This event will be held 4/16 from 13:00 - 16:00 at Creative Space Holly, 30 seconds east of Urawa Station
Fast, Focused, and Friendly: MyShares
What have you seen that just simply works? What new techniques are giving your students more insight into their understanding? What new resource is helping you support discussion and analysis? What books, podcasts, or conversations have helped you or your students move forward? 

.Either with a presentation, a whiteboard, or simply oral discussion, take your 15-20 minutes to shares your perspective, resources, or questions with Saitama JALT. We'll enjoy the remaining time with discourse on how your idea connects to other members in the room. They're some of the best conversations we have in JALT!

Come out this April 16th for excellent conversations and professional development. 

Permanent Full-Time Teacher Positions in Saitama City: Informational Session hosted by Bradley Semans

The following information is borrowed from Saitama City's Recruitment page, posted here: https://www.city.saitama.jp/003/002/008/101/005/p094776.html , specifically the pamphlet entitled Let's Teach in Saitama City

​Saitama City
Saitama City is an ordinance designated city located north of Tokyo. The city’s status as an ordinance designated city gives a certain amount of autonomy compared to other municipal BOEs. In many respects, the Saitama City BOE operates at the same level as a prefectural BOE. Because of this, the Saitama City education have been able to innovate.
The Saitama City Board of Education employs more than 5,000 professionals across a variety of education related institutions including 104 elementary schools, 58 junior high schools, 2 special education schools, 3 high schools and 1 secondary school. These institutions serve the city’s 1.3 million residents.
Among the city’s many educational achievements, it has been at the forefront of English as a foreign language education here in Japan. Starting in 2016, the city implemented Global Studies, an original ESL curriculum starting with the first grade of elementary school and extending all the way to the third grade of junior high school. Since 2019, the city has held a special section of its hiring examination for non-Japanese teachers to become full-time teachers in its junior or senior high schools, or a secondary school. Successful candidates are not hired as ALTs or conversation teachers; they are full time teachers. Most recently, the city has established a new secondary school that is an authorized school for the International Baccalaureate’s Middle Years Program and a candidate school for Diploma Program.
What does it mean to be a full-time teacher?
As a full-time teacher, successful applicants are hired to perform the same duties that Japanese teachers perform. Not only will teachers manage their own lessons in the course they teach, but they will also be involved in school life in ways few non-Japanese staff have experienced, such as leading club activities and being home room teachers. All of these exciting challenges can have a great impact on the lives of students as well as being truly fulfilling experiences for educators.
What are the benefits?
Saitama City’s many schools offer a wide variety of career paths related to professional and personal development. This is because Saitama City’s approach to hiring non-Japanese English teachers focuses on the value of the individual. As such, the position is not a under yearly contract; it is a commitment to the individual until retirement age of 60. Of course, the city also offers an attractive benefits package.

Date: March 12 (Sunday), 13:00-4:00 @ Creative Space Holly in Urawa 

Title: Global Citizenship and Linguistic Awareness: Teaching about World Languages and Writing Systems

Summary:  In order to function effectively in our increasingly global age, our students need to have a basic knowledge and understanding of the various languages of the world. The EFL classroom can be an exciting place to provide this linguistic awareness.

This workshop will introduce a thematic teaching unit on “world languages and writing systems” developed for college-level Japanese EFL learners over the past 20 years. The unit comprises content-based activities, tasks and projects that engage students in critical thinking, discussion, research and presentations.

In the workshop, the presenter will demonstrate task-based EFL activities through which students explore language families, study about world languages, learn to recognize major writing systems and practice conversational expressions in foreign languages. He will argue that teaching about world languages stimulates student interest in language as a whole, improves language learning motivation, promotes international awareness and empowers students to engage more effectively with foreign peoples and cultures.
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Participants who attend this workshop will get a chance to become “instant linguists” and take home a rich variety of ready-to-use handouts. They will learn how thematic teaching about the world’s languages and writing systems can promote English skills, linguistic knowledge, global awareness, cross-cultural understanding and curiosity about the wider world.

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/3866750465?pwd=cEJnMFFmQ1J0SDNXMnY0a3VpSVYvQT09

(Direct Zoom Link
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What have you seen that just simply works? What new techniques are giving your students more insight into their learning; What new source is helping you incite great conversations? What books have you head? Come online this upcoming Wednesday, March 16th, for an online MyShare.

A MyShare is a short-format presentation. Either with a presentation, a whiteboard, or simply oral discussion, take your 15-20 minutes to shares your perspective, resources, or questions with Saitama JALT. To make this most effective, please contact us on FaceBook, contact an officer, or sign-up to get started.

Date: Sunday December 5, 2021
Time: 14:00–17:00 JST
Online via Zoom: Edzil.la link:  https://gnss2021.edzil.la/  (No need to register or log in. Scroll past the log-in page, then choose the session you wish to attend).
Please join us on December 5 for five presentations exploring developments in professional development. Covering topics such as the benefits of collaborating with colleagues, the how to of publishing, institutional approaches to personal development, teacher wellbeing, and part-time teacher wellness in the time of Covid-19, this event guarantees something of interest for all educators. Session A begins at 14:00-14:45 with two concurrent sessions (please see below), and Session B runs from 15:00-15:45 with two concurrent sessions (please see below). Our plenary begins at 16:00 with a 17:00 finish. Abstract information will be provided on our respective JALT chapter homepages, and on our facebook pages. Edzil.la link:  https://gnss2021.edzil.la/  Please pen this exciting event in your diaries.
Sessions: 14:00-14:45 Session A (with 2 concurrent workshops)
1) Collaborating to Create Strong Relationships and Better Instructors: Kazumi Kato, Wendy M. Gough
2) Getting Published: Melodie Cook
15:00-15:45: Session B (with 2 concurrent workshops)
1) ELI PD: An Institutional Approach to Teacher Professional Development: Jennie Roloff Rothman
2) Positive Psychology and Teacher Wellbeing: Mary Nobuoka
16:00-17:00: Plenary The Impact of Covid-19 on Part-time University English Teacher Wellness in Japan: Wendy M. Gough, Chiyuki Yanase, Colin Skeates, Bill Snyder
Cost: Free to all

Event in Planning: 
Scheduled
Event Type: 
JALT Event
Event Theme: 
Developments in Professional Development
Online Meeting: 
Yes
Cost for Jalt Members: 
Free
Cost for non-Jalt Members: 
Free
Link: 
Shizuoka JALT
Edzil.la

We're inviting our members and their friends to participate in a MyShare online event Wednesday, February 17th, from 8:00PM until 9:30 or a little later, via Zoom teleconference.
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Please use the following Zoom link to join the event:
https://zoom.us/j/98433630766?pwd=d2JLV1NmeloxWmdaTVFINWQ3RnhGZz09
Meeting ID: 984 3363 0766
Passcode: zNTs71

MyShares are 15-minute, short-style presentations, which make them perfect for new presenters as well as experienced presenters that want to introduce a topic as a set up for a longer presentation in the future. We allot time based on first-come, first-serve, and it is entirely possible to choose to share something on the day of the event. 

For this upcoming event, we have a simple theme: "What works?"

This is our first member-focused online event, and our first even in ages, so we're happy to work with you to develop your 10-15 minutes to make them the best they can be, while also welcoming the informal discussion that comes with online video discussion.

Some topics for the discussion session may include:
What advice would you give yourself a year ago?
What resources are you using that should be shared?
What was the biggest headache that you solved?
...and what's the biggest headache you haven't solved yet?

Featured Presenter: Miori Shimada
An effective Breakout Room activity for Engineering
​students 

The presenter briefly describes some issues that arose in university EFL classrooms due to the shift to online education. Considering these issues, the presenter designed the task-based Breakout Room sessions using the original worksheets for her engineering students' classes. The worksheets and the activity procedures will be explained to the audience. The feedback from the students who joined her Breakout Room sessions will also be shared. 

Following the event, we will have a brief State of the Chapter Meeting. As your chief executive officer, I am taking responsibility for the lack of programing and communication over the last year. I'd like you to know how hard the individual officers of our organization have been working as academics, professionals, and family members over these months. It is the very same people who raise their hands to solve problems at schools and in their communities as the people who said "I want to make Saitama JALT better." It is the case that ultimately I couldn't provide the time and clarity that I believe we needed in the last year, and I will now do what I can to immediately re-position Saitama JALT as an advocate of its members, and help identify the leadership it needs for the coming years. It's been an honor to serve in the position for the second time (the first being when I helped us transition from Omiya to Saitama chapter), and I wish to see it receive the attention and care it deserves. 
Saitama JALT is seeking new voices and leadership as it seeks to adapt to the current demands of Remote and Hybrid Teaching and Teacher Advocacy. Please consider how your needs as a language teacher can be met by the chapter and its resources. 
Please use the following link below for presentation submissions. "February 17th" should be entered as the preferred date and "MyShare" as the presentation format.
http://www.saitamajalt.com/present.html