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November Event

4 Corners Tour Kansai

Judith O’Loughlin and Thongsouk Keomany

Sunday, November 18th, 2018

• Time: 10:00~12:00
• Venue: Nara Visitor Center and Inn
• Walkable from JR and Kintetsu Nara Station
• Map to venue
• Cost: JALT members free; one day-members 1000 yen

The Four Corners Tour presents high-profile speakers from the JALT international conference to the far reaches and "four corners" of Japan each year. Over the past several years, the four Kansai area JALT chapters have collaborated to be sure that some of these presenters from overseas visited us somewhere in Kansai. This year it's Nara's turn to host the main event with two invited speakers presenting versions of their JALT2018 talks tailored towards a more interactive setting. Judith O’Loughlin from the USA will presentStrategies for fostering resilience in young learners, and Thongsouk Keomany (This year's Bill Balsamo Asian Scholar, from Laos) will enliven us with his natural charm, wit and warm heart as he talks about his students, experiences and his work in the English Department at the National University of Laos.

 

Speaker Bios

 

Judith B. O'Loughlin has taught in K-12, adult education, and graduate university TESOL endorsement programs. She consulted and taught for U.S. federal and state grants to train ESL and Special Education teachers. As a consultant, her focus is on standards-based differentiated curriculum, collaborative teaching, and newcomers with interrupted education. She is the author of The Academic Language Accelerator (Oxford) and co-author of Students with Interrupted Formal Education: Where They Are and What They Need (Corwin).

Thongsouk Keomany was born in Louangphabang Province, in the Lao Peoples Democratic Republic. He has studied in Laos, Singapore and Japan and is currently working on his PhD at the University of Malaysia. He works at the National University of Laos, where he has been teaching under- and post-graduate students, for 22 years. He was the Head of the Department of Academic Affairs for several years and now he is the Deputy Head of the English Department in charge of International Programs, the LaoTESOL Co-ordinator, the LAN project Academic Advisor, and a member of the Inclusive Education Committee in the Faculty of Letters. He is also the author of English Language for Lao Students, Books 3-12. These texts are used in all primary and secondary schools throughout Laos. He specializes in planning, evaluation and curriculum design. He believes that the principles and maxims of teaching, from KNOWN to UNKNOWN, can help his learners improve their ability to study, particularly in inclusive classrooms. If you are unable to make it to JALT2018 in Shizuoka, or even if you are going but wish to see these presenters up close and more personally, then you will not want to miss this special event. If you have time after the presentations, please plan to also join us for lunch and a walk to some of the nearby classic and World Heritage sites of Nara.