Hanami Social in Osaka Castle Park

April 5 @ 12:30 PM – 4:30 PM

Come join us for some friendly peer-, near-peer-, and community mentoring and networking at our annual hanami social in Osakajokoen (Osaka Castle Park)! It’s FREE and open to everyone, so please join us with family, friends, colleagues, students, pets, and acquaintances. All are welcome! Look for our blue JALT banner on the south side of the park, due south of the castle (and south of the south moat), and directly north of the NTT Building and to the west of the bus parking area. It’s a short, easy walk from Morinomiya or Tanimachiyonchome metro stations or JR Loop Line. We’ll have plastic sheets to sit on and a few snacks to share, so stop by with a beverage and possibly more food to share, and maybe an additional sheet to sit on to be sure we have plenty of room to stretch out. Most importantly, be sure to bring a happy vibe to celebrate the cherry blossoms, the coming of spring, and the start of the new academic year! 
Please stop by whenever you can for as long or as short as you like. We look forward to seeing you! 

In case of rain, this event may be canceled, so please check back closer to the date to be sure it’s on. Fingers crossed for good weather!!

Multilingual Café – Identity: Language & Culture

Presenter: Elisabeth Fernandes (Osaka Municipal University)

Abstract
Questions such as “Where are you from?” and “What is your mother tongue?” have been recurring themes throughout my life. Although they may seem straightforward, providing concise answers to them has consistently proven challenging. In this presentation, I will discuss how my cultural and linguistic background has influenced my personal identity and development.
For fun, let’s practice a few words of Portuguese.

Bio
Elisabeth Fernandes has been teaching languages for more than 30 years in Canada, Thailand, and Japan. She currently resides in Hyogo and is teaching mainly at OMU in Osaka. Interests include intercultural communication, learner autonomy, and neuro-education.

Sign-up form (for friends who might be interested)

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeoeYvZYVN3CoE246YIBeDUlCtCQcbquKwnfHzYRGa5pUBacA/viewform

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/

Osaka Chapter Annual General Meeting (AGM)

This is Osaka Chapter’s Annual General Meeting (AGM), to be held again online. Current officers will report on their activities of the past year and on recent developments in the chapter and JALT-wide. We will also discuss chapter business for the coming year, including officer positions, events, and any other issues of interest. All those interested in learning more about the inner workings of JALT and the Osaka chapter are very welcome. Most of our current team of officers are happy to continue serving as officers in some capacity in 2026. Other Osaka JALT members in good standing interested in joining our team in the coming year are invited to nominate themselves or another Osaka JALT member as an officer up until and during the meeting on Dec 21, via this link. Please also use that link to get the Zoom link for the meeting, whether or not you’re interested in serving as an officer.

Free This event is free for everyone.

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.