JALT Event

Activities that interest older elementary school children presented by Tom Merner
Elementary schools are actively preparing for when English activities becomes compulsory. Most of the English classes conducted at pilot elementary schools seem to have focused on speaking and conversation. There have been problems with higher-grade pupils losing interest in English and doubts about the aims of such conversation-based activities. In this workshop the presenter will introduce examples of activities that keep stimulating the learning motivation of higher-grade elementary school children. He will discuss with the audience the issue of the real aim of elementary school English activities: nurturing children’s attitudes toward listening comprehension and expressing their opinions.
Tom Merner is currently a part-time teacher at Shōwa Elementary School and Shōwa Junior High School (affiliated to Shōwa Women’s University), as well as a part-time lecturer at both Reitaku University and Tōkyō International University. He has been a member of the production team for the NHK Eigorian series and also works nationwide as an advisor on teacher training and curriculum development for English activities in elementary school.
「高学年児童が興味・関心を示す活動とは」
小学校英語活動の必修化に向けて、各地の小学校での英語活動への取り組みが活発となっているが、これまで先進的に実践してきた小学校の多くで見られる授業の形態は児童の発話、会話の練習といった事柄に焦点を当てたものがほとんどであると言える。そのような取り組みを続けてきた学校において高学年の児童が英語活動に対して興味を失うという問題や果たしてそのような活動が小学校英語活 動が目指すものであるのかという問題や疑問がある。
このワークショップでは、言語材料ではなくテーマやタスクから発想することによって高学年の児童の知的好奇心を刺激して活発に取り組ませることができる活動の実例を紹介する。また、「耳を傾けて理解しようとする態度」「自分の考えを表現しようとする態度」を育むことが小学校英語活動の本来のねらいであるこ とを議論する。
Presenter: Tom Merner
昭和女子大学附属昭和小学校および中学校非常勤講師
麗澤大学非常勤講師
東京国際大学非常勤講師
「Junior Columbus 21」（光村図書）編集委員ほか著書数点。
NHK「えいごリアン」シリーズの制作に関わる。
小学校英語活動に関する各地の県・市町村主催の研修会をはじめ各学校レベルで の教員研修やカリキュラム開発のアドバイザーを担当。

Joint event with Luna International. Emily Percival teaches primary classes in English.
She is also responsible for the design and implementation of assessment for the
school, which is the only British international school in Japan.

Title: Self-Access and Other Keys to Student Empowerment
"In recent years, there has been growing discussion in Japan on the importance of autonomy in language learning. One of the results of this discussion has been an increase in the number of ‘self-access’ centers that have been established in universities throughout the country. These centers range from state-of-the-art technoplazas to cubby holes with a few CD players. Whatever their services, they can offer students equal opportunities to help themselves. In this talk, Juanita will discuss the journey she has had fostering autonomy among students at her university, in part through self-access, and then open the floor for questions and group discussion."

This workshop will examine the ties between culture and the use of communication strategies in L1 and will look at the extent to which communication strategies employed in a learner L1 transfer naturally to English. It will then look at the two broad categories of communication strategies, affective strategies and management strategies. Participants will be asked to consider the possibility
that students from different cultural backgrounds may differ in their need to be introduced to communication strategies. The use of affective strategies may differ between speakers from different cultures and how the use of management strategies may be affected by cultural differences in the employment of politeness strategies. Finally, the workshop will examine whether or not learners of English within an Asian context benefit from the explicit teaching of communication strategies and if so how these strategies might be introduced to learners.
------------------------
Biography: Alastair Graham-Marr, M. Appl. Ling., has been teaching in Japan for over 20 years. He has presented at conferences in Thailand, the UAE, the US, Taiwan, Korea, Brazil and is a frequent presenter in Japan. For the past five years he has been an instructor on the David English House / OUP Certificate in Teaching Japanese Students course. Alastair is also author of Communication Spotlight: Speaking Strategies & Listening Skills, a series of textbooks for Oral Communication classes for high-school and college level students and is a full time teacher at Tokai University in Kanagawa.

Language educators often speak of using techniques and activities appropriate for each stage of language learning. But when it comes to incorporating cultural learning in the language lessons, there is usually very little consideration given to the learners' developmental stage of intercultural learning. The consequences of ill-matched activities can lead to reaffirmed or deeper cultural misunderstandings, and little or no growth in intercultural competency.
In this workshop the presenter will demonstrate and discuss how to incorporate culture-based activities into the ESL/EFL classroom according to the learners' intercultural developmental stage, age,language ability, and other factors. All activities and techniques demonstrated are grounded in intercultural communications theory and methodology coupled with ESL pedagogy. The presenter will provide opportunities to experiment with ideas and activities in a participant
workshop format while demonstrating how the activities can be adjusted for learning stage appropriateness.

PANELISTS
Harumi Ogawa, Bern Mulvey, James Hobbs, Alan Farr, Barry Grossman
Moderator: Christine Winskowski
TOPICS
1. The decline in students' abilities: How can we address students’ changing abilities?
2. Incorporating critical thinking into our language teaching: What is the role of critical thinking in language learning, and how can it be integrated?
3. Giant language classes: How can we approach language classes with 30+, 50+ and 100+ students?
4. Coordinated curricula & common syllabi for part-time instructors: What are the pros/cons of this approach vs. permitting PT instructors’ free choice?
5. Students' course evaluations: What do institutions do with course evaluation results? What are the implications?
6. Placing students by level vs. mixed-ability classes: What are institutional practices? What are advantages and disadvantages of these approaches?
7. The roles and competencies of native vs. nonnative instructors: Are these roles and competencies complementary or divisive?

Our June meeting will feature presentations by members on various activities and ideas relevant to language learning. There will also be an open-floor discussion of selected topics. As this meeting is free, please bring along a friend or two!

How many words do our students know? Is it possible to accurately identify the specific vocabulary words that each learner knows and should study next? How can online technology be used to test and teach these words? Based on the doctoral research of the presenter and one of his colleague, this session will discuss both the theoretical underpinnings and practical applications of the online testing and teaching of high-frequency vocabulary for EFL students. A variety of online tools will be introduced including ones developed by the presenter.

abstract of "Try the opposite!"
During the workshop, we will pretend we are teaching at a school with the admonition TRY THE OPPOSITE! displayed in every classroom. Beneath the admonition are these rules:
N e v o a s t d w.
N a s t u w i a s t i t m.
N e g o a s t e g.
N a a s q-w q s a “W d t m?” o “W c w s t r t t?”
N a s t r o c w o s.
N a s t r o a t e a g t t p l.
N s w s a “v g, e, w” a s r.
N p d l p.
N t s w t a g t l d a l.
Or
Never explain vocabulary or ask students to define words.
Never ask students to use words in a sentence to illustrate their meaning.
Never explain grammar or ask students to explain grammar.
Never answer any student’s question-word questions such as “What does this mean?” or “Why can’t we say this rather than that?”
Never ask students to repeat or copy words or sentences.
Never ask students to read orally as their eyes are glued to the printed lines.
Never say words such as “very good, excellent, wonderful” after students respond.
Never prepare detailed lesson plans.
Never tell students what they are going to learn during a lesson.
During the workshop, we will generate ways to follow the admonition and follow the rules listed below the admonition. To ensure that the alternative practices are related to your day-to-day teaching, please bring one of the textbooks you use to the workshop. One of my central goals will be to illustrate ways you can with much less time and energy generate alternative activities with whatever textbooks you are using.
information about the presenter:
John has been involved in exploring teaching since 1961 in many countries, including many years in Japan. He believes that the only way to understand teaching is to transcribe short segments of lessons and analyze them in a playful way from many perspectives, much as those interested in drama analyze plays to understand them. Analysis to John means asking how activities we think are good are bad and how activities we think are bad are good.

In this workshop, the presenter will demonstrate how he uses television
commercials in many classes. Actual commercials will be used to
demonstrate several language and culture-rich activities, which will
lead into a discussion on both technology and methodology. Finally, as
the JALT Director of Programs (national), he will report about what is
happening at the national level of JALT, especially the upcoming
national conference