This event will be held from 11am-2pm @
Rental Space Holly (30 seconds from Urawa Station)
David Gann - Magic as a Means to Dialogical Discourse
Critical thinking begins with the ability to comprehend and analyze arguments. This involves distinguishing premises from conclusions and evaluating arguments on the strength of the logic linking the former to the latter. This fun and practical four-skills activity treats magic trick as argument with a hidden premise. The presenter will demonstrate how to implement a simple card trick as a collaborative five-skills classroom activity.
David Gann is co-producing of Critically Minded Podcast and JALT Critical Thinking SIG Coordinator. He teaches at Tokyo University of Science.
Joel Laurier – Starting the academic year with the right team building tools
As teachers, we set the tone of the class’ academic and social journey for the year. So often, we set the wrong tone through the choices of activities we present to the students. With the right activities to start the year off, so many classroom management issues can be addressed. Come join me for a short demonstration of social activities that will help your students interact with each other while helping them reach their academic potential.
Joel Laurier is a lecturer in the Learning English for Academic Purposes at Toyo University. He is a cooperative learning trainer and a firm believer in the flipped classroom concept.
John Larson – How to pass notes in English class
Do you remember the joys of exchanging notes in class? Risking a heart-pounding dangerous pass... Smiling silently writing the unsayable... Waiting hungrily for the hopeless heartbreaking reply... In this presentation, learn how John incorporates passing notes into his English classes.
John Larson has been experimenting with different EFL techniques at Isesaki High School for over a decade. He has volunteered in various roles in Gunma JALT and currently oversees their websites.
Daniel Hooper / Jacob Reed – Using word lists and MALL for vocabulary acquisition
This presentation centers around the utilization of recently developed high-frequency word lists used in conjunction with mobile-assisted language learning (MALL) to allow for efficient and rapid vocabulary acquisition. We also refer to a study that was carried out with the app 'Memrise' in a university setting and briefly discuss relevant findings.
This presentation will have a largely practical focus with information on the benefits of our chosen app and how this approach can be introduced into a number of different teaching contexts.
Daniel Hooper is a student in the Kanda University of International Studies MA TESOL program and a teacher in a private conversation school in Ota City.
Jacob Reed is an instructor in the ELI program at Kanda University.
Ray Hoogenboom - Setting Up and Maintaining an Extensive Reading
and ER Journal Project for First-Year University Students
According to Nation (2007), a well-designed language curriculum should contain a balance of meaning-focused comprehensible input (listening and reading), opportunities to produce meaning-focused output (speaking and writing), form-focused instruction (grammar), and fluency development (speed). Of these four, this presentation will focus on input and output. Ray will discuss how he sets up and maintains an extensive reading (ER) and written ER response journal project for first and second year university students.
Ray Hoogenboom is an Associate Professor at the Center for Language Teaching in Gunma University, and is the President of the JALT Gunma Chapter.