LTP Kansai Convention

Osaka JALT and other Kansai area JALT members will be hosting the JALT room(s) at this year’s annual Language Teaching Professionals (LTP) Kansai Convention on Sunday, Jan 18, at One World International School in Osaka. LTP Conventions will also be held in Tokyo (Feb 8), Nagoya (Feb 15), and Fukuoka (Feb 22). They’re always a very supportive event for language teachers from diverse backgrounds and teaching contexts.

Please register to attend the Kansai convention via this link, or if you’d like to apply to give a 45-minute presentation, please do so via this link, and be sure to let the organizers know if you’re a JALT member so you can be scheduled to present in the JALT room(s), in which case please also fill in this form. The deadline to submit a presentation proposal has been extended to December 12.

We look forward to seeing you there!

¥1000 – ¥2000

https://ltprofessionals.com/conventions/

IMPACT 2025

Integrating Multimodal Projects with Art and Critical Thinking, 2025.

In an age where student use of AI can feel alarming, IMPACT 2025 offers an EFL alternative: project-based learning. PBL requires students to communicate with each other, collaborate, and create meaningful outcomes. JALT ART SIG and Critical Thinking SIG welcomes educators from elementary schools to universities to a full-day workshop dedicated to integrating multimodal projects with art and critical thinking in EFL classrooms. IMPACT 2025 is a workshop that features... team building opportunities,

inspirational student ART exhibitions, presentations on projects designs, links to tutorials and materials, PROJECT-building sessions, and design discussions and reflections... all designed to help create pedagogically sound multimodal sample projects for teachers to use in their EFL courses.

Venue

Kwansei Gakuin University

Uegahara campus, Building B

1-155 Uegahara 1 bancho,

Nishinomiya, Hyogo 662-8501

Workshop Schedule

December, 20th. Open from 9:00.

• 09:30 - 10:10 = CourseAssignments
• 10:20 - 12:00 = Presentations
• 13:00 - 15:00 = Project Building
• 15:10 - 16:30 = Panel Discussions
• 18:00 - 20:00 = Reflection (opt.)

Workshop Fees

JALT Members: ¥1,000. Others: ¥2.000

Participation Survey (Due 12/12)

To help organize needs and teams more efficiently, all participants are asked to fill out a survey. Click the LINK or QR Code:

The flyer is available here.

Getting Japanese Students to Speak Up / Eliminating “dead time” in the classroom

November 21 @ 7:30 PM – 9:00 PM

This Autumn Workshop is sponsored by Alma Publishing .

Bruno Vannieu, Alma Publishing (19:30 – 20:15)
Getting Japanese Students to Speak Up
Registered participants of the Autumn Workshop will receive free access to the Udemy course Getting Your Students to Speak in the Japanese Classroom (normally ¥3600). This 70-minute course, featuring real classroom footage, presents a practical framework for energizing any Japanese EFL classroom—regardless of students’ initial motivation or class size. In the workshop, we’ll look at several key strategies from the course. Ideally, participants will have viewed the course beforehand, so we can dive straight into discussion. But don’t worry, everyone is welcome to join, even if you haven’t had the chance to go through it yet.

Bruno Vannieu has been teaching French at the university level in Japan for over 25 years, including eleven years at Kobe University, where he was honored with the Best Teacher Award on six occasions. His research centers on intercultural communication and language pedagogy. He is the author of Getting Your Students to Speak in the Japanese Classroom and has co-authored numerous French and English language textbooks.

Stephen Richmond, Bukkyo University (20:15 – 21:00)
Eliminating “dead time” in the classroom – Techniques for keeping as many students on task for as long as humanly possible
In speaking classes, we want to make some time to interact with students one-on-one; whether that is giving conversation tests, listening to their oral production, or giving direct feedback. But what do other students do while teachers are working with individuals or pairs? In this workshop, we’ll go over a few simple ideas to keep our students focussed and on task during those times.

Stephen Richmond has been teaching EFL in Japan and researching intercultural communication since 1999. He currently teaches at Bukkyo University in Kyoto. He has written and co-written several English language textbooks and phrasebooks, and has been involved in editing and translating newspapers, magazines, and other media.

Register now to get the Zoom link and your Udemy coupon:
https://form.jotform.com/almalang/2025-autumn-workshop-registration

Building Intercultural Understanding: From Simulation to Skill – Eileen Kuepper, of the University of Applied Sciences Bonn-Rhein-Sieg

November 8 @ 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM

What happens when students take the lead in building intercultural understanding through language? This workshop explores student-centered simulation as a powerful tool for language development, global competence, and reflective learning. Based on the Intercultural & Social Entrepreneurship Exchange (ISEE)—a long-running international collaboration between students in Germany, Jordan, Kosovo, and China—participants will explore how learners design, adapt, and reflect on fictional business ideas across cultural boundaries.

The workshop guides attendees through sample activities where students act as entrepreneurs, collaborators, and cultural analysts. Participants will engage in a brief simulation, consider the role of cultural difference in shaping communication and teamwork, and explore how learners synthesize theory and experience through final presentations and guided cultural reflection.

Discussion will focus on how such simulations promote language use in authentic, purposeful tasks, build intercultural awareness, and encourage learners to take ownership of their progress. Attendees will also receive low-threshold, adaptable templates, reflection prompts, and a project planning framework to design their own intercultural experiences with minimal resources.

Whether you’re teaching business English, CLIL, general EFL, or global citizenship, this session will offer practical, student-centered strategies for fostering meaningful cultural engagement and language growth.

Eileen Kuepper (Küpper) is a Senior Lecturer in Intercultural Communication and English at the Language Center of the University of Applied Sciences Bonn-Rhein-Sieg, in Germany. Her academic interests include international exchange, intercultural business communication, and diversity management. She actively develops summer schools in underrepresented study-abroad destinations and promotes low-threshold internationalisation at home to enhance students’ intercultural competence, support inclusive student development, and broaden perspectives on global academic engagement.

The meeting will take place in Room 6 of the Osaka Municipal Lifelong Learning Center, on the 5th floor of the Ekimae Dai-2 Building in Umeda.

RSVP HERE to let us know how many to expect for the meeting, and for dinner and drinks afterward.

JALT members and full-time students: FREE, Non-members: ¥1000

Focus on Laos, with Ladomchanh Khantry, Alounsavath Sengduanpeth, and Chris Ruddenklau at Osaka Jogakuin University

Professor Ladomchanh Khantry, of the National University of Laos, is this year’s Balsamo Asian Scholar invited to present at JALT 2025 (Oct 31 – Nov 2 in Tokyo), and will join us in Osaka to share some of what she’ll be talking about at the conference. She leads the English Department at the National University of Laos. With 30+ years of experience she directs the Laos-Australia Academic University support programs, where for 10+ years she has advocated for agency and autonomy through participatory curriculum design, personalized counseling, and mentorship initiatives, for teachers and mainly female scholarship minority ethnic group students, and for students with disabilities. Additionally, she has helped to organize 19 LaoTESOL conferences. She will give overviews of her conference presentations and discuss her involvement in organizing LaoTESOL conferences over the past two decades.

From Barriers to Bridges: A Decade of ASP Impact
This presentation explores the transformative impact of the Academic Support Program (ASP) at the National University of Laos, which has supported students with disabilities and those from disadvantaged backgrounds. By integrating academic support, life skills development, counseling, and teacher training, the program has empowered students to overcome barriers and thrive in higher education. ASP’s success offers a scalable and replicable model for inclusive education in low-resource environments.

Soft Skills and English Language Teaching
This research investigates the workplace soft skills most needed by graduates from the Department of English, Faculty of Letters, National University of Laos, with a focus on their integration into English teaching. In today’s increasingly competitive job market, graduates are expected to possess not only academic knowledge and language proficiency but also a wide range of soft skills essential for effective communication, collaboration, leadership, and professional growth. The study employed a quantitative research design, using survey data from alumni to identify the most in-demand soft skills and analyze them across gender and age groups. The findings reveal significant gaps between the soft skills emphasized in the current English curriculum and those expected in the workplace.

Alounsavath Sengduangpeth is accompanying Ladomchanh on her visit to Japan. He has spent his working life at the National University of Laos (NUOL) and is currently the Deputy Director of the Laos-Japan Institute for Resource Development, supported by JICA and the Japanese Embassy in Laos. Previously he worked in the Academic Affairs Department as Deputy Director. The LJI institute was established in 2001 to foster business human resource and promote mutual understanding through cultural exchanges and business management training as well as Japanese language Education in Laos. LJI enhances sustainable growth through developing highly competent human resources in its MBA program while focusing on a good balance between theoretical and practical knowledge of management. The LJI programs hope to build passion for teamwork, and cooperation throughout Laos and with other ASEAN countries and of course with Japan. While in Japan he hopes to make friendships with teachers and students, to encourage people to visit the Japan Institute in Laos and to  provide input to the MBA program. He looks forward to meeting us in Japan and hopefully later again in Laos.

Chris Ruddenklau has taught in New Zealand, Thailand, and Japan, and for many years has supported educational programs in Laos by introducing English teachers based in Japan to programs coordinated by Lao English teachers, including workshops at the National University of Laos, Bankuen Teachers Training College, and support for rural high schools. He has served as the Teachers Helping Teacher’s Lao Program Coordinator for more than 15 years and recently became the THT SIG President. He firmly believes in the importance of local knowledge and leadership in terms of creating the most effective ways of offering friendship and support. Laos has over 160 ethnic groups speaking a total of 73 distinct living languages. Despite such diversity, the country is peaceful – a living illustration of how appreciation of diversity can indeed create unity and a valuable message in our troubled times. Heartfelt kindness tempered by compassion is offered without judgement and underlies all daily interactions in Laos thus making any visit to Laos a very special one.  Chris will share some of his insights and experiences, and will answer any questions about visiting Laos and participating in the national LaoTESOL conference that takes place in February each year.

The meeting will take place in the first floor meeting room near the entrance of the main building near the south gate of Osaka Jogakuin University (near Tamatsukuri station). RSVP here so we can let the guards at the gate know how many and who to expect, and to let us know whether you plan to join us for the the dinner party afterwards at Asushoku restaurant near Morinomiya station. If you’ve ever visited or thought about visiting Laos, this is a great opportunity to learn more about this fascinating country and its educational system, and to feel some of the wonderful Lao spirit!

¥1000 (JALT members and full-time students: FREE)