Omar Chin (Canada) & Clare Butson Kaneko (Niigata JALT and newly elected president of JALT!)
Omar Chin
TITLE: How did I get here? Assistant Language Teacher in Japan to licensed public school science teacher in Canada
ABSTRACT: If it’s in you to give, then please share. If it’s in you to teach, then teach. If the well of motivation is overflowing within you to achieve ‘a thing’, then every small step will bring you closer to destiny. It is your authentic self, the passion in your teaching, the strength of your example, and the growth you experience year after year which enriches this profession and the students you hope to reach.
This presentation outlines the journey of a Canadian teacher who spent six and a half years in Japan. He returned to Canada in 2014 to pursue additional qualifications; reached a full-time permanent public-school position; and is challenged by the strata of abilities in each new group of bi-lingual and sometimes tri-lingual students. After 5 years of teaching the subject of science, the commonalities between and among all subjects being taught in a school is blindingly clear. Whether it is English, math, history, science, or others, what matters is that students acquire vocabulary, thinking skills, and the meaningful exchanges and experiences which allow for self-driven discoveries – all of which serve as the foundation for further growth. A teacher (and school administration) must also grow along with students; aim to differentiate and accommodate for multi-level classes; and aim to increase access from a “Universal Design for Learning” point of view which may integrate technology in some form (provided that students, their families and schools have the financial means to do so).
This teacher’s philosophy of teaching (with influences from John Dewey, and other education theorists such as H. Gardner, J. Bruner, L. Vygotsky, and B.F. Skinner) and his teaching strategies, methods to motivate students, and demonstrations of technology integration in the classroom, will be offered in this session. The enduring trial for all teachers is to improve literacy and numeracy, for all skills – indeed all knowledge, whether acquired within the traditional school environment or beyond its walls, especially – are intertwined in support of each other.
BIO: Omar Chin is an Ontario Certified Teacher. Since 2017, he has been teaching science at the James Bay Eeyou School in an indigenous community, The Cree First-Nation of Chisasibi, in the province of Quebec, Canada. A major steppingstone in his teaching career began in the fall of 2007 in Suwa, Nagano, Japan where he worked for AEON East Japan. He later transitioned to WinBe (Tact Group) where he spent 4 years as an adult and children’s English conversation teacher. In 2012, he became an ALT at Fujimi Junior High School in Nagano (AtoZ Corporation). His background also includes a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Ryerson University in Toronto – this Arts background and skillset are major influences in his approach and design of activities and experiences for students.
Clare Butson Kaneko
TITLE: CLIL
ABSTRACT: How can we encourage our students to use the English they have and take autonomy for their own learning? With a focus on teaching content, and useful new language, in conjunction with existing language aimed at the level and interests of our students, we can create a learning environment students will not only enjoy, but that will help them take responsibility for their language learning.
Content and Language Integrated Learning may be mistaken as teaching subjects using English as the medium (EMI), but with the underlying CLIL goals of “increasing subject matter knowledge” as well as “language and language skills”, I believe there are many different ways we can use this teaching approach in Japan.
In today’s presentation I will share with you my experiences of using CLIL in the Japanese English Language classroom in both high school and university, and hopefully you will find some new ideas to take into your classroom.
BIO: Clare Kaneko holds a master’s degree in TESL / TEFL from the University of Birmingham. She is currently the president elect for the Japan Association of Language Teaching. Clare has been working in English education in Japan in a variety of contexts since 1999. This includes teaching at both private and public schools, students aged 2 to 75. Her approach to English teaching is to have students express their true selves through the use of English, as well as encouraging students to think critically on all issues that arise in the language classroom.
Zoom (To register, email yojaltpresident@yojalt.org with your name and event date)
