Back to School 2012

CALL FOR PRESENTATIONS

Please use this form to submit for presenting at Osaka JALT Back to School 2012:
http://bts.osakajalt.org/home/call-for-presentations

DEADLINE: March 21, 9PM

~~~~~~~~~~
Check out this 30 sec. video summary of last year's event:
http://animoto.com/play/MokPSMN6xdHUvQv5pBrVvw
~~~~~~~~~~~

Back to School is one of our annual one-day mini-conferences which aims to share ideas on a wide range of topics to help everyone start the new school year on a positive note. With long and short presentation slots, poster sessions, and plenty of time to socialize, especially at the dinner party afterwards at a nearby restaurant, there is sure to be something for everyone.

Presentations can be in English, Japanese, or any language you like. Teachers and students of all kinds are all very welcome and encouraged to submit proposals for any kind of presentation, including group presentations, workshops, round-table discussions, you name it. Space and time permitting, we'll do our best to fit you in.

Date: Sunday, April 22, 2012
Time: 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Location: Osaka Gakuin University, Building No. 2
Admission: TBA

Just as we've been doing at all of our events since the March 11 earthquake and tsunami last year, 100% of the proceeds from this event will be going to support relief efforts in Tohoku, so by participating you'll not only be learning, schmoozing, and getting ready for the new school year, you'll also be helping us make a difference for those that can definitely use and will greatly appreciate our assistance. Come help us keep helping those who so greatly need it and appreciate it in Tohoku!

We look forward to seeing you there!

Sunday, 12 February 2012, 2:00 - 4:30pm

Film Showing:

The Grandpa from Brazil

The film "The Grandpa from Brazil" documents the life of Mr. Kenichi Konno, who emigrated to Brazil at the age of 19 in 1931.

Konno went abroad in search of a decent job, and he vowed to return after achieving success. He worked very hard for decades, and 60 years after leaving Japan he began making annual trips back to Japan staying for a month at a time in order to check on Japanese-Brazilians who had emigrated in the opposite direction. Konno had been very concerned about the many difficulties that these Japanese-Brazilians face in Japan. He made these trips over a period of 15 years, and he helped many people in the process.

This 60-minute film follows this extraordinary yet ordinary man as he retraces his journey through the streets of Tokyo and Kansai, recounting his life in Brazil, and discovering more about the actual situation of Japanese Brazilians. This heartfelt documentary explores issues of migration, ethnicity, family, and global citizenship.

After the film there will be time to meet and ask questions to the filmmaker, Nanako Kurihara. English subtitles will be provided.

Nanako Kurihara is a graduate of Waseda University and an award-winning Japanese producer/director. Her first film made in 1993, was “Ripples of Change” (also titled “Looking for Fumiko”) which is about the Japanese women’s movement in the 1970s. It has been shown internationally and has been broadcast in the United States and Australia. Kurihara holds a PhD in Performance Studies from New York University.

This event is co-sponsored by SIETAR Kansai. (SIETAR =The Society for Intercultural Education, Training, And Research)

For more details about Mr. Konno, please see this 2008 article: http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20081022f2.html

1:20 - 2:05 Stuart McLean - From TESOL program to the classroom: Practical tips for teachers
Mclean will explain the developments in flash-card vocabulary learning sites and the advantages and disadvantages of using them with students. He'll then demonstrate the use of student assessment cards to motivate and efficiently monitor in-class activities, will discuss the benefits of monitoring students’ Extensive Reading progress, and will introduce a range of recommended teaching materials. Finally, participants will share their own practical teaching ideas, time permitting.
Stuart McLean teaches at Momoyama University and is one of this year's JALT Research Grant recipients.

2:10 - 2:50 Gábor Pintér - Limitations of Computer Assisted Pronunciation Training Systems
While intelligible speech is a cornerstone of foreign language proficiency, pronunciation exercises are somewhat peripheral activities in both traditional and computer mediated teaching environments. Pinter will enumerate some of the most important technological, human and business factors that have hindered wider use of Computer Assisted Pronunciation Training systems in language education, and will point out that an application framework that approximates the modular structure of general learning management systems, such as Moodle, could lead to great advancements in pronunciation training. An ongoing project will be introduced that puts this idea into action by offering a simple but extendable speech exchange and evaluation service over the web.

Gábor Pintér hales from Hungary and is an associate professor in the School of Languages and Communication at Kobe University. After obtaining his PhD in linguistics he worked for a speech recognition company conducting research and development mostly in projects related to English language education. Since returning to academics he has been researching innovative methods and developing software applications in order to bring achievements of speech sciences and linguistic research to language education.

3:00 - 4:10  Greg Sholdt - Collaborative Research as an Approach to Professional Development for Language Teachers

Making the transition from teacher to teacher-researcher can result in a range of classroom and career benefits; however, getting started in classroom-based research can be a bewildering endeavor when undertaken alone. In this presentation, Sholdt will introduce a unique project that aims to provide an opportunity for language teachers to independently replicate a quantitative research study on writing fluency in their own classrooms and do so concurrently with a team of other teacher-researchers connected through an online discussion forum and resource center built with the popular Moodle platform. Teachers who join the project will discuss issues, raise questions, and share ideas about the research process while making use of online resources and receiving guidance throughout the process. The goals for the teachers include developing skills and knowledge in fundamentals of quantitative research, connecting with a community of EFL teacher researchers, producing a manuscript with potential for publication, and gaining experience with Moodle. Sholdt will provide an overview of the project, describe and show the structure and function of the Moodle site, and explain potential benefits and applications for this approach to professional development. The project will begin in January 2012 with data collection taking place in the Spring 2012 semester. Interested teachers will have the opportunity to ask questions and sign up after the presentation.
Gregory Sholdt teaches in the School of Languages and Communication at Kobe University. Based on his graduate studies and teaching of introductory statistics courses at the University of Hawaii, he has been exploring innovative approaches to professional development through classroom-based research. He has developed and offered a number of professional development activities for language teachers including workshops and presentations, an online research methods course, and a Moodle-based collaborative research project. Sholdt was a Featured Speaker at JALT 2011 (co-sponsored by Osaka JALT, Nara JALT, and MASH) and currently serves as the Consulting Editor for the JALT Journal.

4:20 - 4:45  Laura Markslag - Online Exchange with Dubai: Motivating EFL learners through culture and authentic English

Engaging students in the use of authentic English can be a difficult task within the constraints of an EFL classroom. In this presentation, Markslag will describe a successful online cultural exchange program designed to promote cultural awareness and understanding in a global environment - while using authentic English - that took place between mixed level Japanese students from Osaka Gakuin University and first year students from Dubai Women’s College from October to December 2011. Markslag will discuss the rationale behind the program, the technical requirements, the steps required to set up and run the program, student reactions, and the overall outcome.

Laura Markslag holds an M.S.Ed from Temple University and is an EFL lecturer at Osaka Gakuin University. She is interested in vocabulary acquisition and assessment, multilingualism, and the development of motivating classroom materials. She has served on Osaka JALT's Executive Board since 2009.

Part 1 - The Post-Japan, Doctoral Experience in TESOL: Pursuing Language and Sexuality Research
For many language instructors in Japan, further education may be key to job security and a wider range of options or may fill a need for personal growth and development. Marlen Harrison, an instructor/researcher in Japan from 2002-2006 will report on his experience leaving Japan to pursue a PhD in TESOL at a North American university. Marlen will describe the academic environment he encountered in doctoral studies (admissions requirements, funding opportunities, curricular options and research expectations) and discuss his final dissertation titled "Discovering Voices,” an examination of language, sexuality, and identity in 21st century Japan. When considering a dissertation topic, he recalled a conversation in which a friend discussed being gay in one language and not in another and wanted to further explore why this might be. By weaving together his own narratives about Japan and sexuality with the autoethnographic narratives of English-speaking, queer Japanese individuals, Marlen showcases the intersection between linguistic repertoire and those critical moments when we conceptualize, reveal, and perform our sexualities. Read more here: http://discoveringvoices.com/

Part 2 - Bridging Passion & Profession: Supporting Agency and Investment in Multilingual University Writers
After a short break, Marlen will continue by discussing how his academic experiences shaped him as a researcher and present a qualitative project he recently completed with current students in central Finland.

Throughout the last two decades, scholarship discussing learner development has expanded from viewing the learner as one who possesses intrinsic or extrinsic motivation to a performer who to varying degrees invests as an agent in the learning process – one who interacts, gives and gains. With this expansion in mind, the authors sought to look back at the trajectory of their experiences in a second language communication and composition course in order to more deeply understand the roles of agency and investment in their own and fellow classmates’ learning. As such, this research examines the role of project-based learning activities that attempt to bridge the learners’ personal and professional interests. Seven student-researchers reported via written narrative how such a bridging approach in the multilingual writing environment supported learner investment and agency. Student responses speak to the need for a stronger sense of connection with both their disciplinary studies and instructors, and highlight the ways in which investment and agency are associated with ideas about learner identity, autonomy and language acquisition. Read more here: http://passionandprofession.wordpress.com/

Marlen Elliot Harrison has been teaching language, communication, composition, literature and gender/sexuality studies at universities in Asia, Europe and North America since 1997. Having published numerous articles and chapters on topics ranging from second language teaching to writing classroom pedagogies, he specializes in writing across the curriculum and multilingual learner writing pedagogies. Currently teaching for the Language Centre at the University of Jyväskylä, Finland, he previously taught in both Japan and the English department at Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP), USA where he also completed his PhD in Composition and TESOL. With a background in mental health counseling and an MA in Education and Human Development/Counseling from The George Washington University, he is an inter-disciplinary instructor-researcher who works at the crossroads of humanities and social sciences to explore how both spoken and written language are shaped by cultures and identities. Learn more at http://marlenharrison.com

Dinner and drinks will follow the presentations at a nearby restaurant.

We are fortunate to be able to host two of this year's invited speakers at JALT 2011 for dinner at the wonderful and very cozy Oven Oven Italian Restaurant in Umeda. RSVP to osakajalt@yahoo.com .

Keith Johnson - Emeritus Professor of Linguistics and Language Education, Lancaster University, UK – is an invited speaker at this year’s JALT conference, sponsored by the TED and CUE SIGs. Starting his career as a teacher of English and linguistics in Croatia, Malta and Italy, Keith moved to the Centre for Applied Language Studies at the University of Reading in 1974 and joined Lancaster University’s Linguistics Department in 1994. His years of teaching on MA programs produced An Introduction to Foreign Language Learning and Teaching (2008). At Lancaster he founded the research group LATEX (LAnguage Teaching EXpertise); see Expertise in Second Language Learning and Teaching (2005). Other influential publications include the 1979 title The Communicative Approach to Language Teaching (co-editor C.J. Brumfit), 1981’s Communication in the Classroom (co-editor K. Morrow), Communicative Syllabus Design and Methodology in 1982, and 2003’s Designing Language Teaching Tasks. Currently, he is pursuing an interest in the language of Shakespeare, as well as developing his interest in expertise.

Dr. Ma. Milagros C. Laurel is a Professor at the Department of English and Comparative Literature, University of the Philippines in Diliman. She is a recipient of national and international awards for excellence in teaching and research, among them the TESOL Thomson Heinle Award for Excellence inTeaching, the UP Outstanding Teacher Award and the UP International Publication Award. She has delivered several papers on applied linguistics at international conferences, and is JALT 2011's Balsamo Asian Scholar.

Oven Oven is a cozy little place in a classic, early twentieth century building in the heart of Umeda's modern skyscrapers, located just around the corner from the Outback Grill by exit 10 of Nishi-Umeda station, and very close to JR Osaka station as well. Here's their link with a map: http://r.gnavi.co.jp/k060301/lang/en/map  Individual dishes are 500 to 1000 yen, dinner courses are 1370 to 3150 yen, and drinks cost 300 to 600 yen. If you have any trouble finding the place, please give us a call at 080-3789-6394. 

PGL 2011, Peace without Boundaries, appeals to all those wishing to come together and work towards peace. The Conference offers an exciting line-up of presentations, workshops and posters focusing on peace activism and education.

For more information please visit the PGL website HERE.

For more information, please see the ETJ website HERE.

The schedule of presentations at the ETJ Kansai Expo can be found HERE: