Fukuoka JALT

Date: Saturday, January 21st, 2012
Time: 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM
Speakers: Robert Chartrand, Rob Cochrane, Darcy DeLint, Aaron Hahn, Trevor Holster, Bill Pellowe, Tim Pritchard, Alonzo Williams

Description: Come and see how other teachers are compiling their new curricula for the coming school year. Here is an opportunity for teachers to exchange ideas and advice on all aspects of curriculum design and implementation. 

The session will be comprised of a series of short presentations, about 5-10 minutes each, followed by time for questions and discussions. Afterwards, let's continue the discussion over beer and food nearby!

The speakers are listed below in alphabetical order:

Assigning homework to university students

Robert Chartrand

Should we give homework to our students? What are some homework exercises that are useful for our students? Robert will show real examples of different kinds of homework that he has assigned to students in a variety of courses, and discuss why some of the activities were successful or not, and how to minimize the time spent by teachers to check the homework.

Class website/blogs

Rob Cochrane
Class websites and blogs can be used to help students become more responsible for their learning as well as extending language learning beyond the classroom. The pros and cons of using websites and blogs will be discussed and a list of resources for beginners will be presented.

Student generated listening and quiz set
 or 
Getting content and audience first

Darcy DeLint
A set of student-centered activities designed to practice writing, presenting, question construction, listening and note taking. Students often pay little attention to other students' presentations and all too often those presentations are targeted at the teacher, laden with display language and hence, not audience centered. This activity set, based on the Task-based cycle, is effective and getting students engaged in each other's work and focused on both content and audience.

Gender roles

Aaron Hahn

A two-session lesson for high school students (adaptable for older students) that uses the students' lives and future plans to help students indirectly explore gender difference. It focuses on listening, but also includes speaking and reading practice. The lesson plan also demonstrates a simple way for students to shape the content of future classes (student-centered learning).

Diary Review Discussions
Trevor Holster, Fukuoka Women's University

Trevor will demonstrate using diary review discussions as a source of meaningful pushed output and comprehensible input in communication classes. These tasks are suitable for levels from false beginner to advanced and work especially well in mixed level classes.

Answer Paddles
Bill Pellowe, Kinki University

Bill will demonstrate a very quick and easy way to keep students paying attention, and to gauge students' understanding.

Learn about your students as they learn to converse

Tim Pritchard

Tim will describe two methods he has used to help get to know his students over the course of a year, and one activity which helps them get motivated to speak and actually hold a conversation. This is through the use of a cunningly annotated class photo, weekly two-way feedback using name cards and a weekly topical 'find someone who' activity, respectively.

Engaging students through interactive speaking activities

Alonzo Williams

Alonzo will share one or two classroom activities that he uses to get students up and speaking.

Cost: JALT Members: free
Non-members: 1,000 yen
Venue: Seinan Community Center (map to the venue). Near Nishijin Subway station.

Date: Saturday, February 18th, 2012
Time: 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM
Speaker: Alun Roger (Sojo University, Kumamoto)

Description: An overview of a group "small-talk" type test that targets an often under-represented facet of the speaking skill - interactional language. Part lecture, part workshop I will lay down the theory and value behind the test and then proceed to go over administration. The session will culminate with participants going through a "norming" session by watching sample videos to A) experience the test, B) experience being a rater and C) discuss their own"internal constructs of the speaking skill" and how they may differ from others. This is a critical part of training to ensure all raters attempt to rate in a consistent manner, enhancing test reliability and hence validity.

Cost: JALT Members: free
Non-members: 1,000 yen
Venue: Seinan Community Center (map to the venue), near Nishijin Subway station.

Date: Sunday, February 19th, 2012
Time: 6:45 PM - 9:00 PM
Speaker: (1) Lauren Brumfield; (2) Panel: Paul Collett, Robert Diem, Bill Pellowe, and more TBA

Description: Not many of us are teacher trainers in technology, but many of us have introduced new technology to our colleagues or students. How do we help teachers and students to become more independent users of technology? How to we introduce technology to the wary or uninterested so that the technology is adopted rather than neglected or even rejected? In this event, we hope to shed light on these questions.

In the first half of today's event, we will participate in the IATEFL Learning Technologies SIG's webinar entitled Implementing Information and Communications Technology in an Institution. In the second half of today's event, the panel will each give a short talk relating the webinar content to their own experiences in this area, followed by questions, comments and general discussion. After our event, all participants are invited out to a nearby kebab shop for a social beer.

All participants will be able to follow along with the webinar on a large screen and overhead projector. Participants who have laptops or mobile devices can also log on while sitting in the audience, which means that they can individually take part in the text chat window at the same time.

Note: This is not the usual venue. This event will be held on Seinan University's main campus, not in the Seinan Community Center where our JALT events are usually held. 
Click here for more information on the IATEFL webinar.

Cost: JALT Members: free
Non-members: free for non-JALT members
Venue: Seinan Community Center (room TBA), near Nishijin Subway station.

Date: Saturday, April 21st, 2012
Time: 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM
Speaker: Aonghas Crowe

Description: This presentation will cover the current state of the e-book industry, the pluses and minuses of publishing electronically, as well as the nuts and bolts of publishing and promoting your works.

Aonghas Crowe is a writer, blogger, translator, and teacher. He has been working for Fukuoka Jo Gakuin University Junior College since 2011.

Cost: JALT Members: free
Non-members: 1,000 yen
Venue: Seinan Community Center (map to the venue), near Nishijin Subway station.

Date: Saturday, May 19th, 2012
Time: 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM
Speaker: Anne-Marie Tanahashi (Poole Gakuin University, Osaka)

Description: In this presentation, Anne-Marie Tanahashi will talk about the Moodle site she uses and why she likes it. The audience will have a chance to see:

...how she uses Moodle to supplement a sheltered content course she teachings on Britain.
...how students gain easy access through Moodle to more information on the web.
...how students can submit their homework through Moodle (so goodbye to collecting and carrying pieces of paper around!).
...how an instructor can give feedback over Moodle.
Also, the presenter will talk about a Narrow Listening project she set up with some motivated students. It all started with voice-recorders and the burning of CDs, but now has moved to the Moodle site making it accessible to all students at the university.

Cost: JALT Members: free
Non-members: 1,000 yen
Venue: Seinan Community Center (map to the venue). Near Nishijin Subway station.

Date: Saturday, June 23rd, 2012
Time: 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM
Speaker: Barbara Sakamoto

Description: In this session, Barbara Sakamoto will demonstrate the small ways that she has incorporated technology tools in her classes with young learners. Since she only sees her students for one hour each week, and technology tools can be time eaters (especially when neither the teacher nor the learners are tech savvy), she tends to bring in tools only when she thinks they'll improve on what they're already doing in class. She will explore actual projects that her students have created using Voicethread, Glogster, Xtranormal and blogs, including an overview of the lesson leading up to the project, and how each project enhanced her students' learning experience.

Barb Hoskins Sakamoto is co-author of Let's Go (OUP), one of the world's best-selling English courses for children. An EFL teacher and teacher trainer since 1985, she has conducted workshops throughout Asia, the U.S. and Latin America. Her motto is "Always try new things," so these days, when she's not teaching, writing, or giving workshops, you'll often find her online exploring the potential of social media for professional development. If you'd like to explore with her, you can usually find her on her blog, Teaching Village, her wiki, on Twitter or Facebook, or in Second Life.

Cost: JALT Members: free
Non-members: 1,000 yen
Venue: Seinan Community Center (map to the venue). Near Nishijin Subway station.

Date: Sunday, October 21st, 2012
Time: 10:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Speaker: TBA. Call for papers opens January 5, and closes April 30, 2012.

Description: Over 30 presentations on the theory and practice of teaching and learning languages. Topics include Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL); Linguistics; Classroom Management; and more.

Call for Presenters
Opens: Thursday, January 5th, 2012
Closes: Monday, April 30th, 2012
Please submit all proposals via our website (January 5, 2012 - April 30, 2012)

Bookfair
Visit the Main Hall to see displays of all the latest textbooks, reference books, and classroom materials. Talk to the publishers about your particular requirements and order your sample copies.

Cost: JALT Members: free
Non-members: 1,000 yen
Venue: Hakata Bus Terminal Building (map), 9th Floor Conference Suite (next to Hakata JR Station at the Hakata-guchi side)