2018 October 2018 | Yuka Akiyama | Past, Present, and Future of Telcollaboration

Past, Present, and Future of Telecollaboration Research and Practice

Dr. Yuka Akiyama

The presenter will discuss some of the theoretical and practical issues involved with implementing and researching telecollaborative interactions (a.k.a. virtual exchange), namely technology-mediated intercultural interactions between participants of different first languages. 

2018 July 14 | Video Exchange Project

NANKYU JALT is proud to host the following event in Nagasaki City

Video Exchange Project Between a Japanese-Canadian living in an Agriculture-centered Former Japanese Internment Camp and Freshmen Japanese University Students

The project involves video/email exchange between fourteen first year Japanese University students and a Japanese-Canadian living within the former internment camp, now-turned incorporated town. This town is known mostly as a hotbed for agriculture. The Canadian-based correspondents is an avid horticulture enthusiast, growing self-sustaining fruit and vegetable crops, as well as herbs. Close to half the students in the Japanese student group are Agriculture majors and introduce Japanese crops to the Canadian correspondent through video. 

Join is for our first event of 2018!

My Share, followed by New Year's Party

We are happy to announce that our first meeting of 2018 will be a an opportunity to learn from fellow Nagasaki NANKYU members through a series of short presentations on a variety of ELT topics. Admission is free to all!

Following this, we will move on to celebrate the New Year with dinner at a local restaurant. Details are still being confirmed, so keep an eye out for further information. Cost will be around ¥4000.

To RSVP for the dinner, please contact Karen at kwassuikaren2006@yahoo.co.jp

Meeting details
Topic: My Share presentations by Nagasaki NANKYU members
Date and Time: Saturday, 27 January 2018 – 2:00pm – 4:00pm
Location: Dejima Koryu Kaikan, 2-11 Dejimamachi, Nagasaki
Fee for JALT members: Free
Fee for one-day members: Free
Contact or Queries: Email contact form

2017 October 22 | John Wiltshier | Good Education Versus Gamification, Who wins?

John Wiltshier

Why do our students, spend so much time gaming, tweeting, clicking, liking, uploading texting? As teachers we can critically observe students’ online activities to determine what — if anything — can be utilized for good education.

In this presentation, I will present 6 principles that make online games, apps and internet-use so compelling – even addictive – and invite you to draw parallels to what you do in your classes. What this reveals may well surprise you!

2017 February 25 | Eric Hagley | Bringing the World to your English Classroom via Online Exchange.

Eric

Nankyu Nagasaki welcomes Professor Eric Hagley of Muroran Institute of Technology on Saturday, February 25, 2017 at Nagasaki International University from 10am to 12pm. After, Eric will travel to Fukuoka for an encore presentation.

Virtual Exchange (VE) has many benefits for foreign language teachers and their students but it is still not easily accessible to the mainstream. Students in English as a foreign language classrooms often have few opportunities to physically interact with other users of English. VE gives them virtualmobility, enabling them to participate in a global community. In this presentation the author introduces a large scale VE which includes over 1500 students from 5 countries in a VE via a Moodle platform. Students interact online in English as a lingua franca. Exchanges are carried out over 8 week periods. Outcomes from the project, sponsored by the Japanese Ministry of Education, will be outlined using data gained from questionnaires, text analysis and student feedback. Details of how this method of VE could bring it into mainstream, ensuring VE can become a part of any English communication class throughout the world, if the teacher so wishes, will be outlined in addition to an outline of problems that can eventuate and ideas for incorporating the VE into classroom practice. Those attending will also be able to participate in a quick workshop so that if they want to join the exchange from April 2017, they will be able to.

2016 July 10 | Marc Helgesen | Let's Get Physical

Nankyu Nagasaki welcomes Professor Marc Helgesen of Miyagi Gakuin Women's University on Sunday, July 10, 2016 at Nagasaki Dejima Koryu Kaikan from 2pm to 4pm.

When we site for 20 minutes, blood flows downward o the feet and legs. Standing and moving for just one minute triggers a 15% increase of blood (and therefore oxygen) to the brain. That's one reason to get students up and out of their seats regularly. There are many more. This session will look at brain-science reasons and ways to have students moving their bodies, while moving their English abilities up at the same time.

2015 December 5 | Andy Boon | Two Fabulous Presentations (and a Bonenkai!)

"Teaching is all about
making the teacher redundant,"
Boon, 2015 December 5
Chapter Meeting Presentation

Investigating the world outside: Students as researchers

Project work can be a powerful means of empowering students to take their learning beyond the borders of the classroom, to examine the world outside, to seek answers, and suggest change. This workshop will examine the process of engaging students in semester-long projects from equipping them with the necessary research tools to having them deliver the end-product via various media in the final class. It will also describe students’ reactions to the overall learning experience

2015 October 18 | Barbara Hoskins Sakamoto | Creative teaching for 21st century learners

Creative teaching for 21^st century learners

Barbara Hoskins Sakamoto

There’s a lot of talk these days about including 21^st century skills in language classes. What are these skills, and do they have any place in a language class where teachers have limited contact time, and the priority is, still, to teach English? In this workshop, teachers will learn teaching techniques to help their learners become strong English users and also critical and creative thinkers. By making every moment of class time count, teachers can help students succeed – on exams and in future jobs. Teachers can build both the traditional four skills (speaking, listening, reading, and writing) and the 21^st century 4Cs (communication, collaboration, creativity and critical thinking) in every class.

2015 August 8 | Matthew Cotter | Kinesthetic Learning - Finding a Balance

Matthew Cotter

This was an excellent presentation that was not to be missed.

The presentation began by outlining some principles of kinaesthetic learning. Matt then gave examples from his own past experiences as a self-identified kinaesthetic learner and as a teacher of different age ranges and types of students. In the second half of the presentation, Matt had everyone on their feet as he demonstrated some techniques to incorporate more physical movement into the learning process. The presentation culminated with an example Maori lesson using kinaesthetic learning.

2015 June 27 | Rob Fritz | The (Intercultural) Language Classroom

Thanks to everyone who braved the rainy weather to make it out! 

Notes from the presentation

Part 1: Theory

Rob Fritz

Despite the Ministry of Education's (MEXT) aims to produce globally-minded citizens, the recent educational climate in Japan is that of students who are inward-looking, or uchi-muki. The problem is exacerbated by the implantation of language education that remains focused on grammatical accuracy. To achieve the Ministry's stated aims, Mr. Fritz argues that language education must incorporate culture into the curriculum in a meaningful way. He advocates the following changes:

• Deep adjustment to the educational infrastructure
• Deep awareness of development of self 
• Awareness of how sociocultural factors influence our subjective world view

2015 April 12 | Nagasaki JALT Executive | Poster Sessions: Meet YOUR Nagasaki JALT Executive

Thanks to everyone who came out for the April meeting. The executives presented on a range of topics, providing something for everyone.

Thom Rawson (President) presented about making a digital textbook.

Thom Rawson

• By making learning materials digital, teachers are better able to engage students where they spend much of their time and attention already: online and on their digital devices.
• Digital textbooks allow for immediate feedback to students through automatic grading. This not only saves time for the teacher but can motivate students.
• There are a variety of platforms available for creating digital coursework, including the following:
• • LMS: Moodle, Blackboard, Manaba
  • Google: Google Docs, YouTube, Blogger

2015 February 22 | Sergio Mazzarelli | Fostering Learning Autonomy with the European Language Portfolio / Peer Evaluation Using Moodle

Sergio Mazzarelli
Kwassui Women's University

The speaker will offer two presentations. The first will explain how an adapted version of the European Language Portfolio (ELP) was used to foster student autonomy and motivation in three classes at a Japanese university. In particular, the presentation will focus on how the ELP helped students formulate learning goals and self-monitor progress in achieving those goals. There is growing interest in the ELP, but many teachers are not sure how to make it work in the Japanese context. Far from intending to be prescriptive, the presenter hopes to inspire others to find their own way to deploy this powerful tool.

2015 January 10 | Dawn Kobayashi | Focus on Drama | Sponsored by CUE SIG!

Dawn Kobayashi
Sponsored by CUE SIG

This presentation will both introduce to attendees how the presenter is using drama as the main teaching methodology in university English lessons and give attendees a chance to try out some of the drama techniques for themselves. Finally attendees will be encouraged to reflect on how they might employ similar techniques in their teaching environments.

2014 December 13 | Terry Fellner | Pseudoscience in EFL: What is it and "woo" is responsible?

Terry Fellner

This presentation will focus on the use of several practices and methodologies currently found in language teaching that have little or no scientific evidence to support their use. The presentation begins with an examination of what is meant by the terms “pseudo-science” and “woo” and then provides the audience with a fun pseudoscience demonstration to illustrate how these concept can be easily accepted and misunderstood. This talk will examine the efficacy of the following concepts: learning styles, left/right brain learners, multiple intelligences, and neuro linguistic programming as well as question the teaching and utilization of several common TOEIC test strategies. The presentation concludes with a brief discussion about why it can be difficult to get evidence-based results in EFL contexts and yet, why it is important that we try.

Bio: Terry Fellner is Associate Professor at the Center for General Education at Saga University. He has been a teacher, teacher trainer, researcher, for more than 20 years in Africa, Canada, and Japan. Currently he is the section editor of @CUE in The OnCUE Journal, and his research interests include motivation, vocabulary acquisition, outdoor language learning and L2 reading.

Location: Dejima Koryu Kaikan, 2-11 Dejimamachi, Nagasaki

Fee for JALT members: Free

Fee for one-day members: 1,000 yen, free for students

Contact or Queries: Email contact form

2014 November 21~24 | JALT 2014 International | Conversations Across Borders

JALT2014: Conversations Across Borders

JALT2014: Conversations Across Borders

40th Annual International Conference on Language
Teaching and Learning & Educational Materials Exhibition
Friday, 21 November 2014 - Monday, 24 November 2014
Tsukuba International Congress Center (Epochal Tsukuba)
Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan

2014 November 1 | David Gann | A Four-step process for critical thinking instruction

A Four-step process for critical thinking instruction

Date and Time: Saturday, 1 November 2014 - 2:00pm - 4:00p
Speaker: David Gann

David Gann will present on the materials and resources for critical thinking instruction that he has helped develop over the past four years. These include (1) Critically Minded, a fourteen-episode podcast aimed at explicit instruction of critical thinking as a language-based skill set; (2) online text reconstruction exercises (TREs) of two kinds, the first focusing on argument indicators (AIs), and the second focusing on dialectical discourse items (DDIs) commonly used to initiate various modes of communication related to negotiating shared understandings; (3) online asynchronous computer-mediated communication (CMC) in which learners put the recently learned language and metalanguage to use in real communication and collaboration in a content-based learning environment; and (4) in-class group discussion where learners use the same or similar language in face-to-face communication. He will also discuss the assessment tools that he has developed for tracking students’ progress. Attendees will gain an enhanced understanding of critical thinking instruction and a practical understanding of the resources which they are invited to use in their own classes.

2014 October 12 | Cory Koby | Japanese High School English Curriculum Changes...

Cory Koby

Ready or not, here it comes! Japanese high school English curriculum changes under the new course of study

Date and Time: Sunday, 12 October 2014 - 2:00pm - 4:00pm

Speaker: Cory Koby

Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology introduced its once-in-a-decade “Course of Study” in 2009, and the final phase of the mandated changes took effect in April 2013. Cory will outline the changes in high school English language curriculum, with particular attention paid to what has NOT changed. Teacher and student perceptions, attitudes, and practices will be discussed, and empirical evidence will be presented which illustrate the significant obstacles facing the implementation MEXT’s goal of TLEIE (Teaching and Learning English in English).

Summer Gathering | Nagasaki Dejima Wharf | Dragon World | Meet-n-GreetNagasaki JALT and Friends

Come and join us at Dragon World on Nagasaki's famous Dejima Wharf for a Summer Gathering of Nagasaki JALT and Friends!

Here is a chance to come out and meet some of the group who help organize and manage Nagasaki JALT.

It is a good chance to learn about JALT and what it can offer you. Its also a time to relax and enjoy the beginning of the summer holiday.

2014 July 12 | Rawson / Van Deusen | Blending your Classroom with Moodle

A Moodle Workshop: blending your classroom with Moodle

Date and Time:  Saturday, 12 July 2014 - 2:00pm - 4:00pm

Speakers: Thom Rawson /  Brendan Van Deusen

A bilingual workshop on the Moodle learning management system. Hands on instruction will be given on how to make use of this powerful tool, as well as methods and ideas for integrating it in everyday lessons. All levels of computer literacy will be supported.

Location: Nagasaki International University

Fee for JALT members: Free

Fee for one-day members: 1,000 yen, free for students

Contact or Queries: Email contact form

2014 June 8 | Patricia Daly Oe | Many Lives of the Picture Book

In her first visit to Nagasaki, Patricia Daly Oe gave us an excellent lecture on using picture books in the classroom. She's been in Japan for 27 years and has been teaching all of that time. From about 15 years ago, she started making picture stories for her students since the available materials in English were somewhat limited during that time. As a result, she started making her own stories and in the end some of them ended up getting published.