2012 Events Archive

DECEMBER 2012

2012 Kansai JALT Year-end Event

A JALT Kyoto, Osaka, Kobe Chapter Co-sponsored Event

Saturday, December 15, 2012

This year the baton for hosting the Kansai JALT end-of-year event has been passed on to Kyoto Chapter and it is to be held in the informal surroundings of Tadg’s restaurant and bar in downtown Kyoto.

With a wide selection of food and drink available, as well as wonderful views of Gion and the eastern mountains, we’re looking forward to a great chance to watch an eclectic mix of informative and entertaining presentations, and meet up with old colleagues and new people from around the Kansai JALT community.

Kyoto JALT is looking forward to welcoming you on December 15th!

Call for Presentations

Following previous events in Nishinomiya, we welcome proposals for Pecha Kucha style presentations — 20 slides, 20 seconds per slide, giving a total of 6 minutes and 40 seconds per presentation.

We hope to provide a wide variety of topics that include, but not limited to, the following themes:

Teaching & learning, personal & professional development, classroom successes of 2012, and arts, culture & travel.

Please send proposals to KyotoJALT by November 25th with the following information:

Access Information

Tadg’s is a short walk from Keihan Sanjo station, and about 10 minutes from Hankyu Kawaramachi station, so it is easily accessible from Kobe, Nara, and Osaka. From Keihan Sanjo/Kyoto Subway Sanjo Station: Take Exit #7, walk across the bridge, take the the first right onto Kiyamachi Dori. Walk for about 100 metres, Tadg’s is on your right on the 8th floor of the Empire building.

Map to venue

October 2012

JALT2012 Balsamo Asian Scholar

JALT Four Corners Tour is coming to Kyoto!

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

JALT 2012 Four Corners Tour

Since 1988, JALT has sponsored teachers and researchers from a wide variety of Asian countries to visit Japan and speak at the annual international conference. During their visit the Asian Scholar is invited to speak at different locations around Japan as part of the Four Corners Tour

This year’s speaker is Inggy Yuliani Pribady from Indonesia. The title of her presentation is Genre pedagogy to lead students to a high stake of learning: Students’ voice and critical thinking about environment issues through news item writing.Abstract

Genre pedagogies have drawn on Systemic Functional Linguistic theory, which views language as a social semiotic system, i.e. a resource for making meaning in social context (Eggins & Martin 2002). It is the idea that the grammar of the English Language is a system to facilitate certain kinds of social and interpersonal interaction, represent ideas about the world and connect these ideas and interaction into meaningful text and make them relevant to their context (Halliday, 1978:12).

This paper aims to describe ways in which appropriate scaffolding teaching and learning activities in genre pedagogy can be provided to guide students to shape their ideas critically to the issues of the environment in their writing.The scaffolding takes the form of a particular sequence of activities known as teaching and learning cycle which are building knowledge of the field, modeling of the text, join construction and independent construction. 

Biodata

Inggy Yuliani Pribady holds a Master of English Education degree from Indonesia University of Education. She is an English teacher at 2 Junior High Schools in Bandung, Indonesia. Her research interests include language learning strategies and sociocultural factors in foreign language acquisition.

Dinner and discussion

Following the presentation, there are plans to continue discussions with the presenter at a nearby restaurant, so don’t miss this chance to hear a different perspective on language learning and teaching.

July 2012

Using Corpora in the Classroom

Laurence Anthony and James Rogers

Saturday July 21, 2012

1:30 pm – 3:30 pm

Applications of Corpus Linguistics in Language Teaching and Research

As the summer sets in take the opportunity to escape the heat and join our air conditioned event looking at the hot topic of how corpora can be used in the classroom. We are very pleased to announce that Laurence Anthony, the developer of the widely used concordancing tool AntConc, will be will be giving a workshop titled Applications of Corpus Linguistics in Language Teaching and Research.

Laurence Anthony is a Professor in the Faculty of Science and Engineering at Waseda University, where he serves as coordinator of the Center for English Language Education (CELESE) technical English program. His research interests include corpus linguistics, educational technology, and natural language processing (NLP).

3:45 pm – 4:45 pm

Using Corpora to Help Teach Collocations

Collocational knowledge is vital to language fluency. It helps learners sound more native-like and process language efficiency. But are we truly aiding students in obtaining collocational fluency? A presentation byJames Rogers will answer these questions and demonstrate a methodology utilizing corpora to help identify useful collocations.

James Rogers is an assistant professor at Kansai Gaidai University. He is currently pursuing a PhD in applied linguistics examining the high frequency collocations of English.

Post-event discussion over food and drinks

Following the afternoon’s presentations, join us for more discussion at a nearby restaurant for food and drinks. Everyone is most welcome. The venue is yet to be confirmed but places will be limited.

April 2012

Kyoto JALT – Learner Development SIG Joint Event

Presentations and cherry blossom viewing

Sunday April 8, 2012

Please note the change of location. It is not the usual venue Kyoto JALT uses for its meetings

In April, to kick off the new academic year, Kyoto JALT will be collaborating with the Learner Development SIG to bring you a day of stimulating workshops and discussions for language teachers of learners from elementary school age to adults. Presenters will explore aspects of learner development and autonomy in a variety of contexts. There will also be the chance to win copies of the LD SIG book More Autonomy You Ask.
Cherry blossom viewing

Following the presentations, weather permitting, everyone is invited to take a short walk to the banks of the Kamo River to enjoy the cherry blossoms and reflect on the day. Bring your own beverages and snacks to better help with the reflections.

Presentation Timetable

10:30-11:30

Ann Mayeda

Konan Women’s University

Strategies in use: Young learners and the willingness to communicate

This presentation will look at some of the spontaneous learner strategies employed by children and the role they play in supporting communication in the language classroom. In the quest for maintaining a willingness to communicate, an argument will be made for maintaining and nurturing these communicative behaviors not only in preschool and elementary school English programs but through to young adult language learning environments as well.Biodata

Ann Mayeda lectures at Konan Women’s University. She is involved in pre- and in-service teacher-training programs for young learners and currently conducts workshops for several public elementary schools in the Osaka and Nara area. She also has a keen interest in learner development and issues in autonomy as it applies to children and young adult learners.

Lunch 11:30-12:30

12:30-13:30

Philip Shigeo Brown

Konan Women’s University

Vocabulary Learning Strategies Empowerment

How do we learn and remember new words? What vocabulary learning strategies do we use? This workshop encourages participants to reflect on their own vocabulary learning and teaching experiences. Then together, we will explore these questions and further consider the value of vocabulary learning strategies instruction in teaching and learning English as a foreign/second language.

Following Rubin, Chamot, Harris & Anderson (2007), a systematic four-stage approach for strategies based instruction (i.e. learner training) will be illustrated, and four fundamental vocabulary learning strategies highlighted: word cards, dictionary usage, word parts, and record-keeping (Nation, 2008). Drawing predominantly upon experiences in university contexts, this workshop will demonstrate how vocabulary learning strategies instruction can be made more effective in practice and not only promote learners’ understanding and experimentation with strategies, but also lead to their active uptake.

Last but not least, participants will also be invited to explore and discuss the use or potential for vocabulary learning strategies instruction in their own contexts.Biodata

Phil has been teaching in a range of contexts in Japan since 2001 and is currently a Lecturer and Learning Advisor at Konan Women’s University, an MA TEFL/SL tutor for the University of Birmingham, and a founding member of MASH Collaboration. Phil’s main interests are vocabulary, learner and teacher autonomy and development, content-based instruction and global issues.
13:45-14:45

Akiko Takagi

Aoyama Gakuin University

Promoting Reflection for Professional Development

The importance and effectiveness of reflection in professional development is widely recognized in the field of teacher education. According to Hacker and Barkhuizen (2008), teachers modify and develop their personal theories by constantly reflecting on their own practice. However, some teachers may wonder how they can engage in constant reflection in their busy lives. This workshop explores what we reflect on, how we reflect, and why we reflect. The participants will be given opportunities to engage in reflection on their own practice and to share their reflections with others.Biodata

Akiko Takagi is an Associate Professor at Aoyama Gakuin University. She completed her EdD in TESOL at the University of Exeter. She is involved in pre-service teacher training programs. Her research interests include professional development and learner and teacher autonomy.
14:45-15:00 Closing Remarks and clean up

Cherry blossom viewing

All are invited to take a short walk to the banks of the Kamo River to enjoy the cherry blossoms! Bring your own beverages and snacks to better help your reflections on the days presentations.

MARCH 2012

Continuing education for language teachers: A discussion

Saturday March 24, 2012

Many teachers consider continuing education in part-time Master’s, doctoral, or graduate certificate programs essential to personal and professional advancement. However, these courses require significant time and financial commitments, and the balance of benefits to costs may be questionable.

This event will bring together current and former continuing education students from both distance and traditional programs to share and compare their experiences in a moderated panel discussion. The audience will also be welcome to ask questions and share their own concerns. Materials covering a range of different programs will also be available.