accent argot articulation brogue cant The communication conversation dialect diction Languagedictionary discourse doublespeak expression gibberish Teacher idiom interchange jargon lexicon lingua franca My Share Special Issue . . . November / December 2012 palaver Volume 36, Number 6 3 Classroom ideas from Adam Ezard, Paul Nadasdy,parlance Darren Van Veelen, Bruce Lander, Jack Ryan & Rorypatois ISSN 0289-7938 Davies, Stephen B. Ryan, Joachimphraseology Castellano, Tim ¥950 Stoeckel, Matthew W. Turner, Nathan Ducker, Ian Willey, Irene Iwasaki, Ben Humphreys, and Jason White prose The Japan Association signal for Language Teaching Feature Article . . . slang 21 Robert Lowe examines Task-based Language Teachingsound in the Japanese classroom speech

THE JAPAN ASSOCIATION FOR LANGUAGE TEACHING 全 国 語 学 教 育 学 会 style Readers’ Forum . . . talk 27 Ellen Motohashi provides an innovativeterminology self-introduction JALT2013 activity tongue Learning is a 32 Elizabeth Wadell and April Shandor look at new lifetime voyage concepts on motivation utterance verbalization October 25-28, 2013 Book Review . . . vernacular Kobe International Conference Center & 36 Arthur Lauritsen reviews English Explorervocabulary 1 International Exhibition Hall vocalization voice word wording

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CONTENTS In this month’s issue . . . My Share Special Issue My Share Special Issue }} Classroom ideas from Adam Ezard, Paul his year’s special My Share edition comes a bit Nadasdy, Darren Van Veelen, Bruce Lander, Jack Ryan & Rory Davies, Stephen B. Ryan, Joachim later in the year than usual but I hope you’ll Castellano, Tim Stoeckel, Matthew W. Turner, T agree that the 14 great activities we have for Nathan Ducker, Ian Willey, Irene Iwasaki, Ben you in this issue are well worth the wait. Adam Ezard Humphreys, & Jason White...... 3 brings math puzzles into the English classroom, Paul Nadasdy adapts a popular board game for classroom Feature Article use, and Darren Van Veelen has students working with Memoirs of a Geisha to improve their speaking skills. }} Promoting L2 Use as a Means of Facilitating Bruce Lander challenges students with a movie project, TBLT in Japanese Classrooms. . . . . 21 and Jack Ryan and Rory Davies have students practic- ing restaurant reservations. Stephen B. Ryan uses Readers’ Forum Voice of America in the university classroom, Joachim Castellano offers up communicative activities using }} Moving Beyond Self Introductions to Sharing photography, and Tim Stoeckel introduces a vocabu- Self Exploration and Expression. . . . .27 lary pairing activity. Matthew W. Turner has students }} Changing Views on Motivation in a simulating telephone calls with voice recordings, Na- Globalizing World...... 32 than Ducker helps improve students’ internet research skills, and Ian Willey focuses in on students with an Resources eye contact activity. Irene Iwasaki brings romance Ben Humphreys }} Book Reviews ...... 36 into the classroom, lowers students’ anxiety with a photo activity, and Jason White gets }} Recently Received ...... 38 creative with adjective posters. With such a range of }} Outside the Box...... 39 exciting activities you’re sure to find something just }} TLT Wired...... 40 right for your teaching situation. The My Share special edition will return to its usual time, the March/April JALT Focus issue, next year. Dax Thomas, My Share Coeditor }} JALT Notices...... 42 Harry Harris, My Share Coeditor }} Showcase...... 43 }} Grassroots...... 45 Continued over }} Outreach...... 46 JALT PUBLICATIONS ONLINE }} Off the Presses...... 49 Columns November/December 2012 online access

}} SIG News ...... 53 Material from all our publications produced in the last 12 months requires a password for access. These passwords }} Chapter Events...... 60 change with each issue of TLT and are valid for a 3-month }} Chapter Reports...... 65 period. To access our archives: }} Job Information ...... 70 [ login: nov2012 / password: D84edusw ] }} Conference Calendar...... 72 }} Old Grammarians...... 75 }} Membership Information...... 76

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TLT Editors: Jennifer Yphantides, Jason Peppard TLT Japanese-Language Editor: Emika Abe

THE LANGUAGE TEACHER: 36.6 • November / December 2012 1 The Language Teacher » Foreword & Information

年のMy Share特集は例年より少し遅くなりました elcome to the final issue of The Lan- が、ここに掲載された14のアクティビティは、待っ guage Teacher for 2012. Did you enjoy た甲斐のある素晴らしいものだと思います。Adam th 今 W attending the 38 annual JALT Na- Ezardが英語の授業に数学のパズルを取り入れ、Paul tional conference in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka? We Nadasdyは人気のボードゲームを授業用に応用し、Darren hope the excellent presentations, poster sessions, Van Veelenは、学生の会話力を高めるためにMemoirs of a and forums provided you with stimulating and Geishaに取り組ませています。Bruce Landerは学生を映画 innovative ideas for your teaching. We all thank プロジェクトにチャレンジさせ、Jack Ryan とRory Daviesは、 those who participated, presented, and prepared 学生にレストランの予約の練習をさせています。Stephen for JALT 2012. B. Ryanは大学の授業にVoice of Americaを使い、Joachim Castellanoは、写真を使ったコミュニケーション・アクティビテ In this issue, we have one regular Feature ィを提案しています。Tim Stoeckelはボキャブラリーのペア・ article by Robert Lowe who facilitates L2 use アクティビティを紹介し、Matthew W. Turnerは音声録音を in Japanese classroom by using Task-based 利用して電話の模擬練習をさせ、Nathan Duckerは、学生の Language Teaching. In Readers’ Forum, we have インターネット検索技術を高める手助けをしています。Ian two articles. Ellen Motohashi introduces a new Willeyは、学生のアイコンタクトを使うアクティビティに焦 type of self-introduction activity while Elizabeth 点を絞っています。Irene Iwasakiは授業にロマンスを取り入 Wadell and April Shandor explore new concepts れ、Ben Humphreysは写真のアクティビティで学生の不安 を軽減し、Jason Whiteは形容詞のポスターを工夫していま on motivation and investigate how the concepts す 。こんなに多くのわくわくするアクティビティの中には 、き have an impact on their teaching. In Book っとあなたの教育現場にふさわしいものがあるはずです。 Reviews, Arthur Lauritsen provides a review of 来年のMy Share特集は、例年通り3月/4月号に掲載いたしま English Explorer. す。 In this final issue of the year, we say good-bye Dax Thomas, My Share Coeditor to our senior coeditor, Jennifer Yphantides, and Harry Harris, My Share Coeditor welcome in David Marsh as the new coeditor. Thank you, Jennifer for your service to TLT and a warm welcome to David. We look forward to having you aboard as coeditor! TLTの2012年最終号へようこそ。静岡県浜松市での JALT年次大会を楽しんでいただけましたでしょうか。素晴 We hope you enjoy this issue of TLT and wish らしい 発 表 、ポスターセッション 、フォーラムをご 覧 になっ everyone a merry Christmas and a Happy New て皆様のクラスへの刺激的で新しいアイディアを得られた Year. ことでしょう。JALT2012へ参加された方、発表された方、 Emika Abe, TLT Japanese-Language Editor 準備に当たられた方々へ感謝の意を表します。 今月号のFeatureでは、Robert Loweがタスクに基づく言 語教授法を使った日本のクラス内での第2言語の使用の 促進について研究しています。Readers’ Forumでは、Ellen Japan Association for Motohashiが自己紹介アクティビティの新しい方法を紹介 Language Teaching (JALT) しています。そして、Elizabeth Wadell とApril Shandorは、 動機づけの新しい概念を研究し、彼らの教授法にどのよう な影響を与えたかを論じています。さらに、Book Review A nonprofit organization では、Arthur LauritsenがEnglish Explorer 1を論評していま The Japan Association for Language Teaching す。 (JALT) is a nonprofit professional organization 本年最終号では共同編集者の交代をお知らせしま dedicated to the improvement of language す。Jennifer Yphantidesが退任し、David Marshが新共同 teaching and learning in Japan. It provides a 編集者として就任します。JenniferのTLT への貢献に感謝 forum for the exchange of new ideas and tech- の意を表し、Davidへ歓迎の意を伝えたいと思います。共 niques and a means of keeping informed about 同編集者としての活躍を期待しています。 developments in the rapidly changing field of どうぞ今月号が皆様にとって役立つものとなりますよう second and foreign language education. に。少し早いですが、メリークリスマス！ どうぞよいお年 をお迎えください。 Contact 日本語版編集長 To contact any officer, chapter, or Special Inter- 阿部 恵美佳 est Group (SIG), please use the contact page on our website:

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3. I have a box of fifteen candies. I want to Math scavenger share these equally with five friends. How many candies do we each get? (= ______) hunt: Cracking the *Tokyo Tower = 333m, Tokyo wards = 23 Each answer corresponds to a letter in the code Roman alphabet, based on the order of the letters from A to Z. “One” would correspond Adam Ezard to “A”, “two” to “B”, and so on. (I, II and III above correspond to the letters “N”, “Y” and “C” Waseda University Junior and Senior respectively). A list of questions can be found in High School Appendix A. Step 2: Locate nine suitable “hiding spots” around the school. These need to be safely acces- sible to the students, but far enough from each Quick guide other to introduce the “scavenger hunt” aspect • Key words: Math, numbers, group work, to the activity. Ten clues need to be composed. scavenger hunt Nine of these give directions to the hiding places (e.g. “Look on top of the 2C lockers”), while the • Learner English level: Beginner to interme- final one should say “bring all the clues to the diate teacher”. The ten clues need to be translated into • Learner maturity: Junior/senior high school a Roman numeral code, with letters replaced by • Preparation time: 2-3 hours Roman numerals determined by the numerals • Activity time: 30-40 minutes used to number the problems in step 1. To follow the examples above, all “N’s” would be replaced • Materials: Handout, printed strips, enve- by I’s, “Y’s” by II’s and “C’s” by III’s, etc. (See lopes example in Appendix B). Copies of clue one (which indicates the loca- Students in junior and senior high school relish tion of the first hiding place) should be placed the chance to be rewarded for achieving goals in an envelope to be kept by the teacher, with through well coordinated group work in task- enough copies to give one to each group. Copies based lessons. This activity enables students to of other clues should be placed in their respec- use their skills of logic and deduction, combined tive envelopes at each hiding spot, with the clues with cultural and intercultural knowledge, in a in the envelope found at the first hiding spot giv- setting that encourages cooperation, organiza- ing the location of the second hiding spot, and so tion and teamwork. on. The envelope in the final hiding spot should contain the “bring all clues to the teacher” clue. Preparation Step 1: Prepare twenty-six problems, to which Procedure the answers are numbers from one to twenty-six Step 1: Introduce the following mathematical (one problem for each number). The problems terms to the students: +, -, x, ÷. This can be can have a basis in culture, general knowledge, done by writing simple sums, such as 5+2=7, or logic, or a combination of these. They will need 12÷2=6, etc. Go through the vocabulary with the to be jumbled up and typed out on a worksheet, students before asking some simple questions each problem numbered using Roman numerals such as, “What is ten minus four?” to avoid confusion with the answer, giving a list Step 2: Arrange the students into small groups. similar to the following: Distribute copies of the prepared problem sheet, 1. How many meters high is Tokyo Tower? containing the Roman numeral ordered prob- Divide this by nine, then minus the number lems, to each student. Explain the idea behind of wards in Tokyo. (=______) the Roman numeral code to the students, as 2. Christmas Day is on this day in December. (= mentioned above (covering the first couple as an ______) example is recommended).

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Step 3: Instruct the students that they will crack • Learner English level: Various the code more quickly and economically if they • Learner maturity: High school to high divide the work between them. achiever Step 4: Groups can obtain the first clue from the • Preparation time: 5 minutes teacher when they feel they have answered all • Activity time: 15-20 minutes per game the problems correctly (and can gain an edge by (multiple games) starting earlier). Once the group receives the first clue, the scavenger hunt begins. • Materials: A3 paper, dice (1 die per 4 stu- dents), marker pen Step 5: The winning team is the one that returns to the teacher first with all clues in their posses- sion. A prize or reward can be given at this stage. Talkopoly, a communication game which appears in Talk a Lot (Martin, 2003) is an adaptation of Conclusion the board game Monopoly, with English practice questions instead of places, properties, and Teachers will need to choose hiding spots wisely streets. Simple questions on the game board to make sure that other classes are not disturbed. make it perfect for practicing basic communica- This task should lead to a high level of both tion. However, if you have your students fill energy and participation by all students and is in their own game boards with questions and especially useful in promoting teamwork and talking points based on what they have been bonding within groups of students that are not studying, this can help reinforce recently learned so familiar with each other. grammar and vocabulary in a focused, collabora- tive, and enjoyable way. Appendices The appendices are available from the online Preparation version of this article at . rectangle (a couple of inches from each edge), then a smaller rectangle 3 or 4 inches inside from the one you have drawn. Step 2: Draw vertical lines between the hori- zontal lines so there are 20 boxes in total (see A dynamic and Appendix). enjoyable game Step 3: In one of the 4 corners write: Start/Finish and in the other 3 corners write: Free (you can adapt the corner squares to suit your students’ for practicing level – timed discussions, list 5 words, etc.). Step 4: Photocopy 1 sheet for every 4 students and reinforcing in your class – to get the best out of this game, students should ideally be in groups of 4 or in previously learnt groups of no less than 3.

language Procedure Paul Nadasdy Step 1: Explain that everyone should write ques- tions on the blank game board relating to what Tokyo Denki University (TDU) they have been learning in class; for example, in food themed units they may write: What’s your favourite food? or What did you have for breakfast? You can write examples of questions on the Quick guide board if the students’ English ability is low or • Keywords: Communication game, reinforce- the grammar point is challenging, but try to keep ment, peer-support, interaction, fun this to a minimum.

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Step 2: Some groups finish their game board prepa- ration quicker than others. This is not a problem, but Hear no movie, see make sure you keep track of who is ready to start; as you are monitoring the groups constantly it is easy to spot who will be ready quickest. no movie, speak Step 3: As soon as a group fills all the spaces on about the movie: A their game board, describe to that group how the game is played. Demonstrate by putting a counter on the start/finish square (a coin or an speaking strategy eraser will do), then roll the die yourself and move the counter to the corresponding square. Darren Van Veelen Indicate to the student to your left that he or Tokyo International University she should now ask that question to you. Give an answer. Now tell that same student to ask a follow-up question relating to what they asked or what is written in the square. Quick guide Step 4: Indicate that the corner squares are • Key words: Speaking, listening, gender special and explain what they will need to do equality, discussion if they land there. Encourage them to do either Rock-Paper-Scissors or highest number rolled • Learner English level: Pre-intermediate and goes first. Repeat this explanation individually above for all the groups. • Learner maturity: University and adults Step 5: If a group finishes their game quickly, • Preparation time: 1 hour you can either mix groups around or have them • Activity time: 90 minutes re-start the game. Both options work well. • Materials: Pictures of geisha, DVD of Mem- Step 6: When the class is finished, collect the oirs of a Geisha (Japanese title: Sayuri), movie boards and dice. Further review of what students summary (Appendix A), and worksheet have written is a great way to find out what they (Appendix B) need more help with. This activity is a speaking strategy that encour- Conclusion ages students to engage in conversation about This is a simple and fun game designed to help gender equality. The concept of geisha is still students go over what they have been learning. shrouded in mystery because of the public’s It is an interesting way for them to practice limited access to the inner circle of the geisha’s grammar and vocabulary and they can do so world. People speculate about geisha, which in while communicating in English. There is a lot of turn stimulates the imagination whilst appeal- scope for peer-support during the game creating ing to students’ recognition of a cultural icon. process, and the content generated provides a Memoirs of a Geisha brings such speculation to great way for the teacher to monitor students’ life and is a fun way to elicit discussion about language needs. It is also an enjoyable way for gender equality in Japan. the students to end their week of study. Preparation Reference Step 1: Find and print different pictures of geisha Martin, D. (2003). Talk a lot (2nd ed.). Okegawa, (A4 size) online. Cut each picture into four equal Saitama, Japan: EFL Press. pieces (e.g., 5 pictures x 4 pieces = 20 students). Step 2: Print the movie summary (see Appendix Appendix A) and cut into ten-strip sets, one set per group (1 group = 4 students). This will give students The appendix is available from the online ver- an idea of the plot because only one scene of the sion of this article at . THE LANGUAGE TEACHER: 36.6 • November / December 2012 5 6 | MY SHARE SPECIAL ISSUE

Step 3: Get a copy of Memoirs of a Geisha. Only Step 5: Give each student a worksheet (see Ap- one scene is shown where Sayuri is introduced pendix B) and have them fill in the gaps. for the first time as a maiko (0:59:30–1:02:46). Step 6: Have pairs check their answers then play the scene again so they can check their answers Procedure and understanding of the script. Activity 1 Activity 4 Step 1: Brainstorm descriptive vocabulary for people with students in the class. Step 1: Review language for presenting an Step 2: Tell students that they are going to receive opinion, agreeing, disagreeing, and hedging. a random piece of a picture. The students need to Step 2: In pairs (best to have males with mingle and verbally describe their pieces to one females), prompt students to discuss whether another. After this, they can look to see if their geisha are artists who are respected by men or pieces match. Emphasize that verbal description geisha are entertainers who serve men. This is must be done before looking! If they match, the a starting point for discussions about gender students stay together and continue mingling equality. This topic provides a platform to dis- until they have a group of four matching pieces. cuss gender equality in various other situations, such as work, family, sport, or study. Activity 2 Conclusion Step 1: Have students form new groups of four. Give each group one movie summary (one of the The objective of this lesson is to allow students every 10-strip sets). possible opportunity to engage in speaking and Step 2: Ask the students to order the strips in the listening. The materials promote peer interaction correct sequence. Encourage students to negoti- allowing the teacher to focus on facilitation and ate an agreed sequence. feedback. There are other scenes in the movie that generate discussions about gender equality and Step 3: Check the sequence as a class and explain Activity 3 can also be used repeatedly for these. anything that may be unclear. References Activity 3 Memoirs of a geisha script–Dialogue Transcript. Step 1: Pair up students and explain that one (n.d.). Drew’s Script-O-Rama. Retrieved student in each pair must cover their ears and 10.03.2010 from <.script-o-rama.com/movie_ the other must cover their eyes. Play the movie scripts/m/memoirs-of-a-geisha-script.html>. scene. Memoirs of a geisha (film). (n.d.).Wikipedia . Step 2: Ask students to reconstruct the scene by Retrieved 10.03.2010 from . Step 3: Play the scene again (the same students cover their ears and eyes again). Have students Appendices make adjustments to their reconstruction then select pairs to reconstruct or reenact the scene for The appendices are available from the online the class. version of this article at . watch, listen, and compare their reconstructions.

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6 THE LANGUAGE TEACHER Online • MY SHARE SPECIAL ISSUE | 7

Step 3: Construct a sample poster or use the one The movie project: here (Appendix A). Movies as a Procedure Step 1: (Weeks 2-5) Watching movies learning resource Have students watch an English movie of their choice for homework, then write a 10-line sum- Bruce Lander mary and movie review. Repeat this three times. Kurume University Make students do this individually and encour- age the use of in-house facilities. Step 2: (Week 6) Discuss in groups Have students discuss what movies they Quick guide watched. • Key words: Autonomy, group work, self Step 3: (Week 7) Decision of movie evaluation Students choose one movie and watch it again in • Learner English level: Beginner and above groups. • Learner maturity: University Step 4: (Week 8) Decision of scene • Preparation time: Up to you Have each group choose a 5-minute scene from • Activity time: 15-30 minutes at the end of the movie that will be re-enacted on the project every lesson performance day. This scene must be confirmed • Materials: DVDs, Appendices A-C with the teacher first! Step 5: (Week 9) Decision of roles and project poster Everyone loves movies, but the movies we watch and recommend to our students may not be to For each Movie Project there must be one their liking. Why not let students choose their director, one announcer and at least four actors. own from the selection your library or depart- The director’s job is to introduce the movie and ment has on offer? describe the chosen scene. The announcer’s job is to introduce the members and the plot. Let Time restraints may not allow for a full length students make the decisions on this part. movie to be shown during class. One way around this dilemma is to have students watch To help the audience understand the contents English movies of their choice on their own time, of each movie it helps if you have your students with subsequent help from subtitles. make a poster. See Appendix B for details. The movie project is a simple activity that Step 6: (Weeks 10 - 12) Practice allows students, in groups of up to six, to choose Practice the scene in groups, for 20-30 minutes a movie of their liking, watch it several times, at the end of each class. All groups should choose a suitable scene from the movie and individually produce a printed dialogue of their re-enact that scene as actors, in the final class of scene, bring this to class each week and practice term. The goal is to foster autonomous learners their lines together as a team. This will require and introduce movies as a learning resource assistance from the teacher. rather than just entertainment. Step 7: (Weeks 12 - 13) Teacher co-ordination Try to meet each group twice, once for pronun- Preparation ciation check then again for emotion and action. Step 1: Introduce the theme of movies in class. Step 8: (Week 14) Memorization of lines Prepare a short PowerPoint that introduces It is important that you emphasize that students several well-known movies, actors and genres memorize their lines, extra credit is awarded for that your students may or may not know. memory on the performance day. Step 2: Familiarize students with where the DVD Step 9: (week 15) Performance day collection may be kept at your school or library. Students perform their movie project, with action,

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props, laughter, and excitement. Teachers should • Learner maturity: First-year university produce a simple “Self and peer evaluation” form • Preparation time: 10 minutes with space for comments. See Appendix C. • Activity time: 90 minutes Step 10: (week 10 - 15) optional Movie Project • Materials: Whiteboard, handout Poster If you have every group produce a simple poster with information on their movie, it will help the In this activity students will practice using Eng- audience understand each act. With this in mind, lish to make and accept restaurant reservations the poster could be included as part of the course on the telephone. The lesson is designed to take grade. Up to now, I have incorporated the movie place in one self-contained classroom. project as 30% of the final grade for the course with the following denominations: 10% for self- Preparation assessed performance, 10% for teacher-assessed performance and 10% for the poster. Step 1: Prepare copies of appendices for your class. Conclusion Procedure Students may view watching movies for home- work as a walkover; this works in your favour. Step 1: Put students into groups of four. This activity really is a joy for the teacher and the Step 2: Pass out the handout titled “Restaurant students. I have been doing the “movie project” reservation” (Appendix A) and have students for over 5 years now and not one group has complete the cloze activity on the handout failed to perform without providing sufficient individually. props, pictures and a great performance. Step 3: Have pairs of students from the already formed groups pair off and sit back to back in a Appendices series of rows two to three meters away from the nearest pair. The appendices are available from the online Step 4: Have students take out their mobile version of this article at . Step 5: Pass out Appendix B to the rows of students sitting nearest to the doors and Ap- pendix C to the rows of students sitting furthest from the doors so that each member of a pair has Reservation for a different handout. Step 6: Tell students they are to use the “Res- two please taurant reservation” handout (Appendix A) as an outline as they make and accept restaurant Jack Ryan reservations. Shizuoka University of Art and Culture Step 7: The students with Appendix B begin, in their role as restaurant staff, by picking up their phone to answer a call and write down reserva- tion 1. Their partners with Appendix C should Rory Davies simulate speaking into their mobile phone as Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University they place reservation 1 as written on their hand- out. The activity is much more fun if students turn on their phones, exchange numbers and actually call each other. This should be left to the Quick guide students’ discretion. The pairs take turns making reservations until they complete all eight (four • Key words: Restaurant, reservation each) written on their handout. • Learner English level: Beginner to interme- diate 8 THE LANGUAGE TEACHER Online • MY SHARE SPECIAL ISSUE | 9

Step 8: Once students have filled in their hand- outs, they check to make sure they have got all Using Voice of the details correct and have not misspelled any names, etc. America audio Step 9: In the bottom space number 9 on Ap- pendixes B and C students should write in their downloads for own reservation. Step 10: Have students change partners with specific university those in rows closest to the door sliding down to the next seat and take turns making their own reservation and taking the reservation of their reading or listening partner. Afterwards, they again compare notes to make sure they haven’t made any mistakes. courses Step 11: At this point the teacher should collect all handouts from students as the next step re- Stephen B. Ryan quires them to do the activity without reference Yamagata University to a handout for support. Step 12: Have students change partners again following the procedure as explained above. Step 13: Pass out Appendix D to the rows of Quick guide students sitting nearest to the doors and Ap- • Key words: Reading, listening, specific pendix E to the rows of students sitting furthest purposes from the doors so that each member of a pair has • Learner English level: Advanced a different handout. • Learner Maturity: University and above Step 14: The pairs take turns making the reserva- tion written on their handout and then taking the • Preparation time: 30 minutes reservation from their partner. • Activity time: 90 minutes Step 15: Confirm that students have correctly • Materials: Prepared copies of the listening completed the task by eliciting the reservation transcript and audio information and writing it on the board. Choosing a curriculum for a university read- Conclusion ing class that falls within the students’ area of study can be difficult. Textbook material is often This lesson allows for communicative practice outdated or inappropriate. This approach allows in making and accepting reservations over the students to study from latest topical information, telephone. It also encourages the practice of thus increasing motivation and allowing them to polite language and numbers. It is a good way learn content as well as English. Students only to build confidence by realistically simulating an need a notebook to keep notes and an English actual telephone reservation. dictionary. Specific areas of study can be targeted such as medicine, technology or societal issues. Appendices This activity can also be easily transformed into The appendices are available from the online a one semester curriculum for the typical 90 version of this article at . Preparation Step 1: Access the Voice of America Learning English section on the Internet (). This section is specifically made for ESL learners, so the speed is a bit slower than normal.

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Step 2: Choose an appropriately themed article Step 7: After the five students write their answers you wish to use in the classroom. Articles are on the blackboard, hand out copies of the audio typically around 400 words in length. transcript cloze exercise you have prepared. I Step 3: Copy the article onto a Word document usually give the class about 15-20 minutes to read and delete extra space or pictures if needed. the article and fill-in the missing vocabulary. Step4: Next, mark in bold 10 vocabulary items Step 8: Play the audio for the final time and have you feel are key to understanding the content. students follow along to check their answers and Print it. This is the teacher’s copy. vocabulary while they listen. Step 5: Now delete the 10 words you just high- Step 9: Have students write 10 original sentences lighted, creating a cloze exercise of 10 missing based on the 10 words you chose in their B5 vocabulary words that the students will have to notebook. Students usually raise their hands and fill in by first listening and after by reading. Print have me check their sentences for mistakes before it. This is the students’ copy. the class ends since they will have a quiz on it. Step 6: On the VOA webpage, download the Step 10: Tell the class they will have a 10-point audio to the article. This is the audio file you will quiz the following week. For the quiz, choose use in the classroom. You can either burn it to a any of the five vocabulary words and all five CD or copy it to an MP3 player. of the comprehension questions. Students will need to memorize the comprehension question Step 7: Make up five questions regarding the answers and their original sentences from the content of the reading and be ready to write previous class. these questions on the blackboard. Step 8: Before you walk into class, make sure you have enough student copies, your own copy Conclusion with the answers and your audio ready to go. This activity is flexible for English for specific I use an iPod and just plug it into the external purposes, provides a weekly goal and achievable speakers available in the classroom. assessment of student effort and knowledge by bringing motivating and contemporary topics Procedure into the classroom. Step 1: Write the 10 vocabulary words you chose previously on the blackboard in random order. You may want to go over each word with the students for pronunciation or allow them to look Training a up definitions in their dictionaries as a primer. Step 2: Introduce the topic that students will be student’s visual studying that day. This can also be extended into a discussion if desired. Play the audio. A typical eye: Photography audio file will last about 4 minutes. Step 3: While the audio is playing, it is a good for communicative time to write the five comprehension questions on the blackboard next to the vocabulary. activities Step 4: Now, go over each of the five questions you just wrote on the blackboard making sure Joachim Castellano students understand them. Kanda University of International Studies Step 5: Play the audio again, asking students to listen for the answers to the questions. Step 6: Allow students some time to check with others around them or in small groups for com- Quick guide mon answers. Now, ask or choose five students to write their answers on the blackboard. If • Key words: Digital photography, speaking students still have difficulty understanding, you • Learner English level: Intermediate and may decide to play the audio again. above 10 THE LANGUAGE TEACHER Online • MY SHARE SPECIAL ISSUE | 11

• Learner maturity: University gestures, clothing, objects, background, and • Preparation time: 3 hours + setting. • Activity time: 4 full classes Step 2: Have them explain their photos to multiple partners in pairs. • Materials: Newspapers, magazines, internet enabled PCs, digital cameras Step 3: Next, have students analyze photos by teaching them the IAM questions: What is your Impression? What is the photo About? What is Photography can be a very generative com- the photo’s Message? Be sure to demonstrate munication activity, particularly with speaking by analyzing your own photo in front of the and writing. The activities described here move class. Practice IAM questions in pairs to multiple beyond typical uses of pictures in lessons, which partners. are usually limited to superficial description or discussion activities. Instead, students can learn how to analyze and interpret photos deeply by Class 2 – Students will learn about visual training their eyes to look at a photograph’s form elements of photography. and function. This set of lessons provides students Step 1: Show your slides explaining various a framework to analyze and interpret photos rigor- visual elements. ously. A photo essay group project ties together Step 2: Give the students digital cameras and their new visual literacy skills with productive have them demonstrate a visual element by use of digital cameras and slideshow software to taking their own pictures. explore and express aspects of their own identities. Step 3: Have students share their photos in small groups. The students in the groups discuss the Preparation prominent visual elements of each photo, and Step 1: Collect newspapers and magazines discuss IAM questions. with pictures. News media works best because photojournalistic images are rich in narrative Class 3 – Students will learn about photo elements. Alternatively, prepare a set of news essays. photo websites for students to explore (e.g., New Step 1: Demonstrate photo essays from news sites York Times, AP, Reuters). such as the New York Times or BBC. Explain that Step 2: Become familiar with vocabulary of the photo essays are powerful visual stories. visual elements of photography such as focus, Step 2: Students will create their own photo color, vantage point, etc. (For a complete list with essays modeled after the “A Moment in Time” definitions visit ). It’s most effective to visually work, nature, family, play, arts, etc., and take a demonstrate each element using example photos picture related to their theme. The students agree in a slideshow presentation. Prepare a slideshow to take a picture at that same time of day. For explaining visual elements of photography using homework, students meet with their groups to photos from the Internet or your own. create one cohesive photo essay that they will Step 3: Read about the New York Times “A present to the class. Moment in Time” photo project (), and be sure you know how to Class 4 – Students will present their A Moment use digital cameras and slideshow software such in Time photo essays as a group project. as PowerPoint. Step 1: Have students analyze and interpret their photos by describing completely, answering IAM Procedure questions, and selecting how particular visual elements influenced their analysis. Ensure that Class 1 – Students will learn how to describe groups explain how each photo contributed to photos deeply. the narrative of the group’s photo essay. Step 1: Ask students to pick a photo they find Step 2: Students who are listening can record interesting. Instruct students to describe eve- their own interpretations by writing reflective rything they see: facial expressions, non-verbal notes while they watch. THE LANGUAGE TEACHER: 36.6 • November / December 2012 11 12 | MY SHARE SPECIAL ISSUE

Conclusion lexical knowledge – either unfamiliar words or those which students don’t know well. Photography affords rich opportunities for linguistic output. Photography is not likely to Step 2: Make a handout with the target words raise students’ affective barriers since there is no in one column and simple definitions in another written or spoken language to overwhelm them: column. Online learner’s dictionaries such It engages students at their own level. This set as Merriam-Webster’s Learner’s Dictionary of lessons trains students in visual literacy and () or Oxford Advanced photographic production. In addition, students Learner’s Dictionary () are excellent resources for graphics, and other visual media. easy to understand definitions. Optionally, add example sentences under each definition. Step 3: Make separate prompts with large cards for each lexical item and each definition, suitable Fergus matching: for display on the whiteboard. A vocabulary Procedure Step 1: Attach the definitions to the whiteboard previewing activity with magnets, and place one extra magnet next to each (for student use in step 2). Tim Stoeckel Step 2: Distribute one or two vocabulary prompts to each pair of students in the class, Miyazaki International College and ask students to try to put their words on the whiteboard next to the matching definitions. Allow time for discussion or consulting a dictionary, and encourage negotiation among Quick guide student pairs when more than one wants to • Key words: Vocabulary learning, spaced match their word with the same definition. repetition Step 3: When all students have returned to their • Learner English level: Low intermediate seats, provide clues for improperly matched and above word-definition pairs (e.g. “three words are still out of place,” or “all of the verbs are okay”). To allow • Learner maturity: Junior high and above students more time to consider the definitions • Preparation time: 20 minutes and matching terms, avoid directly saying which • Activity time: 15 minutes pairs are incorrect. • Materials: Handout and whiteboard Step 4: When all terms are correctly placed, prompts (see below); 30 magnets congratulate the class! Give students a short time to read through everything on the board. Then remove the target words, mix up the locations Fergus matching is a student-centered classroom of the definitions on the whiteboard, and repeat activity for introducing new vocabulary. The step 2. Although students will almost certainly activity—named after the teacher who came up work more quickly this time, this step is useful with it, Fergus Hann of Kansai Gaidai University— as a second exposure to the target terms and involves having students match vocabulary items should not be skipped. with their definitions on a classroom whiteboard prior to encountering the terms in a text. Step 5: Give students the handout and spend a few minutes talking through the terms, offering example sentences, highlighting the meaning of Preparation roots or affixes, or eliciting other words based on Step 1: Select between 10 and 15 target words the same roots (e.g., govern, government, govern- from a text which students have not yet encoun- mental). tered. Choose terms at the threshold of students’

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Variations • Learner English level: Upper beginner to advanced For students of lower English proficiency, this activity can be adapted by using L1 translations • Learner maturity level: University rather than word definitions. As another variation, • Preparation time: 30 minutes examples—rather than definitions or translations— • Activity time: 45-60 minutes can be used to review old material, especially in • Materials: content-based instruction. For instance, in a unit Smart phone with a voice re- on the factors of production in economics, students corder, handouts containing pre-prepared could be asked to match the examples tractor, river, transcripts and teacher with the economic concepts of capital, land, and labor, respectively. When examples are Have you ever made a phone call to a friend and each a sentence or more in length, the activity been led to believe that they answered, only to incorporates a significant amount of purposeful find that it was a recorded voice message made reading. For instance, the sentence, “A tractor is to sound like they had? If your answer was yes, used to produce vegetables on a farm,” could also be then you’ll appreciate how frustrated it left you matched with capital. feeling. But what if this same idea could be used effectively in the language classroom? This activ- Conclusion ity is aimed at improving students’ telephone conversation fluency by making use of the voice Fergus matching requires little explanation recording function on smart phones, whilst (none after doing it once with a class) and can allowing students to practice various conversa- be completed in under 15 minutes. It engages tions in a controlled manner. students and is an effective way to preview vocabulary before students encounter it in a text, greatly reducing the need for a dictionary during Preparation that encounter. Step 1: Before the lesson, consult your class to This activity and a subsequent text act as several see how many students have the necessary smart closely-spaced initial exposures to new terms in a phones for this task, enough for pairwork or spaced repetition approach to vocabulary study. small groups will be adequate. Following this with an activity such as Taboo in Step 2: Prepare a series of conversations lasting the next class meeting provides students with yet no longer than a minute each by scripting one another exposure to target terms. side of the conversation. This could take the shape of the phone call initiator or the respond- ent (refer to Appendix for example). Step 3: Once you have scripted the dialogues, Using voice record them onto your smart phone and present recordings to them on a class handout. Procedure simulate telephone Step 1: Start your class but make sure your phone is in full view of your students. Signal that interaction you are receiving a call and need to answer it. When you have the students attention, press the Matthew W. Turner play button of the first prepared voice record- ing and begin the false conversation. When the Tokyo Kasei University conversation has ended, involve the students in a brief discussion about the call. This could include asking the students who was calling, what they wanted to find out, and what was Quick guide unusual about it. At this point, you may wish to • Key words: Telephone conversation, listen- elect a stronger member of the class to play the ing comprehension, turn-taking, fluency receiver role and try the conversation again. THE LANGUAGE TEACHER: 36.6 • November / December 2012 13 14 | MY SHARE SPECIAL ISSUE

Step 2: Hand out a copy of the transcripts and Appendix guide them towards the opening dialogue on The appendix is available from the online ver- the sheet. Start the same conversation again and sion of this article at . of the conversation. Have the entire class act as the second speaker and/or respondents. Practice this a few times until the students can keep up with your recorded telephone call and comfort- ably complete their turn-taking. Learning to do Step 3: Tell the students that you need to call back the same person and that they should be Internet research prepared to listen to the call. Direct the students to the next transcript on the worksheet and help them realise that there may be a number properly of possible responses. After a few minutes, start the phone call and allow them time to work on Nathan Ducker achieving appropriate responses. Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University Step 4: For the next dialogue, the students are not given a written transcript to work from, but should create their own responses inde- pendently. Allow the students ample listening Quick guide opportunities before encouraging them to write • Key words: Search, parameters, decision up the receiver’s part of the telephone conversa- criteria tion and practice. • Learner English level: Any Step 5: For the final part of the lesson, allow the students to script their own dialogues before • Learner maturity: University recording one side of the conversation as you • Preparation time: 0 did before the lesson. Then, allow students to • Activity time: 90 minutes exchange phones and speak to each other’s • Materials: Computers, white board/chalk messages. Depending on class size, this may be board, board markers or chalk, note taking better organised into smaller groups. paper

Follow-up activity University courses often include a research Ask your learners to go home and practice project, or require students to use the Internet speaking to themselves for homework. You may to find information for essays, presentations, wish to set a theme or a focus for their conversa- or other purposes. Many students waste huge tions, for example making arrangements with amounts of time surfing the Internet as they do friends or confirming a hotel reservation. Con- not first organize a research plan with specific versations could then be brought to the follow- questions to help guide their search for concrete ing lesson and performed. answers. This activity is designed to help stu- dents develop good research behaviors. Conclusion Note: It is better that students use English as the language of the search, but another language This lesson can be extremely fun and stimulating will not affect the outcome of learning to use the for the students and has the potential to facilitate Internet. Have all computers switched on at the meaningful autonomous learning. Such voice start of class to save time. recordings can be used to improve student turn-taking competency and listening compre- hension whilst improving all-round telephone Procedure interaction fluency with native speakers, or to Step 1: Pose students a comparative question to simply highlight elements of their own speech research. I use: Which city is better to live in: New that could be improved. York or Sydney? 14 THE LANGUAGE TEACHER Online • MY SHARE SPECIAL ISSUE | 15

Step 2: Allow students 20 minutes to work in criteria. For example, health: Which has more pairs to find relevant information online. hospitals, New York or Sydney? Elicit one question Step 3: Divide the whiteboard into two columns for each criterion and write on the board. Each (N.Y. and Sydney respectively) and have stu- student in the pair uses the Internet to find dents write their information in the appropriate appropriate facts on only one of the cities. column on the board. Step 11: Elicit answers to the questions, ac- Step 4: Review the information with the class, cepting only answers that have data to support with the following parameters: the answer. Q. Which is the bigger city? A. New York has a population of xxx; Sydney has a population • Eliminate false facts: New York is in the U.S. of xxx. Advise students that as university stu- West. dents they will need to use facts in this manner • Eliminate opinions: I think the restaurants are to back up their arguments. better in Sydney. – Whose opinions are valid? Step 10: Follow up homework: Students write a • Eliminate ideas that lack valid evidence: The short report or presentation on which city they people are friendly. – What is the proof? choose using data to support their decision. • Eliminate non-relevant ideas: The Sydney Opera house is beautiful – Is this a sensible Conclusion criterion to base important decisions on? Step 5: Just to emphasize the amount of time that Many university students are not well practiced can be wasted on the Internet, count the remain- in self-directed research. By teaching them about ing ideas (probably less than 10). Then do the using pre-determined criteria, students can calculation: (number of students X number of minutes more effectively use their time, resulting in more searching the Internet) / number of facts remaining on coherent, well-thought-out, properly supported the board after elimination. For example: 20 students reports and presentations. X 20 minutes = 6 hours and 40 minutes / 10 facts = 40 minutes per useable fact. Step 6: Now, inform students that there are more efficient approaches to Internet research. Impact through Then, give students 8 pieces of information needed to make the decision to live in one of the eye contact cities. Some examples might be: safety, education, size, public transportation, climate, job hunting environment, health care, leisure facilities or culture. Ian Willey Step 7: Students again work in pairs for 20 Kagawa University minutes. Using the new decision criteria each student in the pair does research on only one of the cities. Step 8: After 20 minutes, repeat #3 and #4. You Quick guide will have much more varied information, and • Key words: Presentation skills, peer evalua- far more useable information points. Eliminate tion non-relevant information according to the • Learner English level: Intermediate and parameters from step 4. You should find that above students have a much larger number of useable • Learner maturity: University facts. • Preparation time: About 30 minutes Step 9: Redo the earlier calculation (number of students X number of minutes) / number of useable • Activity time: One class period facts). Compare the fact / minute ratio from #5 • Materials: Prepared copies of a peer evalua- and #8 to illustrate the efficacy of preparing tion sheet criteria before searching the Internet. Step10: Divide the decision criteria from #6 Eye contact is crucial in English presentations. among student pairs. Students write a compara- However, getting students—both presenters and tive question relevant to the earlier decision THE LANGUAGE TEACHER: 36.6 • November / December 2012 15 16 | MY SHARE SPECIAL ISSUE

audience—to actually look into each others’ eyes Step 5: Instruct speakers to write their names on can be exceedingly difficult. This activity is -de the board before their presentations. signed to encourage university students to make Step 6: Begin presentations. eye contact when delivering English presentations Step 7: At the end of class, collect each student’s and enable students to recognize the link between evaluation sheet. eye contact and a presentation’s impact. This activity can be done in any course where students must deliver English presentations. Out-of-class work Step 1: Go through peer evaluation sheets, and Preparation calculate speakers “impact scores”—tabulat- ing the number of fives, fours, etc., from each Step 1: Prepare a peer evaluation sheet, which student. The format I use is shown in Appendix students will use to evaluate presenters. The B. This requires about an hour’s work for a class sheet I use (Appendix A) gives a space for the of 25 students. name of each presenter, a 5-point scale to evalu- ate the impact that each speakers’ presentation Step 2: Prepare these results for students. I print delivers, and “Y/N,” to indicate whether or not out all evaluations and cut them apart for each each speaker made eye contact with the student student. filling in the evaluation sheet. Step 3: When presentations are finished, give Step 2: Make one evaluation sheet for each evaluations to all students. Ask students to student in the class. Make sure there are enough compare their impact scores to the number of lines for the name of each student in the class. students with whom they made eye contact, and then compare their results with other students’ results. They can usually see a link between Procedure eye contact and a presentation’s impact. I ask Step 1: On the day that students give English students to remember that the “I” in “Impact” is presentations, pass the peer evaluation sheets “Eye contact.” out to all students. Step 2: Explain to students that they should: 1) Conclusion write down the name of each speaker; 2) evalu- Though this activity requires some time, it is ate the impact of each speaker’s presentation, on worth the effort. Students enjoy seeing how a scale of 1 to 5; and 3) indicate (by circling “Y” other students view their presentations. Moreo- or “N”) whether each speaker made eye contact ver, unlike complicated peer evaluation rating with them. Remind students that eye contact scales, this sheet is simple, non-distracting, and means actual eye-to-eye contact between the requires audience members to keep their eyes on speaker and each student, not simply looking the speaker. This activity helps to make presenta- in a student’s general direction. I tell students tions more dynamic, enjoyable, and meaningful that a presentation with impact is one where the to students and instructor. audience feels the speaker is talking directly to them, and the presentation is thus interesting and memorable. Reference Step 3: To remind speakers that they must make Willey, I. (2009). An eye contact workshop. The eye contact, instruct them to write an “eye Language Teacher, 33(4), 15-16. contact mark” (I use a smiley face J above each comma or period in their presentation manu- Appendices scripts or notes (see Willey, 2009). Step 4: Remind students that speakers as well The appendices are available from the online as the audience must make eye contact. Also, as version of this article at . each speaker a high impact score of “5,” remind students to take the scoring seriously in order to help speakers improve their presentation skills.

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has reached a satisfactory conclusion, but has the Love Story ability to continue in the next scene. By this time, students’ imaginations should have sparked. Irene Iwasaki Step 3: Tell students that they will become co-authors of a love story and let them choose a Momoyama Gakuin University partner to work with. Give each pair a copy of a prepared handout (see Appendix) to write their story. The handout consists of six pages of paper stapled together. Quick guide • Page 1: Students create a title and draw the • Key words: Collaborative learning, dialogu- cover of their “book.” ing, creative writing, peer-editing • Page 2: Students create profiles and draw • Learner level: Beginner to advanced their two fictitious characters. • Learner maturity: High school and univer- • Pages 3-6: Students decide on settings and sity write out their story in a four-part/four-page • Preparation time: 5 minutes plot. • Activity time: Four to six 45-minute lessons • Materials: Blackboard, writing paper Variations The story doesn’t have to be told with the typical The process of writing is not necessarily a silent “Boy” and “Girl” dialogue. It can be “Old and solitary act. Collaborative writing is a social man” and “Young lady,” or “Boy” and “Boy,” activity in which students can practice commu- or “Dick” and “Jane,” etc. Students may also nicating and co-operating in the target language. wish to create extra details, such as background The following is an example of a writing project narratives or text-like messages. that is an interactive, four-skill language task Some examples of settings are “At the Eiffel because it requires students to speak, listen, read Tower,” “A beach in Bali at sunset,” or “In the and write together. classroom.” Deciding the setting before writing will help students imagine and focus on a scene. Procedure Assessment Step 1: Write the following on the board: When the stories are completed, students can LOVE STORY peer-share by silent reading or reading aloud Part 1: They Meet another pair’s work in the form of dialogue. Not-so-shy students may wish to dramatically Setting: Dotonbori Bridge (or another well- perform their own or another pair’s work in front known spot notorious for romantic interludes) of the class (I encourage this with bonus marks). Boy: Peer-assessment can also be done by asking Girl: students to give comments (oral and/or written). Boy: I believe this assignment should be marked Girl: based on creativity/originality, storyline/plot and characterization more than on grammar and Boy: spelling. I like to give personal feedback and not Girl: just point out where grammar and spelling are Step 2: Ask the following: “If the boy is trying to wrong. Students should also be assessed on their pick up the girl, in English, what should he say?” collaborative ability and peer-editing skills. Write the best or funniest answer, then continue with: “How should the girl reply?” Write the best Conclusion answer, ensuring that it is an answer upon which a good storyline can develop. Continue this for As a teacher, I admit, I can complain about a ten lines or so, until you decide that the dialogue big pile of marking. However, marking these

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stories is much more fun than marking essays speak with an extremely limited vocabulary, or traditional quizzes or tests. When I hear and resulting in mistakes and communicative content read my students’ stories, I feel like I am get- well below their intellectual capability (Dornyei, ting a little treat back from them. What teacher 2001). wouldn’t enjoy reading a gay comedy? Or an Japanese students learning English use action-packed story about a male pilot who falls their native language exclusively outside the in love with a female hijacker/terrorist? Or a classroom, and often find it difficult to suddenly dramatic story that develops when there is an switch into English mode. This warm up activity uneven number of students and a group of three is aimed at easing students into thinking and has to create a love triangle theme? And don’t be speaking in English at the beginning of class. surprised when reading a teacher-student love The objective is for students to identify English story, because one seems to be written in almost objects (nouns) in their photographs. This is an every class! enjoyable and non-anxiety producing activity, When a good writer is having fun, the audience promoting co-operation rather than competition. is almost always having fun too. ~Stephen King Classroom activities that emphasize co-operation help to foster positive attitudes regarding learning, higher self esteem and self confidence Appendix (Dornyei, 2001). The appendix is available from the online ver- sion of this article at . Step 1: Ask students to bring in photos of them- selves and friends, at home, school or anywhere else having fun, prior to the day of the activity. Photos that contain a variety of objects and people in the foreground and background are My photo: You see best. If you don’t have students’ photos, images it, but can you say sourced from the internet are fine. Step 2: Review some of the photos beforehand and circle nouns to give students a target to aim it? for. Ben Humphreys Step 3: Teachers may wish to bring in their own photos as well, to share their lives and interests Deakin University with students. Step 4: Before class, select some of the students’ photos and copy and enlarge them to A4 size. This activity involves groups of four students. Quick guide For example, if there are 28 students in the class, • Key words: Vocabulary building, nouns, you will need seven A4 copies of one photo. This pronunciation, spelling, realia, warm up game is played in rounds. To play three rounds • Learner English level: Beginner to interme- you will need three different photos, and copies diate for each group. • Learner maturity: Junior high school to adult Procedure • Preparation time: 10 minutes • Activity time: 10-20 minutes Step 1: Prior to commencing the activity, give each group a red marker. Instruct the group to • Materials: Students’ photographs, red nominate amongst themselves one student to: marker, whiteboard & marker, pen, paper, and stopwatch • circle objects identified in the photo with red marker (finder) • write a list of the objects identified (scribe) The language classroom is an inherently face threatening environment, and learners need to • report the results to the class (reporter) 18 THE LANGUAGE TEACHER Online • MY SHARE SPECIAL ISSUE | 19

Students should take turns as finder, scribe and Reference reporter in subsequent rounds. Dornyei, Z. (2001). Motivation strategies in the Step 2: Distribute the same photo to each group language classroom. Cambridge University of four students. Press, Cambridge. Step 3: Instruct students that they have two minutes to write down as many nouns as they can identify in English. The group with the larg- est number of correctly identified nouns will get the highest score. Check that the word “noun” is Adjective word understood, i.e., a person, place, animal, thing, or quality. wall Step 4: Start the timer. Using a stopwatch, give the students two minutes to complete Jason White the activity. The energy level should be high, Himeji High School with students calling out nouns in English and Japanese. Step 5: After two minutes, call “Time!”, and make sure all groups stop writing. Ask each Quick guide group’s reporter to read out their lists. Each cor- rectly identified English noun is worth one point. • Key words: Vocabulary, adjective, synonym, antonym Step 6: Keep a tally of each group’s totals on the whiteboard. • Learner English level: Intermediate to advanced Step 7: The group with the largest number of nouns correctly named wins. • Learner maturity: Junior high to senior high school Step 8: In the next round, repeat the activity with a new photo. To give all teams an equal chance • Preparation time: 20 minutes of success and maintain interest, use a photo • Activity time: 2-3 45-minute class periods, from the team which had the lowest score in the depending on class size previous round. • Materials: English-English and Japanese-English dictionaries, poster paper Variations sufficient for the class size after dividing into groups of 4, markers or color pencils, stencil Spelling. Instead of students reading their lists, sets, glitter, and other crafts materials for ask them to write their lists on the whiteboard. posters (optional) A point will only be awarded for correctly spelt words. Pronunciation. Students receive one bonus point Many students have a limited vocabulary in the for each word that is pronounced satisfactorily. target language because they are hindered by For example, kam-ruh rather than ka-me-ra. anxiety that works as an affective filter. A sense of community or connectedness can be a strong factor in reducing anxiety and increasing enjoy- Conclusion ment for foreign language learners. This is an entertaining and simple warm up In this poster project, students will increase activity. It stimulates students’ thinking and their vocabulary by working together in small speaking in English, and assists them to learn groups designed to utilize their specific interests and reinforce vocabulary. Students like talking and skills. Upon completion, each group will about themselves, and teachers can learn more have a poster displaying their assigned adjective, about their students, which is useful for future its definition, several synonyms and an antonym, lesson planning. The variations also provide an the word used in an original sentence, and a opportunity to manipulate the objective, such as visual representation of the word. All posters practicing spelling and pronunciation. will be displayed on the classroom wall, thus forming a word wall. THE LANGUAGE TEACHER: 36.6 • November / December 2012 19 20 | MY SHARE SPECIAL ISSUE

Preparation used in a sentence of at least seven words, and a visual representation of the word. Step 1: Copy the Word Wall Group Activity handout (Appendix A). Step 7: Talkers will share their group’s word and supplemental information while the other group Step 2: Choose a list of adjectives and write each members show the poster. Finally, the posters word on a separate slip of paper. The attached will be displayed on the wall of the classroom. list can be printed off and cut into individual Assign a designated wall space if there are slips, or a different list can be used (Appendix B). multiple classes completing the project. Procedure Modifications Step 1: Begin the lesson by defining adjective. The lesson can be adjusted to specific class Give several examples of adjectives, using some needs. One possibility is to focus on a certain in sentences, until there is satisfactory under- category of adjectives such as condition, feeling, standing. or appearance. Another possible adjustment is to Step 2: Define synonym and antonym. Show reduce the number of synonyms. several examples using the adjectives from step one. Conclusion Step 3: Divide the class into groups of four, using specific activities. A good method for doing this Students enjoy this activity because they get to is to write the words write, read, talk, and draw work together while utilizing their specific skills on the board. Have students come to the front or interests. It is rewarding for the students to and sign up under the activity that they enjoy complete a project when each member contrib- the most. After all the students have signed up, utes in a different, but equally valuable, way. create the groups by taking one name from each category. Make sure to include any absent stu- Appendices dents when creating the groups. When putting the groups together take the top name from each The appendices are available from the online list or use some variation such as the top name version of this article at . from the second and fourth list. Step 4: Hand out the Word Wall Group Activity worksheet (Appendix A). Read through the role descriptions and make sure the students Save the dates! understand their individual roles. It is a good idea to have some example posters to show the JALT2013: Learning students, possibly from previous classes that have completed the project. is a lifetime voyage Step 5: Assign one adjective to each group by putting the slips of paper (Appendix B) into an Oct. 25-28, 2013 empty jar or can. Have one student from each group pick out a slip of paper. Kobe International Conference Step 6: The reader from each group will use Center and Portopia Hotel an English-English dictionary to look up the definition and then a Japanese-English diction- Port Island, Kobe ary to find the Japanese equivalent. Readers will • Call for Presentations opens explain the meaning of the word to the other group members. Drawers and writers will then Jan. 01, 2013 create the poster using input and support from • Deadline is Apr. 21, 2013 the other group members. The poster will show the definition of the word, three synonyms, an antonym, the Japanese equivalent, the word

20 THE LANGUAGE TEACHER Online • The Language Teacher • FEATURE ARTICLE | 21

Promoting L2 Use as a Means of Facilitating TBLT in Japanese Classrooms

There is increasing discus- Robert Lowe sion about the suitability of Task-based Language Teaching (TBLT) in Japanese class- Rikkyo University rooms. While some advocate TBLT as the most effective ask-based Language Teaching (TBLT) has been growing in way to increase learners’ communicative competence, popularity among ELT practitioners in Japan. Nunan (1989) the tendency of Japanese T defines a task as “a piece of classroom work which involves students to remain silent or to learners in comprehending, manipulating, producing, or interacting excessively use their L1 may in the target language while their attention is principally focused be a barrier to the effective- on meaning rather than form” (p. 10). Feez (1998), similarly notes ness of the approach. This that in a classroom task, the focus should be on “process rather than paper focuses on the use of L1 product” (p. 17). For task-based approaches to be successful then, the in English classes, and surveys students’ L2 should be the primary mode of communication during the ways in which it is used the task, allowing them to improve their communicative competence by students during tasks. It is by engaging in meaning-focused L2 discussions. Richards and Rodg- then demonstrated, using peer monitoring as an example, that ers (2001) note that language learning is best accomplished when simple classroom interven- students are immersed in tasks which engage them in “naturalistic tions can effectively encourage and meaningful communication” (p. 224), again implying that during L2 use during tasks and thus tasks, students optimally benefit by communicating in their L2. facilitate TBLT approaches. While TBLT has been gaining popularity in Japan, it has recently been subject to criticism by some in the ELT community, who argue 日本では英語教育におけるTask- that it is an inappropriate methodology due to the classroom habits based Language Teaching (TBLT)の適合性が、ますます議論 and approaches to learning taken by Japanese students. There are two されている。TBLTは英語コミュニ classroom phenomena in Japan which may act against the successful ケーションスキル の習得に最も効 application of TBLT approaches: classroom silence (Harumi, 2011) and 果のある方法だと言う言語学者も い る が 、日 本 の 学 生 は 全 く 発 言 し excessive L1 use. While silence is an important concern regarding the なかったり、第1言語を使い過ぎた application of TBLT, this paper will focus primarily on the problem of りする傾向があり、それがTBLTの L1 overuse by students. Sato (2010) argues that “English is not the pri- 有 効 性 を 妨 げ が ち で あ る 。本 論 で mary medium in the Japanese English classroom” and that Japanese は、英語の授業でTBLTを用いた場 合、日本の学生がどのように第1言 students tend to “overuse their shared mother tongue in pair or group 語を使うか調査する。次に、peer work” (p. 194). This would seem to run counter to TBLT approaches monitoringを教授法の一例として which, to operate effectively, require substantial L2 use during tasks. 使い、この簡単な方法が第2言語 の使用量を増加させ、それによって Although Sato is discussing high school students, his observations TBLTのアプローチをより効果的に about L1 preference are borne out at the university level by the work 促進することを論証する。 of Carson and Kashihara (2012), who found that while students with high proficiency were more open to L1-only instruction, a decline in proficiency roughly correlated with a preference for instructor L1 use. Carson and Kashihara’s paper does not focus specifically on student L1 use; however, it demonstrates that at lower proficiency levels,

THE LANGUAGE TEACHER: 36.6 • November / December 2012 The Language Teacher • Featured Article

preference for L1 remains high among university were second-year students, who had already students. In addition, Satake (2011) found high completed the first year “Intensive English” levels of L1 use among Japanese university course. The second year course was termed students during designated English-only discus- “Advanced Intensive English,” reflecting sions, adding further support to this notion. its relationship to the previous course, There are several possible reasons for excessive rather than the level of learner proficiency. use of L1 by students, both intrinsic and extrin- The students had been instructed by both sic. The approach to learning taken by Japanese their Japanese professors and their English students may be one reason. Cave (2003) notes instructors to speak only English in class. that the Japanese high school education system • Secondly, short, anonymous questionnaires is geared towards “inculcating knowledge for (adapted from Lowe, 2011) were given to the the sake of examinations that test the recall of volunteers. These questionnaires contained facts and standard theories, or else the ability to two questions about the amount and nature mechanically manipulate formulae” (p. 87), plac- of the students’ use of English and Japanese ing it at odds with TBLT approaches, which have in lessons (see Appendix A). a strong focus on meaning rather than form. Sato • Finally, classroom recordings were made (2010) claims many Japanese high school stu- of six groups of students completing tasks dents “have test-related motivation, rather than during lessons. The recordings were made communication-related motivation” (p. 193), pro- through the use of a small microphone viding another extrinsic explanation for student feeding into a digital recorder, placed in the L1 use. Intrinsically, psychological effects could center of each group. Three of the groups factor into overreliance on L1. Students may not were “trial groups” containing “peer- wish to stand out in the class (Cutrone, 2009), monitors” - students whose job it was to or may be reticent to use their L2 for reasons of monitor the levels of English and Japanese shyness, or due to a lack of confidence in their being used by their fellow students during own language skills (Harumi, 2011). the lessons. These monitors were chosen These problems have been noted before, and at random, and in an ongoing experiment a number of solutions have been proposed would be switched each lesson. The moni- to tackle them. Many argue for the strategic tors were engaged in the task with the other employment of L1 to aid comprehension (Birch, students, and were given the manageable 2010), while others recommend L1 reduction task of simply noting down which student, strategies. Hancock (1997) and Satake (2011) in their estimation, was using the most encourage awareness-raising activities, in which English. The other three groups were not the students are made aware of their own level subject to this intervention, and acted as the of L1 use in order to encourage a voluntary L1 “control groups.” If the levels of English and reduction among learners. In this paper, I will Japanese were significantly affected by the explore a different approach to reducing L1 use presence of the peer-monitors, this would with the introduction of peer-monitors. point to the effectiveness of the intervention. While it is possible that the presence of Rationale and Methodology microphones may have affected the language the students were using, the fact that micro- In order for TBLT approaches to be fully effec- phones were present in all the classes would tive, it is important to find ways of promoting have caused this effect to occur in both the L2 use during tasks. To investigate this situation control and the trial groups, and so would an experiment was designed in order to discover not have detracted from any impact caused two things: when and how Japanese students use by the peer-monitoring intervention. The their L1 in lessons, and whether it is possible to classroom instructions were given in English, promote L2 in these situations. The experiment but understanding was assured through was divided into three stages: the extensive use of information-checking • Firstly, 140 volunteers were found of roughly questions. pre-intermediate level. These students were If the responses to the questionnaires indicated all majoring in English communication that the students were heavily relying on their at a private university, and were taking a L1 in the classroom, and were mainly using it for required course in which they were given discussion of classroom activities and instruc- topic-based tests every two weeks. These tions, this would add strength to the idea that 22 THE LANGUAGE TEACHER Online • Lowe: Promoting L2 Use as a Means of Facilitating TBLT in Japanese Classrooms

TBLT may have a limited application in Japanese Table 2. When you speak in Japanese, what do English lessons. As a major focus of TBLT is on you talk about? using the L2 during tasks, a high rate of L1 use during this phase of the lesson would undermine The work you are doing 81 (89%) the effectiveness of the approach. However, if the peer monitoring had a noticeable effect on The instructions the teacher has 66 (72%) the amount of English used in these discussions, given it would point towards the idea that certain techniques could be employed by the teacher in Part time job 33 (36%) order to promote L2 discussion, and thus help to Other classes 17 (19%) facilitate TBLT. Social life 39 (43%) Research Stage 1: Questionnaires Gossip 29 (32%) The questionnaires were intended to discover when and why students used their L1 in lessons. Other 8 (9%) For each question, the students were asked to select three answers, from (1) to (3) in order of importance. This was preliminary research, The results shown in Table 1 appear to confirm designed to find either confirming or disconfirm- the hypothesis outlined earlier that Japanese ing evidence that Japanese students use their L1 students are likely to use a significant amount of more during tasks than would be desirable for L1 in their language lessons. While the majority developing communicative competence. The of students selected the option “half English and information collected from the questionnaires half Japanese,” it should be noted that far more would also provide a sharper focus for the students claimed to be speaking mostly Japanese classroom investigation in the second research than claimed to be speaking mostly English. This stage. The questionnaire was designed to find indicates a greater overall use of Japanese in the two main pieces of information: how much L1 classroom than English. and L2 the students were speaking during their As can be seen from Table 2, the majority of lessons, and the nature of their L1 use. students claimed to be using their L1 to discuss • The questionnaire was handed to approxi- two main subjects: the work they were doing, mately 140 students. and the instructions the teacher had given. These discussions were unlikely to be due to • 106 were returned, of which 15 were filled confusion over tasks, as the instructions were in incorrectly or incompletely, and so were extensively information-checked for understand- discounted. ing, and the tasks were designed appropriately • This left a useable response rate of 91/140 or for the students’ level. While social life, gossip, 65%. and jobs were also evidently being discussed, The percentage results for the two questions it is worth noting that these were usually the are presented in the following tables: second or third choices (i.e., less important, or less frequently discussed subjects). Importantly, Table 1. In your Advanced Intensive English the first two options were chosen together by a considerable number of the students, indicating classes, how much Japanese and how much that most students, during tasks, would carry English do you speak? out the majority of their genuine communica- tive discussions in L1 rather than L2. While this Only Japanese 0% would suggest that the students use English frequently during lessons, the percentage of Mostly Japanese, with a little English 28% English use was lower than would be hoped if Half English and half Japanese 57% TBLT approaches are to be effectively utilized. This overuse of L1 is likely to reduce the ben- Mostly English, with a little Japanese 12% eficial effects of genuine communicative L2 use, which is the focus of TBLT. Only English 3%

THE LANGUAGE TEACHER: 36.6 • November / December 2012 23 The Language Teacher • Featured Article

Research Stage 2: Peer Monitors and not provide transcripts from the control groups, Classroom Recordings but it is important to note that at the same point in those lessons, the students were engaged in In the second stage of the research, six groups of predominantly L1 discussion. pre-intermediate level undergraduate students were recorded engaging in a task. Three of the groups were trial groups that included peer Transcript 1: Trial Group A monitors, and three were control groups without S1: Mona (2) Yamamoto Mona (2) illicit monitors. In the trial groups, one student was (1) illicit love told at the beginning of the lesson to listen to S2: What’s illicit love? (S1 shows S2 her the language used by their friends, and make a dictionary) mental note of who was using the most English Oh! No! during their discussions. This would be revealed S1: But she marriaged new person now (students gasp) at the end of the lesson, though no reward would be given other than praise. This was intended S3: Oh (1) really? to positively encourage the students to engage S1: Yes in L2 communication, rather than negatively assessing their L1 use. As all the groups recorded S2: She is very (2) scary (Laughter) were of roughly pre-intermediate level, any changes in their language use can be cautiously S1: Scary attributed to the peer-monitoring intervention. (Inaudible – 15 seconds) The recordings reveal that there was a clear dif- S1: What happened? ference between the language use of the trial and S3: Smoking (3) long time ago the control groups. The amount of English and Japanese used by the students in each class was S2: Long time ago (2) I know timed, and the percentage given is an approxi- S3: I know mate percentage of the total spoken interaction. S1: I don’t know The overall percentages can be seen in the table S3: You are not Japanese below. S1: I’m native! The trial groups engaged in more extensive and in-depth use of the L2 during task transac- S2: Where do you live? tion than the control groups, who evidently S1: I live in Australia tended towards L1 use. This is consistent with S3: You are very (2) liar the results found in the questionnaires as dis- cussed earlier, and also seems to indicate that the peer-monitoring intervention facilitated a more We can see in Transcript 1 that the students effective application of the TBLT approach. are using their L2 to carry out the task they have been set, discussing celebrity gossip and Three examples from the recordings will be trying to remember the details in order to write used to demonstrate the kinds of discussion tak- them down. It is interesting to note that they are ing place in the trial groups. All the transcripts engaging each other in their L2 for more general are taken from the same point in the lesson, were conversational purposes, as can be seen in the made by the author, and were crosschecked by jokey exchange at the end of the transcript. This a colleague. The students had been asked to use of the L2 for meaning-focused discussion think of some celebrity gossip, and write a short and genuine communication is an indicator that paragraph in a style consistent with the gossip the peer-monitoring intervention is effectively columns they had read earlier in the lesson. I will creating an atmosphere conducive to TBLT

Table 3. Percentage comparison of spoken L1 and L2

Groups Trial Groups (Monitors) Control Groups (No Monitors) English (%) Japanese (%) English (%) Japanese (%) Group A 84 16 29 71 Group B 63 37 17 83 Group C 87 13 24 76 24 THE LANGUAGE TEACHER Online • Lowe: Promoting L2 Use as a Means of Facilitating TBLT in Japanese Classrooms methods. Similar results were achieved in the S3: uh? other trial classes, as can be seen in the following S1: Is he fool? two transcripts: S3: Yes! S4: Yes, of course! Transcript 2: Trial Group B S1: He visit (1) visit[ed Once again, Transcript 3 shows strong evi- S2: [her mansion? dence of genuine communicative L2 use during the task transaction phase of the lesson. As with S1: Apart (2) Apartment (2) on Friday the previous examples, they are discussing a S3: Paparazzi particular piece of gossip, and attempting to S2: Paparazzi? remember as many details as possible. There S3: Paparazzi is also, in all three of the transcripts presented, evidence of more genuine communication be- S4: He said she’s friend. tween the students. In this case, one student asks S2: Papara[zz the others for their opinion of the person under S1: [paparazzi discussion (“Is he fool?”). At the same point in S3: Paparazzi’s English? the lessons with the control groups, students were discussing almost totally in Japanese, with very little English input, apart from to repeat This class demonstrated the least effective what they were writing down. This appears to results of the peer monitoring. While they show some interesting evidence that the use of produced a large amount of meaning-focused interventions such as peer-monitoring could be discussion, a small example of which is provided a way of facilitating TBLT methods in Japanese above, the students were more prone than the English classrooms. While the transcripts pro- other trial groups to make use of L1. Despite this, vided are necessarily short, and provide only a the class still showed a larger amount of L2 use small snapshot of the events taking place in the than the control groups, and as we can see in the lessons, they have been chosen as representative vocabulary question at the end of the transcript, of wider trends present in the classroom record- some genuine L2 communication is still taking ings. place between the students in the form of negoti- ated meaning. It should be noted that while all the classes were of roughly pre-intermediate Conclusion level, this group had a generally lower level of Previous research has shown that there are ability than the other groups studied, which may particular challenges that will be encountered help explain the increased use of L1 in compari- when importing TBLT methods into English son with the other trial groups. classrooms in Japan, one of which is the ten- dency for Japanese students to overuse their L1 Transcript 3: Trial Group C in lessons, resulting in a large amount of genuine communication being carried out in the L1 T: He was very rude in a meeting with rather than the L2. This runs counter to TBLT as the head of Miyagi prefecture a methodology which encourages the use of L2 S1: I think every[… during tasks as a means of building communica- S2: [what name? tive competence. While this is an obstacle for S3: What name (2) is he? ELT practitioners in Japan, this paper demon- strates through the example of peer monitoring, S2: I’m not sur[e] that small classroom interventions can function wa S1: [Sato ! as extrinsic motivating factors, encouraging and S2: I don’t [know… promoting L2 use, and thus facilitating TBLT S3: [no…] approaches. While peer-monitoring was used to affect these changes, it should be stressed that S4: uh…rude? Rude [(2) say] this is merely one example of an intervention, S1: [If you don’t have any designed to show that classroom techniques can ideas, we don’t help [you be used to facilitate TBLT, and it is likely that S2: [yeah yeah yeah] there are equally effective methods of achieving S1: Like that (4) Is he fool? the same goals. In addition, this experiment THE LANGUAGE TEACHER: 36.6 • November / December 2012 25 The Language Teacher • Featured Article was carried out with roughly pre-intermediate Sato, R. (2010). Reconsidering the effectiveness level students, and it would be interesting to see and suitability of PPP and TBLT in the Japanese whether the intervention is more or less effective EFL classroom. JALT Journal, 32(2), 189-200. when applied to students with differing levels of skill. Despite the small scale and focused Robert Lowe is from Derbyshire, England, and nature of this study, it was demonstrated that a has been teaching in Japan since 2008. He holds simple classroom intervention can facilitate TBLT the Trinity College London Licentiate Diploma in through promoting greater use of L2 among TESOL, and is completing a Master’s degree in students. Applied Linguistics at the University of Notting- ham. He has worked at both private language References schools and universities, and is currently an Birch, G. (2010). Behind the scenes: An examina- English instructor at Rikkyo University. His tion of student L1 use. The Language Teacher, interests include student motivation, bilingual 34(3), 19-24. education, and the development and description of Asian Englishes. He can be contacted at . the L2 classroom: The students speak. The Language Teacher, 36(4), 41-48. Appendix A Cave, P. (2003). Reform prospects in Japanese schools. In R. Goodman & D. Phillips (Eds.), In your Advanced Intensive English classes, Can the Japanese change their education system? how much Japanese and how much English do (pp. 87-102). Oxford: Symposium Books. you speak? (Choose 1) Cutrone, P. (2009). Overcoming Japanese EFL 1. Only Japanese. learners’ fear of speaking. Language Studies 2. Mostly Japanese, with a little English. Working Papers, 1, 55-63. 3. Half English and half Japanese. Feez, S. (1998). Text based syllabus design. Sydney: 4. Mostly English, with a little Japanese. National Centre for English Teaching and Research. 5. Only English. Hancock, M. (1997). Behind classroom code- switching: Layering and language choice in When you speak in Japanese, what do you talk L2 learner interaction. TESOL Quarterly, 31(2), about? (Choose 3, from (1) most common, to (3) least 217-235. common) Harumi, S. (2011). Classroom silence: Voices 1. The work you are doing. from Japanese EFL learners. ELT Journal, 65(3), 2. The instructions the teacher has given. 260-269. 3. Part time job. Lowe, R. (2011). Promoting L2 metalanguage in the ESL classroom. Bulletin of Ningen Bunka 4. Other classes. Kenkyu-jo (Human Culture Research Institute), 5, 5. Social life. 60-68. 6. Gossip. Nunan, D. (1989). Designing tasks for the com- 7. Other (Please specify). ______municative classroom. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Richards, J. & Rodgers, T. (2001). Approaches You’ve done the research, and methods in language teaching. Cambridge: read the literature, and thought a Cambridge University Press. lot. . . Satake, Y. (2011). Methods to reduce Japanese students’ use of L1 and silence for improving What next? their use of English in an ELF classroom at a Japanese university. Aoyama Standard Journal, Write it up and submit it to The 6, 17-33. Language Teacher of course! Sato, R. (2009). Suggestions for creating teach- See the Submissions Page on our ing approaches suitable to the Japanese EFL website for more information! environment. The Language Teacher, 33(9), 11-14.

THE LANGUAGE TEACHER Online • The Language Teacher • READERS’ FORUM | 27

Moving Beyond Self Introductions to Sharing Self Exploration and Expression

Language teachers can easily Ellen P. Motohashi get caught up in the mechanics and outcome-based instruc- tion of language teaching. Too Dokkyo University often, the pedagogic relation- ship between the language teacher and learner are defined according to the nar- Introduction & Background Concept rowly defined discourse and At the beginning of each new term university English language teachers task-based nature of the learn- face new students who rarely offer up interesting aspects of themselves ing task designed for language acquisition. Pushing back the to help their teachers better get to know and distinguish them from their boundaries on this relationship peers. In many instances, teachers themselves are reluctant to provide and opening up opportunities more than the limited information required by the institutionally de- for self-expression and self fined and situated role they play as language instructors. Most readers exploration through an intro- will be familiar with the standard greetings that occur in the university ductory task termed Self Maps language classroom, which usually go something like this, “Hello. My helps teachers and students name is Ellen Motohashi, I come from The United States and I have to move beyond formulaic been living in Japan for ...”. Students, in return, mimic these narrowly introductory exchanges and defined categories of “self” by telling us the name of their hometown, express themselves more number of family members, and possibly a hobby. These well-practiced, deeply in their unique and singular individuality. formulaic introductions allow little insight into the individuals that either the teacher or the student actually are, and, if left at that, limit opportunities to nurture authentic relationships upon which true com- 語学教師は授業の際、文の構造や 学習の成果についとらわれがちで munication, openness of self, and trust are built. These interpersonal あ る 。ま た 多 く の 場 合 、語 学 教 師 と relational qualities are the bedrock of authentic communication, which 学習者の関係は、言語習得のため ultimately is the goal of our profession as language teachers, and the にデザインされた、狭義でのディス コースやタスクに基づく学習活動の objective of most of our students. 性 質に よって 決まってしまう。この The pedagogic relationship is a unique social relationship because it 両 者 の 間 の 境 界 を 押 し 広 げ 、セ ル フ マップという自己 紹 介 活 動 を 通して is defined by clearly delineated boundaries and roles between teacher 自己表現と自己探求の機会を与え and student, and comes packaged within a pre-ordained and institu- る こ と に よ り 、教 師 と 学 習 者 は 紋 切 tionally sanctioned power structure. Both teacher and student “know” り 型 の 自 己 紹 介 を 超 え 、個 々 の 唯 一 無二の個性をより深く表現できるよ where they stand in opposition to the other, and, unless conscien- うになる。 tiously reframed, interact according to pre-determined relational responsibilities and exchanges based on these roles. Richards (2006) claims that the language teacher-learner pedagogic relationship, in particular, is well-suited to this highly situation-dependent relation-

THE LANGUAGE TEACHER: 36.6 • November / December 2012 The Language Teacher • Readers’ Forum

ship. Language classroom interactions are nor- According to the French philosopher of mally carefully crafted by the teacher to fit the relational ethics, Emmanual Levinas, the ethical needs of a simulated and situationally-defined relationship precedes the formation of knowledge discourse context. Often the language exchanges (Todd, 2003). This is a provocative and important that occur in the language classroom leave the consideration for teachers regardless of specializa- student at the mercy of the pre-determined tion or discipline. Levinas’ conceptualization of discourse features or linguistic target determined ethical relationality requires that individuals first by the lesson of the day, which generally require see and understand the unknowable difference that little investment, or deeper expressions of ‘self’, is represented by the face of the individual we from either the teacher or the students. This address, and seeks to recognize the interconnected particular pedagogic relationship need not be nature of any encounter we share with an other. defined beyond the terms of the language needs The ethical encounter requires that an individual of the students, which the teacher is required to not only recognize differences that define us in re- determine and then strengthen. lation to each other, but also assumes responsibil- Richards (2006) claims that in the language ity to protect and respect those differences, which teacher-learner pedagogic relationship “teacher are ultimately shaped by, shapes, and changes us roles have for the most part been characterized in our exchange with the other. Todd (2003) takes as relatively static. In pedagogic terms, this this concept and applies it to the pedagogical tends to produce a two-dimensional picture relationship by illuminating the centrality of the of the teacher-learner relationship” (p. 52). ethical relationship to the act of teaching-learning. Regardless of how “communicative” any one “Teaching and learning are conceived as an ethical language lesson may be, the boundaries of the relation, not because of some prescriptive injunc- relationship and linguistic interactions between tion, but because there are present two distinct teacher and student tend to be instrumentally beings who come face to face in an encounter” designed, formulaic, and defined by the teacher. (p.30). The question is how our pre-determined Richards points out that these language-focused and pedantically-defined interactions and relationships and interactions pervade most exchanges in the language-learning classroom language classroom exchanges and thus limits interfere with our ability to see our students, and authentic expressions of self, by either the them us, as singular, distinct beings. How can we teacher or students. In a recent interview, Ema come face-to-face with each other beyond our pre- Ushioda (Falout, 2011) echoed Richards’ (2006) scribed institutional roles and relationships? One concerns, stating that too often the ‘self’ is left way is to invite our students to explore aspects out of the language classroom. There is no doubt of themselves and open-up to their teachers and that the very structure of the teaching-learning peers within more loosely defined boundaries by environment works against language teachers engaging in conversations that go beyond formu- when confronted with large classrooms of 40+ laic responses, like the generic self-introduction students. However, even in smaller classrooms provided in the introduction. authentic acts of communication whereby both learner and teacher can engage one another Loosening the Boundaries from the Start beyond the boundaries of the institutionally defined relationship or pre-determined topic of One of my greatest concerns as a teacher is to study seldom occur. Ushioda uses the notion of establish an open and safe space for my students transportable identities (Zimmerman in Rich- to express themselves and engage in communi- ards, 2006), by drawing on the empirical work cative activities as authentically as possible. In of Richards (2006). She discusses the potent order to nurture openness and risk taking in the possibility of interacting with students beyond classroom I have to first create an opportunity our defined roles as language teacher-learner to for them to open-up and get to know each rather relating to each other from the multiple other, and me, as unique, singular individuals. positionalities that constitute us as singular Teaching Japanese students, in particular, it is individuals. “When you try to engage students’ easy to let the apparent similarities among them transportable identities, when you talk to them as overshadow the distinct characters and diverse people, when you connect with them in that way experiences they each bring with them when … it can help to motivate them in terms of effort they enter our classrooms. Similarly, for our and engagement in interaction” (Ushioda in Japanese students, those of us who are non- Falout 2011, p. 26). Japanese are often seen as representatives of our national origin, despite possibly having lived 28 THE LANGUAGE TEACHER Online • Motohashi: Moving Beyond Self Introductions to Sharing Self Exploration and Expression more of our lives overseas and identifying with by considering three interrelated and overlap- various social, ideological, linguistic and cultural ping aspects of identity or self: the enduring self, groups beyond the narrowly defined national the situated self, and the emergent self. At first, categories we may seemingly represent. Con- these concepts are as foreign to the students as trary to popular opinion, students in Japanese the language required to understand the activity. dominant classrooms represent a diversity that is It is necessary to give students time to discuss, easy to miss if one does not dig below the surface and reflect on, those experiences that they will of their shared appearance and mannerisms. It highlight in the presentation of self that is the is important for the teacher to seek out, recog- outcome of the project. The final project requires nize, and utilize these differences to tailor their the students to present the three aspects of their teaching to the unique needs of the individual identities, or self, representationally. I make it students. Doing so benefits the students as they clear that the students are not to simply speak begin to appreciate the unique characteristics of about their enduring, situated or emerging their peers, despite all being Japanese selves, but are to provide a metaphorical image At the start of each term I introduce an activity that is representative of their life. Additionally, entitled Self Maps to my students in an attempt they are required to represent each of the three to expose the differences and unveil the unique aspects of their identities/selves through poetic, characteristics of each individual student. This lyrical, or visual images within the chosen over- activity works best in classes of 30 students or all metaphorical image they choose to represent less, though could be designed for slightly larger their life journey thus far. In the past I have been classes because it requires breaking students into surprised by the creative representations stu- smaller groups. In particular, this activity allows dents have come up with as metaphors for their students to gain a better self-understanding of lives. Some of the most interesting have been: a the unique experiences and relationships that planetary system, a recipe, a film strip, and a tree have shaped their worldviews. I ask my students (please see the examples that follow). to present their Self Maps in the third week of It is always difficult for the students to de- the term in small groups of four. The students termine what exactly is an enduring, situated typically present their visual representations or emerging self, so I provide them with a set of ‘self’ two times by rotating across groups, of questions to help get them thinking about providing them an opportunity to share their the deeper layers of their identities. Below is Self Maps with as many students as possible. a shortened version of the questions I ask the Additionally, I am able to attend to more than students to reflect upon to help them design their one presentation at a time, knowing that the Self Maps. students will be presenting their Self Maps more than once. This activity provides an opportunity Exploring the Enduring Self - This is the iden- for the students to move beyond the predictable tity that outlasts any particular situation. An introductions that they have become accustomed enduring self is the part of yourself that remains to, and allows them to be selective and creative consistent and is expressed when you are with about how they want to represent themselves to the people, or in situations where you feel most their peers and me, as their teacher. Additionally, comfortable (close to honne in Japanese). students are provided an opportunity to reflect on their lives during a time of transition, thus • How has my family life shaped my enduring offering them an opportunity to pinpoint those self? Do I feel most comfortable with my experiences that have been most vital in their family? If, yes, then why? If, no, then why? formation as unique individuals. Lastly, the Self • Who are the most important people in your Map activity provides them with authentic lan- life? How has knowing them helped shape guage practice because the students are required you? to describe the major events of their lives that • What momentous or very important events have brought them to this point, and consider stand out in your life? those that will further guide them in the future. • In what kind of environments or situations do you feel most comfortable? The Nuts and Bolts of the Activity • What activities bring you peace of mind or, The Self Map is designed to provide individuals alternatively, excite you? a heuristic, whereby they can map out their lives

THE LANGUAGE TEACHER: 36.6 • November / December 2012 29 The Language Teacher • Readers’ Forum

Exploring the Situated Self - These are identi- and social psychologist, stated that, “It is by ties that are associated with specific situations, means of reflexiveness – the turning back of the individuals, or environments. You may feel more experience of the individual upon himself – that or less comfortable in any of them, and you often the whole social process is thus brought into the behave, or represent yourself, differently in each experiences of the individuals involved in it” of them. (p.134). The Self Map activity sets up an op- • High school or university club portunity for the students to seriously consider the life-changing experiences they are embarking • University classroom upon while simultaneously opening themselves • Part-time job up to their peers and teacher as they engage in • Large family gathering (like a wedding or authentic discussions centered on reflection, funeral) exploration and the sharing of stories of the self. It also gives the students a chance to consider the trajectory of their lives metaphorically. This Exploring Emergent Selves - These are identities activity can be easily modified to include a writ- that are developing as you grow and change. ing component as well, if desired. Here are a few self, This may be the identity, or you dream of examples of some of the exemplary Self Maps I becoming, or they may actually be emerging as have received. meaningful parts of your life.

• How are you different now than when you were in high school? What has changed about who you have become today? • How has becoming a university student changed you? Do you feel there is a part of you that is different? Do you like the changes you feel? • How do you imagine your life in five years? • Can you see yourself as a wife, husband, mother or father?

There is always the danger of asking the students to expose more than they may be com- fortable with, particularly in the beginning of the term when the class is beginning to form as a cohesive learning community. I make it clear that the students should only choose aspects of their experiences or lives that they are willing to share openly. Before asking the students to present their Self Map, I present my own to them, both to share deeper aspects of my life and experiences, but also to use as an example of what they are to do. I have used Self Maps at the beginning of each term and have found that the majority of students become involved and invested in this activity. At the end of the activity, I always have students who mention how enriching and inter- esting the activity was for them. Self-reflection and exploration are beneficial activities for an individual at any time, but during periods of major life transitions, as with freshman uni- versity students, this reflection is a particularly valuable experience. Mead (1934), pragmatist

30 THE LANGUAGE TEACHER Online • Motohashi: Moving Beyond Self Introductions to Sharing Self Exploration and Expression

References Falout, J. (2011). Pedagogical implications of motivation research: An interview with Ema Ushioda. The Language Teacher. 35 (2) 25-28. Mead, G.H. (1934). Mind, self and society. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Richards, K. (2006). ‘Being the teacher’: Identity and classroom conversation. Applied Linguis- tics, 27(1), 51-77. The Emmanuel Levinas Web Page, www.levinas. sdsu.edu Todd, S. (2003). Learning from the other: Levinas, psychoanalysis, and ethical possibilities in educa- tion. Albany, NY: State University of New York Concluding Thoughts Press. Oftentimes as language teachers it is easy to get caught up in the fragmented bits of decontextu- Ellen P. Motohashi is alized meaning and linguistic targets required by a full-time lecturer in our students to gain proficiency in their language the English Language study, in this case English. While it is important Department at Dokkyo to keep the objective of the courses we teach University, Saitama. She and the desired language learning outcomes in recently received her mind during our time with our students, if we Ph.D. from the Univer- neglect the greater opportunity to engage them sity of Pittsburgh in the in self-exploration and expression alongside us, Social & Comparative as teachers, and with their peers, we miss out on Analysis of Education the joy of building authentic relationships that program. Her current lead to truly communicative exchanges. As Ushi- research interest is local oda (Falout, 2010) expresses in her interview, school reform/peda- gogic practice to support The important thing here is to ensure that inclusive and responsive students do not constantly associate language education for Japanese-Brazilian children in a learning with schoolwork (i.e. just another rural public school in Aichi-ken. school subject that has to be studied) or with monotonous tasks and exercises, but that they see how this language can connect with their life outside the classroom and experience this connection in ways that are personally enjoy- Joint JALT Tokyo able or fulfilling. (p. 27) Conference Opening ourselves up to risking a little expo- sure in the classroom and sharing in self explora- Dec 9, 2012, 10:00-17:00 tion and expression with our students will go a long way to not only creating more fulfilling Plenary speakers: Andy Curtis teaching and learning experiences, but may just give the students something more valuable than and Shinichi Izumi proficiency in a second language. They may find that they have looked more deeply into them- Plus many poster sessions selves while recognizing that the differences, which are revealed between them, their teacher, The conference theme: and their classmates, add to the richness of their “Learning a language: No shared learning experiences and individual lives. single best method”

THE LANGUAGE TEACHER: 36.6 • November / December 2012 31 32 | The Language Teacher • READERS’ FORUM Changing Views on Motivation in a Globalizing World

Elizabeth Wadell Traditionally, language learning motivation was conceived as being either “instrumental” Diablo Valley College, California or “integrative,” but recent research suggests that in today’s April Shandor globalizing world this distinc- tion no longer holds for many learners of English. Over the English Center, Oakland, California past ten years, there has been a shift away from the view of English learning as a way to Given that English is an international language that belongs to integrate into American/Brit- every[one] in the world, I think the motivation related to English ish/Australian culture. Many learning should be understood in the context of an international point scholars are now exploring the of view. -MA TESOL graduate student ways in which EFL learners develop international identities while simultaneously retaining I learned that there are different types of motivation. …I also learned their own cultures. The authors that there is a definition to describe my desire to be part of the inter- of the current article—English national community: International Posture. -MA TESOL graduate language teachers and graduate student students—discuss how their research on new concepts in motivation led them to engage ow is globalization changing our understanding of stu- with their colleagues on the dents’ motivation to learn English as a Foreign Language issue, and ultimately, to change H (EFL)? As the quotes above illustrate, it affects how we their own teaching. understand our students as well as our own positions as teachers in an international world. Although several authors have put 伝統的に、言語学習の動機づけには forward teaching suggestions based on today’s international 道具的動機づけと統合的動機づけが あると考えられてきたが、最近の研 perspective (e.g. Cates, 2004; Tanaka & Fukada, 2007), no known 究では今日のグローバル社会におい studies have attempted to address the issue through the lens of て 、多 く の 英 語 学 習 者 に は 、こ の 区 別 pre-service EFL and ESL teachers. Many experienced teachers in は な い と 言 わ れ て い る 。こ の 1 0 年 で 、 「英 語 学習はアメリカ、イギリス、オ the EFL field are familiar with approaches that consider the role ーストラリア等の文化への統合方法 of globalization, but how are new teachers incorporating these である」という従来の見方は変化し theories into their teaching? In this article, we will use the voices て き た 。現 在 、多 く の 研 究 者 は 、英 語 学習者が、いかに自分自身の文化を and experiences of novice teachers to examine how a more global 保 持しつつ国 際 的アイデン ティティ perspective on English is changing the way we understand moti- を 発 展 さ せ る か を 研 究 し て い る 。本 vation. We will then present some ideas for applying this view to 論では、英語教師で大学院生でもあ language teaching practices. We share our ideas in the hope that る研究者たちが、独自の研究により 動機づけの新概念に関する問題を提 other teachers will join us in considering how theories of motiva- 示 し 、ど の よ う に 自 身 の 英 語 教 授 法 tion can be applied in both EFL and TEFL/TESOL classrooms を変えたのかを論じる。 across the globalizing world.

THE LANGUAGE TEACHER Online • Wadell & Shandor: Changing Views on Motivation in a Globalizing World

What is Motivation? – how they are socially situated as well as how they choose to position themselves – influence During our early experiences as native English their language learning opportunities (Norton speakers teaching in ESL and EFL contexts, Peirce, 1995; Menard-Warwick, 2005). For both authors had a common sense understand- many EFL learners, that identity is tied to their ing that motivation is important for language position in a globalizing economy. In a study learning; however, it was not until we enrolled of Indonesian middle school students, Lamb in a course in Second Language Acquisition (2004) found that aspects of instrumental and (SLA) at the American university where we were integrative motivation were combined in the studying for our MA TESOL (Teaching English learners’ developing “bicultural identities.” to Speakers of Other Languages) degrees that While the learners saw themselves as connected we contemplated exactly what it means to be to a global, English-speaking culture, they motivated to learn a second language. As a class simultaneously maintained the aspects of the requirement, we both enrolled in a Japanese class identity in which they were firmly rooted, local and reflected on our own learning. Neither of us Indonesian culture. Another way to look at this were very successful Japanese learners. Why? globalizing identity is through Dörnyei’s (2005) We saw lack of motivation as the main cause. concept of the “L2 Motivational Self System,” Like many EFL learners who have never visited which integrates theories of motivation with English-speaking countries or interacted with a psychological approach toward identity, native speakers of the language, we did not need considering learners’ “ideal selves,” or idealized to learn Japanese to communicate with native self-representations, as an integral part of their speakers. Lacking this push, we felt no real rea- language learning experiences. Interested in son to learn Japanese. This, we assumed, is the the self-representations of Japanese high school role of motivation in second language learning. students, Yashima (2009) found that many This explanation of our learning was based learners had “international posture;” i.e., they in the traditional socio-educational model of envisioned themselves as future members of an language learning motivation, the dominant international community and saw English as the theory since the 1950s. This model suggests that tool for gaining access to that community. learners who desire to “integrate” into the target language culture will be more successful because of their higher overall motivation to learn the New Perspectives language and greater frequency of communica- Theoretical constructs of motivation and identity tion in the target language (Gardner, Lalonde, developed in the context of globalization offer us & Pierson, 1983). The theory also identifies an alternative to an English language classroom, instrumental orientation, the desire to acquire a which focuses on American or British culture and language for work or as an academic require- expressions. Given the significance of “bicultural ment. Viewed through the socio-educational identity” and “international posture” for many EFL model, our instrumental reasons for taking the students’ learning, we wondered how graduate class were not strong enough to take us past the MA TESOL students/pre-service teachers would single obligatory semester, and therefore, our understand these theories as applying to their own language development came to a close. L2 learning and EFL/ESL teaching. After introduc- However, while the socio-educational model— ing them to the concepts through readings and first proposed in Canada in the 1950s—described class discussion, we asked them to share their ideas our own foreign language learning, it is not with us. We found that these theories resonated the only way to look at motivation. Newer with many students and caused them to consider theories take into account factors influencing the roles of context and identity in language EFL learners that move beyond simply integra- learning motivation. As one student, who had tive and instrumental orientations. As graduate previously taught in Asia, told us: teaching assistants in an introductory SLA class for incoming MA TESOL students, we hoped I feel like the motivation to access some kind of to introduce these current and future teachers amorphous, globalized identity is definitely pre- to motivation research which considers the role sent in many of my students as well as the strong of global English and the diverse contexts of instrumental motivation to use English in their today’s English language learners. future careers. The theories we introduced to them are based Another international student also referred to in an understanding of how learners’ identities the complexity of motivation in learning English: THE LANGUAGE TEACHER: 36.6 • November / December 2012 33 The Language Teacher • Readers’ Forum

I really agree that there should be a different way of their students to a wide range of cultures. Accord- exploring motivations of those who are situated in ing to one graduate student: different contexts... I think the motivation related to English learning should be understood in the Understanding the concept of international context of an international point of view. posture and multilingual/cultural identity is important for language instructors because in- This “international point of view” and consid- creasingly, the focus of language learners is access eration of motivational differences in “different to the international community more than one contexts” was particularly salient in conversa- specific “foreign” culture. Language learning tions with our international colleagues, many of should be directed towards students who might whom planned to return to their native countries be motivated by participation on an international after graduation. Considering her own diverse level, and who need access to another language in English learning contexts, an international order to successfully share information about their student from Asia explained that, as a child she own culture, not gain access to another. associated English with North America, Great Britain, and Australia, but that even more it Thus, the teacher’s role is to foster a global was a tool for exploring the outside world. Her outlook - of which multilingualism is one part - experience perfectly describes Yashima’s concept rather than to help learners understand a single of “international posture,” the desire to integrate target culture. not into a single target culture, but into the In an online discussion, the graduate students whole global society that uses English and other dove more deeply into what this could mean for languages as mediums for communication. teaching, and several focused on the role of ma- In addition, other international classmates terials from different cultures. One student from considered how a focus on integrative motiva- the United States asked how using non-Western tion can lead to bias against non-native English materials and cultural items might influence speaking teachers. In the words of one: students’ motivation as well as “their perception of the English language itself.” Her question was Teachers now know that students are associating answered by an experienced teacher from Asia English with more than just English speaking who used her own experiences as a learner to countries. Teachers can see the importance of challenge the notion that English “belongs” to bringing in models of speakers that are non-native native English speakers. She pointed out that the speakers. very fact that she could discuss things like the typical Taiwanese food “taro soft buns” shows This dialogue enabled the graduate students that English is evolving outside of the inner to re-examine their own language learning circle English-speaking countries, concluding experiences within the context of International that, “under the effects of globalization, English Posture and Bicultural Identity. While some truly will never be the same.” had experienced integrative motivation, others recognized how they had learned English (or In this picture, the whole integrative approach another language) as a way of participating in a to culture is turned inside out. Rather than learn- global community. ing about a different culture as a way of acquir- ing both language and culture, EFL students may be more motivated by looking at their own Applying Theory to Practice culture from the global perspective. They can When we asked the MA TESOL students for their then understand that language is not something ideas of how to apply new theories of motivation apart from their own culture and selves—it is, to the classroom, we got one answer: through cul- in some sense, a way of expressing who they ture. While culture has traditionally been brought already are, culturally speaking, and who they into the foreign language classroom as a way of are in the process of becoming. Typically learn- encouraging an integrative orientation (for exam- ers are seen as “adapting” to the new language ple, through television shows or units on American and culture, but this student suggests that the holidays), our colleagues offered alternative views English language itself has already adapted to of culture, either as a way of looking outward these global learners. to encourage international posture or of turning From listening to our classmates’ ideas, we inward to examine their own culture—one facet realized that English teachers can also use of bicultural identity. For example, teachers could culture to address bicultural identity, the sense encourage international posture by introducing that for some learners an international identity 34 THE LANGUAGE TEACHER Online • Wadell & Shandor: Changing Views on Motivation in a Globalizing World exists side-by-side with a strong local identity. international communities – even in mono- This seemed to particularly strike a chord for lingual classes students may have different experienced EFL teachers. A Korean middle and ethnicities or experiences abroad. high school English teacher reported that: 2. Assess students’ “international postures” and focus on global issues and international With the understanding of motivation in the connections according to students’ interests. context of a globalizing world, language instruc- Additionally, facilitate students’ access to tors can modify their teaching materials related to particular sub-cultures, such as the interna- cultures. We used to take for granted that learning tional business community. about culture is to learn about the culture of Eng- lish speaking countries. But since students’ inter- 3. Discuss with pre-service and novice ESL est is more in both keeping their national identi- teachers how students may have interna- ties and global identities rather than integrating tionally-oriented motivation and how to put themselves into the target culture, the teaching these theories into practice in the classroom. materials should include their own culture writ- We offer these suggestions in light of current ten in English, various cultures beyond English theories on motivation and identity in a globaliz- speaking cultures and also global contexts such as ing world. Although these views are familiar to how each country cooperates with one another in many teachers who stay current in the field, our dealing with common business. experience points out that they are not intuitive to many new or pre-service teachers. We should For this teacher, we see that culture is inter- continue striving to find ways to put these theo- twined, not just with language, but also with ries into practice in the classroom and assist new identity. She suggests that learning about culture teachers in recognizing and facilitating learner should be in the context of learners’ own identi- motivation in a globalizing world. ties – a long way from the socio-educational model’s focus on learning about and adopting a new culture! References Cates, K. (2004). Becoming a global teacher: Ten Looking Ahead steps to an international classroom. The Lan- guage Teacher, 28 (7), 31-36. Our colleagues’ words illustrate the opinion that through culture, whether that of the target Dörnyei, Z. (2005). The psychology of the language language, global cultures, or by understanding learner: Individual differences in second language learners’ own cultures, teachers can create or acquisition. Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence develop motivation in the classroom. We should Erlbaum Associates. Gardner, R., Lalonde, R., be conscious of the ways our existing teaching & Pierson, R. practices may promote or inhibit the growth of Dornyei, Z. (1983). The socio-educational model language learning motivation and move forward of second language acquisition: An investiga- with those practices which best suit our students. tion using lisrel causal modeling. Journal of Through a focus on practices that support the Language and Social Psychology 2 (1), 1-15. expression of culture and identity, we can give Lamb, M. (2004). Integrative motivation in a them a place to develop their international globalizing world. System (32), 3-19. postures and bicultural identity. Menard-Warwick, J. (2005). Both a fiction and an The following suggestions for the EFL class- existential fact: Theorizing identity in second room context are based on the understanding of language acquisition and literacy studies. motivation in a globalizing world that developed Linguistics and Education 16, 253–274. as a result of our exploration with the graduate Norton, B. (2000). Identity and language learning: students in the TESOL program: Gender, ethnicity and educational change. Harlow, 1. Emphasize a plurality of cultures rather than England: Pearson Education Limited. a homogenous culture. Incorporate teaching Norton Pierce, B. (1995). Social identity, invest- materials that enable students to explore ment, and language learning. TESOL Quarterly their own cultures in relation to many others, (29)1, 9-31. thereby preparing them to actively partici- Tanaka, H., & Fukada, Y. (2007). Compre- pate in a larger international community hensive needs analysis for NGO staff. In K. outside of the classroom. Also, consider Bradford-Watts (Ed.), JALT2006 Conference ways in which classrooms themselves are Proceedings (396-406). Tokyo: JALT. THE LANGUAGE TEACHER: 36.6 • November / December 2012 35 The Language Teacher • Readers’ Forum

Yashima, T. (2009). International posture and April Shandor received her the ideal L2 self in the Japanese EFL context. master’s degree in linguistics In Z. Dörnyei & E. Ushioda (Eds.) Motivation, from San Francisco State language identity and the L2 self (144-163). University. She teaches at the Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters. English Center in Oakland, California. Her current research interest is on the Elizabeth Wadell teaches at ways in which patterns of the International Education classroom discourse can Center at Diablo Valley positively influence learners’ College in Pleasant Hill, lives outside of the classroom. California. She received her MA TESOL from San Francisco State University and is interested in learner identity and L2 academic writing. TLTBOOK RESOURCES REVIEWS English Explorer 1 provides a complete 4-skills …with Robert Taferner lesson package with a focus on global under- standing. The first book in the series is geared To contact the editor: towards lower level high school and university aged students. The complete series runs up to level 4. Each book in the series comes with a If you are interested in writing a workbook, CD-ROM, and teacher’s book, each book review, please consult the list of materials available for review in of which is illustrated with bold travel pictures the Recently Received column, or and cultural stories, the hallmarks of National consider suggesting an alternative Geographic. book that would be helpful to our The English Explorer 1 membership. student book is divided BOOK REVIEWS ONLINE: A into eight units, and linked index of Book Reviews can each of these units is be found at: further divided into two-page lessons. A les- son will start off with a dialog listening section This month’s column features Arthur Lauritsen’s followed by simple vo- evaluation of English Explorer 1. cabulary, grammar, and speaking exercises. The workbook in this series is a homework-centered English Explorer 1 collection of vocabulary and grammar exercises [Helen Stephenson. Heinle Cengage Learning, and reading tasks based on a cultural topic. The 2011. p. 128. ¥2,415. ISBN: 978-0-495- teacher’s book includes: a cheat sheet, a collec- 90861-6.] tion of transcripts, lesson plans, and pre-made unit tests. Included in the package is Interactive Reviewed by Arthur Lauritsen, Whiteboard Software, a software program that Momoyama University allows for clear presentation of the material for classrooms set up with the proper CALL equip-

36 THE LANGUAGE TEACHER Online • The Language Teacher • Resources • BOOK REVIEWS ment. The last item in the series is what sets this coerced to behave according to someone else’s series apart from other 4-skills textbooks. The desire” and that this learning autonomy is a “pre- DVD has authentic National Geographic stories requisite to motivation” (p. 103). This is where that have been rewritten for the second language English Explorer 1 falls short. The textbook fills learner with subtitles to maximize comprehen- the class time, but it leaves little room for teach- sion. ers to develop a conversation-based lesson that English Explorer 1 is a complete 4-skills text- goes outside the parameters of the textbook. For book. Listening, speaking, and writing are all those who are hoping for a conversation-based covered. Pre-made tests and quizzes are found lesson, this is a point worth making. An example in the teacher’s book. The interactive software of where this becomes an issue with is the DVD. will replace the chalkboard. With English Ex- The DVD includes eight 5-minute videos that plorer under your arm, you can walk out of the students will listen to three times. There is an classroom at the end of the semester and know accompanying 1-page worksheet that focuses that you have covered all the bases including: on comprehension and uses fill-in-the-blank and reading, writing, listening, speaking, homework, multiple-choice questions. The comprehension tests, and content that focuses on global under- questions do not elicit a conversation since they standing. are based on bottom-up comprehension questions that quiz details of the video passage as opposed The other advantage to the book is its coopera- to essay style questions that solicit opinions and tion with National Geographic in creating learn- a broader understanding. As soon as the students ing materials. This lends the distinct advantage have finished with the listening, there is not much of opening students’ eyes to the wider role of more the class can do. The bottom-up processing communication in understanding the world. Sko- nature of the material left my students ambivalent pinskaja (2009) argues that “the process of teach- about the textbook and the material. Although ing and learning a foreign language embodies the the class did flow well, I did not sense any of my presence of another culture as well as contact with students were particularly inspired. Otherness” (pp. 135-136). Learning English is not just about features of the language but about an In summary, English Explorer 1 can provide a understanding of other cultures. English Explorer complete package in just about any setting but makes this a key aspect of students’ education by may not be workable for a teacher who wants making every lesson a global trip. to use the textbook for broader conversational lessons. A subtler problem with English Explorer is the same qualities that make it a success. English Explorer is designed for a wide audience and, References as such, it is tightly designed down to the last Dörnyei, Z. (2001). Motivational strategies in the detail, which may compromise learner autonomy. language classroom. Cambridge: Cambridge Learner autonomy is an idea that does not feature University Press. easily in a textbook that is designed for a large audience. According to Dörnyei (2001), learner Skopinskaja, L. (2009). Assessing intercultural autonomy allows the student to be “free to choose communicative competence. Synergies, 6, and to have choices, rather than being forced or 135-144. “Learning a Language: No Single Best Method” In this joint Tokyo JALT Conference held at Temple University, plenary speaker Prof. Shinichi Izumi (Department of English Language and Studies, Sophia University, Tokyo) will present on “Beliefs about Language Learning, Learning Strategies, and Confidence of EFL Learners”, and Prof. Andy Curtis (Graduate School of Education, Anaheim University, California, USA; the Department of Languages and Cultures at Sabana University, Bogota, Colombia) will present on “The Origins of the ‘Best Method Movement’: Past, Present and Future”. • Location: Temple University Japan, Azabu Hall (main building) AZ 206/207 • Date: Sun, Dec. 9th, Start time: 9:00 • Free for JALT members, ¥1000 for non-members. • RSVP: Megumi Kawate-Mierzejewska at

THE LANGUAGE TEACHER: 36.6 • November / December 2012 37 The Language Teacher • Resources • RECENTLY RECEIVED

Parker, K. Crawly, UK: Helbling Languages, 2011. [A teacher resource book that brings to- Recently gether 100 ready-to-use new activities promot- ing authentic communication incl. CD-ROM of Received images from the National Museum and Gallery of Wales]. ...with Steve Fukuda * Global Concepts. Knudsen, J. Tokyo: Nan’un-do, 2012. [16-unit reading course for English for international understanding incl. student’s A list of texts and resource book w/ 3 review units]. materials for language teachers available for book reviews in Grammar Practice. Puchta, H., Stranks, J., & TLT and JALT Journal. Pub- Lewis-Jones, P. Crawley, UK: Helbling Lan- lishers are invited to submit guages, 2012. [4-level grammar course for complete sets of materials to young learners incl. student books w/ interac- Steve Fukuda at the Publishers’ tive CD-ROM]. Review Copies Liaison address Great Writing. Folse, G., Muchmore-Vokoun, listed on the Staff page on the inside cover of A., & Solomon, E. V. Hampshire, UK: Heinle TLT. Cengage Learning, 2010. [5-level writing course incl. student books w/ Examview® RECENTLY RECEIVED ONLINE Assessment CD-ROM, instructor and student resource website access, and classroom prepa- An up-to-date index of books available for ration tools]. review can be found at: * Pandy the Panda. Villarroel, M., & Lauder, N. course for young pre-school learners incl. 8-unit student books, activity books, and * = new listing; ! = final notice. Final notice items teacher’s books w/ CDs]. will be removed 30 November. Please make ! TakeAway English. Loveday, P., Melissa, K., queries by email to the appropriate JALT Trowbridge, S., & Varandani, L. New York: Publications contact. McGraw Hill Education, 2012. [4-level young adult/adult course incl. student books w/ audio CD, workbook, interleaved teacher’s Books for Students (reviewed in TLT) guides w/ audio CD, TakeAway TV DVD, EZ® Contact: Steve Fukuda Test Generator CD-ROM, and online learning [email protected] center and materials access]. ! Time to Talk. Independent Publishers Interna- ! Basic English for Physics. Imura, M. Tokyo: tional (I.P.I.), 2012. [4-level communicative-cen- Cengage Learning, 2011. [10-unit content-based tered course for Japanese students incl. student course incl. student book w/ presentation book, w/ audio CD and teacher’s manual]. guide, glossary, audio CD, and teacher’s manual]. Books for Teachers (reviewed in JALT Journal) * Business Venture. Barnard, R., & Cady, J. Oxford: Contact: Greg Rouault Oxford University Press, 2011. [3-level speaking [email protected] and listening course designed for low-level learners incl. student books w/ class audio CD, teacher’s guide w/ extension activities, and Replication Research in Applied Linguistics. Porte, workbook activities]. G. (Ed.). New York: Cambridge University English Sounds, English Minds. Sugimori, M., Press, 2012. Otsuka, T., Sugimori, N., & Evans, P. Tokyo: The Roles of Language in CLIL. Llinares, A., Mor- Kinseido Publishing, 2012. [15-unit listening ton, T., & Whittaker, R. Cambridge: Cambridge skills course incl. student book w/ audio CD, University Press, 2012. teacher’s guide, and script data]. * English through Art. Grundy, P., Bociek, H.,

38 THE LANGUAGE TEACHER Online • The Language Teacher • Resources • OUTSIDE THE BOX TLTOUTSIDE RESOURCES THE BOX But proposing an alternative is difficult. One …with Adam Lebowitz potential alternative involves viewing fluency as introducing and recycling ideas and concepts. It To contact the editor: is based on analysis and comparison of two dif- ferent drafts of a learner text and how their order of presentation of information differs (Table 1). “Outside the Box” is a column that not only challenges the community Table 1. Two drafts of a learner text & to address a problem, but proposes a creative solution without concerns Rutherford’s (1987, p. 69-70) analysis of being unrealistic. The focus is on originality and creativity, not rigor. Original More information on submissions can be found online, or contact the My father’s house had four bedrooms and two sitting rooms. editor. A large garden was in front of the house. My father had planted a lot of flowers in the garden. These flowers were OUTSIDE THE BOX ONLINE: roses and tulips, etc. ... A linked index of Outside the Box articles can be found at:

hat to do if not satisfied with existing measuring instruments? Create your Revised W own! This column welcomes submis- My father’s house had four bedrooms and two sitting rooms. sions proposing new models and formulae to In front of the house was a large garden. In the garden my enhance research, and University of Toyama’s father had planted a lot of flowers. These flowers were Theron Muller has picked up the challenge. Check roses and tulips, etc. … out his take on fluency assessment, and if you would like to contribute your own ideas for this area or any other, by all means send them here. Everyone benefits from an individual’s creativity! As the illustration shows, the first draft’s themes overlap which reduces readability. In the Searching for a latter there is no thematic overlap, which increas- es readability. My thought for a fluency measure better measure of is to create a numerical representation of the thematic organization of discourse in the hopes fluency of creating a more useful measure of productive As lead editor of the Fluency in EFL book project, fluency. While the measure would need to be I’ve worked with more than a dozen authors developed from empirical data, a simple form whose interests span fluency across all four might simply involve overlaps as a percentage language skills. Through those interactions of total textual interconnections, or: Overlaps / I’ve become increasingly disenfranchised with Total connections. In Table 1, this would be 1.0 available instruments for measuring fluency, for the original text and 0.0 for the revised text. which appear to associate fluency with speed. Eventually, such measures may be incorporated Whenever I think about my own life experience, with other measures of fluency, such as writing I feel there is a disconnect between those meas- speed, to create a more robust measurement of ures and what I feel fluency is. For example, if overall writing fluency. fluent speech means faster speech, then debates Reference from my school years where speakers spoke so fast you couldn’t follow their arguments would Rutherford, W. (1987). Second language grammar: be the embodiment of fluency. Learning and teaching. London: Longman. THE LANGUAGE TEACHER: 36.6 • November / December 2012 39 TLT » Resources » TLT WIRED TLT RESOURCESTLT WIRED consisting of academic lectures, panels, presenta- …with Ted O'Neill tions, handouts, lecturers’ notes, textbooks, and tutorials across a wide variety of academic To contact the editor: disciplines can be subscribed to, much like podcasts, whereby new content is automatically In this column, we explore the downloaded through the iTunes Store. issue of teachers and technol- According to Apple, iTunes U contains more ogy—not just as it relates to CALL than 500,000 free media files, books, and other solutions, but also to Internet, resources in the form of Mpeg-4 video files, software, and hardware concerns audio files, PDFs, and iBooks. Providers of these that all teachers face. learning materials include many prestigious We invite readers to submit articles academic institutions such as Oxford University, on their areas of interest. Please con- Yale University and the University of Tokyo, tact the editor before submitting. as well as non-academic institutions such as TLT WIRED ONLINE: A linked index of articles can be MOMA, the TED group and the Library of Con- found at: gress. ESL/EFL material by institutions such as the British Council is also available. The content is searchable and can be downloaded absolutely free and requires only an iTunes Store account to iTunes U – A free download. academic resource for students and teachers Michael Ernest Nagoya Communication Arts Vocational College

Tunes U, part of the iTunes Store, distributes academic content from educational institutions i to students and the wider community. For language instructors, it provides a free, easily ac- cessible resource to real-world academic materi- Applications als for classes with EAP or high-level students. Audio and video have pedagogical uses with which teachers are no doubt already familiar. One Content resource for high-level classes worth pointing out is the availability of TED Talks through iTunes iTunes U provides audio and visual content, U. TED (Technology, Entertainment, and Design) on a wide variety of subject matters, developed Talks are a set of short presentations (usually mainly by higher education institutions from around 15 minutes) given at TED conferences on around the world. This content can be down- a wide range of topics from the worlds of science loaded either as individual files from the iTunes and culture. The range of topics dealt with in the Store to your computer or via the iTunes U TED talks provides instructors with a range of app for iPhones and iPads. Complete courses potential classroom approaches. One approach 40 THE LANGUAGE TEACHER Online • TLT » Resources » TLT WIRED would be to use the TED talks as a way of intro- PowerPoint slides, graphs, which may highlight ducing discussion topics in conversation-focused the main points of the lecture and allow students classes. The Reworking the Western Diet talk, for to follow its structure, and even the lecturer’s example, could be used to orientate a class to the gestures and facial expressions. topic of changing diets and their impact on the en- vironment and to introduce relevant vocabulary Individualized professional development before discussing the issue as a class. (My own approach has been to scaffold the lesson by pro- Apart from the benefits to students, iTunes viding some of the key terminology first and then U also provides teachers and other language playing 5-minute excerpts of the video, asking professionals with an easily accessible resource students to summarize the main points, and then with which they can stay abreast of trends in the opening the class up to discussion.) I have found TESOL and education fields. Personal favourites this approach to be highly effective as it prevents include the Liberty University course English as the students from feeling too overwhelmed by the a World Language and Global English: a language of sometimes complex vocabulary in the talk. controversy? from The Open University. Howev- Another area where iTunes U provides a er, the diversity on offer is continually growing, highly useful resource is in the realm of EAP and teachers are best served by browsing areas instruction. Most EAP research stresses the within their own interest. need for exposure to the various genres of language, such as lectures, which students will Conclusion be engaged with (Hyland & Hamp-Lyons, 2002). iTunes U provides a fantastic and diverse resource However, depending on the setting, it can be for EAP instructors and learners by allowing them difficult to gain access to real-life lectures from easy access to real-world academic discourse that native speakers of English. iTunes U provides their students will be exposed to during their videos and audio of real-world lectures, tutori- studies overseas. It also provides great material als, and conferences for public use. It provides for higher level classes through material from the instructor with the option of replicating non-academic institutions such as TED. real-world settings in the language classroom using the provided videos and associated notes. One of its main benefits is the wide variety of References material available in both subject and style of De Carrico, J. & Nattinger, J. R. (1988). Lexical discourse. Lectures, for example, vary in both phrases for the comprehension of academic content and style according to their disciplinary listening. Journal of English for Specific Purposes field, the teaching style of the lecturer (formal or 7, 91-102. informal), and the level of their engagement with the audience. It is also important to note that Hyland, K. & Hamp-Lyons, L. (2002). EAP: the less formal, conversational style of lecture, Issues and directions, Journal of English for characterized by less reliance on reading from Academic Purposes, Vol. 1, 1-12. notes and more engagement with the audience, Jordan, R. R. (1997). English for academic purposes: tends to be increasingly favoured over the A guide and resource book for teachers. University traditional, formal reading style (Jordan 1997; Press: Cambridge. De Carrico & Nattinger 1988). Importantly, these informal style lectures often contain questions and feedback from lecturers, often Shinshu JALT signalled by pauses, which constitute an added JALT Share challenge for the non-native speaker. As many of the lectures contained in iTunes U have been Oct 27, 2:00-4:00 produced in-class, instructors can use the videos Followed by fancy dress participation to introduce students to the more informal styles in Matsumoto City’s Hallowe’en and point out the stages of the lecture and how parade, thereafter a task-based they are signalled. I have also used the videos to research project on the Pendle Witch in have students practice taking notes, which is a The Old Rock (pub) necessary skill for university students studying Families & children welcome, abroad. These resources are also useful when as well as frogs, lizards... examining the visual aspects of lectures such as

THE LANGUAGE TEACHER: 36.6 • November / December 2012 41 The Language Teacher • JALT Focus • JALT NOTICES JALTJALT FOCUS NOTICES and upon approval by the membership the new …with Malcolm Swanson Board of Directors will take office for the 2012-14 term. I am very glad that many directors are con- To contact the editor: tinuing in office, and on behalf of my colleagues I would like to say that we all look forward to serving you in the 2012-14 term. A warm Contributors are requested by the welcome to our new Director of Public Relations, column editor to submit notices and announcements for JALT Ted O’Neill, and our new Director of Records, Focus by the 15th of the month, Roehl Sybing. Equally warm, though regretful, one and a half months prior to thanks to the outgoing directors, Michael Stout publication. and Aleda Krause. JALT FOCUS ONLINE: A listing of I would like to give a special note of apprecia- notices and news can be found at: tion for Aleda, who has spent the last 10 years as a National Officer or Di- rector and who has done an incredible amount of work for JALT ever since JALT National Officers, 2011–2012 she joined. Starting as the West Kansai Social/ Our elected national officers work with the JALT Execu- tive Board to administer NPO JALT. They can be con- Hospitality Chair in tacted at . 1979, Aleda has held 125 positions in JALT. She has }} President: ...... Kevin Cleary volunteered her time and }} Vice President: ...... Nathan Furuya limitless energy for Chap- }} Auditor: ...... Caroline Lloyd ters, SIGs, the Conference Team, the Publications Team, Executive Board }} Director of Treasury: ...... Oana Cusen committees, and the Board of Directors as well }} Director of Records: ...... Aleda Krause as for JALT in general. It is not an exaggeration to say that JALT owes what it is today to Aleda’s }} Director of Program: ...... Steve Cornwell dedication and selfless service. Aleda, we can’t }} Director of Membership: . . . . Buzz Green thank you enough, but we will try! Not to worry, either: Aleda is staying on as JALT Historian and }} Director of Public Relations: . . . Michael Stout will be the Co-chair of the JALT2013 Conference. To be sure, the volunteer spirit is what ani- mates JALT and invests our publications and conference with their high standard of quality. If Message from the you are not already volunteering for JALT, please do consider contributing a bit of time and energy. President You are sure to be rewarded with the chance of At this writing the finishing touches on the working with a great group of people and the preparation for JALT2012 are being made. One satisfaction of a job well done. Also, if you have of the important meetings at JALT2012 will be any ideas or suggestions for JALT to consider the planning meeting for JALT2013, which will please send a message to me at . calendars! We are very excited to be returning to Thank you again for your support and very Portopia after a long absence, and hope that we best wishes for the remainder of the year! will have the JALT conference there on a regular NPO JALT President basis from now on. JALT’s 2nd Ordinary General Kevin Cleary Meeting of 2012 will also be held at JALT2012,

42 THE LANGUAGE TEACHER Online • The Language Teacher • JALT Focus • JALT NOTICES

Results of the 2012 JALT National Officer Job details Elections: This post requires several hours of concentrated • President: Kevin Cleary work every week editing articles, scheduling • Vice-President: Nathan Furuya and overseeing production, and liaising with the Publications Board. Applicants should • Director of Membership: Judith “Buzz” be prepared to make a minimum three-year Green commitment with an extension possible. The • Director of Public Relations: Ted O’Neill assumption of duties is tentatively scheduled • Director of Program: Steve Cornwell for early 2013. Applicants should submit a • Director of Records: Roehl Sybing curriculum vitae (including details of publication background and published works), a cover letter, • Director of Treasury: Oana Cusen and a statement of purpose indicating why they • Auditor: Caroline Lloyd would like to become Associate Editor (and later advance to Coeditor) of The Language Teacher, to: TLT Associate Editor Ted O’Neill, JALT Publications Board Chair, at [email protected]. This position will The Language Teacher is seeking a qualified remain open until filled. candidate for the position of Associate Editor, with future advancement to the position of Coeditor. Applicants must be JALT members Is your membership due and must have the knowledge, skills, and leadership qualities to oversee the production for renewal? of a regularly published academic publication. Previous experience in publications, especially at Check the label on the envelope this TLT an editorial level, is an asset. Knowledge of JALT came in for your renewal date, then go to publications is desirable. Applicants must also and follow have regular access to a computer with email the easy instructions to renew. Help us to and word processing capabilities. help you! Renew early! JALTSHOWCASE FOCUS n this edition of Showcase, retiring Kitaky- …with Kristen Sullivan ushu JALT president and original executive I board member, Margaret (Peg) Orleans, shares To contact the editor: the story of Kitakyushu JALT, and her role in it. Showcase is a column where SHOWCASE members are invited to introduce themselves to TLT’s readership in 750 words or less. Research Margaret Orleans interests, professional affiliations, current projects, and personal Colleagues in Hiroshima professional development are all had told me what a great appropriate content. Please ad- experience JALT was, but dress inquiries to the editor. it wasn’t until I moved to Kitakyushu that I became SHOWCASE ONLINE: A listing of Showcase articles can a member. In the mid ‘90s, be found at: there was no Kitakyushu members in our city were long-term residents with THE LANGUAGE TEACHER: 36.6 • November / December 2012 43 The Language Teacher • JALT Focus • SHOWCASE

families, for whom the Sunday afternoon meet- Since memberships fees, as well as conference ings in Fukuoka were not a good fit. With the fees and travel expenses, have to come from blessing of the Fukuoka and national executive most of our members’ own pockets, we organ- boards, we began holding our own Saturday ized cheaper group and joint memberships at evening meetings. We found a free venue, used local junior/senior high schools. We’ve been only local or commercial speakers, and scraped very proud to see our members go on to serve through our first two years without any expen- the wider JALT membership on the TLT staff, ditures. I was elected program chair at our first as officers in various SIGs, and in key national meeting and have served in that capacity or as posts. I’m the only member of our original ex- president ever since. ecutive board still in office, but we’ve been lucky After getting our feet wet with a one-day enough to keep finding new members who find Southwest Regional Conference (with Hiroshima JALT helpful to their professional growth and and Matsuyama), we were ready to take on the who are willing to step up to fill officer positions. hosting of a national conference. Not everyone Thus, when I retire from teaching (and JALT and was easily convinced that a conference so far Japan) this year, I know the chapter will be in removed from the big population centers could good hands. succeed, but Kitakyushu’s proximity to key Our interest in bringing what JALT has to offer Asian hubs and its lower hotel rates, along with to our local colleagues (particularly our Japanese generous support from the city’s convention colleagues, whom we’ve always been lucky to bureau, made us the natural choice for the 2001 have as members of our leadership team) has conference, which coincided with Japan’s first extended to the entire Kyushu region. Thus, we hosting of a PAC conference. Thanks to our hard- were heavily supportive of the short-lived pan- working members and an army of student and Kyushu retreats, where members from across the adult volunteers, conference goers who turned island met each spring to learn, to socialize, and up in large numbers from across Japan and the to plan further JALT events. We organized the rest of Asia had a great time. As site chair for that Kyushu Road Show, in which a vehicle full of conference, I delighted in greeting the happy crack presenters spent weekends in Kumamoto, educators as they entered the venue. Five years Miyazaki, Kagoshima, and Oita at our chapter’s later, Kitakyushu was asked to host a second expense in order to help JALT flourish in those national JALT conference. venues. We were delighted when Oita was Hosting successful conferences was important able to organize its own chapter and helped to Kitakyushu JALT because we have always underwrite its presentations for the first year. seen it as part of our mission to offer our col- We were saddened when Yamaguchi JALT had leagues—members and nonmembers alike—op- to fold and tried our best to be supportive of portunities for professional growth. Only a small the members we acquired at that time. Actually, percentage of our members had the luxury of a since Shimonoseki is within walking distance school budget for attending conferences, so we (via a pedestrian tunnel) from Kitakyushu, many tried to bring inspiring speakers and the moti- of our most active members are residents of that vating atmosphere of a conference to our city. city. However, I’m afraid we failed those mem- bers living further north and east. In the years when the conference was held elsewhere, we availed ourselves of the Four I’m proud of what Kitakyushu JALT has Corners Tour of notable presenters. We sent a accomplished in its short history, but mostly I novice presenter from Kitakyushu to the national hope that its history has reminded you of similar conference through the Chapter-Sponsored accomplishments by your chapter or SIG. Speaker program. We offered special coaching sessions for first-time presenters and filled our Margaret Orleans, a professor at Seinan Jo yearly calendar to bursting (12-16 events per Gakuin University in Kitakyushu, has been year) in order to accommodate all the people teaching in Asia at the secondary and tertiary who had ideas to share. We recognized outstand- level for nearly 30 years. She can be contacted at ing presenters through the Best of JALT Awards . program, which I began coordinating in 2002. Visited TLT’s website recently? 44 THE LANGUAGE TEACHER Online • The Language Teacher • JALT Focus • GRASSROOTS JALT GRASSROOTSFOCUS list-centred basis for teaching several languages. …with Carol Begg The key here is involving and collaborating with educators, rather than being imposed from To contact the editor: above. The FLP SIG is very much interested in encouraging such bottom-up implementation of the practices and principles of the CEFR, through The editor warmly invites 750-word the present project. reports on events, groups, or resources within JALT in English, Japanese, or a While knowhow has accumulated regarding combination of both. the use of can do lists etc., we cannot say that many existing textbooks and materials reflect GRASSROOTS ONLINE: A listing of Grassroots articles can be found at: this. Presently, with the development of the CEFR-J, which aims to create suitable levels of attainment for language learners in Japan (see ; the latest FLP SIG news- letter also includes an article from the CEFR-J The FLP SIG developers), we can see encouraging signs of development and use of language achievement Kaken Project - levels in the form of can do lists. This project will aim to develop practices to effectively implement Get involved! learner- and context-appropriate can do state- ments. The Framework and Language Portfolio The principal purpose of this project will be to (FLP) SIG would like to introduce our new develop two English language integrated skills government-funded project, which will research textbooks that suitably adapt and apply the prin- and develop Common European Framework ciples and practices of the CEFR for the higher of Reference for Languages (CEFR)/learner education context in Japan. Furthermore, in autonomy-informed materials and textbooks, order to support learner and teacher autonomy and outline how it is possible to get involved in and to support the classroom implementation of this project. This project can make a difference the text, we will aim to develop supplemental by disseminating specific ideas (such as the learning materials such as a language portfolio, effective use of can do statements) and resources. and autonomy informed resources. By holding workshops, and other activities, we can build a community of practice of educa- In the initial year of the project we will analyse tors and developers. We hope participants can currently available texts in relation to the CEFR, develop professionally along the way also. conduct a survey of teacher needs, and gather All funds from sales of the textbooks will be examples of actual classroom practices in Japan. recycled to support the JALT community, and In the following year, we will develop and pilot language learning in Japan generally. the textbooks, and determine effectiveness to assess the need for revisions of the textbooks in the final year of the project. The textbooks Background and Summary of the research will adopt an integrated skills approach, so as project to form a bridge for learners who are entering In recent years CEFR and the use of can do state- university from high school language education ments have become more prominent in language curricula that will encourage such an approach. education in Japan to bring transparency and Toward the end of the textbook there are plans to coherency to learning programs. One of the most incorporate a Content and Language Integrated promising efforts is that of Margit Krause Ono Learning (CLIL) approach that fosters global (2010) and colleagues in the Muroran Institute personal skills suitable for university gradu- of Technology, who created a common can do ates entering the workforce. The textbooks will THE LANGUAGE TEACHER: 36.6 • November / December 2012 45 The Language Teacher • JALT Focus • GRASSROOTS

be published upon completion; this will be a The first step to participating is by contacting collaborative work with no single author and all us at , or by attending who contribute will be acknowledged. upcoming events. You can find more information about these events and the project from . We’re looking forward to hearing from you! The project is being led by Naoyuki Naganuma of Tokyo University of Foreign Studies as prin- cipal investigator, while Alexander Imig, Noriko This work is supported by a kakenhi Grant-in-Aid Nagai, and I are the current co-investigators. for Scientific Research (24520611) from the Japan There is room for contributions from others Society for the Promotion of Science. within the FLP and JALT communities; the ways you can get involved include: (1) contributing Reference CEFR- and learner autonomy-informed practices Krause-Ono, M. (2010). Using German can do from your classrooms, (2) piloting textbook statements as model for other languages like materials in your classroom with the option Russian and Chinese – A special project. In of contributing feedback and input into the M. S. Schmidt, N. Naganuma, F. O‘Dwyer, improvement and/or creation of the textbook A. Imig, & K. Sakai. (Eds.), Can do statements materials, (3) participating in workshops, and (4) in language education in Japan and beyond (pp. contributing to a teacher needs survey. 111-25). Tokyo: Asahi Press. We feel that there is much room for growth through collaboration and exchange of ideas. JALT FOCUSOUTREACH 1990, he has traveled to Russia, Vietnam, France, …with David McMurray England, Singapore, Australia, Mexico, New Zealand, South America, Taiwan, Korea, and To contact the editor: most recently to Canada, scouting universities and interacting with teachers. Outreach is a place where teach- Now at the peak of his career, he realizes how ers from around the world can much he actually loves Canada, a close neighbor exchange opinions and ideas about to the US where he was born. He is even consid- foreign language learning and ering retiring in British Columbia. While touring teaching. It provides outreach to classroom teachers who would Toronto and Vancouver Island on business he not otherwise readily have access reports, “Canadian teachers I met were so polite to a readership in Japan. The and friendly that I invited a few of them to come column also seeks to provide a back with me to Kyushu.” vibrant voice for colleagues who volunteer to improve language learning in areas that do not have teacher associations. Up to 1,000 word reports from teachers anywhere in the world are welcomed. Contributors may also submit articles in the form of inter- What makes a views with teachers based overseas. OUTREACH ONLINE: A listing of Outreach articles can Canadian Volunteer, be found at: volunteer, eh? Dennis Woolbright ager to see the world, Dennis Woolbright headed for Japan in 1982. As professor of E English, and responsible for international Until about five years ago, I had never been to relations at Seinan Jo Gakuin in Kitakyushu since Canada. Previously I had heard a lot about the 46 THE LANGUAGE TEACHER Online • The Language Teacher • JALT Focus • OUTREACH natural beauty of the country and I have met Richard Payne many Canadians in Japan, all of whom were My volunteer experience at Seinan Jo Gakuin courteous and kind, but after my first visit, I fell was unlike any other experience I had had in my in love with the place as well as the people. On life at that time. It provided a bridge by which subsequent visits, I escorted groups of Japanese two cultures could connect. My volunteer experi- students to attend classes at Vancouver Island ence was taking part in the Christmas intensive University. In an effort to increase diversity at and Canada Week, which was an introduction to Seinan Jo Gakuin, a small-sized women’s uni- Canadian culture for students. The whole week versity in Kitakyushu where I work, I decided was so much fun. The students were excited to invite Canadian teachers to come to Japan to to practice their English and they made me so serve as volunteers. welcome! It was a truly unique experience for I was particularly impressed by two Canadians me. willing to be volunteer assistant English teachers, I first met Pro- Richard Payne a young man in his thirties, and fessor Woolbright Bill Harany in his sixties. Neither Richard nor and his class at Bill had much experience in teaching, but they Vancouver Island seemed interested in visiting Asia and were open University in their to socializing with young people from abroad. ESL class. I came They were casual, but always polite, and modest, to the class to give but they seemed proud of what they were doing. an announcement They had been trained to do hands-on careers: about activities. masonry and forestry. Both were certified first I was impressed aid professionals. Slim and very tall, with broad that he was in the class with them and helped smiles their most disconcerting attribute for the students understand and communicate with me, as an American, was how often they said eh me. I noticed the group was very close to each during conversations. They pronounced eh, like other and so it was easy to get to know all of ay, but it wasn’t employed the same way as huh. their names. They used eh in conjunction with other words, and sometimes simply by itself. Changes in their When I came to Kitakyushu, I was lucky tone of voice or slight differences in exclamation enough to have a home stay family! This gave when they said it meant the equivalent of these me the opportunity to see real life in Japan. questions: What did you say? What do you think? Every day I ate Japanese food, I met the neigh- What do you mean? You’re joking, right? Hello? bors, I played with the dog, and I felt like I had a (Similar to hey, you, off in the distance!). life in Japan. I spoke with Richard and Bill about coming During that short time in Japan, I made to Kitakyushu, offering to pick them up at the friendships with both students and teachers that airport, to give them room and board, and I will never forget. Because of that experience, promising to take them sightseeing in exchange Japan always has a special place in my heart. My for talking to our students. After bantering advice to other volunteers is of course to open awhile about the cost of airplane tickets, I tried your mind, but perhaps even more importantly out the expression, c’mon, eh? Thinking it meant to open your heart. The volunteer experience is please come, it was understood that I was asking an amazing chance to make connections with them to pay for their own travel. I was overjoyed students who are interested to know more about when they accepted my offer. your culture and language. It is also a chance to meet fantastic people and see a different way I first met Richard Payne at Vancouver Island of life. My favorite memory is looking at a new University in Nanaimo, when I took a group of cityscape from the balcony of my home stay. The students there to study a comparative culture hardest part of the whole experience was leav- class. He was a mason and owned his own com- ing. pany prior to returning to university to major in geography. He had enrolled in Japanese classes, was a resident advisor, and worked on summer Bill Harany enjoyed a career in logging as a tim- programs for foreign students from Japan and ber cruiser before he retired and began thinking Korea. He was very popular with our students. about traveling overseas. He has a diploma in Richard remembers his experiences as follows. forest technology and studied teaching English as a foreign language at Vancouver Island THE LANGUAGE TEACHER: 36.6 • November / December 2012 47 The Language Teacher • JALT Focus • OUTREACH

University. He had previously experienced behavior; I suspected that I was often overstep- volunteer work in Peru teaching English and ping the bounds of interpersonal relationships. It doing reconstruction work after a devastating seemed to be a case of there being a line in the earthquake in 2007. Bill reflects candidly on his sand about which I knew little. Occasionally, volunteer experience in Japan: girls would react as though they had offended me, while I also suspected that I had offended Bill Harany them, possibly because I am normally a fairly informal person while most of the girls are more One of the biggest differences about being in careful about how they interact. Japan is that it is a very wealthy country in Some things to remember if you volunteer in comparison to others in which I have spent long Japan: periods. Vietnam, where I am volunteering now, is not as wealthy as Japan and wages are very • Learn to use chopsticks before you go. low, but Vietnamese are determined students, • Learn as much Japanese as you can before many of them coming to three evening classes a you go. week after a full day of work. • Lose weight unless you do not mind being In general, Seinan called fat. Jo Gakuin was • Practice eating raw fish. much more organ- • If you’re tall get used to towering over other ized than schools people. in either Peru or Vietnam, although • Learn to talk v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y. my time here in • Get used to having a bath every night. Vietnam involves • Practice taking your shoes off before you specific classes on enter a house. a rotating basis, so • Take a Japanese friend when you go shop- that as many classes as possible have exposure ping, especially in food stores, because to foreigners. What impressed me about the virtually nothing is labeled in English. Japanese students who were at Vancouver International University is how careful they were I enjoyed being led around by the students about everything they did. Their origami was on our trips to Shimonoseki to eat fugu, and to folded perfectly compared to mine. And after a Mojiko. They put an amazing amount of work student tried to teach me to write my name with into organizing the day, work that was almost a brush and ink, I asked her how I did. She was undone because I assumed that the bus ride not incredibly diplomatic in telling me that mine would be much shorter than it was; I arrived was horrible! This care about being as perfect late, but the girls salvaged the day through their as possible the first time something is done is thoughtfulness. I knew the students were much most easily seen in the food in Japan which is shorter than me but it wasn’t until I saw this prepared more carefully than anywhere I’ve photo that I realized just how much shorter! I ever been. Needless to say they are much more particularly like Christmas in Kitakyushu. I had particular and careful than I am. not expected that. I know that I went to many more Christmas parties and pageants than I I am afraid that my host family was much bet- ever would in Canada. I live in a small town in ter at being host and hostess than I was at being Canada and we certainly do not have decora- a guest. I suspect that I made my host mother tions or a fountain to rival those at Riverwalk in work too hard washing and ironing my clothes Kitakyushu! as I tried to be as fastidious as Japanese. In the end, I was glad to spend a bit of time living in a Japanese-style hotel even though it was on the Our students and I had wonderful experiences seedy side. My room was surprisingly large but with both of these Canadian volunteers. They it had tatami mats and a low table and no chairs, were friendly, candid yet polite, and lots of fun so I had to contend with sitting cross-legged on to be with. Other teachers invited them to visit the floor, which is not something I normally do places in the region. Their diversifying presence in Canada. was welcomed at my university and in the I enjoyed getting to know the girls very much neighboring community. They were considered but I never felt comfortable regarding rules of to be guests volunteering their time to improve

48 THE LANGUAGE TEACHER Online • The Language Teacher • JALT Focus • OUTREACH international relations at the grassroots level month and later lodged in a low-cost hotel. He rather than teachers. I believe they volunteered was a volunteer in the true sense of the word. because they wanted to experience something Albert Schweitzer (1875-1965), winner of the new and feel they were wanted. I picked them 1952 Nobel Peace Prize, said, “I don’t know what both up at the airport and took care of them for your destiny will be, but one thing I know: the the duration of the visit. In Richard’s case, our only ones among you who will be really happy university paid for the flight plus a nominal are those who have sought and found how to amount for the work he did. Bill paid for his own serve.” If so, Richard and Bill should be really airfare, but stayed free at a home stay for one happy. JALTOFF FOCUS THE PRESSES n this occasional column, Researchers are interested in how affective our JALT Associate factors influence cognition or learning. And since I Members are given the language learning is primarily a social activity – opportunity to introduce it involves interaction with others – it is bound to something about their com- arouse emotions, some of which may be obsta- pany and their services. This cles to successful learning and teaching (Larsen- month, Cambridge University Freeman 2001). Two important aspects of affect Press author Jack C. Richards are anxiety and willingness to communicate. discusses affective factors in Anxiety is a product of many language learn- language teaching. ing and language using situations and has an obvious impact on learners’ learning/and or production of a second language (Horwitz 2010). Some Affective For example, when a learner tries to use English with a native-speaker or advanced speaker issues of face are involved: How will I appear to Factors in them? Will I come across as awkward? What will they think of my English? In lessons, the learner Language Teaching may also be concerned about his or her under- standing of how the class functions, how typical Jack C. Richards classroom tasks such as group work unfold, University of Sydney what his or her role should be in the class, and whether he or she has correctly understood the RELC, Singapore teachers’ intentions. And when the learner has to answer a question or perform an activity in front of the class he or she may be worried about Affect refers to a number of emotional factors how well he or she may respond. Will I do it that may influence language learning and correctly? Can I give the correct answer? Anxiety language use. These include basic personality can thus influence how willing a learner is to use traits such as shyness, long term factors such as his or her English, to take risks, or to speak up attitudes towards learning as well as constantly in class. And sometimes learners may shy away fluctuating states such as anxiety, boredom, from opportunities to practice their English with enthusiasm, apathy, and so on. Emotions are native speakers because they feel anxious about often a feature of language classes. In some their ability to express themselves well. classes one senses a feeling of positive interest and enthusiasm for learning. In others there may Some forms of anxiety are related to the be negative feelings of disinterest and boredom. classroom setting. Others relate to contexts And many classroom activities such as tests where the learner tries to use English outside of evoke stress and anxiety. the classroom and whether the student is trying to use English with a native speaker or a non- native speaker. THE LANGUAGE TEACHER: 36.6 • November / December 2012 49 The Language Teacher • JALT Focus • OFF THE PRESSES

In a study of learner anxiety, Woodrow (2006) if students are very exam-oriented and do not found that the five most stressful situations the see that communicative activities will help them learners (international students in an Australian pass an exam, they may have little motivation to university) reported were (ranked): communicate in a communication-oriented class. • Performing in front of classmates Effective teaching strategies in language teach- ing thus need to be learner-centred, that is, to • Giving an oral presentation reflect an understanding of the powerful contri- • Speaking in English to native speakers bution of learner factors such as those discussed • Speaking in English in classroom activities here, to achieve successful language learning. • Speaking in English to strangers Woodrow found that learners tried to cope References with anxiety in different ways. Some learners Breen, M. P. (2001). (Ed.). Learner Contributions to reported the need for perseverance. Others Language Learning. London: Longman. reported the need to improve ones language knowledge and skills, to think positively, and Cao, Y. (2009). An ecological view of situational to make use of compensation and relaxation willingness to communicate in a second techniques. In teaching English, it is therefore language classroom. In H. Chen & K. Cruick- important to consider the emotional demands shank (Eds.), Making a Difference: Challenges that learning a language involves – both during for Applied Linguistics (pp.199-218). Newcastle, in class and out of class occasions – and to help UK: Cambridge Scholar Press. students develop the emotional skills needed Horwitz, E. (2010). Foreign and second language to use English in both these situations. Some anxiety. Language teaching, 43(2), 154-167. teachers use songs, games, and other activities Larsen-Freeman, D. (2001). Individual cognitive/ to lower the anxiety level of lessons. Developing affective learner contributions and differential an awareness of the causes of negative emotions success in second language acquisition. In M. language learning involves can also be achieved P. Breen (2001), Learner Contributions to Lan- through activities in which students talk or write guage Learning (p. 12-24). London: Longman. about how they deal with the affective dimen- MacIntyre, P. D. (2007). Willingness to commu- sions of language learning. nicate in the second language: Understanding Another issue that can affect students’ class- the decision to speak as a volitional process. room participation is their willingness to attempt Modern Language Journal, 91(4), 564-576. to use English in the classroom (also referred to Peng, J. E. & Woodrow, L. (2010). Willingness to as WTC) (MacIntyre, 2007; Peng and Woodrow, communicate in English. Language Learning, 2010), a factor that has been linked to variables 60(4), 834-876. such as personality, self-confidence, attitudes, and motivation, and is linked to anxiety as well Wen, W. P., & Clement, R. (2003). A Chinese as learners’ views of their own communicative conceptualisation of willingness to communi- competence. “ …Learners who have higher cate in ESL. Language, Culture and Curriculum, perceptions of their communication competence 16(1), 18-38. and experience a lower level of communica- Woodrow, L. (2006). Anxiety and speaking tion anxiety tend to be more willing to initiate English as a second language. RELC Journal communication” (Peng and Woodrow, 2010, p. 37(3), 308-328. 836). However other situational factors are also involved, such as topic, task, group size, and cultural background (Cao, 2009). For example, in Never had an article some cultures, students may be more willing to published before? Lacking communicate in front of their peers in the class- confidence, or just unsure of room than in other cultures. Wen and Clement what to do? (2003) suggest that in China, group cohesiveness TLT’s Peer Support Group can help. and attachment to group members influence Chinese students’ WTC in the classroom. A student may believe that if he or she speaks up Learn to write with the help of our in class this may not be valued by other students experienced collaborative since it is judged as “showing off” and an writing team. attempt to make other students look weak. Also, 50 THE LANGUAGE TEACHER Online •

The Language Teacher • Column • SIG NEWS TLT COLUMNSIG NEWS

…with Jennie Roloff-Rothman Business English To contact the editor: The JALT Business English SIG is intended to develop the discipline of teaching English conducive to participation in the world business JALT currently has 26 Special community. We wish to provide instructors in Interest Groups (SIGs) available for this field with a means of collaborating and members to join. This column pub- sharing best teaching practices. lishes announcements of SIG events, JALT Business English SIGは、世界のビジネス界に通 mini-conferences, publications, or 用する英語教育の発展を目的に持ち、結成されました。連 calls for papers and presenters. SIGs 携体制を組み、最善の教育方法を共有することにより、英 wishing to print news or announce- 語教育に携わるインストラクターの皆様のお手伝いを致し ments should contact the editor by ます. the 15th of the month, 6 weeks prior to publication. College and University Educators You can access SIG News online at: [ � tertiary education, interdisciplinary collaboration, professional development, classroom research, innovative teaching ] [ & On CUE —2-3x year ] [  Annual SIG conference, regional events and workshops ] SIGs at a glance CUE will be sponsoring a hands-on, one-day Key: [ � = keywords ] [ & = publications ] [  workshop titled “Qualitative Research: Getting = other activities ] [  = email list ] [ ^ = online Started” to help those interested in beginning a forum] Note: For SIG contacts & URLs, please see JALT’s qualitative research study. Participants will work website . toward choosing a research topic and making a basic plan of study. Please join us if you are Bilingualism interested in the following topics: understand- ing basic principles of qualitative research, [ � bilingualism, biculturality, international families, child- learning different ways of collecting qualitative raising, identity ] [ & Bilingual Japan—3x year, Journal—1x data, managing and reflecting on qualitative year ] [  forums, panels ] [  ] data, or gaining insights to the general process of qualitative research. The event will be held The Bilingualism SIG, in coordination with on December 1, 2012 at Chukyo University in World Reads for Children, presents “Raising bi- Nagoya. Speakers include Naoko Aoki of Osaka lingual children in Japan.” This event introduces University and Robert Croker of Nanzan Uni- the benefits and challenges of raising bilingual versity. Registration for the day is 2000 yen, and children in Japan including education options preregistered participants receive complimentary and advice. It will be held on Sunday, November lunch. Please visit the CUE website to register. Management Inc. Seminar Room, Kioichofuku- Assistant Editor Needed for OnCUE Journal da-ya BLDG 2F, Kioi-cho 6-12, Chiyoda-ward, Tokyo. The venue is 5 minutes from JR Yotsuya Qualifications: This person needs to be extremely station on the Chuo and Sobu lines and the organized and time-conscious. Experience in Marunouchi and Nanboku subway lines. Details editing a journal (preferably one for JALT or can be found at . For more similar organization) is necessary, and strong information contact: Mary Nobuoka, Bilingual- proofreading or layout skills are highly recom- ism SIG coordinator . mended. Knowledge of APA formatting is essential (although you don’t have to know the manual cover to cover). Personal (social) com- munication skills are a must, especially since the THE LANGUAGE TEACHER: 36.6 • November / December 2012 53 The Language Teacher • Column • SIG NEWS

AE and I constantly deal with sensitive messages our website, our publication, and presentations to authors, associate editors, and other members throughout Japan, we help teachers set up and of CUE involved in the publishing process. The make the most of their ER programs. A variety of time needed to work on each issue will vary, information about the SIG and ER in general can and although it is an ongoing process to publish be found at our website: . each issue, there will be times that are far busier There are a number of publications produced than others, as well as quieter times. Ultimately, by the ER SIG. The newest is an online peer- this person may even be asked to take over reviewed journal called The Journal of Extensive the role of chief editor or section editor when a Reading (JER). We have gathered an esteemed vacancy arises. Send details related to the above editorial board of experts in the field, and are qualifications with your inquiry, along with a seeking submissions that present empirical brief description of your academic background research about extensive reading in various con- and research interests to Glen Hill, Chief Editor, texts. Please visit the ER SIG website and look OnCUE Journal . for JER under the “publications” tab for informa- tion and submission guidelines. We are also Computer Assisted Language Learning looking for motivated ER enthusiasts to join the editorial staff of JER. If you are interested in this [ � technology, computer-assisted, wireless, online learn- opportunity, please contact Peter Hourdequin at ing, self-access ] [ & JALT CALL Journal Newsletter—3x year . Additionally, the ER SIG is in ] [  Annual SIG conference, regional events and work- the 5th year of publishing Extensive Reading in shops ] [  ] [ ] ^ Japan (ERJ), a newsletter/journal dedicated to the The JALT CALL SIG will be publishing informa- same principles as our SIG. Back issues are avail- tion about our upcoming annual conference, able on our website. Just look for ERJ under the JALTCALL 2013, in the next month or two, so “publications” tab. For more information about keep checking the SIG website or how to submit articles or in becoming involved, follow us on Twitter <@JALTCALL>. Also, the please contact Mark Brierley at . SIG will be looking for people to help with the The ER SIG has started two grant programs JALTCALL Conference so anyone interested this year. One program is aimed at supporting should contact the SIG Coordinator . Finally, the post-conference helping institutions both in Japan and overseas special edition of the JALT CALL Journal will be with building ER programs. The criteria continue published in December so people should check to evolve, so please see the “Grants” page of the out the Journal archives on the SIG website ER SIG website for the latest information. . Framework & Language Portfolio Critical Thinking [ � curriculum-planning, assessment, language education re- [ � critical thinking ] [ & CT Scan—3x year ] form, Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR), European Language Portfolio (ELP) ] [ & newsletter ] [  We are ALWAYS looking for new input from seminar, workshops, materials development ] [  ] [ ^ ] teachers interested in critical thinking themes! We invite your ideas about the theory and teaching The Common European Framework of Reference practices regarding critical thinking. Whether it’s for languages (CEFR) and the Foreign Language a classroom idea, a reflection, or a full research Portfolio (FLP) are gaining momentum in Asia paper, we want to hear from you! Think about and throughout the world. In order to share writing for our quarterly newsletter, CT Scan, experiences and expertise in using them for the or our SIG website today. All submissions are good of students and teachers alike, the JALT welcome at . For more Framework & Language Portfolio (FLP) and information, visit us at . JACET English for Special Purposes (ESP) SIGs invited educators to a joint workshop event. On Extensive Reading July 7, a humid and rainy Saturday afternoon, more than 30 language teaching profession- [ � extensive reading, extensive listening ] [ & ERJ—3x als gathered at Tokai University’s Takanawa year ] [  Annual ER Seminar ] Campus to listen to several lively and highly informative presentations on how the CEFR The JALT ER SIG exists to help promote Ex- and the FLP may be implemented and applied tensive Reading (ER) in language teaching. Via in the Japanese educational context. The event 54 THE LANGUAGE TEACHER Online • The Language Teacher • Column • SIG NEWS featured more than half a dozen presenters details. Please email from both SIGs. Joined by the common goal of for any GALE related inquiries. improving applicability of CEFR and FLP to both teachers and students, lively discussions Global Issues in Language Education ensued after both parts of the split workshop- type presentation. Fergus O’Dwyer of the FLP [ � global issues, global education, content-based language SIG demonstrated how, as part of the EXPLICS teaching, international understanding, world citizenship ] [ & Global Issues in Language Education Newsletter—4x year project, hands-on tasks for ESP practice and ] [  Sponsor of Peace as a Global Language (PGL) confer- testing purposes for non-language majors were ence ] [  ] [ ] developed. Naoyuki Naganuma then presented ^ on a Kaken-financed project looking to design GILE aims to promote global awareness, in- CEFR-based textbooks for the Japanese language ternational understanding, and action to solve learning sphere. Participants were then asked world problems through content-based language to complete a survey to help the project leaders teaching, drawing primarily from the fields of understand what experienced language teaching global education, peace education, environmen- practitioners looked for in a good textbook. In tal education, and human rights education. The small groups, the participants then discussed SIG produces a quarterly newsletter, organizes some of the issues that came up when filling presentations for local, national, and interna- in the questionnaire. These discussions were tional conferences, and maintains contacts with fruitful, as many people expressed the desire groups ranging from Amnesty International to to access bottom-up materials for using the Educators for Social Responsibility to UNESCO. CEFR and the FLP. In a final discussion round, Contact us for a sample newsletter or for more participants shared the results of the group information about the SIG’s work in “teaching deliberations. This event was a thorough suc- for a better world.” Visit or contact cess as participants said that their expectations Kip Cates . were exceeded and they willingly engaged in student- and instructor-centered approaches Japanese as a Second Language for using the CEFR. Starting with JALT2012, we will devote much of our energy to supporting [ � Japanese as a second language ] [ & 日本語教育ニュー and promoting the Kaken project of producing スレター Japanese as a Second Language Newsletter—4x year ] [  AGM at the JALT conference ] [  ] CEFR-inspired textbooks for Japanese students. Initially, the SIG’s focus will be on only the target 論文・記事大募集：JALT日本語教育学会では日本語教 language English, but there are ongoing projects 育論集の発行を計画しています。研究報告、学会発表報 in place with producers of textbook materials 告論文、日本語教授・学習法に関する論文、ブック・レビ for other languages as well. The FLP SIG looks ューなど募集。日本語研究者、指導者、学習者の 皆様応 募お願いします。詳細は、Megumi Kawate-Mierzejewska forward to helping more students and language ＜[email protected]＞まで。 teaching professionals utilize CEFR and the FLP in a learner-centered and bottom-up fashion. *Call for Papers: JALT Journal of Japanese Lan- guage Education. Japanese as a second language Gender Awareness in Language Education researchers, teachers and learners are invited to contribute articles, research reports, essays, and [ � gender awareness, gender roles, interaction/discourse reviews. Please visit our website: . analysis, critical thought, gender related/biased teaching aims ] [ & newsletter/online journal ] [  Gender conference, Junior and Senior High School workshops ] [  ] [ ^ ] [ � curriculum, native speaker, JET programme, JTE, ALT, GALE works towards building a supportive internationalization ] [ & The School House—3-4x year ] community of educators and researchers [  teacher development workshops & seminars, net- interested in raising awareness and researching working, open mics ] [  ] how gender plays an integral role in education and professional interaction. We also network The School House, the JALT Junior and Senior and collaborate with other groups to promote High School SIG Newsletter, is accepting sub- pedagogical and professional practices, language missions for its next edition. We are looking for teaching materials, and research inclusive of research articles related to EFL theory or peda- gender and gender-related topics. Ongoing call gogy, technology articles, lesson ideas, confer- for papers for the academic journal. Visit our ence reviews, and anything else that pertains to website at and contact us for more teaching English in Japanese junior and senior THE LANGUAGE TEACHER: 36.6 • November / December 2012 55 The Language Teacher • Column • SIG NEWS

high schools. All submissions and inquiries hensive displays of the latest ELT materials for should be made to Robert Morel . Our goal is to function as an instiga- the two days of the conference. The event will tor, focal point, and clearing house for research be held November 3-4 from 9:00-6:30 at Kanda into secondary foreign language education in Institute of Foreign Languages, Building No. 3, Japan. In particular, we aim to encourage junior Uchikanda 2-13-13 Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 101-8525. and senior high EFL teachers to share the results Some of the engaging presentation titles include: of their work with others through written or oral • The World of Rakugo and English Rakugo presentations. We also strive to provide a focus (Tatsuya Sudo) within JALT for discussion of issues directly • Creating and Staging Personal Narrative as a related to the improvement and development of Solo Art Form (Michiyo Okawa) foreign language education in Japan’s secondary schools. • Debate for Everyone: Exercising the Brain and the Body (David Kluge) Learner Development • Oral Interpretation for Lifelong Learning: A Simple, Creative Way to Do Drama (David [ � learner autonomy, critical approaches to teaching and Kluge) learning, teacher/learner roles, learning processes, learn- ing content, group dynamics ] [ & Learning Learning, 2x • From Rehearsal to the Stage: Drama as a year; regular emailings to members; discussion list ] [  Bridge to the L2 (Aya Kawakami) regular local area get-togethers; ongoing practitioner/action • Improve with Improv: Using the rules research & ebook projects; conference grants; research of improvisation to build fluency (Dawn grants; forum at the annual JALT conference ] [  ] Kobayashi) In 2013 the Learner Development SIG is hoping • Role play for all university levels (Paul to hold a retreat in Tohoku in March, as well as Howl) a one-day conference in November in Tokyo, • Drama for children: Not just language and we want you to join us. We welcome the practice! (Nena Nikolic-Hosonaka) participation of teachers from diverse teaching For more information, see contexts: elementary school, junior high school, and language school settings, as well as teachers or . teaching languages other than English. The LD SIG is a lively, friendly and growing network Literature in Language Teaching with 200+ members around the world who have an interest in exploring and researching practices Thanks everyone for making our jovial and that help develop autonomous learning and literary corner of JALT National in Hamamatsu teaching. We are also interested in socio-cultural so friendly and productive! In our well-attended theory, critical approaches to teaching and learn- forum, Jane Nakagawa, Laura Kobata, Wendy ing, group dynamics, literacy development, and Nakanishi and Simon Bibby presented. Jane other interdisciplinary spaces in which teachers offered her views on the subject of “poetry for and learners may navigate. For more informa- everyone,” discussing relevant pedagogy and tion, please visit our website . practice. She provided practical examples for how teachers can use poetry effectively in their Lifelong Language Learning classrooms. Laura’s theme was “The Interde- pendency of Critical Thinking and Discussion [ � lifelong learning, older adult learners, fulfillment ] [ & Skills: Promoting the Development of Both in Told You So!—3x year (online) ] [  Pan-SIG, teaching the University English Literature Classroom.” contest, national & mini-conferences ] [  ] [ ] ^ She discussed some of the challenges of teaching We would like to invite you to participate in the L2 learners in the English literature classroom 2012 Lifelong Language Learning (LLL) SIG Mini as well as shared activities that have led to Conference. In conjunction with The 2012 Tokyo rewarding and productive class and small ELT Expo and Book Fair, the Speech, Drama & group discussions. Wendy and Simon jointly Debate Special Interest Group (SDD-SIG), and presented about their collaborative venture in the West Tokyo Chapter of JALT, the LLL SIG writing a new introductory literature book for will sponsor a strand of presentations on the Japanese language learners. They described topics of speech, drama, and debate. Compre- the practicalities of their distant work-sharing, 56 THE LANGUAGE TEACHER Online • The Language Teacher • Column • SIG NEWS suggested numerous texts that teachers can use, Other Language Educators and worked through a number of activities. Hearty thanks to all four presenters for a varied, [ � FLL beyond mother tongue, L3, multilingualism, second interesting and professionally valuable session foreign language ] [ & OLE Newsletter—4-5x year ] for LiLT Forum attendees. [  Network with other FL groups, presence at con- Our inaugural publication, The Journal of ventions, provide information to companies, support job Literature in Language Teaching, received plenty of searches and research ] very positive feedback from those we spoke with OLE has put up a special issue on the OLE at JALT National. Thanks for the kind words Coordinator’s Ehime University homepage everyone! We worked hard and are proud of the containing all OLE related presentations at inaugural issue of our peer-reviewed academic JALTCALL2012 and PanSIG 2012, including journal. Thanks to Gavin Brooks for coming OLE-sponsored guest speaker Tom Cobb’s on board editorially to give the journal a truly lecture. To view and download this for personal professional look. Submissions are welcome purposes, please go to . article, check the submission guidelines on pg. 42-44 of the journal As usual, OLE also plans to gather all presenta- and email the editors at . We tions at JALT2012 and make them available as a all need to “publish, publish, publish.” Here is compendium on the same homepage some time your chance. after the conference. For more and details of up- coming OLE activities, contact the coordinator at Next up, (and also the final big literary event of . the year), is the The World Storytelling Confer- ence at Kobe City University of Foreign Studies Pragmatics which will take place November 30-December 2 2012. This event is co-sponsored by several local [ � appropriate communication, co-construction of mean- groups including Kobe and Osaka Chapters, and ing, interaction, pragmatic strategies, social context ] [ & the LiLT SIG. Among the invited plenary speak- Pragmatic Matters (語用論事情) —3x year ] [  Pan-SIG ers is well-known storyteller and ELT author, and JALT conferences, Temple University Applied Linguistics Andrew Wright. Visit the WSTC homepage for Colloquium, seminars on pragmatics-related topics, other more information . publications ] [  ] This promises to be a fun weekend. See you The Pragmatics SIG is currently calling for sub- there! missions to the third volume in its Pragmatics Last message of the year: we hope Santa Resources series, a collection of pragtivities. Titled brings you lots of books, and we wish happy Bringing Pragmatics into the Classroom, this book festive reading to you and your students! will be a practical collection of lesson plans that incorporate pragmatics concepts into classroom Materials Writers activities. See the SIG website at for further details. [ � materials development, textbook writing, publishers and publishing, self-publication, technology ] [ & Between the Professionalism, Administration, and Keys—3x year ] [  JALT national conference events ] Leadership in Education [  ] [ ^ ] The Materials Writing SIG was established to [ � professional development, ethics, legal issues, leader- help members turn fresh teaching ideas into ship dynamics, comparative education, societal demands on educators ] [ & PALE Newsletter] useful classroom materials. We try to be a mutual assistance network offering information regard- This year’s PALE Forum speaker was Brian ing copyright law, sharing practical advice on Bresnihan. Brian teaches English as a foreign publishing practices (including self-publication), language at University of Hyogo. Before this, and suggesting ways to create better language he did administrative and supervisory work learning materials for general consumption or at Temple University Japan’s intensive English for individual classroom use. language program in Tokyo and at a small school in Hiroshima. Between those two positions, he spent four years studying at Teachers College, Columbia University and teaching ESL part- time in a few programs in New York City. His THE LANGUAGE TEACHER: 36.6 • November / December 2012 57 The Language Teacher • Column • SIG NEWS

academic interests, research, and publications the official publication of the SDD, was pub- are mainly concerned with classroom practices, lished in October. Waldorf education, and testing. Upcoming events include: a) the SDD co-spon- The title of his talk was “The Misuse of TOEIC sored conference (with ETJ Tokyo, LLL SIG, and Scores in Schools.” According to Brian, if you JALT West Tokyo Chapter) on November 3-4 at teach or study English in Japan or South Korea, Kanda Institute of Foreign Languages in Tokyo; the TOEIC is a part of your vocabulary and you b) the participation of members at the World feel like you know what it is. It has become a Storytelling Conference in Kobe on November part of your living environment and subcon- 30-December 2, and c) the SDD SIG Drama scious understanding of the world. Twenty years Conference (co-sponsored with Tokai University) ago, probably even fifteen years ago, this would on February 23-24 at Tokai University’s Yoyogi not have been the case. Strong marketing tactics Tokyo campus. Stay tuned for more information to create prestige of the TOEIC, coupled with and we welcome anyone interested in joining the modern-day belief that everything can be this exciting SIG! measured quantitatively has made the TOEIC a part of daily life Study Abroad The backbone of his talk was details from [ � study abroad, pre-departure curriculum, setting up, research studies performed by himself and by receiving students, returnees ] [ & Ryugaku—3-4x year ] [ several others which demonstrated that using  national and Pan-SIG conferences ] [  ] TOEIC scores to evaluate students’ progress and/or abilities in English language courses is a The Study Abroad SIG provides a supportive mistaken use of these scores. Bresnihan believes place for discussing areas of interest regarding that TOEIC scores are probably misunderstood study abroad and intercultural training. We by many people who use them; otherwise, the welcome submissions for our newsletter, Ryuu- widespread usage in situations that are inap- gaku, and we are looking for new officers to join propriate would not be taking place. This talk the team. Visit our new website at highlighted some of these misunderstandings. or contact us at . He also argued that many people have com- 当研究部会は、留学や異文化教育に関して議論し、ま pletely unreasonable expectations concerning the た支援できる場を提供しています。当部会のニュースレ possibilities for TOEIC score gains and that rely- ター“Ryuugaku”への皆様からの投稿をお待ちしておりま ing on these scores undermines and misdirects す。新役員の募集をしております。詳細は新ウェブサイト へお問い合わせは、 へお願いします。 English. Speech, Drama, & Debate Task-Based Learning There was a wonderful and varied program of The special edition of OnTask, which is devoted presentations on oral interpretation, speech, to the presentations of our successful Task-Based drama, and debate at JALT2012, including Learning and Teaching in Asia conference, will popular workshops by world-renowned present- be due out in December. ers Carolyn Graham, who did an oral interpreta- TBL SIG was created for teachers and other tion workshop on Jazz Chants Fairy Tales, and professionals who currently use, or are interested Ken Wilson who conducted a drama workshop in using task-based approaches in the classroom. on improvisation. One highlight was a wine and It focuses, in particular, on issues related to cheese party for SDD SIG members with Carolyn task-based language teaching and learning in the and Ken. The SDD SIG annual business meeting Asian EFL context. The SIG serves as a useful fo- discussed future SDD plans. Special thanks to rum for the exchange of practical teaching ideas, Karl O’Callaghan and Oxford University Press theoretical discussions, and academic studies for sponsoring Carolyn and Ken at JALT2012 and of TBLT issues. Our journal, OnTask, focuses on at the SDD conference. both research and theory in the form of feature In other exciting news, the SIG hosted well-at- articles as well as more practical TBLT-informed tended workshops by Carolyn Graham and Ken lesson plans. Potential contributors to OnTask are Wilson at the first SDD SIG conference, “Simply invited to contact our publications officer, Julian Dramatic Language Teaching” on October 16 at Pigott at . Nanzan University. The Mask & Gavel, Volume 1,

58 THE LANGUAGE TEACHER Online • The Language Teacher • Column • SIG NEWS

Teacher Education & Development Teaching Children

[ � action research, peer support, reflection and teacher [ � children, elementary school, kindergarten, early child- development ] [ & Explorations in Teacher Education— hood, play ] [ & Teachers Learning with Children, bilingual— 4x year ] [  library, annual retreat or mini-conference, 4x year ] [  JALT Junior at national conference, regional Pan-SIG sponsorship, sponsorship of a speaker at the JALT bilingual 1-day conferences ] [  ] [ ^ ] national conference ] [  ] [ ] ^ The TC SIG is for teachers of children of all ages. The Teacher Education and Development (TED) We publish a bilingual newsletter four times a SIG is a network for those who want to help year with columns by many of the leading teach- themselves and others become better teachers. ers in the field. We are always looking for new Our activities include retreats, conferences, a li- ideas and new people to keep the SIG dynamic. brary of books available for loan, and an Internet With our bilingual newsletter, we particularly discussion group. TED’s comprehensive newslet- want to appeal to Japanese teachers and teachers ter Explorations in Teacher Education welcomes who team-teach. There is an email list for teach- stimulating articles! Our current issue features ers of children who would like to share ideas or proceedings from the engaging EFL Teacher questions . Hope you Journeys Conference held on June 24th, 2012 in can join us for one of our upcoming events. Shizuoka city (with Shizuoka JALT). Featured 児童教育部会は 子どもに英語（外国語）を教える全て speakers Dr. Patrick Kiernan of Meiji University, の教師を対象にした部会です。当部会では、この分野で and Wilma Luth of Hokkai Gakuen University 著名な教師が担当するコラムを含むバイリンガルの会報 both have articles in the issue, as do many other を年４回発 行しており、日本人の先生方の参加も積極的 interesting presenters from the event. Find out に募っています。日ごろの活動として子どもに英語を指導 more about TED at . You can also するアイデアや疑問を交換する場であるメーリングリスト を運営しています。活発な部会 stay in touch with us online by becoming a を維持していくためにも新会員を常に募集しておりますの friend of our mascot, Ted Sig, on Facebook, or で今後開催される部会の催し物へぜひご参加ください。 following him <@tedsig> on Twitter or Google Plus. Testing & Evaluation Thanks to everyone who came out to the TED- CUE forum at JALT National this year in Hama- [ � research, information, database on testing ] [ & matsu! This was a great event that highlighted Shiken—3x year ] [  Pan-SIG, JALT national conference ] many unique perspectives on the conference’s [  ] [ ^ ] theme of “making a difference.” The Testing and Evaluation SIG is concerned Teachers Helping Teachers with all aspects of testing and evaluating lan- guage performance and language programs, and [ � teacher training, international education programs, lan- welcomes both experienced teachers and those guage training, international outreach ] [ & THT Journal— who are new to this area who wish to learn more 1x year, THT Newsletter—4x year ] [  teacher training about it. Our interests encompass quantitative conferences/seminars in Bangladesh, Laos, Vietnam, and the and qualitative approaches to language assess- Philippines, AGM at JALT national conference ] [  ] ment, including alternatives to traditional testing As you read this, we are finishing up our Kyr- such as peer and self assessment, portfolios, and Shiken gyzstan and Bangladesh programs and looking to project evaluation. , our refereed newslet- plan our conference forum, which focuses on the ter, contains a variety of assessment-related Kyrgyzstan program, but if you are reading this, articles, including research reports, interviews you know that everything went swimmingly! The with prominent authors, book reviews, instruc- Yokohama JALT chapter has organized a THT tional columns on statistical analysis, Rasch showcase for their chapter meeting on November measurement, and assessment literacy. 18, where volunteers will discuss their experi- Vocabulary ences on the programs and answer questions for those who would like to attend. Our upcoming The Vocabulary SIG thanks you for your partici- events are Laos (February-March, dates flexible) pation in the JALT 2012 Conference. We publish and Vietnam (in early June), so if you are inter- our bulletin VERB (Vocabulary Education and ested, please contact Joe Tomei, JALT THT-SIG Research Bulletin) twice a year and the fall issue Coordinator . has already come out. To read online or to make a submission for upcoming issues please see our THE LANGUAGE TEACHER: 36.6 • November / December 2012 59 The Language Teacher • Column • SIG NEWS

Publications page: . We Teaching. The Vocabulary SIG aims to provide are looking forward to the 2013 Vocabulary SIG a forum for focused research and discussion in Symposium, which will be in Kyushu early next specific regard to vocabulary acquisition. We aim year (date TBA). The proceedings from the 2012 to offer both teachers and researchers a place to Symposium are online in the first issue of the connect regarding how learners improve vocabu- online journal Vocabulary Learning and Instruction lary knowledge, how to test their knowledge, at . and how these theoretical aspects connect to The Vocabulary SIG is a special interest group classroom practice. (SIG) of the Japan Association for Language TLTCHAPTER COLUMN EVENTS

Barker, Gifu University. Though many teachers …with Gary Wolff have experience teaching English conversation, the results can often be limited. This may be To contact the editor: because learners don’t have sufficient command of the language. Teaching English conversation to Japanese university students can be like teach- Each of JALT’s 36 active chapters ing dramatic skills to actors who don’t know sponsors from 5 to 12 events every year. All JALT members their lines. This presentation will consider what may attend events at any chapter English conversation is, how it can be taught, at member rates—usually free. and what kinds of knowledge students need to Chapters, don’t forget you can add do it well. Sun 18 Nov 13:30-16:30; Hamamatsu Sh- your event anytime to the online imin Kyodo Center (across from Create Hamamatsu); JALT calendar at the URL shown See ; Non-members ¥1,000. below. HAMAMATSU—Our annual My Share, JALT EVENTS ONLINE: You can 2012. This has become our most popular event access all of JALT’s events online at . of the year. Everyone is invited to share a 15-20 minute presentation on something having to do with a teaching experience during the year. It could be a teaching method, experience, theoreti- cal point, or something just fun that you think other teachers could benefit from. People who FUKUI—Basics of vocabulary study in the test present will get a discount toward an after- practice class by Charles Jannuzi. In EFL situa- meeting light dinner together (please pay for tions, students do not have very many chances any alcohol on your own). Please send a short to use English outside of class. This might cause abstract of your presentation to our programs teachers to ask: Are we truly helping students chair, Jon Dujmovich, by Sunday, December 1 at to acquire a broad, deep, and nuanced lexicon? . Sat 8 Dec 18:00-21:00; In this presentation, we will look at ways to ZaZa City Palette, 5F, Room A; See ; expand our use of the limited vocabulary prac- Non-members ¥1,000. tices, which are often found in test-preparation textbooks used in Japanese universities. Sun 9 Dec 13:30-15:30; Open University of Japan Fukui HIROSHIMA—The best ways to learn Japa- Campus, AOSSA, 7F; ; Non-members nese by Ed McNamara, Koyo Higashi High ¥1,000, Non-member students ¥500. School; Monika Szirmai, Hiroshima Interna- tional University; Warren Tang, Hiroshima University; and Joe Lauer, Hiroshima Univer- HAMAMATSU—What is “English conversa- sity. What are the best ways to learn Japanese? tion,” and how can it be taught? by David Four enthusiastic learners of the language will 60 THE LANGUAGE TEACHER Online • The Language Teacher • Column • CHAPTER EVENTS tell their stories and secrets. They will explain IWATE—English debate in Japanese high school about their goals, methods, tribulations, and by Cory Koby, Sendai Shirayuri Gakuen Jr./Sr. realizations. During the final 30 minutes, mem- High School. With his experience taking teams bers of the audience will be encouraged to tell twice to the All-Japan High School English Debate their stories too! Sun 25 Nov 15:00-17:00; Peace Tournament, Koby will present on the challenges Park, 3F Conference Room; Non-members ¥500, and rewards of engaging Japanese high school Students ¥250. students in English debate. Special attention will be paid to the benefits of debate generally, as well HIROSHIMA—Hiroshima JALT mini-conference as the benefits for language learners to debate in & book fair by Barbara Sakamoto, and oth- L2. Presentation attendees will walk away with ers. One of the largest language teaching a clear understanding of the process and proce- conferences in the Chugoku region will feature dures involved in debating. Sun 9 Dec 13:30-16:00; presentations on teaching students of all ages, Aiina, Room 602; One-day members ¥1,000. covering such areas as CALL, extensive reading, learner development, global issues, and teaching IWATE—Reports from the JALT2012 conference. children with special needs. There will also be Iwate members and friends who attended the publishers’ displays. Everyone is welcome. Sun conference in Hamamatsu are invited to join us 16 Dec 9:00-17:00; YMCA (Red Brick Building), 7-11 and share highlights from the best sessions they Hatchobori, Naka-ku; For details, go to or check local emails; Fees TBD. at a local restaurant. Sun 9 Dec; Aiina, Room 602; One-day members ¥1,000. HOKKAIDO—JALT Hokkaido conference 2012. Theme: Making it real: In the classroom and out. KANSAI—Joint Kansai 2012 end-of-year Keynote Address: Make it real: What does that event. Following the success from last year in really mean? by Donna Hurst Tatsuki, Kobe City Nishinomiya, this December Kyoto JALT will University of Foreign Studies. Featured Sympo- be hosting the end-of-year event for the Kansai sium: Can you use chopsticks? Micro-aggression, region. Following the PechaKucha format we pragmatic failure, and culture. Sat 3 Nov 9:00-17:00; will have an eclectic line-up of entertaining Hokkai Gakuen University; ; Guests and stimulating presentations. Don’t miss this ¥2,000; If preregistered, ¥1,000. opportunity to catch up with colleagues and see new faces from around the Kansai region. HOKKAIDO—Year-end potluck dinner. JALT Further details will be posted at members, families, and friends are all invited to as they are confirmed. share in this informal occasion. Turkey and soft drinks will be provided, but everyone is asked KITAKYUSHU—PechaKucha night! by various to bring a dish to share. Sun 16 Dec 16:00-19:00; speakers. Kitakyushu JALT will be hosting our Hokkaido International School; ; Non-members requested to bring a presentations to do with classroom learning and donation. teaching. There will be 6 presenters who will each take turns presenting their chosen topic using IBARAKI—Coaching in TPR storytelling’s core only 20 slides for 20 seconds each. This creative “circling” technique by Dominic Jones. This event promises to be a rewarding experience for all workshop demonstrates the teaching skill of involved where people can have fun sharing ideas “circling” and coaches teachers in its use, so and thoughts about their classroom experiences that they can add it to their teaching tool kit. and research. Sat 10 Nov 18:30-20:00; Please check our Secondly: Sign language in the language-teaching website closer to the date to confirm the venue: ; One-day members ¥1,000. and Martin Pauly. The presenters will present web-related aspects, the grammar of ASL, and KITAKYUSHU—End of year social event. Come the actual practice of sign language, respectively. join us for our end of year social. Check the Afterwards, join us for the Annual Chapter chapter website for further details closer to the Year-End Party. Please check our website for date. Sat 8 Dec; Time, venue, and price TBA; . . THE LANGUAGE TEACHER: 36.6 • November / December 2012 61 The Language Teacher • Column • CHAPTER EVENTS

MATSUYAMA—Learning communication strat- Nagoya International Center, 3F, Lecture Room 1; egies from filmsby Kimiko Ochi and Danielle ; One- Kurihara, Matsuyama University. Japanese day members ¥1,000, 1st visit free. university students are used to learning English at the word and sentence level. However, it is OKAYAMA—A framework for selecting possible to motivate them to acquire communica- appropriate online vocabulary learning envi- tion strategies and meaning through films. In ronments by Rob Waring. This talk will first our presentation we will demonstrate various present an overall view of the vocabulary needs activities such as vocabulary-building and listen- of learners—receptive and productive as well as ing using a movie script. We will also show the language-focused and fluency-focused activities. students’ final productions which incorporate We will examine many of the online resources these communication strategies. Sun 11 Nov that can fit this framework from decontextualized 14:15-16:20; Shinonome High School Kinenkan 4F; memorization environments such as Anki, iknow, One-day members ¥1,000. or Quizlet to the more integrated environments such as EnglishCentral and graded reading online. MATSUYAMA—A brief introduction of dis- The participants will be asked to decide which course intonation in English and its contribution ones would best fit their needs. Sat 24 Nov 15:00- to the TEF by Yoshio Ido, Ehime University. 17:00; NDSU at Logos Hall; Non-members ¥500. Intonation performs a variety of functions in light of evidence from naturally occurring OKAYAMA—Brain plasticity and learning: spoken discourse. Ido’s talk will elaborate on The role of emotion, cognition, and movement a brief sketch of tone unit based upon David by Curtis Kelly. We learn because the brain is Brazil’s work (1985), and to see how the func- plastic. It is not hard-wired as was long believed, tions of pitch, key & termination, and pitch and we are now learning how the reward system sequence commit to the EFL teaching. Sun 9 Dec affects plasticity and learning, including the 14:15-16:20; Shinonome High School Kinenkan 4F; super-learning we call “addiction.” Dopamine One-day members ¥1,000. is essential for permanent learning, and the fact that the reward system connects the cognitive, NAGOYA—Developing a motivational class- emotional, memory, and movement parts of room environment by Sean Paydon, Tokai Univer- our brains give us clues as to what we need to sity. This workshop is about developing classroom do in the language classroom. Sat 15 Dec 15:00- group dynamics to remove barriers to interaction, 17:00; NDSU at Logos Hall; Non-members ¥500. enhance student motivation, and increase learning gains. Group dynamics can facilitate motivation OKINAWA—Making a difference: Highlights of by developing interpersonal trust and intensifying JALT2012. Presenters are Okinawa JALT mem- student bonding. The workshop will discuss some bers who participated in JALT2012 at ACT City, of the background theory before undertaking Hamamatsu. Summaries and photos of plenaries, a variety of fun, interactive activities designed to workshops, etc. will be shared and discussed. develop group dynamics and motivation. Finally, we will reflect on the workshop’s content. Sun 18 Nov 13:30-16:00; Nagoya International Center, 3F, Lecture Room 2; ; One-day members ¥1,000, 1st visit free. JALT Apple Store

NAGOYA—Vocabulary: Meaning, form, Don’t forget, JALT pronunciation, and beyond by Brad Deacon, Nanzan University. In a well-balanced language membership brings program, what kinds of opportunities should added bonuses, such exist for developing students’ L2 vocabulary? as� discounted Apple products In this workshop, participants will learn both through the JALT Apple Store. useful strategies and techniques for teaching vocabulary, and a greater sense of how to plan for effective vocabulary acquisition in their language programs. Sun 9 Dec 13:30-16:00;

62 THE LANGUAGE TEACHER Online • The Language Teacher • Column • CHAPTER EVENTS

Sun 18 Nov 14:00-17:00; Meio University Research by Megan Peck. Sat 10 Nov 13:30-15:30; Yamaga- Center Lecture Room, Nago; Details/questions: ta-shi Kajo-kominkan; Free. , , or 090-1945-5224; Students and members free, YOKOHAMA—Teachers helping teachers by Bill non-members ¥1,000 donation. Mboutsiadis, Jenny Morgan, Yuki Maehara, Joe Tomei, and others. This program will introduce OKINAWA—Annual Christmas/bonenkai/ the THT-SIGs programs in Bangladesh, Laos, family brunch. This event is open to members, Kyrgyzstan, and Vietnam. The THT-SIG works non-members, and their families and friends. It to aid and assist fellow educators and students is a time to share an “East-West” feast with old in and around Asia. We fulfill this mission by friends and new. A review of the chapter’s 2012 providing teacher-training workshops that exhibit events and a calendar of upcoming events will be practical student and teacher-friendly approaches distributed. An informal survey to ascertain pref- to language education that are informed by erences, suggestions, ideas, etc. for future events current research. Participants will talk about will also be given. Sun 9 Dec 12:00-14:00; Lanai their experiences to provide a better idea of what Restaurant, Taiyo Golf Course, Gushikawa (Uruma); presentations are sought. Information about other Check Okinawa JALT Facebook and websites for volunteer opportunities will be provided. Sun 18 updates; Reservations necessary: or . YOKOHAMA—My Share and end of year SENDAI—The Tohoku ELT Expo. In collabora- party. My Share is an event where members tion with ETJ, Sendai JALT is proud to present present ideas, techniques, games, and activities the Tohoku ELT Expo, part of a national series that have worked well. Each presentation should of expos. The one-day mini-conference will offer be around 15-30 minutes long, focusing on quality presentations and materials displays for practical explanation, demonstration, or getting language teachers in any context: university, the audience to perform the technique. If you junior & senior high, elementary, kindergarten, would like to present, just come on the day with and private language school. Presentations will 25 copies of any materials you want to share. The be given by speakers from around Japan and the My Share will be accompanied by a book swap Sendai/Tohoku region. The aim is to provide for charity and followed by our end of year top-class presentations and publishers’ material party. Sat 15 Dec 13:00-17:00; Kannai Hall; Details displays for every kind of English teacher. Sun 2 will be posted at . Dec 9:30-17:00; Tohoku Bunka Gakuen University; ; ETJ & JALT members ¥500, general admission ¥1,000. JALT Journal SENDAI—Highlights from JALT International is a refereed research journal Conference 2012 & annual year-end party. of the Japan Association for Local members will report on the best presenta- Language Teaching tions they attended at the JALT International Conference. This is a great chance to learn about (全国語学教育学会). up-and-coming researchers/teachers in the field It invites practical and of ELT, learn of new innovations which may help theoretical articles and us in the classroom, and hear the stories behind research reports on second/ this yearly highlight of the Japanese ELT com- munity. This will be followed by our year-end foreign language teaching party to celebrate our collective successes in the and learning in Japanese and classroom. Sat 15 Dec 14:00-17:00; Sendai Shimi Asian contexts. Support Center; ; JALT members free, one-day members ¥1,000. For more information and submission guidelines see YAMAGATA—California and USA in terms of its history, culture, education, language, etc.

THE LANGUAGE TEACHER: 36.6 • November / December 2012 63

The Language Teacher • Column • CHAPTER REPORTS TLTCHAPTER COLUMN REPORTS

textbooks. We looked at textbooks from several …with Tom Mahler Asian countries including China, Japan, Malaysia, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Taiwan and were To contact the editor: surprised at the diversity of the textbooks on offer. Whilst other textbooks used their native language The Chapter Reports column is in a limited way, the Japanese books seemed to a forum for sharing with the TLT translate instructions in a more comprehensive readership synopses of presenta- manner. A short discussion followed and while tions held at JALT chapters around many reasons were offered for poor understand- Japan. For more information on ing of instructions, no firm conclusions could these speakers, please contact be drawn. As with many presentations we have the chapter officers in the JALT been treated to over the years, time is always our Contacts section of this issue. For worst enemy and we were forced to carry on our guidelines on contributions, see the discussion at the local izakaya. Submissions page on our website. Reported by Brent Simmonds You can access Chapter Reports online at: GIFU: July—Vocabulary: Meaning, form, pro- nunciation and beyond by Brad Deacon. In a AKITA: July—Motivating communities of well-balanced language program, how can we practice for teachers by Joe Falout. Even the develop students’ L2 vocabulary? In a thought most motivated teachers can at some point feel provoking, hands-on workshop, Deacon discussed the classic symptoms of burnout. Avoiding the kinds of vocabulary students should learn, in burnout and maintaining motivation is impor- and out of class study techniques, effective ways tant for professional satisfaction. This workshop to teach across the four skills, as well as invoking focused on ways for teachers to maintain their relevant theoretical support. The workshop began motivation through three principles: managing with a lesson in basic Swahili which showed us emotions, joining communities, and boosting how to model new language. A demonstration of efficacy. The presenter started by having the bad teaching in French followed, which provoked audience complete a survey, then he went on to feedback from the audience. These activities put us provide a theoretical base from social psychol- into the mind of the learner and emphasized the ogy, using helpful anecdotes to illustrate particu- importance of enjoyment and being at ease whilst lar points. Workshop participants were asked to learning new vocabulary. The demonstration explore their own pathways toward increasing lessons showed how both learners’ productive and their sense of control, autonomy, and relatedness reproductive skills could be developed. He went within their work environments and professional on to outline three areas that the students need to communities of practice by engaging in interac- learn: meaning, form and pronunciation. Perhaps tive pair and group activities. the most important question is what vocabulary Reported by Stephen Shucart the students need to learn? Deacon discussed the work of Nation and others and suggested teachers should concentrate on the 2000 high frequency GIFU: June—Can textbooks tell why the Japanese academic word list. The presenter outlined several lag behind other Asian countries on standard sources to help our quest and demonstrated other tests of English proficiency? by Dr. Najma Janjua. methods of teaching vocabulary including pneu- Janjua took us on a whirlwind tour of 10 countries monic, mind mapping, and incomplete texts. The in search of answers to the question posed in workshop was a valuable opportunity to discuss, the title of his presentation. He had noticed with collaborate, and process why certain techniques some frustration that Japanese students had succeed or fail in the EFL classroom. difficulty following relatively simple instructions Reported by Brent Simmonds and considered whether the answer may lie in the THE LANGUAGE TEACHER: 36.6 • November / December 2012 65 The Language Teacher • Column • CHAPTER REPORTS

GUNMA: August—23rd JALT-Gunma summer trying to show warm concern for her teacher. workshop at Kusatsu. This year’s theme: Ways to Ishihara noted that such socio-cultural pragmatic promote active learning in L2 teaching. While Kanto differences can take learners years to grasp, but sweated and sweltered, thirty language teachers that socio-cultural awareness can be stimulated retreated into the cool of the mountains. There, through discussion and teaching of appropriate while relaxing in one of Japan’s premier onsen language such as conversational management resort towns, they attended lectures given by and speech acts. Instructional examples given two world-famous language-teacher trainers, Dr. for achieving this were discourse completion William Grabe and Dr. Fredricka Stoller. Col- tasks, analysis and discussion of authentic data leagues at Northern Arizona University, Grabe and movie clips, role-plays, and didactic circles and Stoller collaborated on their two lectures, where students learn how to give and respond choosing to team-teach rather than present solo. to compliments appropriately. All of these are Their lively dialog resulted in an engaging, followed up with corrective feedback. Ishihara and at the same time laid-back atmosphere. On also introduced how she teaches and explores day one, Stoller and Grabe explored important pragmatics with children, making use of English principals of effective vocabulary learning, intro- picture books and the L1. Finally, she compared ducing numerous techniques for implementing a textbook greeting example with authentic these principles along the way. On day two, they greetings, and suggested that textbook examples exposed and debunked popular myths sur- can be compared with authentic material such as rounding L2 reading and reading instruction. In those available on . This Internet resource not secret identities: The Myth Busters! The work- only provides guidance for English speech acts, shop in Kusatsu is also a chance for a handful but Japanese and other languages as well; a use- of attendees to showcase their recent academic ful resource for both learning and teaching! For achievements. JALT-Niigata chapter president those looking for practical guidance and lesson David Coulson presented the sobering results of plans for teaching pragmatics, she recommended his personally conducted research into reading Houck, N., & Tatsuki, D. (Eds.). (2011). Pragmat- abilities of students in Japan and Korea. Local ics: Teaching natural conversation, Alexandria, VA: member James McKnight shared his successes Teachers of English to speakers of other languages. in implementing an advanced writing program Reported by Haidee Thomson for elite junior high students at Chuo Second- ary School. Founding members of the Critical NAGOYA Thinking SIG David Gann and Nicholas Bufton : July ― How to utilize games and showed how a blended-learning approach psychology to increase motivation in Language streamlined their classes. By allowing students classrooms by James Rogers. Rogers introduced to access lectures through podcasts, they have some seven- to fifteen-minute games used in his opened up class time for text reconstruction and classes to improve students’ motivation. In Buz- other activities designed to improve students’ zwords, Rogers set two buzzers on the podium CT skills. Attendees of this year’s workshop left and showed how to push the buzzer and get the refreshed and full of ideas to promote active L2 right to answer. In Family Feud, you can use game learning. If this sounds good to you, think about show effects websites like and the TV show, Mil- lionaires’ “Is this your final answer?” In a recent Reported by John Larson Harvard brain activity study, “The Science of Bragging and Boasting,” MRI data revealed that HOKKAIDO: July—Enhancing learners’ cross- talking about ourselves lights up the same areas cultural communication skills: L2 pragmatics of the brain that food and money activate. Taking for all ages by Noriko Ishihara. Ishihara advantage of Sigmund Freud’s nephew, Edward introduced the topic of pragmatic competence Bernays’ concept of The Almighty Id, Rogers with an anecdote from an anonymous ALT, to incorporated personality tests into his lessons. which many of us could relate; a student com- He found the tests available on to be the most engaging. By become thin. This situation, Ishihara stated, is utilizing these tests, students fulfill their need to a pragmatic failure. The teacher is offended by talk about themselves and their own experiences such direct comments, despite the fact that the and opinions while at the same time speaking, student did not intend to offend; rather she was reading, listening, comprehending, and practic- 66 THE LANGUAGE TEACHER Online • The Language Teacher • Column • CHAPTER REPORTS ing highlighted keywords. Students are also to check whether their usage matches what is interested in their scores. It takes fifteen minutes most commonly found in English writing on the and after that they discuss the results for twenty Internet. minutes, which they enjoy very much. Reported by Scott Gardner Reported by Kayoko Kato SENDAI: May—1) English debate in Japanese NARA: July ― Opening your own school: high schools by Cory Koby. This professionally How hard can it be? by Malcolm Harding, presented talk gave us a fascinating insight Matthew Reynolds, Catriona Takeuchi, and into the high-pressure, intense, and sometimes Andrew Atkinson. The experiences, teaching emotionally charged world of national high principles, and business strategies of these four school debating teams. Koby provided us with a school owners were shared. Starting off with detailed account of just how much planning and his initial motivation to open his school (to raise practice goes into taking a team to the national his children bilingually), Harding discussed the debate finals. The rigid structure of the debates, actual process of opening schools: financing, and the fast nature of the discourse mean the searching for a location, and finding qualified team must be in perfect harmony and the details teachers and training them. Reynolds introduced of arguments must be meticulously planned. not only learning courses, but also creature Koby hinted that success does not always mean comforts available at his school for students and being number one, but must be measured their families. His diverse background as an against previous successes, both as a teacher English professional has enabled him to acquire and student. 2) Task based learning by Daniel a keen sense of business. Takeuchi gave us tips Eichhorst. Eichhorst oozed enthusiasm for the for being a female owner without any associates: university discussion classes he described and keeping it small and simple, talking to people, demonstrated in this presentation. It was obvi- and staying open to change. She also advised us ous that his students also enjoyed the structured not to be overwhelmed with a lot of information. opportunity to speak and discuss the weekly Atkinson’s strong ties with his neighborhood topics. It is a simple concept—weekly homework community has enabled him to spend no is to read an article and answer a series of money on advertising by only relying on word questions, the answers forming the foundation of mouth. He emphasized the importance of for small group discussions. A simple concept considering local needs and demands. “Owners and yet one, which through repetition, has the are not competitors” was one of the most inter- capacity to push students to greater levels of esting comments made by them. Actually they critical thinking, as well as improved written and all support each other and are good friends. spoken fluency. Reported by Motoko Teraoka Reported by Joanne Sato

OKAYAMA: July—An online corpus workshop SENDAI: June—Brain days events ELT and by Ted O’Neill. Utilizing an e-learning center neuroscience mini-conference. This was the on the campus of a local university, O’Neill gave highlight of the year at Sendai JALT, a rich, a clear, hands-on, from-the-basics explanation vibrant two-day conference, focusing on the of some online resources for lexical analysis of fascinating field of neuroscience and the pos- texts. Focusing mainly on Tom Cobb’s Compleat sible applications of it to language teaching Lexical Tutor site, O’Neill showed how to check and learning. Marc Helgesen started off with word frequency in a given text, and how to test Happiness 2.0, exploring how positive psychol- a text’s word usage against standard frequency ogy can be employed in classroom tasks for our models of English (for L2 learning purposes). students to flourish and improve as language These online tools can be used to make cloze learners. In The neuroscience of lesson design, tests, to create appropriate ER materials, or to Curtis Kelly provided a powerful example of ensure repeated exposure to vocabulary by how our memories work better with stories and comparing word frequencies across several texts. meaningfulness. His description of the brain as a O’Neill finished the session by introducing some pharmacy was a fascinating new metaphor for us other online lexis analyzers such as COCA (the to think about. Robert S. Murphy busted loads Corpus of Contemporary American English) and of Neuromyths, suggesting these myths may be Phraseup, a simple concordance students can use having a negative impact on our teaching. Tim

THE LANGUAGE TEACHER: 36.6 • November / December 2012 67 The Language Teacher • Column • CHAPTER REPORTS

Murphey wove a tale through his Diversity SENDAI: August—TED talk favorites by peering mirroring neurons talk, describing how Harumi Kimura, Austin Lantz, Cory Koby, important it is to introduce diversity into our Charles Adamson, and Joanne Sato. JALT classrooms in order to expand our students’ Sendai is very proud to score another JALT first! ZPDs. With such a stellar presenting team we Created in a similar vein to My Share, five local were compelled to assess how we could utilize members brought with them five very engag- the new ideas in our classrooms. The discussions ing and entertaining TED Talks that somehow continued with Off to the onsen: Up to our relate to language teaching, education, and necks in neuro-ELT with Robert S. Murphy. The professional development. Orchestrated by onsen was full of the collective buzz of educators Marc Helgesen, our five presenters preceded the being educated. Helgesen provided the evening group viewing of their TED Talk selection with a entertainment through a witty PechaKucha brief introduction of the TED speaker. Following style slide show, which had us in hysterics. On each viewing, respective presenters led attendees Sunday, Murphy took us deeper through a series in a group discussion of the issues raised in their of workshops focusing on the structures of the selected video. Kimura kicked off the event with brain, ending with a wonderful display of an The optimism bias by Talia Sharot who explained EEG machine – truly FABulous! in a humorous way how we tend to maintain an Reported by Joanne Sato optimistic bias in life despite contrary knowl- edge and reality. Lantz then introduced Show SENDAI kids how to teach themselves by Sugata Mitra. This : July—English education for children at talk was truly amazing, and our members were Meysen Academy – What we have learned in our left with a real sense of WOW after learning how 46 year history by Jeremy Jenkins and Clifford kids were able to organize, learn, and collaborate Moore. This highly informative and very well in the complete absence of any teacher. Koby organized presentation gave JALT attendees then shook things up quite radically with Clif- the opportunity to learn about the 46-year ford Stoll’s The call to learn which left attendees history and experience of Meysen Academy, an nearly breathless and very much in need of a educational institution in Sendai that focuses break! Adamson began our second half with 5 on teaching children English through natural ways to listen better which gave us much insight communication and a nurturing environment. A and food for thought on the art of listening. With group of missionaries started one kindergarten little time left, Sato closed this fantastic event in 1967, which has since multiplied into a variety with an abbreviated and animated version of Sir of programs with a total of over 3,000 students. Ken Robinson’s Changing education paradigms— This led to the creation of GrapeSEED, an inno- confirming what many of us believe is wrong vative curriculum that is being used in hundreds with institutionalized education today. This was of schools around the world, including public a highly successful JALT event, and we strongly schools in the United States. The presentation urge other chapters and SIGS to make similar was two-fold: the first focusing on the history of TED Talk meetings part of their regular event the school, the reason for the creation of the vari- programming. ous programs, and the educational philosophy that creates the culture at MeySen; the second Reported by Cory Koby half focusing on the more technical aspects of the GrapeSEED curriculum and its development, YOKOHAMA: May—Phonics to literacy by what makes it innovative, and the success of the Brad Semans and Teaching debating and program. Jenkins and Moore brought with them critical thinking by John Finucane. In May, revealing and enlightening facts and figures Yokohama JALT was visited by two presenters that left our members with a very clear under- from Saitama. Both presentations focused on standing of what has made Meysen Academy a young learners. First, Semans discussed the four visionary leader in children’s English education components of his reading lessons (literacy skills, here in Japan. literature appreciation, student reading, and Reported by Cory Koby reading readiness and readiness development) and how these components apply to the different stages of acquiring literacy. For example, Stage 1 learners start out with the teacher reading to them, helping them develop an interest in different genres, making predictions with book 68 THE LANGUAGE TEACHER Online • The Language Teacher • Column • CHAPTER REPORTS covers and pictures, and beginning to recognize with its clear objectives and role-based structure, vowels, anchor words, and sight words. By Stage results in plentiful and meaningful exchanges. 10, students are doing independent reading, Reported by James Bates comparing literature, and analyzing plots and character motivation. By progressing through the different stages, learners are striving towards YOKOHAMA: July—Practical ideas for teaching the ultimate goal of functional literacy, where pronunciation by Ayako Kanamaru, Chie Shi- students can approach a text with expectation ramizu, and Terry Yearley. The new Course of and be prepared to access, accept or reject what Study for Junior (2008) and Senior High Schools they are reading. In the second presentation, (2009), created by MEXT (Ministry of Education, Finucane took a look at using debate in the Culture, Sports, Science and Technology), puts classroom to help with critical thinking and more emphasis on equipping students with communication. By using formulaic expressions English communicative skills. The presenters and a clear step-by-step buildup of language and argued that since intelligible pronunciation is a ideas, Finucane explained how students can get crucial factor for successful communication, the ready for full on debates. The skills which are importance of teaching pronunciation at junior focused on throughout a series of lessons include and senior high school should not be underes- learning how to give opinions with reasons, timated. Based on the argument, the presenters responding to opinions, asking for clarification, introduced many hands-on activities for teaching and disagreeing with a reason or counter exam- pronunciation in ESL classrooms, in which a ple supported with evidence. Finucane invites cooperative learning structure was emphasized everyone to visit the Saitama City Educators and many props such as cards, rubber bands website for more information and materials and handouts were used. Some activities were related to this topic. for practicing pronunciation at the segmental level (focusing on phonemes and word stress) Reported by Tanya Erdelyi and others were for learning pronunciation at the supra-segmental level (focusing on sentential YOKOHAMA: June—June’s meeting gave local rhythms, stress and intonation). All attendees members the opportunity to present. 1) Fluency actively and enjoyably participated in every activity 3-2-1 by Katsuya Yokomoto. Attendees activity, taking on the roles of the students. This were speaking to each other non-stop in their workshop gave a lot of practical ideas that can second languages. By having them ‘play the be used easily in the classroom. Also, since each student’, Yokomoto provided tangible support to activity is built to enable students to have fun his assertion (based on classroom experience and and involve all of them, the exercises would survey data) that the 3-2-1 technique for fluency become effective tools for teaching and practic- development is both effective and enjoyable. 2) ing English pronunciation. The potential benefits of using music videos in Reported by Asuka Ito the EFL classroom by Andy Roomy. Assorted music videos were played and attendees invited to transform them into lessons. Classroom Hiroshima JALT management, culture, vocabulary and grammar Mini-Conference & Bookfair development were among the possible learning outcomes from using even this small sampling Featured speakers: Barbara Sakamoto, of video. With some imagination and linguistic Aleda Krause, and others structure, Roomy showed us how even the most Sunday, Dec. 16 2012, 9:00–17:00 way-out clips can serve as teaching material. at Hiroshima YMCA A task-based university semester project by JALT members free Tanya Erdelyi. A trade fare is held every year One-day members ¥1000 at Kanagawa University as part of a Business Featuring presentations on teaching children English course. Students (all in suits!) set up (including teaching children with special companies, and prepare their booths for the needs), CALL, extensive reading, learner event. Other students are assigned the roles of development, global issues, and eight journalist, job seeker, or potential client. With her leading publishers’ displays. Come and see involvement, Erdelyi was witness to the success- the Hiroshima illuminations too! ful learning outcomes of these events, relating For more details: how the organization of this task-based activity, THE LANGUAGE TEACHER: 36.6 • November / December 2012 69 The Language Teacher • Column • JOB INFORMATION CENTER TLTJOB COLUMN INFORMATION learnt the language in childhood (Liu, 1999). Na- …with Richard Miller tive speakers may speak the language monolin- gually and possess intuition in grasping meanings (Cook, 1999). Some argue that both terms have To list a position in The Lan- outlived their purpose since attempts at establish- guage Teacher, please submit ing criteria encounter repeated difficulties. online at or email Richard Miller, Job Information may get different duties. Native speakers may be Center Editor, . Online reading and grammar remain the preserve of the submission is preferred. Please nonnative speakers. Carried far enough, each place your ad in the body of group may develop professionally in some areas the email. The notice should be received before the 15th of to the exclusion of others. the month, two months before Native speakers may be assigned more ad publication, and should contain the following information: hoc proof-reading or examination committee location, name of institution, title of position, whether full- or part-time, qualifications, duties, salary and benefits, work because they are thought to have intuitive application materials, deadline, and contact information. knowledge. They may be asked to pose for Be sure to refer to TLT’s policy on discrimination. Any job recruitment advertisements or be sent on advertisement that discriminates on the basis of gender, road-shows to woo students. There may also race, age, or nationality must be modified or will not be included in the JIC column. All advertisements may be be this expectation that they teach better, as in edited for length or content. “This class should improve. They have a native speaker.” Job Information Center Online Hence, beyond landing a job, there are deeper Recent job listings and links to other job-related websites can be viewed at . prospects, eventually determining how long a teacher remains. What Next After I Think Divergently Academic literacies writers like Lillis (2003) ar- Landing a Job? gue that knowledge is a discursive construct and meaning-making is enacted through language- Glenn Toh mediated discourse, fueled by active dialogue. However, whether a new teacher can encour- age divergent views depends on whether a hiring institution allows freedom of thought. New challenges often surface after landing a job. When teachers are not able to encourage deeper Here are some matters to consider. thought and negotiation, it can be frustrating particularly when one is dealing with language, with all its potential to enrich discourse. Some I’m (Not) a Native Speaker institutional cultures, unfortunately, perpetuate Concerning native and nonnative speakers, static conceptualizations of knowledge. Where there are two issues: whether a hiring institu- this is the case, teachers may be deemed subver- tion maintains this distinction and the possible sive if they encourage questioning. consequences. Surprisingly, these two supposedly ‘juxtapos- Fitting In ing’ concepts remain hard to define. Possible Generally speaking, new teachers are expected to criteria include: cultural affiliation, identification fit in quickly. Lea and Street (2000), for example, with the language, or the order in which one 70 THE LANGUAGE TEACHER Online • The Language Teacher • Column • JOB INFORMATION CENTER describe three types of writing syllabuses and Conclusion how they influence teaching. The first looks at Workplace dynamics are difficult to predict. writing as a technical skill breakable into com- Applicants may learn about an institution from ponents like spelling or grammar. The second blogs, write-ups or indicators like whether (1) in- views writing as mastering specific genres like terview questions emphasize current approaches exposition or argument. The third sees writing and research; (2) interviewers are broadminded as an interface between individuals, social reali- and incisive; (3) contact persons communicate ties and the written text. A new teacher trained timely updates (4) an institution advertises in one ‘tradition’ may be obliged follow another. repeatedly, suggesting high turnover. Most institutions follow a combination of the first two. New teachers leaning to the third may Matters affecting teachers should be discussed need to adjust. openly. Problems do not get solved in the shad- ows of institutional high-handedness. Candid Some institutions have self-access centers and discussions will facilitate awareness of factors strictly English-only classrooms which Rivers affecting teacher welfare and performance. (2011) says demonstrate narrow assumptions about language acquisition. English-only re- gimes, he argues, create undue tensions and fail References to realize the value of a student’s L1. Self-access Cook, V. (1999). Going beyond the native speaker centers on their part are a frontage for controls in language teaching. TESOL Quarterly, 33(2), traceable to myths about ‘authentic language’ 185-209. and positivistic ideals that negate culture-specific learning styles. Holliday (2005) similarly argues Holliday, A. (2005). The struggle to teach English that the Four Skills syllabus is actually part of a as an international language. Oxford: Oxford panoptic structure of control in TESOL, hamper- University Press. ing more imaginative approaches to course Lea, M., & Street, B. (2000). Student writing design. and staff feedback in higher education: an As professionals, teachers will not want to work academic literacies approach. In M. Lea & B. robotically. Space for creativity should come with Stierer (Eds.), Student writing in higher educa- any job. A lack of creative space could result in tion: New contexts (pp. 32-46). Buckingham and disillusionment or (untimely) resignation. Philadelphia: Open University. Lillis, T. (2003). Student writing as ‘Academic Literacies’: Drawing on Bakhtin to move from Evaluations critique to design. Language and Education, End-of-course evaluations may point directly 17(3), 192-206. to a teacher’s teaching: clarity of explanations, Liu, J. (1999). Nonnative-English-speaking speaking voice, ‘approachability’. Student professionals in TESOL. TESOL Quarterly, feedback is subject to affective, relational or 33(1), 85-102. interactional factors. Such factors may implicate Rivers, D.J. (2011). Strategies and struggles in a teacher’s personality – outgoing or reserved, or the ELT classroom language policy, learner even whether the teacher plays basketball or sits autonomy, and innovative practice. Language with students at lunchtime. Awareness, 20(1), 31-43. There are ethical issues with how feedback can be interpreted or used. Teachers on fixed-term contracts are more vulnerable to misrecognition of feedback, as they have less recourse if unfair On JALT2011 decisions are made. The advantage, however, is Teaching, Learning, & Growing that evaluations can also support the teacher – if The 2011 Conference Proceedings is now administrators turn to unofficial feedback like available to JALT members online! the staff or student grapevine, or to unorthodox ways like counting the ‘A’ or ‘Fail’ grades a Over 70 papers offering information and teacher gives – where good grades indicate ideas to support and motivate you in your ‘good’ teaching and poor grades ‘poor’ teaching. learning, teaching, and research. It is hard to guess at such inner-workings. The bottom line is to be mentally prepared for evaluations. THE LANGUAGE TEACHER: 36.6 • November / December 2012 71 The Language Teacher • Column • CONFERENCE CALENDAR TLTCONFERENCE COLUMN CALENDAR 27-28 NOV 12—Malaysian International …with David Stephan Conference on Academic Strategies in English Language Teaching Conference, Shah Alam, To contact the editor: Selangor, Malaysia. Contact: edu.my/v1> New listings are welcome. 5-7 DEC 12 Please email information —The Second Conference on ELT (including a website address) in the Islamic World, Tehran, Iran. **THIS to the column editor as early CONFERENCE HAS BEEN CANCELLED** For as possible, preferably by the further information: 15th of the month, at least 3 months before a conference in 6-8 DEC 12—The Fifth CLS International Japan, or 4 months before an Conference, CLaSIC 2012: Culture in Foreign overseas conference. Thus, 15 November is the deadline for a Language Learning - Framing and Reframing February 2013 conference in Ja- the Issue, Singapore. Keynote speakers will pan or a March 2013 conference overseas. Feedback be Michael Byram (Durham U.), Shengli Feng or suggestions on the usefulness of this column are (Chinese U. of Hong Kong), Kimi Kondo-Brown also most welcome. (U. of Hawai’i at Manoa), and Claire Kramsch You can access the Conference Calendar online at: (UC Berkeley) Contact: conference-calendar> 9 DEC 12—The 6th Joint JALT Tokyo Confer- ence, Temple U. Japan, Tokyo Campus. Contact: Upcoming Conferences 25-26 JAN 13—33rd Thailand TESOL Interna- 3 NOV 12—The 2012 Tokyo ELT Expo and Book tional Conference: “E” novation and Communi- Fair, Kanda Inst. of Foreign Languages, Tokyo. ties in ELT, Pullman Khon Kaen Raja Orchid Call for presentation requests should be sent via Hotel, Khon Kaen, Thailand. Contact: yahoo.co.uk>. Contact: ence on English Language Teaching: Language 10-11 NOV 12—Japan Writers’ Conference, and Empowerment, Phnom Penh. Contact: Doshisha Women’s College, Kyoto. Contact: 16-19 MAR 13—AAAL 2012: Applied Linguistics 11 NOV 12—JII (The Japan Intercultural in a Globalizing World, Sheraton Dallas Hotel, Institute) Conference 2012: Developing Global Dallas, USA. Plenary speakers will be Lera Boro- Leaders - Education and Training for Language ditsky, (Stanford), William Hanks, (UC Berkeley), and Culture, Shirayuri Coll., Tokyo. Contact: Agnes Weiyun He, (Stony Brook U.), Monica Heller, (Université de Toronto), Brian MacWhin- ney, (Carnegie Mellon), and Srikant Sarangi, 15-16 NOV 12—ICT for Language Learning, (Cardiff U.). Contact: ICT4LL2012> 18-20 MAR 13—48th RELC International 16-18 NOV 12—TESOL France 31st Annual Seminar, SEAMEO Regional Language Centre, Conference, Telecom Paris Tech, Paris, France. Singapore. Contact: Click on “Seminar”. Farrell, and Chia Suan Chong. Contact: 20-23 MAR 13—TESOL 2013 International Convention & English Language Expo: Harmo- nizing Language, Heritage, and Cultures, Dallas 72 THE LANGUAGE TEACHER Online • The Language Teacher • Column • CONFERENCE CALENDAR

Convention Center, Dallas, USA. Keynote speak- Research Colloquium, Seoul Nat’l U., Seoul. ers will be Alberto M. Carvalho, William Labov, Contact: Kurt Kohn, Christine Coombe, Heidi Byrnes, and DEADLINE: 16 NOV 12 (FOR 15-16 MAR Jun Liu. Contact: 13)—3rd International Conference on Foreign 8-12 APR 13—IATFL 47th Annual Conference Language Learning and Teaching Conference, and Exhibition, Arena and Convention Centre, Thammasat U., Bangkok. Contact: Liverpool, UK. Plenary speakers will be David DEADLINE: 21 DEC 12 (FOR 17-18 JUN Crystal, Deniz Kurtoglu Eken, Jun Liu, Roger 13)—2nd Annual International Conference on McGough, and Susan Barduhn. Contact: Canning, Singapore. Contact: ence on Language Learning Conference, Osaka. DEADLINE: JAN 2013 (FOR 10-15 AUG 14)— Contact: AILA World Congress 2014: One World, Many 25-28 APR 13—ACTC 2013 Third Asian Languages, Brisbane. Contact: Conference, Osaka. Contact: 13)—2nd Annual International Conference on 27 MAY 13—CELS Symposium 2013: Alter- Language, Literature and Linguistics, Hotel Fort native Pedagogies in the English Language Canning, Singapore. Contact: Singapore. Keynote speakers will be Christopher DEADLINE: 17 FEB 13 (FOR 25 MAY 13)—5th Candlin, Ulla Connor, William Grabe, and Ann Annual NEAR Conference: All is New Again - Johns. Contact: Niigata. Contact: Calls for Papers or Posters DEADLINE: 30 APR 13 (FOR 15 SEP 13)—The DEADLINE: 15 NOV 12 (FOR 3-5 JUL 2nd Extensive Reading World Congress, 13) Sookmyung Women’s U., Seoul. Contact:

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THE LANGUAGE TEACHER: 36.6 • November / December 2012 73

The Language Teacher • Column • OLD GRAMMARIANS TLTOLD COLUMN GRAMMARIANS ...by Scott Gardner had a lifespan equivalent to those of the bubbles in my friend’s beer glass. Many bilingual jokes share the same fate: they emerge in a quantum state that decays faster than you can say, “Don’t touch my mustache.” The two-tongued Tell a bilingual joke and most people around you won’t have enough command of one language joke or the other to process it. There may be only a handful of people closest to you—like the ones willing to undertake an all-night Takeshi Kitano I was almost crying. My friend at the bar had movie marathon with you—who can delve into just made a bilingual joke, and naturally he both languages enough to get the joke. And even believed his superior wit was bringing me to if they cross the threshold of understanding, tears. But it wasn’t that. Nor was the opposite they still might not think it’s funny. After all, true: I wasn’t lamenting the loss of my precious most bilingual jokes consist of phoneme-level evening to the company of a self-satisfied bore. wordplay exercises known as puns—disdainfully Not exactly. Like many emotional outbursts, this pronounced “pyoons” by some of my highbrow one was complicated. friends. But first, the joke in question: Here’s another example, perhaps an even rarer My friend was describing his latest encounter one because it was unintentional and (indirectly) with “the world,” meaning the Japanese-speak- involved three languages. Sometimes in class ing world he often struggles in with his limited I shake things up by using stock phrases in language abilities. (I know well the struggle he languages other than English or Japanese. For describes.) He claimed that, during a trouble- instance, instead of repeatedly saying “thank some verbal exchange that day with a clerk at an you” while collecting papers, I will occasionally electronics store, his frustration suddenly gave say danke, merci, grazie, etc. Once at the end of a way to a calm confidence that nothing he didn’t freshman class I waved goodbye and said “Hasta understand could affect him adversely. At first luego” (Spanish for “See you later”). As everyone he described it as “immunization against mean- was leaving, one confused student walked ing”—protection against the consequences of up and asked, “What am I supposed to do for not understanding what the other guy was say- English tomorrow?” “What do you mean?” I re- ing. But as he thought about it now at the bar, he sponded. “There’s no class tomorrow. You don’t put a bilingual twist on the concept by calling it have to do anything.” She then turned to her iminaization (意 味 な い ゼ ーション ), a completely friends and asked, “‘Ashita no eigo’? Douiuimi?” made up word conflating immunization and the (“Tomorrow’s English’? What does that mean?”) Japanese word for “meaningless.” As he came to She had misheard my (poorly pronounced) realize he had made a joke, he launched into a fit hasta luego as ashita no eigo and thought I was of self-congratulatory laughter that didn’t let up reminding her to do something tomorrow for until he caught the sad glimmer at the corner of English class. Once I made the connection I my eye. couldn’t help laughing—at her expense—for I wasn’t crying over the joke itself. It wasn’t a minute or two. But to her credit she laughed that bad. My sadness arose from the realization too, and decided to turn ashita no eigo into a that the joke was of such a fragile constitution motivational slogan for studying harder. And to that it was unlikely to survive any amount of my own credit, this cute ashita no eigo story has retelling. It was like a rare tropical flower in an replaced my old, worn-out aho sumaho (smart- arctic blizzard. Its background, its buildup, and phone for idiots) joke I’ve been using at bars and particularly its language, were so limited in parties. We’ll see how long it lasts. audience appeal that I was grimly convinced it

THE LANGUAGE TEACHER: 36.6 • November / December 2012 75 JALT MEMBERSHIP INFORMATION

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