JALT President Kevin Cleary
With great sadness we announce that Kevin Cleary passed away peacefully in the early morning on January 16 in Kyoto in the presence of family.
Kevin was an exemplary teacher, author, leader, and most of all, friend.
Many of you have already offered to help in any way that you can. As soon as we know how you can be of assistance to Kevin's wife and children, we will let you know.
=======================================
Below is a short digest. You will find abstracts following this numbered list.
1. Next Event: Feb 9th, Harigaya Kominkan. John Fincuane - Teaching in the Private Sector: A Workshop; Allison Imamura - Communicative Presentations; Tianyi ‘Dani’ Zong, How Target-Language Achievement in an Extended Study-Abroad Experience Relates to Perceived Identity. In order to provide the best quality, please RSVP to this event in fully participate in the workshop.
2. Thanks for December and January! Last Month’s MyShare presentation with Saitama City Educators yielded 12 quality presentations, 37 total participants, and several publications. January 19th Joel Laurier brought Cooperative Learning to Omiya, and our new member Bryan Darr reviewed methods and theory for writing correction.
3. Name Change Following deliberation from Annual General Meeting, the Omiya Executive Board passed a motion to change from the Omiya Chapter of the Japan Association for Language Teaching (JALT Omiya) to Saitama JALT (埼玉 JALT) in recognition of our membership and scope. This motion will be heard as a formal amendment at the JALT National EBM this weekend, 2/1-2/2, at which point the change will be reflected on all national documents.
4. JALT 2014 National Meeting in Tsukuba: Call for Presentations deadline is 2/11. Just what it says - the call for papers for the JALT 2014 meeting in October is quite early. http://jalt.org/conference/jalt2014/call-presentations
5. March 16th, Sakuragi Kominkan (Kitchen, 6F) - Matt Shannon, Curated Sensory Workshop, featuring Brad Semans, and a sweet ending. Curious? Great, that’s the point. Read on for the full abstract below.
6. April 13th, Sakuragi Kominkan: Sai no Kuni Event with ETJ Our partners in education, ETJ, will continue the annual Sai no Kuni series in April.
7. Calls for presentations are open! We’d like to see more presentations from higher learning, school-owners, Japanese Teachers of English, and student presentations. Contact our experienced program director Jun Harada (haradajun@hotmail.com) with your ideas who will help turn that into reality.
=======================================
Abstracts and Discussion
1. Next Event
Teaching in the Private Sector: A Practical Workshop by John Finucane
Date: February 9th, 2014
Time: 2:00 pm – 5:00 pm
Place: Harigaya Kouminkan
Featured Speaker: John Finucane
Abstract: This practical workshop aims to help attendees understand what expectations private schools have of their employees and the challenges these expectations create. Attendees will learn one method to be effective, efficient private school employees.
Bio: John Finucane is an EFL Professional. He is the President and co-founder of さいたま市教育家会 (SCE). He edits the Journal of Saitama City Educators (JSCE). His interests are writing, teacher training, event planning, debate, critical thinking and LEGO. Find out more at: John-Finucane.com.
Note: The workshop requires reservations to be the most effective. It is intended for educators who want to work in a private junior or senior high school or educators who currently work in a private junior or senior high school. RSVP to membership@jaltomiya.org
Short Format Presentations:
Presenter: Allison Imamura
Title: Communicative Presentations
Abstract: This presentation will explore the use of communicative activities in the classroom. Based on the article “A Framework for Assessing the Communicative Potential of Language Activities” by Leander S. Hughes, we will discuss the criteria for determining if an activity is truly communicative or not. From this starting point, an activity called Communicative Presentations will be introduced, which has been built around this framework and involves all of the students in listening and speaking in the target language.
Presenter: Tianyi ‘Dani’ Zong
Title: How Target-language Achievement in an Extended Study-abroad Experience relates to Perceived Identity
Abstract: This presentation reports the results of a study of the ‘perceived identity’ of International students (Chinese, n = 72) studying at a Japanese university. Results indicating that Japanese, or any other language in a target society is not only a tool for communication, but a mirror for helping international students clergy their own perceived identity will be presented. Such findings will be supplemented with the presenter’s own narrative data.
2. MyShare Presentation Schedule from December
A specific and gratious thanks to all the talent we saw. The presentation order was as follows:
Daniel Worden - an Introduction to Extensive Reading
Die Hu - You are more than a language teacher – how to improve students’ self-esteems?
Rebecca Quinn - Speak all about it - Effective ways to use the news in oral communicaiton
Faye Quinn - Using a Journal Style Activity to Encourage Student-ALT Interaction
Teigan Babcock - UNESCO World Heritage Sites as subject material for HS Students
Larry Cisar - An activity using Algebricks/Woodblocks and Game Design
Florence Valderama - “Yes, and...!” - Theater Games from SDD SIG
Lee Ann Genovese and Zach Keesey - An Introduction to TIU@Kawagoe featuring
Weebly and Google Forms
Lee Ann Erickson - Extensive Reading Experiences for Introductory Readers featuring Book Bingo
Shaun Iwasawa - A Pair Speaking Test and Presentation Rolled Into One
Alexander Procter - The Talkative Classroom
3. Name Change
The following is taken straight from the January 3rd EBM
“1. Motion: The Omiya Chapter of the Japan Association of Language Teachers shall change its name and be recognized formally as the Saitama Chapter of the Japan Association of Language Teachers, commonly referred to as Saitama JALT. In accord with this motion, the chapter will present an amendment at the National Executive Board Meeting where upon ratification, the chapter will be recognized by JALT National and in all documents proceed under its new name. In the Annual General Meeting, the respective chapter will amend our constitution in line with constitution and bylaws.
Discussion: I have had discussions with all current officers, our chapter Parliamentarian Larry, and several other long-standing members; in short, we all know it is a good opportunity to properly represent our existing members, and to simply no longer confuse possible members in the Saitama area. All of national exec supports it, following a letter I sent them a month or so ago. I would be happy to provide that letter for you. It is not only good for us, but this move by us is seen as a smart and responsible move by National, and one worth following by others.
Here are some things that would be affected by a name change:
-Website would need to be updated. Tyson has prepared a functional website already ( http://saitamajalt.weebly.com ) that can be tuned upon vote.
-The Saitama Journal of Language Teaching would be better associated with the chapter
-We'd need an updated logo
-We'd need to amend the constitution at our AGM”
4. JALT 2014 National Meeting in Tsukuba: Call for Presentations deadline is 2/11. Nothing else to report
5. March 16th, Sakuragi Kominkan (Kitchen, 6F) - Matt Shannon with Brad Semans
This is a three-part workshop. The first is a round-robin, followed by a workshop with Brad, and then a surprise.
5.1 Matt Shannon’s Sensory Workshop - Subject to some change and secrecy
This round-robin style workshop is going to help you provide examples of multi-sensory inputs for language learning and use, and will conclude in a practical CLIL (Content and Language integrated learning) module that’s indeed a sweet surprise. Currently on the round-robing list are Smell-based writing and discussion prompts; Outsourcing your memory / Physically Realized Brainstorms; Double-Dutch; Tactile Writing; Coffee, Chocolate, Dashi, and Graphic Organizers.
5.2 Brad Seman’s Ukulele Workshop
This workshop will explore the rational and methods for implementing short ukulele lessons into classroom routines. Participants will have the opportunity to learn to play a basic chord progression on the ukulele while experiencing a wide range of pedagogical bases ukulele can be used to cover. Participants owning ukuleles are encouraged to bring them. Participants interested in buying a ukulele at cost (￥6,000 or under) should tell Matt Shannon by March 1st 2014.
6. April 13th, Sakuragi Kominkan: Sai no Kuni Event with ETJ
Calls for Presentations open. (Program Director: haradajun@hotmail.com)
7. Calls for presentations are open! We’d like to see more presentations from higher learning, school-owners, Japanese Teachers of English, and student presentations. Contact our experienced program director Jun Harada (haradajun@hotmail.com) with your ideas who will help turn that into reality.
=======================================
Let's keep in touch. You can reach Tyson Rode, Publicity Director by using the contact form on this site.
Have something pressing that needs the chapter's attention?
Contact Chapter President Matt Shannon at mailmatt@gmail.com
With great sadness we announce that Kevin Cleary passed away peacefully in the early morning on January 16 in Kyoto in the presence of family.
Kevin was an exemplary teacher, author, leader, and most of all, friend.
Many of you have already offered to help in any way that you can. As soon as we know how you can be of assistance to Kevin's wife and children, we will let you know.
=======================================
Below is a short digest. You will find abstracts following this numbered list.
1. Next Event: Feb 9th, Harigaya Kominkan. John Fincuane - Teaching in the Private Sector: A Workshop; Allison Imamura - Communicative Presentations; Tianyi ‘Dani’ Zong, How Target-Language Achievement in an Extended Study-Abroad Experience Relates to Perceived Identity. In order to provide the best quality, please RSVP to this event in fully participate in the workshop.
2. Thanks for December and January! Last Month’s MyShare presentation with Saitama City Educators yielded 12 quality presentations, 37 total participants, and several publications. January 19th Joel Laurier brought Cooperative Learning to Omiya, and our new member Bryan Darr reviewed methods and theory for writing correction.
3. Name Change Following deliberation from Annual General Meeting, the Omiya Executive Board passed a motion to change from the Omiya Chapter of the Japan Association for Language Teaching (JALT Omiya) to Saitama JALT (埼玉 JALT) in recognition of our membership and scope. This motion will be heard as a formal amendment at the JALT National EBM this weekend, 2/1-2/2, at which point the change will be reflected on all national documents.
4. JALT 2014 National Meeting in Tsukuba: Call for Presentations deadline is 2/11. Just what it says - the call for papers for the JALT 2014 meeting in October is quite early. http://jalt.org/conference/jalt2014/call-presentations
5. March 16th, Sakuragi Kominkan (Kitchen, 6F) - Matt Shannon, Curated Sensory Workshop, featuring Brad Semans, and a sweet ending. Curious? Great, that’s the point. Read on for the full abstract below.
6. April 13th, Sakuragi Kominkan: Sai no Kuni Event with ETJ Our partners in education, ETJ, will continue the annual Sai no Kuni series in April.
7. Calls for presentations are open! We’d like to see more presentations from higher learning, school-owners, Japanese Teachers of English, and student presentations. Contact our experienced program director Jun Harada (haradajun@hotmail.com) with your ideas who will help turn that into reality.
=======================================
Abstracts and Discussion
1. Next Event
Teaching in the Private Sector: A Practical Workshop by John Finucane
Date: February 9th, 2014
Time: 2:00 pm – 5:00 pm
Place: Harigaya Kouminkan
Featured Speaker: John Finucane
Abstract: This practical workshop aims to help attendees understand what expectations private schools have of their employees and the challenges these expectations create. Attendees will learn one method to be effective, efficient private school employees.
Bio: John Finucane is an EFL Professional. He is the President and co-founder of さいたま市教育家会 (SCE). He edits the Journal of Saitama City Educators (JSCE). His interests are writing, teacher training, event planning, debate, critical thinking and LEGO. Find out more at: John-Finucane.com.
Note: The workshop requires reservations to be the most effective. It is intended for educators who want to work in a private junior or senior high school or educators who currently work in a private junior or senior high school. RSVP to membership@jaltomiya.org
Short Format Presentations:
Presenter: Allison Imamura
Title: Communicative Presentations
Abstract: This presentation will explore the use of communicative activities in the classroom. Based on the article “A Framework for Assessing the Communicative Potential of Language Activities” by Leander S. Hughes, we will discuss the criteria for determining if an activity is truly communicative or not. From this starting point, an activity called Communicative Presentations will be introduced, which has been built around this framework and involves all of the students in listening and speaking in the target language.
Presenter: Tianyi ‘Dani’ Zong
Title: How Target-language Achievement in an Extended Study-abroad Experience relates to Perceived Identity
Abstract: This presentation reports the results of a study of the ‘perceived identity’ of International students (Chinese, n = 72) studying at a Japanese university. Results indicating that Japanese, or any other language in a target society is not only a tool for communication, but a mirror for helping international students clergy their own perceived identity will be presented. Such findings will be supplemented with the presenter’s own narrative data.
2. MyShare Presentation Schedule from December
A specific and gratious thanks to all the talent we saw. The presentation order was as follows:
Daniel Worden - an Introduction to Extensive Reading
Die Hu - You are more than a language teacher – how to improve students’ self-esteems?
Rebecca Quinn - Speak all about it - Effective ways to use the news in oral communicaiton
Faye Quinn - Using a Journal Style Activity to Encourage Student-ALT Interaction
Teigan Babcock - UNESCO World Heritage Sites as subject material for HS Students
Larry Cisar - An activity using Algebricks/Woodblocks and Game Design
Florence Valderama - “Yes, and...!” - Theater Games from SDD SIG
Lee Ann Genovese and Zach Keesey - An Introduction to TIU@Kawagoe featuring
Weebly and Google Forms
Lee Ann Erickson - Extensive Reading Experiences for Introductory Readers featuring Book Bingo
Shaun Iwasawa - A Pair Speaking Test and Presentation Rolled Into One
Alexander Procter - The Talkative Classroom
3. Name Change
The following is taken straight from the January 3rd EBM
“1. Motion: The Omiya Chapter of the Japan Association of Language Teachers shall change its name and be recognized formally as the Saitama Chapter of the Japan Association of Language Teachers, commonly referred to as Saitama JALT. In accord with this motion, the chapter will present an amendment at the National Executive Board Meeting where upon ratification, the chapter will be recognized by JALT National and in all documents proceed under its new name. In the Annual General Meeting, the respective chapter will amend our constitution in line with constitution and bylaws.
Discussion: I have had discussions with all current officers, our chapter Parliamentarian Larry, and several other long-standing members; in short, we all know it is a good opportunity to properly represent our existing members, and to simply no longer confuse possible members in the Saitama area. All of national exec supports it, following a letter I sent them a month or so ago. I would be happy to provide that letter for you. It is not only good for us, but this move by us is seen as a smart and responsible move by National, and one worth following by others.
Here are some things that would be affected by a name change:
-Website would need to be updated. Tyson has prepared a functional website already ( http://saitamajalt.weebly.com ) that can be tuned upon vote.
-The Saitama Journal of Language Teaching would be better associated with the chapter
-We'd need an updated logo
-We'd need to amend the constitution at our AGM”
4. JALT 2014 National Meeting in Tsukuba: Call for Presentations deadline is 2/11. Nothing else to report
5. March 16th, Sakuragi Kominkan (Kitchen, 6F) - Matt Shannon with Brad Semans
This is a three-part workshop. The first is a round-robin, followed by a workshop with Brad, and then a surprise.
5.1 Matt Shannon’s Sensory Workshop - Subject to some change and secrecy
This round-robin style workshop is going to help you provide examples of multi-sensory inputs for language learning and use, and will conclude in a practical CLIL (Content and Language integrated learning) module that’s indeed a sweet surprise. Currently on the round-robing list are Smell-based writing and discussion prompts; Outsourcing your memory / Physically Realized Brainstorms; Double-Dutch; Tactile Writing; Coffee, Chocolate, Dashi, and Graphic Organizers.
5.2 Brad Seman’s Ukulele Workshop
This workshop will explore the rational and methods for implementing short ukulele lessons into classroom routines. Participants will have the opportunity to learn to play a basic chord progression on the ukulele while experiencing a wide range of pedagogical bases ukulele can be used to cover. Participants owning ukuleles are encouraged to bring them. Participants interested in buying a ukulele at cost (￥6,000 or under) should tell Matt Shannon by March 1st 2014.
6. April 13th, Sakuragi Kominkan: Sai no Kuni Event with ETJ
Calls for Presentations open. (Program Director: haradajun@hotmail.com)
7. Calls for presentations are open! We’d like to see more presentations from higher learning, school-owners, Japanese Teachers of English, and student presentations. Contact our experienced program director Jun Harada (haradajun@hotmail.com) with your ideas who will help turn that into reality.
=======================================
Let's keep in touch. You can reach Tyson Rode, Publicity Director by using the contact form on this site.
Have something pressing that needs the chapter's attention?
Contact Chapter President Matt Shannon at mailmatt@gmail.com