom-credentials.

The Kyoto Chapter of JALT, in collaboration with the Gifu Chapter of JALT, the Kobe Chapter of JALT, and the Global Issues in Language Education Special Interest Group of JALT present their 3rd annual event on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) issues in ELT on January 29th, 2023. The Japan Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology’s (MEXT) policy is pushing many educators in Japan towards a more “globalized” or “diverse” education system. This goal is important but many of us have unclear definitions as to what this means and how it will affect them in their roles in their respective fields.

This event is free to those who register using the form below. Dinner in Kyoto to follow for those who are interested.

Register here.

Shifting Paradigm: Integrating Asset-based Culturally Responsive Pedagogical Principles in Teaching and Learning

Dr. Yilin Sun

With significant changes in the global society and the ELT field mainly due to the COVID-19 pandemic and other societal and global issues, ELT educators can no longer do business as usual. Such changes and challenges have put ELT educators working in unprecedented times, dealing with the increasing gaps of access and equity to quality education especially for students from remote areas and from historically under-served student population, and the pressing needs to help students cope with the pandemic disruptions and fight against Coronavirus exhaustion. The speaker, who has extensive teaching, research and teacher education experience in ESL and EFL settings, will focus on the following questions: What educators can do to prepare ourselves to shift the paradigm in the in the new learning environment? How can ELT educators integrate asset-based pedagogical principles in teaching to ensure equitable access to quality education for all students? The speaker will engage participants in exploring these questions and challenge the conventional ways of teaching English learners in Japan.

Biography: Dr. Yilin Sun emeritus professor, former president of TESOL International Association (2014-15) and the founding president of MAAL (Macau Assn. for Applied Linguistics). She has extensive experience in teacher education, leadership, assessment, adult education, and professional development. In 2021, The English Language Specialist Program of U.S. Department of State recognized Dr. Sun as one of thirty specialists who have made a lasting impact on the TESOL field since 1991. Over the years, Dr Sun has given numerous keynote/plenary and featured presentations at international professional conferences.

Globalization in English language education: To what extent is globalization addressed in Japanese EFL textbooks?

Dr. Yuko Igarashi, Ritsumeikan University

The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) of Japan has established some language education policies to respond to globalization. While these policies have been established, it was not clear to what extent globalization was addressed in current English language education. One way to determine this is to examine English textbooks approved by MEXT; the use of these textbooks is required at schools from elementary to senior high, so that MEXT can ensure the implementation of its curriculum.

In this short talk, I will present some of MEXT’s language education policies to provide a background of the current curriculum for Japan’s English language education. One of the newer policies is to create global jinzai who communicate successfully with diverse English speakers. In response to this, I will introduce my quantitative study results about how globalization is addressed in senior high school English textbooks, demonstrating the use of readings by culture type and the depiction of English use by native and non-native speakers. Given this data, I will then share my views on how MEXT can better prepare learners for establishing a successful communication in English in our global society.

Biography: Yuko Igarashi is a Professor in the College of International Relations at Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto where she teaches English to Japanese students and international students in content-based courses. Yuko received her PhD in Linguistics from the University of Victoria, Canada with her focus on the interaction between language policy/planning and language education. Her current research interests include English language education to prepare learners for establishing a successful intercultural communication and critical approaches to language learning and use.

As we start the new calendar year here in Hiroshima, we look to start it off with a bang! The event is on Zoom, and we have two people talking about a similar topic and giving two unique viewpoints. Do you enjoy teaching? Do you enjoy podcasts? Could there be a way to mix language learning with podcasts?

The speakers are Hiroshima's own, Joe Lauer and Edward Cooper Howland.

The first talk is entitled "Joe Lauer's Best Ways to Teach EFL: Looking back on a lifetime of teaching". Joe recently retired from Hiroshima University after teaching EFL there for almost 29 years. In this “final lecture,” he will explain about some of his experiences, and will state what he believes are the “best ways” to teach English. The second talk is "Podcast Pedagogy: Using and Making podcasts in the EFL classroom". Edward has been teaching English since 2007 at schools and universities in the USA, Costa Rica and Japan. He recently started a podcast for English learners called "A Little English".

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/89291430565?pwd=OGZXWDhEUUtlL3h5RHc2dTlvY1MwZz09

Meeting ID: 892 9143 0565
Passcode: 258711

Our next ZPD will be on Tuesday, January 31st, 2023 from 8 PM - 9 PM Japan Time. 

The January ZPD introduces JALT's new Board of Directors, who will serve two year terms (2023-2024). 

Also, organizers of the JALT2023 Conference will talk about the call for presentation proposals, and give advice on proposal writing.

Afterwards, we'll break up into smaller groups to discuss those topics and, 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. Please pre-register at http://bit.ly/ZPDRSVP for the Zoom details.

Naoya Shibata of Nagoya University of Foreign Studies will present on the importance of classroom research for materials evaluation in person at the new NUFS Nagoya Station Campus. The campus is located next to the Noritake Gardens/AEON Mall in the BIZrium Building on the 6th floor. For more details, check this link: https://www.nufs.ac.jp/outline/access/maccess/

This event, sponsored by Tokyo JALT and the TYL SIG, is for teachers of kids to young adults, so teachers of preschool, kindergarten, elementary school, junior high school, and senior high school, are all encouraged to come! As always, there will be great presentations and lots of time for discussion and networking.

Abstract:

The presentation will first begin with an overview of some of the widely accepted principles for teaching English to young learners. There is general agreement among ELT experts and practitioners that young learners seem to learn best when they are immersed in highly interesting and accessible language, when they get to practice the language in a fun and engaging way and when they get to use the target language for meaningful interactions. They also believe that while some attention to language forms may be needed, the bulk of classroom instruction should be used to expose young children to rich and meaningful language. 

The second part of the presentation will illustrate how these language learning principles play out in a national English language curriculum for young learners in Singapore. Typically starting with receptive skills (e.g., listening to and/or reading highly interesting stories), the learning sequence then extends to productive skills (i.e., speaking and writing), all the while couching the learning in a rich language environment that aims to build greater fluency and enjoyment.

Speaker Bios:

Dr Willy A Renandya is a language teacher educator with extensive teaching experience in Asia. He currently teaches applied linguistics courses at the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. He has given numerous presentations at international ELT conferences and has published extensively in the area of second language education. His publications include Language Teaching Methodology: An anthology of current practice (2002, Cambridge University Press) and Student-centred cooperative learning (2019, Springer International). He maintains a large teacher professional development forum called Teacher Voices: https://www.facebook.com/groups/teachervoices/.

Website: Willy’s ELT Corner https://www.willyrenandya.com

Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com.sg/citations?user=gHW1fVIAAAAJ

Dr Donna Lim is a lecturer with the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. She specialises in primary English Language (EL) methodology courses. Her interest area is in developing literacy with a focus on teaching writing. She has considerable teaching experience with young learners and finds it fulfilling to work with schools to enhance EL teaching and learning.

To register for this event, email: yojaltpresident@yojalt.org Takumi Nakao Title: Why an ordinary high school student in Yokohama transferred to an online high school and lives on Kikaijima Island I was an ordinary high school student who went to a public high school in Yokohama. However, ever since my high school life started, I had thought that the education my school provided me was not what I hoped to have on many points. It was because I was aiming to go to college abroad and grow as a person in the global environment. Therefore, I have always been trying out how I can learn English (and many other things) more effectively and grow myself by utilizing different opportunities and resources online without relying on school education. Through those experiences, not only could I improve my English skills but gained lots of insight, network, and confidence, which helped me make a big decision. At the end of last summer, I finally decided to relinquish my useless school education and design my education on my own by taking a gap year. I moved to an online high school in October and left my family and hometown in November. Since then, I have enjoyed living on an island with local people where I can learn a lot by immersing in their traditional lifestyle, beautiful nature, and challenging social issues. At the same time, I can spend plenty of time communicating with different mentors online and having a self-dialogue to plan my future. Bio: Takumi Nakao (he/him) | Senior in N high school | Raised in Yokohama | Lives in Kikai island | Taking a gap year Natsuho Mizoguchi Title: My Journey as a Young Japanese in JALT Summary: Since the early days as a member and an officer in JALT, the presenter has acquired various knowledge and perspectives that she would have otherwise never had outside the association. Those experiences include warm and happy moments shared with friends and teammates, as well as tough times that she was not very sure what she could do to be of contribution to the group. However, being a part of JALT became an important step of her professional path as a language teacher in Japan. This talk will explain the struggles the presenter had and how they are now helping her to serve as the Chair of SPINS. Bio: Natsuho Mizoguchi is a part-time lecturer at Gifu University. She has been the Chair of JALT Student Peer Interaction Network Subcommittee (SPINS) since its creation in 2021. She also fulfills her role as an officer of Gifu chapter and a conference organizing committee member of JALT2023, PanSIG2023, and JALTCALL2023. Emily Choong Title: “Why am I so nervous?”: Developing a speaking anxiety questionnaire Abstract: Among the language skills, speaking is a priority and challenge for many learners of English (Wang, 2021; Maher & King, 2022) but it is also one of the primary sources of anxiety in the language learning classroom. While studies have shown that English speaking anxiety has decreased in online lessons, students in Japan still have mixed feelings towards speaking English face-to-face and online (Isobe, 2021; Maekawa, 2021; Tat et al., 2022). In order to reduce speaking anxiety in classrooms, the speaking anxiety of Japanese students should first be assessed. Therefore, a questionnaire is now being developed to investigate speaking anxiety in face-to-face and online learning post-pandemic. This session is a discussion of some existing literature on English speaking anxiety and the questionnaire development process. Bio Emily Choong is an ALT in Niigata City and a Master’s candidate. Her current research interests include foreign language anxiety, speaking skills, and language attitudes. She has been actively involved in JALT holding local and national-level membership positions, and volunteering at conferences. Emily is also originally from Malaysia, meaning her idea of treating herself when not working or doing research is a fun-filled foodie day out fuelled by coffee. Ethan Smith and Noah Yoshimura DeHaan Title: Creative Thinking Activities in an English Classroom Abstract: Creative thinking is the ability to use one’s interests and experience to solve problems and create works of art with uniqueness and originality. The benefits of incorporating creative thinking in an English as a second language (ESL) classroom should not be overlooked. Creative thinking activities motivate students to learn and practice English by creating opportunities for them to express themselves and feel a sense of pride and accomplishment in themselves. The absence of creative thinking in an ESL classroom could leave a lot of students with an overall misunderstanding of the reasons to learn English and some with a complete disdain for it entirely. Therefore, in order to avoid such issues and create a classroom that fosters a student's imagination and motivation to learn, creative thinking activities should play a critical role in every ESL teacher's lesson plan. Bio: My name is Ethan Smith, and I have been teaching English in Japan for over ten years. I am currently teaching at Shizuoka Seiko Academy, a private junior/senior high school located in Shizuoka City. I have recently graduated from Fort Hays University with a Masters of Science in Education (ESOL) and am looking to become more active in the academic community. My teaching philosophy is that students who dislike English are less likely to become confident, proficient English users. It is the responsibility of each English teacher to provide students with fun, stimulating lessons that provide both enjoyment and a sense of accomplishment. Bio: Noah Yoshimura DeHaan is a Shizuoka Seiko Middle School first grader. He belonged to the Shizuoka STEM Academy where he researched games and concentration. He is currently part of the World's Largest Lesson Student Advisory Panel. He likes games, language, technology and books. He wants to find a way to combine all these things for his own future and to help other people. *YoJALT Announcements and Break Time Naoki Tashiro Title: The Influence of Second Language Learning on Native Language Producing Ability: Focusing on Paraphrasing Ability Summary: In English education settings in Japan, the purpose of learning English is to develop communicative competence and cross-cultural understanding (MEXT, 2019). However, it is also important to consider the contribution of English language learning to enhancing students’ native language abilities. Akita et al (2019) discuss the perspective of teaching students’ metalinguistic abilities, in collaborative classes. This study attempts to clarify the influence of second language learning on native language abilities, focusing on paraphrasing ability. The study conducted the following five methods to collect data: a questionnaire, an English Speaking and Writing exam, and a Japanese speaking and writing paraphrasing exam for eight students. The results revealed that the development of students’ speaking ability in English has a positive influence on their paraphrasing ability in Japanese writing. The study aims to show how an intensive English education curriculum cultivates Japanese language ability in the process of English language learning as a byproduct. Bio: Naoki Tashiro is a student in the Faculty of Foreign Languages at GIfu Shotoku University, Japan. He is a student adviser and staff member at MELT (the social language learning space at the university). He has experience teaching English and Japanese to students ranging in age from two years old to high schools. Martin Sedaghat Title: Presentation title: Social-Emotional Learning with Picturebooks Abstract: When teaching very young learners, all aspects of their development must be taken into consideration, including physical, language, cognitive, and social-emotional development. Emotions are a particularly important and difficult concept for children, and learning how to identify, express, and control these feelings is a vital part of growing up. This presentation will focus on a small-scale classroom research project conducted with a group of four and five year old children that used “The Color Monster” by Anna Llenas to prompt self-reflection about emotions. The connections between colors and feelings were discussed, and learners also created drawings to respond to the concepts. By using this multiliteracy approach, the children were able to think about their awareness and responses to their own emotions. Participants will learn about how to develop social-emotional skills with their own young learners, as well as some of the important aspects of conducting research with children. Bio: Martin Sedaghat is the English teacher and curriculum designer for the Niigata University of Health and Welfare International Preschool. He has taught young learners in Japan since 2003 and is currently studying toward an MA TESOL. His research interests include childhood development, picturebooks for EFL, and game design for young learners. Shizuko Raja Title: How can we elicit speech from silent students? - A cooperative Action Research Abstract: How can we improve our teaching? I’ve been struggling with teaching English in junior and senior high schools in Japan for many years, and finally, as a teacher-researcher, I decided to do action research (AR) with my colleague. The aim of this study is to explore how we can elicit students’ speech, particularly from the reticent ones. I’ve collected 13 video recordings and analyzed this data focusing on teacher-student interactions. I’ve also conducted reflective feedback interviews with my colleague several times. We finished one cycle but are still in the middle of our research. I would like to share what I’ve found so far in my research. Biography: I’ve been teaching English in private junior and senior high schools in Tokyo for 10 years. I took a sabbatical year, and I’m studying English teaching at the graduate school of

The JALT Student Peer Interaction Network (SPINS) will be hosting a student research symposium on March 18th, beginning at 1:00pm (JST). 18 students will make presentations on their studies and research, with time set aside for questions and feedback. This event will be free and online (Zoom), so please join us!

Symposium schedule and summaries here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1aMvLiLMJKihSw_5oSX5H1j8dD4r5tVMu/view?usp=share_link

Register here: https://forms.gle/XoeD4DrJBZa5JCMZ8