Osaka JALT Online – Culture in the Classroom

Connect. Share. Learn.

All webinars are free and open to both JALT members and non-members. Join us online to connect, share, and learn!

Osaka JALT Online (OJO) is a free webinar series dedicated to bringing together English language teaching professionals from Japan and beyond in a friendly, supportive, and low-pressure online environment. We welcome both JALT members from the wider JALT community as well as non-members to share presentations about their passions and interests related to language teaching and teaching in Japan in a friendly, supportive, low-stakes environment. Ultimately, OJO aims to foster professional growth, expand networking opportunities for presenters and attendees, and build deeper connections among our community. 

Held two to three times each year, each webinar in the OJO series is built around a central theme or concept, providing opportunities to explore ideas from multiple perspectives. Individual presentations are 20–25 minutes in length, followed by a brief Q&A if time allows. The event concludes with extended breakout-room discussions, giving presenters and participants the chance to exchange ideas, ask questions, and build meaningful professional connections.

Whether you’re presenting for the first time, sharing classroom practices, discussing research in progress, or refining a conference presentation, OJO provides a welcoming space to exchange ideas and receive constructive feedback. We especially encourage first-time presenters to use OJO as a confidence-building launch pad, while experienced educators can explore new ideas and connect with colleagues. We hope to see eager educators taking the opportunity to share practical activities, practice the rough version of their presentation before a conference, and participate in constructive dialogue with audience members. 

Presenters are also invited to publish research papers, reflective pieces, and other contributions in the Osaka JALT Journal. Please see our journal website for more information on publication guidelines.

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Webinar Topics

Language as Movement

This presentation looks at ways the gestures we make are not separate from, but potentially part of the language itself. Embodied cognition is an emerging field in linguistics and thus attendees are invited to rethink how their gestures and movements impact their classrooms and whether this could be utilized to help students achieve learning outcomes.

Heather Gulick is an ESL educator for both business and Schools with over 10 years teaching experience in Japan across various levels and ages. She has a Bachelor’s in Linguistics with a minor in Japanese and is currently pursuing a Masters in Neuroscience and Education. 

Connecting Global Issues to Our Lives: Teaching Development, Poverty, and Gender in Japan

This webinar reflects on my attempt to teach development studies and sociology to encourage students to explore global and local issues, connect these issues to their lives, find their own questions, and consider how they might contribute to well-being and social change from where they stand. My experiences in the Philippines and UN development cooperation deepened my understanding of global issues, while childbirth and parenting in Japan helped me connect those issues to my own life, showing me how close poverty, gender inequality, and isolation can be to anyone’s life. I will share students’ varied responses, challenges, and strategies.

Hanayo Hirai, PhD, is Professor at Otemon Gakuin University and specializes in development studies from a sociological perspective. Her research connects Japan and the Philippines, focusing on poverty, gender, care, and inclusion, especially vulnerable children and families. Drawing on UN agency experience, her teaching links global issues with local communities.