Please register here: https://iwamorifeb26.peatix.com/view
Outline: Music is found in all cultures worldwide. It is an international language that
communicates emotion across other language barriers. Importantly, listening to music involves
the whole brain. We will explore how music is processed not only through our ears and
auditory cortex, but also through our senses of touch and sight, and how we can recall music
through visual and tactile stimuli as well as an audio stimulus. We will experience how
instrumental music activates areas of the brain associated with language. And understand why
motor areas of our brain are activated automatically when we hear music, even when we are
sitting or lying still. These phenomena explain why using music in a classroom is especially
stimulating and conducive to learning. Participants will be invited to share the ways in which
they use music in their classrooms and the positive outcomes they have experienced. The
presenter will also introduce additional suggestions for using music to stimulate language
learning both in the face-to-face classroom and when teaching online.
Bio: Amanda Gillis-Furutaka is a professor in the Department of English at Kyoto Sangyo
University. She has an MA in TESOL from the University of Birmingham and a PhD in music from
the University of London Goldsmiths College. She has taught in a variety of countries and
researched in a variety of fields but her main interest these days is how to apply the latest
findings in brain science to the language classroom. She is currently the Coordinator of the JALT
Mind, Brain, and Education SIG.
