Kitakyushu JALT Meeting Reports: Archive for 2006
Our meeting reports archive contains reports of our meetings from 1999 to June 2008.
To see reports for later events, visit the reports page.
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4 February 2006
Takashi Inomori
Electronic Dictionary Workshop
Electronic dictionaries have become a mainstay in Japanese English classrooms. Although the Japanese-English translation and vice-versa functions are the ones mostly used, current models offer many more ways to investigate the two languages. We were fortunate to have Takashi Inomori of Meiji Gakuen High School explain and demonstrate some innovative uses, as well as Ms. Oshima and Mr. Nakamura from Casio, with whom he has done this demonstration for Japanese English teachers in Okinawa and Kagoshima.
Ms. Oshima began the evening by giving basic instructions about the dictionary use, in Japanese translated by our Hiroshi Otani. Mr. Inomori followed with results of various surveys showing how pervasive is the use of these tools in schools today. He then demonstrated some ways to exploit them for classroom practice, with students working individually or paired—in a race-type context, always popular with students and useful to maintain concentration on-task. Japanese and English collocations, minimal-pair sound contrasts, clozed idioms and monolingual word definitions were among the exercises we tried out together, with dictionaries provided by the presenters, for a stimulating and informative evening.
Reported by Dave Pite
8 April 2006
Malcolm Swanson; Dennis Woolbright, Kazuko Nishioka
www.istopmotion.com; Preliminary Report on Linguistic Readiness of Japanese Students Studying at an American University
Malcolm Swanson began the evening with an introduction of new stop motion/clay animation technology available from Apple at www.istopmotion.com He pointed out how easily students could catch on to how the program works, even though all the instructions are in English. Audience members suggested some possible educational applications.
Next up were Dennis Woolbright and Kazuko Nishioka sharing insights into the significance of the TOEFL test in relation to student readiness to enter an American university-- from surveys of the American professors who had taught their graduates. Students passing the test often remained unprepared to handle a course in English so the new TOEFL test requires students to think in English and draw conclusions likewise-- because that is necessary at university. Now an applicant needs a certain level of competency just to understand the rules. The new internet test is all interactive, verbal questions and answers-- with the computer. Changes are due for the TOIEC test as well, which promise to revolutionize the way we teach English
Woolbright observed that Japanese students tend to excuse themselves from social occasions by claiming they have to study, missing the opportunity to pick up on the subtle nuances of expression in casual conversation. They tend to study the TOEFL test-- rather than the English language. Nishioka supported these comments, stressing that it is important for Japanese students to realize that English cannot be studied and learned like other subjects such as mathematics.
On that note, an audience member pointed out that a basic flaw appears to be in the (necessary) unpreparedness of students for the test dialogue, which is unrealistic-- it is difficult to respond in a meaningful way to a subject broached only seconds before. There needs to be some way to prepare students with the topic-- so they have something to talk about-- while avoiding allowing them the possibility of preparing an all-purpose dialogue in advance that they could simply parrot, which would make it counter-productive-- exactly what the new format of the test is trying to avoid.
Reported by Dave Pite
10 June 2006
Bill Pellowe
(1) Using podcasts - even without an iPod! (2) Using your iPod in the classroom
After introducing himself and his various projects, Pellowe played a few podcasts for and then showed how to subscribe and otherwise take advantage of the continually expanding plethora of free and useful teaching material available with a few clicks. Aptly described as “audio blogs”, podcasts are as varied as the imagination of anyone who wants to convert their audio files—he showed us how to do that too, and recommended several books for further instruction.
In Part Two, some very clever and entertaining clips from home-made movies provided lots of ideas for classroom exploitation, with suggestions from Pellowe as to how best to use them. He also mentioned various ways to download material, for a nominal fee or free—and pointed out how iPods trump textbooks as learning aids, being lightweight and containing much more and varied information. Using iPhoto and Powerpoint applications to exploit selections from clipart.com and video.google.com is just one small part of how any teacher can put together a very professional-looking classroom presentation.
As usual, Pellowe gave us far more material than could be digested at one sitting, in a much-appreciated introduction to an important new direction in EFL instruction.
Reported by Dave Pite
6 July 2006
Ken Gibson and Gordon Luster
Putting Reading and Listening On-line
Luster and Gibson feel that extensive reading should be an indispensable part of language programs in Japan. Even if students spend their entire class speaking, two hours per week falls short of the preferred target of thousands of hours spent enjoying English input that is possible through various kinds of reading.
Luster explained some means of ascertaining student levels, stressing its importance for maintaining interest. With no grading coercion available in company classes, he feels EFL material must be attractive to students—or they will not use it. Gibson has been researching the extent to which extensive reading can boost T.O.E.I.C. scores; his university has set up a very popular library of graded readers; other texts are books at native speaker level with help functions such as glosses and some translations, learner newspapers and magazines, and online learner resources.
For this latter purpose, they developed the L.E.A.R.N. (Language Education And Research Network) Project which promises a variety of free or low fee services with multiple levels of the same content usable for intensive and extensive reading and listening with features to promote level climbing, designed for daily practice, a welcome contribution to language education via computer or mobile device.
Reported by Dave Pite
9 September 2006
Lynda Batty
Short-Term English Immersion Courses in a Japanese High School
Lynda Batty is a strong believer in immersion language programs and feels that the Japanese education system still relies too heavily upon translation in teaching English because of the pressure to cover the curriculum quickly. While the British system of regular inspections to ensure quality teaching may be too rigorous, she does feel that language teaching in this country should have more accountability and finds that in the Super English Learning High School (SelHi) program.
After discussing various approaches to autonomous learning, such as Visual Audio Kinesthetic, Multiple Intelligences and Multi-sensory and their success in involving students actively in learning, Batty went on to outline the SelHi goals, which include recognizing the importance of English, integrating other subjects and enabling students to use it after a three-year period of study.
Batty’s students use a textbook in combination with progress sheets, for which they are tested regularly. While stressing that the recipe for immersion includes a lot of careful preparation and supportive staff, the videotaped class activities were a testament to the success of the Seinan SelHi three- to five-day themed intensive English courses.
(reported by Dave Pite)
Reported by Dave Pite
