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A chapter of the Japan Association for Language Teaching
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Upcoming Fukuoka JALT events:
(Tuesday), at 10:00am
"So,... What Have We Learned?"
Zoom digital meeting
We’re all likely heading into another stretch of remote teaching and learning after the summer. Let’s get together digitally and share as much of the hard-won experience from the first half that we can, rather than independently try to re-invent every wheel. That way, hopefully, we can all head into the second half of the year confident and well-prepared.
Fukuoka JALT is going to hold a Zoom meeting or two through August in which we can discuss what we’ve all learned from the first half of this year. Everyone is invited, JALT member or not, in Fukuoka or not. The meeting(s) will be recorded and posted later to Youtube.
Mark your calendars for the first one: Tuesday August 11, 10am.
(Zoom link to come via our usual comm channels: Facebook, email, website)
So: WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED?
What to do. What not to do. What to use. How to use it. How not to use it. How to organize it. What to pre-empt.
What you’re definitely going to do different next time. What you’re definitely NOT going to try again.
New skills, new approaches, workarounds, hacks, tools, strategies, tricks, tips, insights, solutions, mis-steps, and lessons learned.
EVERYONE has got at least a few responses to these, right?
Kyushu-based teachers are invited to share a no-longer-than-three-minute answer. It can be big or small - just something you’ve learned that you think others might benefit from hearing.
In the Zoom meeting, we’ll just ask you to ‘take the floor’ to give your answer, then allow a few minutes of Q&A from everyone so that questions can be clarified, similar experiences shared, etc. It’s not a presentation, it’s just a semi-structured approach so as to keep things efficient.
Japanese-language answers are more than welcome.
We’re especially interested in your actual experiences. Don’t just introduce a web-tool or an app: tell us what happened when you used it, how you went about setting it up, what you learned from using it, etc: clear examples and/or stories that will help people decide whether it’s something they could use.
We’ve created a Google Form to fill out with your name and the general theme of what you could talk about (a Google Docs hack, the best way to set up FlipGrid, a good camera/mic setup, etc). As responses come in we’ll organize something of a ‘program’ for the first meeting in a viewable Google Document and post the link here and on our website so everyone can see what the meeting will entail. (Your patience and understanding are requested - this will be a learning experience in itself.)
Please join us on Tuesday, August 11, at 10am!
Please click here for the form, to propose an answer to the question: What Have We Learned?
"So,... What Have We Learned?"
Zoom digital meeting
We’re all likely heading into another stretch of remote teaching and learning after the summer. Let’s get together digitally and share as much of the hard-won experience from the first half that we can, rather than independently try to re-invent every wheel. That way, hopefully, we can all head into the second half of the year confident and well-prepared.
Fukuoka JALT is going to hold a Zoom meeting or two through August in which we can discuss what we’ve all learned from the first half of this year. Everyone is invited, JALT member or not, in Fukuoka or not. The meeting(s) will be recorded and posted later to Youtube.
Mark your calendars for the first one: Tuesday August 11, 10am.
(Zoom link to come via our usual comm channels: Facebook, email, website)
So: WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED?
What to do. What not to do. What to use. How to use it. How not to use it. How to organize it. What to pre-empt.
What you’re definitely going to do different next time. What you’re definitely NOT going to try again.
New skills, new approaches, workarounds, hacks, tools, strategies, tricks, tips, insights, solutions, mis-steps, and lessons learned.
EVERYONE has got at least a few responses to these, right?
Kyushu-based teachers are invited to share a no-longer-than-three-minute answer. It can be big or small - just something you’ve learned that you think others might benefit from hearing.
In the Zoom meeting, we’ll just ask you to ‘take the floor’ to give your answer, then allow a few minutes of Q&A from everyone so that questions can be clarified, similar experiences shared, etc. It’s not a presentation, it’s just a semi-structured approach so as to keep things efficient.
Japanese-language answers are more than welcome.
We’re especially interested in your actual experiences. Don’t just introduce a web-tool or an app: tell us what happened when you used it, how you went about setting it up, what you learned from using it, etc: clear examples and/or stories that will help people decide whether it’s something they could use.
We’ve created a Google Form to fill out with your name and the general theme of what you could talk about (a Google Docs hack, the best way to set up FlipGrid, a good camera/mic setup, etc). As responses come in we’ll organize something of a ‘program’ for the first meeting in a viewable Google Document and post the link here and on our website so everyone can see what the meeting will entail. (Your patience and understanding are requested - this will be a learning experience in itself.)
Please join us on Tuesday, August 11, at 10am!
Please click here for the form, to propose an answer to the question: What Have We Learned?
Image: "Home Office: After" by fermicat is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.
Calls for papers open now for JALT conferences:
What's happening around JALT?
This year's annual conference will be 100% ONLINE.
For more info, click the logo image.
For more info, click the logo image.
Past Fukuoka JALT events:
(For last year's events, please see our 2019 archive page.)
January 18, 2020 (Saturday)
A Call to Apps: Current best practices in digital pedagogy
Rab Paterson (Toyo University, Tokyo)
6:30 pm start, doors will be open from 6:00 pm. Finishing around 8:00 pm
Venue: Tenjin: Kurume University Satellite Campus in the ELGALA building, next to Daimaru, near Tenjin Minami station. Use the south-east "Office" entrance. (See our locations page for a map image)
1,000 yen for non-members, JALT members free.
This session will cover a range of current best practices in digital pedagogy, with practical examples drawn a range of pedagogical approaches to learning and related apps. These will all be demonstrated by examples from the presenter's own classes showing how a range of Apps can be combined in an App Smashing way to maximise the educational benefits. However, this session will not just be a typical 'how to use apps' type workshop. The benefits to students in terms of their improved mind-brain learning as a rationale behind the adoption of these apps will also be covered, as will the motivational benefits for students that challenge / project based learning brings. Everything will be demonstrated in an easy to understand way, so the session is suitable for educators with a wide range of edtech skills. After the initial overview and demonstration, the session will become more hands-on and the instructor will go on to work directly with attendees* on how to set up and use these particular apps, and also illustrate how teachers can use them. The workshop will end with a more traditional Q and A session, although attendees are free to ask pertinent questions throughout the session.
Rab Paterson is the Principal Instructor for the International Affairs Office’s Business English Skills and Training (BEST) program at Toyo University. He's also the current Director of the Asia Association for Global Studies, a Fellow of The British Royal Asiatic Society, a Fellow of The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, and a member of the Japan Association for Language Teaching’s Technical Advisory Committee. Rab is also an Apple Distinguished Educator, an Apple Certified Teacher, a Google Innovator, Trainer, and Google Educator Group Leader for the West Tokyo GEG, and lives in a semi self-built, eco-friendly, sustainable lifestyle log-house of his own design in the foothills of the Japan Alps with his family, their two dogs and their goat!
A Call to Apps: Current best practices in digital pedagogy
Rab Paterson (Toyo University, Tokyo)
6:30 pm start, doors will be open from 6:00 pm. Finishing around 8:00 pm
Venue: Tenjin: Kurume University Satellite Campus in the ELGALA building, next to Daimaru, near Tenjin Minami station. Use the south-east "Office" entrance. (See our locations page for a map image)
1,000 yen for non-members, JALT members free.
This session will cover a range of current best practices in digital pedagogy, with practical examples drawn a range of pedagogical approaches to learning and related apps. These will all be demonstrated by examples from the presenter's own classes showing how a range of Apps can be combined in an App Smashing way to maximise the educational benefits. However, this session will not just be a typical 'how to use apps' type workshop. The benefits to students in terms of their improved mind-brain learning as a rationale behind the adoption of these apps will also be covered, as will the motivational benefits for students that challenge / project based learning brings. Everything will be demonstrated in an easy to understand way, so the session is suitable for educators with a wide range of edtech skills. After the initial overview and demonstration, the session will become more hands-on and the instructor will go on to work directly with attendees* on how to set up and use these particular apps, and also illustrate how teachers can use them. The workshop will end with a more traditional Q and A session, although attendees are free to ask pertinent questions throughout the session.
Rab Paterson is the Principal Instructor for the International Affairs Office’s Business English Skills and Training (BEST) program at Toyo University. He's also the current Director of the Asia Association for Global Studies, a Fellow of The British Royal Asiatic Society, a Fellow of The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, and a member of the Japan Association for Language Teaching’s Technical Advisory Committee. Rab is also an Apple Distinguished Educator, an Apple Certified Teacher, a Google Innovator, Trainer, and Google Educator Group Leader for the West Tokyo GEG, and lives in a semi self-built, eco-friendly, sustainable lifestyle log-house of his own design in the foothills of the Japan Alps with his family, their two dogs and their goat!
A great presentation and a great turnout.
February 15, 2020 (Saturday)
Essentializing Cross-cultural Communication Competencies in English Language Teaching
Aaron Hahn (Fukuoka University) and Chris Haswell (Kyushu University)
6:30 pm start, doors will be open from 6:00 pm. Finishing around 8:00 pm
Venue: Tenjin: Kurume University Satellite Campus in the ELGALA building, next to Daimaru, near Tenjin Minami station. Use the south-east "Office" entrance. (See our locations page for a map image)
1,000 yen for non-members, JALT members free.
Most teachers of English in Japan would likely agree that English is valuable in part, if not in whole, because it is the language most commonly used for international communication. However, what this can or should entail for our actual classroom practices is in significantly greater dispute—how does this belief in the value of being able to use English manifest in the choices made in English language teaching? This question is complicated by the fact that researchers working most closely on the matter have a wide variety of terms, stances, and principles (linguistic, pedagogical, ethical, among others), not all of which are prima facie compatible with one another.
The intent behind our research projects has been to bring together the theoretical and practical elements of various approaches to this field of linguistics. In furtherance of this goal, our presentation will lay out some of the concepts and sub-fields in linguistics that are linked to the internationalization of English. We will explore the differences between the fields of and terminology used in World Englishes, English as an International English, Lingua Franca English, and others, to assist teachers in navigating the often discordant waters of these areas of study. We will discuss examples of how researchers have attempted to apply these ideas in the classroom, and where we see these fields progressing in the future. In the second half of the presentation, we will extend the discussion to the issue of linguistic modeling, including a brief history and an analysis of the problems implicit in many prior models of English. Then, we will present our Global Model of English, which we believe addresses the major flaws in prior models. Finally, we will discuss our current and planned future work on taking the lessons of the Global Model and applying them to classroom practice.
Aaron Hahn is a Lecturer at Fukuoka University. He researches how to integrate international English into English language teaching. In addition, he investigates the professional discourse of teachers through the lens of Critical Discourse Analysis.
Christopher Haswell is an Associate Professor at Kyushu University. He has investigated various fields of university internationalization, including student, teacher, and teaching assistant attitudes and experiences at universities throughout Asia.
Essentializing Cross-cultural Communication Competencies in English Language Teaching
Aaron Hahn (Fukuoka University) and Chris Haswell (Kyushu University)
6:30 pm start, doors will be open from 6:00 pm. Finishing around 8:00 pm
Venue: Tenjin: Kurume University Satellite Campus in the ELGALA building, next to Daimaru, near Tenjin Minami station. Use the south-east "Office" entrance. (See our locations page for a map image)
1,000 yen for non-members, JALT members free.
Most teachers of English in Japan would likely agree that English is valuable in part, if not in whole, because it is the language most commonly used for international communication. However, what this can or should entail for our actual classroom practices is in significantly greater dispute—how does this belief in the value of being able to use English manifest in the choices made in English language teaching? This question is complicated by the fact that researchers working most closely on the matter have a wide variety of terms, stances, and principles (linguistic, pedagogical, ethical, among others), not all of which are prima facie compatible with one another.
The intent behind our research projects has been to bring together the theoretical and practical elements of various approaches to this field of linguistics. In furtherance of this goal, our presentation will lay out some of the concepts and sub-fields in linguistics that are linked to the internationalization of English. We will explore the differences between the fields of and terminology used in World Englishes, English as an International English, Lingua Franca English, and others, to assist teachers in navigating the often discordant waters of these areas of study. We will discuss examples of how researchers have attempted to apply these ideas in the classroom, and where we see these fields progressing in the future. In the second half of the presentation, we will extend the discussion to the issue of linguistic modeling, including a brief history and an analysis of the problems implicit in many prior models of English. Then, we will present our Global Model of English, which we believe addresses the major flaws in prior models. Finally, we will discuss our current and planned future work on taking the lessons of the Global Model and applying them to classroom practice.
Aaron Hahn is a Lecturer at Fukuoka University. He researches how to integrate international English into English language teaching. In addition, he investigates the professional discourse of teachers through the lens of Critical Discourse Analysis.
Christopher Haswell is an Associate Professor at Kyushu University. He has investigated various fields of university internationalization, including student, teacher, and teaching assistant attitudes and experiences at universities throughout Asia.
Saturday, June 6, 2020, 18:30~20:00
Labor rights education for education workers
Chris Flynn, president of Fukuoka General Union.
This will be an online Zoom presentation, with time for Q&A.
Time: Jun 6, 2020 06:30 PM
Labor rights education for education workers
Chris Flynn, president of Fukuoka General Union.
This will be an online Zoom presentation, with time for Q&A.
Time: Jun 6, 2020 06:30 PM
For our June meeting, Chris Flynn, president of the Fukuoka General Union, will lead us through a discussion of Japanese Labour Rights, looking in particular at the Labour Standards Law, and Unlimited Term Contracts. There will also be time for questions. It is hoped that this adds to teachers' understanding of how different labour laws apply and what can be done to make sure your rights are protected.
Chris Flynn has an MA in Advanced Japanese Studies and is a professor at Kyushu Institute of Information Sciences. He is also a NAATI Accredited Professional Translator and Interpreter (Japanese/English). In his union role he has assisted a number of teachers with legal issues such as unfair dismissals and problems with working conditions. In his free time he plays rugby for the Meiwaku Rugby Club 60 and over division.
Chris Flynn has an MA in Advanced Japanese Studies and is a professor at Kyushu Institute of Information Sciences. He is also a NAATI Accredited Professional Translator and Interpreter (Japanese/English). In his union role he has assisted a number of teachers with legal issues such as unfair dismissals and problems with working conditions. In his free time he plays rugby for the Meiwaku Rugby Club 60 and over division.
