Atsushi Iida
Writing haiku as a reflection: Beyond extensive reading

The aim of this presentation is to discuss the use of haiku as a way for English language learning. The presenter will share one of his writing activities in a first-year college English course- writing haiku as a reflection on an Extensive Reading (ER) book.

Bio:
Atsushi Iida is Assistant Professor in the University Education Center at Gunma University where he has taught first-year and second-year English courses.  His research interests include poetry writing in a second language, scholarly publication in a second language and ESP.

Michelle Williams

This session is for VIPs only–Visual Information Plans. Learn in ten minutes what you can do in ten minutes to have your students understand and master complex information. This is not another “You Should Use Pictures” lecture.

Bio:
When she’s not teaching, Michelle is probably thinking about teaching, or talking about it. Or writing. Or cooking. Or perhaps studying sado. Right now she teaches English at Tomioka Higashi Girls High School in Tomioka, Gunma. She hails from Denver, Colorado, USA.

Robert Rowland
Icon Based Assessment for Young Learners

Creating a simple, easy to understand assessment system that language learners can follow to the goals you have set for them can be complicated and frustrating. This frustration compounds when teaching language learners with little or no previous exposure to the language, and then again when teaching young children. This workshop will look at strategies for creating visually attractive icon based assessment systems that are appealing to younger learners.

Bio:
Rowland is a Head ALT Instructor in Saitama City. He leads a team of ALT Instructors who build and assess curriculum and coordinate monthly training sessions to support its citywide implementation, and pilots creation of new curriculum and materials. His interests include translation, student assessment and hiking.

Masa Tsuneyasu
Warm-up activities for novice students

Warm up activities play an important role in getting students ready to use English. This workshop will introduce various activities: (1) individual work, (2) pair work, and (3) group work. These tasks aim to stimulate students’ cognition and schemata. Active participation as well as feedback of attendees is most appreciated.

Bio:
Tsuneyasu is a lecturer at Utsunomiya University. She received her B.A. and M.A. with TESOL at the University of Utah and is currently a doctoral candidate. Her research interest is individual differences.

Ivan Botev
Collaboration lessons: Why are they important?

Developing an educational program is not an easy task. Ensuring that program is incorporated in the core curriculum often proves to be an even harder task. Botev will cover some of the ways other teachers and school staff can help you in such an endeavor.

In order to raise their ability to communicate, teaching cultures is very important. Culture, history, religion, geography, and so on should be dealt with in English class. Then how can we do that?

Bio:
Ivan Botev, M.Ed. Applied Linguistics, is involved in the Global Human Resources Development (GHRD) Program in Toyo University. He is also an adjunct professor in Ochanomizu University. He serves as president for the JALT Omiya Chapter and also as chairperson for the Nakasendo English Conference this year (NEC 2013). Ivan is a father of two and his interests outside the education field include exploring the beauty of Japan with his family.

At this month’s Omiya Chapter event, Atsushi Iida of the Indiana University of Pennsylvania (US) will conduct three presentations. The following are the details for Atsushi’s program:

1. Composing haiku for communicative purposes
The purpose of this presentation is to demonstrate how writing instructors can use haiku and teach haiku writing for the purpose of developing communicative skills with a greater sense of voice in Japanese EFL freshman college writing courses. The presenter shares a series of writing haiku activities to develop students’ voice in writing.

2. Reading haiku for developing written communication skills
The purpose of this presentation is to demonstrate how reading haiku practice can be conducted in order for L2 writers to develop voice and audience awareness in EFL freshman college writing classrooms. The presenter shares a reading haiku activity, with a sample, for enhancing students’ written communication skills.

3. The use of weblog in foreign language contexts
The purpose of this presentation is to discuss various possibilities of using weblogs in FL teaching and provide suggestions regarding how language teachers can apply the technology in EFL contexts. The presenter discusses the feature of weblogs and then illustrates one practical model of weblog-based pedagogy in a JFL (Japanese as Foreign Language) context in the United States.

Atsushi Iida is currently a doctoral candidate in the Composition and TESOL Program and an instructor of Japanese in the Critical Languages Program at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Indiana PA. He received his Master of Arts with TESOL at Indiana University of Pennsylvania in 2007. His research interests include L2 writing, creative writing, learner autonomy, weblog-based pedagogy and ESL/ EFL methodology.