Date: April 21st, 2019
Time: 3:00-5:00pm
Place: English Cafe, Olive Square, Kagawa University
Speaker: Andrew Caldwell
Topic: Dictogloss: Improve Motivation and Participation

Dictogloss: Improve Motivation and Participation

Do you have trouble getting unmotivated students to participate in class? Do you have troubles finding an effective activity for classes with students of varied abilities? Andrew will introduce an interactive and cooperative activity which allows students to integrate the four language skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing into one activity. Dictogloss (also known as Grammar Dictation) is quite different to traditional dictation. It is a type of information gap activity that requires the learners to interact with each other in order to complete a target task. Dictogloss is also an effective motivational tool because it encourages lower-level students to participate in groups and to become more actively involved in their own language learning. Additionally, it also helps to develop the students’ grammatical competence. It was first developed in Australia and can be used with students ranging from junior high to university. Continue reading →

MyShare (Icebreakers)
Kagawa University
Olive Square, English Cafe
Feb. 3rd, 2-4pm

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Speaker: Kaori Watanabe (MA Candidate) Global Society Studies, Humanities, and Social Sciences Program, Graduate School of Integrated Arts and Sciences, Kochi University

Date &Time: Thursday, January 10 (6:30-7:30)

Place: Meeting Room 2 (2F) Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Kochi University, Asakura Campus

Abstract: The aim of this presentation is to introduce ‘tasks’ in Japanese-language education, especially in classroom situations overseas. Based on recent international interest in Japanese pop culture, such as ‘anime’ (animated cartoons) and ‘manga’ (comic books), Japanese-language learners’ motivation and purpose of study has been changing. Because of such changes in the needs for Japanese-language study, a communicative pedagogy and methodology are gradually being introduced. While there are various kinds of textbooks for ‘Japanese as a foreign language’, with many of them aimed at improved communication, the present content of these textbooks often consists of grammar-based instruction. Thus, revised textbook content and pedagogy is required. Continue reading →

Speaker: Donald Carroll
Date &Time: Sunday, December 2nd,   2pm-4pm
Place: Kagawa University, Olive Square, English Café

Abstract

Textbook dialogs are notoriously unnatural, which is to say they do not reflect the organization and practices empirically observable in naturally occurring conversation.  The goal of this workshop is to show teachers how to “re-imagine” textbook dialogs to bring them more into line with real conversation. After an introduction to some of the most commonly observed features of naturally occurring talk-in-interaction, workshop participants will be taking actual instances of textbook dialogs and re-writing (and re-enacting) them according to observations from the field of conversation analysis.  A selection of sample textbook dialogs will be provided that we can rework individually and in groups. In addition, participants are invited to bring their own EFL textbooks with dialogs (or photocopies of textbook dialogs). No prior experience with conversation analysis is needed. Continue reading →

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