Japanese Teachers’ Association of NSW (JTAN) Inc.

2015 JTAN AGM & Workshop

Date: 17 October 2015 (Sat.)

Venue: Japan Foundation Sydney (JPF) Level 4, Central Park 28 Broadway, Chippendale NSW 2008 Near Central Station, Opposite UTS Tower (Access via elevator only)

Cost: FREE

Schedule: 09:30 - Registration 09:55 - Opening 10:00 - Seminar 1 'Retaining and motivating students of Japanese to year 12 and beyond' Presented by Dr. Robyn Spence-Brown, Monash Univ. Melbourne 11:15 - Morning tea (provided) 11:45 - Seminar 2 Teaching 'The Ainu' (Some teaching materials will be provided) Presented by Mrs. Sally Mizoshiri, North Sydney Girls High 12:30 - JTAN Annual General Meeting & Door prizes 13:30 - Lunch (Food court is open - Each participant receives set lunch money) 14:30 - Seminar 3 'Using Japanese and making it fun in a Japanese learning community' Presented by Dr. Chihiro Kinoshita-Thomson, UNSW Australia 15:40 - Discussion & Evaluation 16:20 - Tidy up (Please leave the venue before 16:30). 16:40 - Members networking drinks with hot and cold edibles (Cost: free) Eve's place bar at Mercure Hotel at Railway Sq. (818-820 George St.) TPO for details Dear Members, This year, the themes of the Seminars are 1) The Ainu and 2) Retention of students studying Japanese at high schools - Issues and Approaches. 'The Ainu' has not been spotlighted before, so we hope that it will inspire you to teach about the indigenous people and the culture. We have also invited two prominent figures in studies of language teaching and learning, and below are their seminar briefs.

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Retaining and motivating students of Japanese to year 12 and beyond This session explores the reasons why students do, or do not continue with their language studies into the Senior Secondary years. How important is liking/being interested in a subject, and what role do perceptions of future ‘usefulness’ or of ‘level of difficulty’ play? How do different school and educational structures influence the decisions of students? Drawing on a major survey of year 11 students of Japanese which I conducted nationally in 2014, as well as on the latest research internationally on what motivates study of a second language, and what determines student subject choices I will address these and other questions, and set the scene for a discussion later in the day of what teachers can do to encourage students to continue. Dr. Robyn Spence-Brown Senior Lecturer, Coordinator, Higher Degree by Research Program, Linguistics and Applied Linguistics Japanese Studies and Division of Linguistics and Applied Linguistics Monash University, Melbourne Using Japanese and making it fun in a Japanese learning community Our students have fun when they can successfully use Japanese. They are proud of themselves when they can get things done using Japanese. I believe one of the most important jobs as teachers of Japanese is to create and offer such opportunities to our students. For this we need to consider something larger than a lesson plan. We need to plan and design a learning environment, a learning community, in which our students are active and responsible participants. In this talk, I would like to share with you some ways to create a classroom where the students have specific roles to play, and to connect classes to increase interaction opportunities in Japanese. I would also like to share some student centered activities, there lie concepts of Communities of Practice, and sociocultural approach to learning. I will briefly outline these concepts to aid your understanding of how to enhance student learning. Dr. Chihiro Kinoshita-Thomson Professor, Japanese Studies Convenor, Bachelor of International Studies School of Humanities and Languages, UNSW Australia Australian Representative of the Global Network of Japanese Language Education

We hope that you will deepen your insights towards language education. Convener: Teruko Sharif (email: [email protected])

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