Online Event Co-sponsored with Matsuyama JALT

Time: Jan 10, 2021 02:00 PM Osaka, Sapporo, Tokyo Join Zoom

Abstract:Has this ever happened to you? “Any questions, class?” […crickets…] If you’ve spent any time in the classroom, you’ve surely grown to appreciate the rare student who asks the right question, the one that cuts to the heart of what you’re trying to convey. Worth their weight in gold, they are!

Wouldn’t it be great if you could get students asking the right questions regularly? What if I told you there was an “extraordinarily clear, low-tech, practical intellectual tool” for getting students to ask, not just any questions, but the right questions? That’s precisely the claim made by the book “Make Just One Change” by Dan Rothstein and Luz Santana. 

In this presentation, I will relate my experiences this semester of trying to implement this “one change” in a student journalism project of upper-intermediate EFL students at Kochi University. I’ll explain where the “Question Formation Technique” idea comes from, how it works, and why it is a tool that probably belongs in every teacher’s toolbox, no matter the class.

About the Presenter: Davey Leslie has been teaching English in Japan since 1992. He currently teaches at Kochi University.

The Right Question Institue

PowerPoint for this presentation

• Presenter: Garold Murray
• Date/Time: Saturday, Nov. 7 (2:00-3:30)
• Online event registration.

Abstract:

In this presentation I summarize what I have learned about developing and managing self-access and social spaces for language learning through my research and work experience. I draw on the first-hand knowledge I gained through establishing and overseeing the daily operation of two self-access centers. One of these was located on a university campus and the other, which catered to the general public, in the heart of a city in northern Japan. To support my points, I also make reference to three research projects which sought to identify language learning opportunities available in the L-café, the social learning space at Okayama University. These studies, which were carried out over an eight-year time span, included an ethnography, a multiple case study, and a narrative inquiry. After providing an overview of my experience, I address several considerations that I see as crucial to the successful development and management of self-access and social spaces for language learning. Following the presentation, participants will be invited to ask questions and share their concerns.

Accompanying files of Marian Hara’s recent online event are now available for viewing and download here.

JALT Matsuyama is delighted to announce an online
collaboration with East Shikoku JALT:
Marian Hara: The Language of Climate Change
for Lower-Intermediate Level Students

Date: September 20, 2020
Time: 2:00 PM in Osaka, Sapporo, Tokyo
Place: Zoom Online, Meeting

Please Register here

Newsletter available here.

JALT2020 will be needing room hosts for this conference as well as people to help edit and upload a good number of YouTube videos. While we have a rough idea for what the schedule is looking like, we want to start recruiting people to help with room hosting and YouTube videos. Knowing we have people on board will help our Coordinators deal with scheduling training sessions, make protocols, and figure possible rotation schedules. So, please look at this Google form (see link below) and complete it if you are willing to help with these jobs. The form references both jobs. We would appreciate a response by Wednesday, July 29. 

https://forms.gle/rhyWV4ni3GL5cMi19

Dates & times
5/15      from 12:00-13:00
5/22      from 12:00-13:00

Webinar leaders:
Paul Daniels, Kochi University of Technology
Gordon Bateson, Kochi University of Technology

The Moodle follow-up Webinars will address specific Moodle questions from teachers since the 4/24 Moodle Webinar. Add any new questions that you have here. Topics will include:

• Video/audio submissions
• Moodle grading
• Auto-grading submissions
• Adding HTML code to a Moodle page

East Shikoku JALT’s lunchtime webinar series on Moodle will be held at noon on 5/14 & 5/21 (Friday lunchtime). The lunchtime series is an informal session where teachers can drop in to ask questions about using Moodle or eLearning. You can find additional information on our website: https://esjalt.org/

• Please post your questions beforehand at:
• https://docs.google.com/document/d/19GjgDo8K34iMwHFB6eY1Yk4aKhrqAX8ZXXMkTyujtvQ/edit
• Note: We may not get to all of the questions this Friday.

Meeting details for the lunchtime Moodle webinars were sent by email. Please check your email messages.

Prepare your bento pop-in anytime during the session.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed at the prospect of using a Learner Management System (LMS) like Moodle for the first time, or if you would like some ideas for using Moodle under these difficult new teaching circumstances, please join us in this virtual seminar.

• Speakers: Paul Daniels and Gordon Bateson
• Date/Time: Friday, April 24 (12:00-2:00, JST))

Paul Daniels and Gordon Bateson from Kochi University of Technology, have kindly agreed to lead an online workshop for teachers about Moodle. Paul and Gordon have strong expertise and extensive experience with Moodle. They will do a two-part workshop.

The Webinar will be held from 12:00-2:00 on Friday, April 24. Don’t worry if you can’t join the webinar at that time. It will be recorded and made available online. Paul or

** If you missed the webinar, you can download it here. **

Continue reading →

We regret to inform you that the 11th Shikoku JALT Conference, scheduled to be held in June 2020 at Tokushima University, has been cancelled this year. This decision was taken in consultation with officers from East Shikoku JALT and Matsuyama JALT, which organize and co-sponsor this event each year, and with the Conference Site Chair at Tokushima University. We are planning to hold the Shikoku JALT Conference next year in Tokushima (2021).

For those members who submitted a proposal, we invite you to submit again next year. Of course, if you can find a different outlet to present your work before then, we would fully understand. The Conference Chair, Darren Lingley, will be contacting those who submitted individually.

Due to travel restrictions, this event has been canceled.

Language education in context: Bilingual experiences from Melbourne, Australia

• Speaker: Dr. Naomi Wilks-Smith, RMIT University
• Date: Thursday, April 9 (6:30 – 7:30)
• Location: KUT, Eikokuji Campus (Room TBA0

Japanese is amongst a plethora of languages taught in schools and spoken in the community in Melbourne, Australia. This presentation explores the provision of Japanese in Melbourne, both as an additional language in schools, and as a home language in the community. It outlines the wide range of programs available and the practical strategies that families are using to raise children with Japanese in Melbourne. This presentation responds to the JALT Bilingualism SIG publication ‘Raising Bilingual and Bicultural Children in Japan: Essays from the Inaka’ (2018), in which stories were shared from families raising children with English in Japan, by sharing reverse stories of raising children with Japanese in the English-dominant context of Melbourne, Australia. It is anticipated that the understanding of bilingualism is further enhanced through the sharing of these context-specific stories and that teachers and families can expand their repertoire of strategies by learning from each other.