The Japan Association for Language Teaching

Sendai Chapter

(Read the archived description for the Sendai Chapter)

Sendai Chapter Events in 2005

Events archive by year:
2008 [10]; 2007 [11]; 2006 [12]; 2005; 2004 [11]; 2003 [8]; 2002 [9]; 2001 [8];

Sunday, February 27th, 2005

PowerPoint: How to use it. How to use it better

Speaker: Anthony Crooks (Miyagi University of Education)
Time: 2:00 PM - 5:00 PM (Sun., February 27th, 2005)
Fee (JALT members): free
Fee (One-Day members): 1000 Yen; students free the first time, 500 yen thereafter.
Prefecture: Miyagi
City: Sendai
Venue: Sendai Mediatheque map
Description: This session will introduce Microsoft's PowerPoint presentation software as a teaching and presentation tool. No previous experience with it is necessary. Participants are encouraged to bring notebook/laptop computers loaded with the PowerPoint software (often found as a part of the Microsoft Office suite of programs) and with their computer batteries fully charged so they can have hands-on experience. Please note the location: For our February and March meetings will be held at Sendai's Mediatheque on Jozenji-dori.

Sunday, March 27th, 2005

Discussion: 5 things I wish I had known when I started teaching

Speaker: Charles Adamson
Time: 2:00 PM - 5:00 PM (Sun., March 27th, 2005)
Fee (JALT members): free
Fee (One-Day members): 1000 yen; students free the first time, 500 yen thereafter.
Prefecture: Miyagi
City: Sendai
Venue: Sendai Mediatheque map
Description: What do you know now that you wished you had known earlier? What do other teachers know that they can share with you? This grew out of a panel at the JALT2004 conference. Note the location: Sendai JALT's February and March meetings will be held at Sendai's Mediatheque on Jozenji-dori.

Sunday, April 24th, 2005

Double Session: Goal Setting for the New School Year, and My Share – Activities that Work for Me

Speaker: Various speakers
Time: 2:00 PM - 5:00 PM (Sun., April 24th, 2005)
Fee (JALT members): free
Fee (One-Day members): 1000 yen; students free the first time, 500 yen thereafter.
Prefecture: Miyagi
City: Sendai
Venue: AER Building, 28th floor, Kensyuushitsu 2
Description: In part one, participants will reflect on their teaching and ways they want to become more effective in the next year. This will be followed by a My Share session in which members share ideas and activities they find useful.

Saturday, May 28th, 2005

Zatokichi Zemi - Sensory Experience Workshop

Speaker: Ken Groger, Shizuoka University
Time: 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM (Sat., May 28th, 2005)
Fee (JALT members): 500 yen & a potluck lunch
Fee (One-Day members): 500 yen & a potluck lunch
Prefecture: Miyagi
City: Sendai
Venue: Miyagi Gakuin Women's University, 9-1-1 Sakuragaoka , Aoba-ku, Sendai, 981-8557
Description: This will be a unique event. Participants spend about five hours together. Half of the participants will be blindfolded, and half will act as guides. We will work through a series of tasks that include awareness of all the senses. These activities also increase handicapped awareness and build trust, as well as friendships. This will be a very special event. Please register for this event by May 16 by sending an email to sensorysendai@yahoo.com

Sunday, June 26th, 2005

English through Drama

Speaker: Miho Moody (Miyagi Gakuin Women's University, Sendai Fukushi University)
Time: 2:00 PM - 5:00 PM (Sun., June 26th, 2005)
Fee (JALT members): free
Fee (One-Day members): 1000 yen; students free the first time, 500 yen thereafter.
Prefecture: Miyagi
City: Sendai
Venue: Sendai Mediatheque map
Description: Drama is known to be a practical technique for EFL, as it gives learners an actual reason and opportunity to speak English in a meaningful context. This facilitates language acquisition. Moody would like to demonstrate some activities and explain the rational behind them. This workshop has two main aims. First, to integrate drama into situations where the student-teacher ratio is very high. Second, to encourage reluctant students to fully engage in English tasks through drama.

Sunday, July 24th, 2005

Creating and Utilizing Online Courses and Coursework

Speaker: John Spiri (Akita International University)
Time: 2:00 PM - 5:00 PM (Sun., July 24th, 2005)
Fee (JALT members): free
Fee (One-Day members): 1000 yen; students free the first time, 500 yen thereafter
Prefecture: Miyagi
City: Sendai
Venue: Sendai Mediatheque map
Description: We'll begin the presentation by taking a look at moodle, the free, open source course management system for online learning, sharing ideas and experiences about its appropriateness and power to facilitate learning. To this end, the presenter will show and explain his moodle sites online, as well as the results of student surveys about moodle. The feasibility of creating moodle sites for yourself and colleagues will also be covered. Next, the advantages and disadvantages of blogging will be discussed after viewing the presenter's online blogs for an Academic Writing class. Procedural matters, appropriateness and effectiveness of blogging will be discussed. Finally, as time allows, the group will be shown examples of the presenter's online self-published readers, some with accompanying audio. Weather permitting, this will be followed by a summer party at a beer garden.

Sunday, August 28th, 2005

Topics in EFL - a discussion

Speaker: Various Sendai JALT members
Time: 2:00 PM - 5:00 PM (Sun., August 28th, 2005)
Fee (JALT members): free
Fee (One-Day members): 1000 yen; students free the first time, 500 yen thereafter
Prefecture: Miyagi
City: Sendai
Venue: Sendai Mediatheque
Description: Communicative Teaching : what does it mean to you?

The "communicative" approach informs most, if not all, of our classroom actions. Yet, a precise and consistent application of the meaning of this term remains elusive. Indeed, theoretically and practically opposite beliefs and actions may be permissible under the umbrella of "communicative" teaching. Jim Smiley outlines a brief history of the debate surrounding the term, discusses a few key related issues and asks participants to think about what and how "communicative" affects their teaching choices.

Also included will be Ian Gleadall's mini-presentation,

Speaking of Testing: The Testing of Speaking

The conventional and convenient way of attempting to test language ability relies heavily on responses to listening or reading tasks. There are many problems and issues with such tests but when it comes to production skills (writing and speaking), the problems and issues multiply. The testing of speaking skills is often avoided completely, despite the prominence of "communicative" approaches to teaching that emphasize conversation skills. will briefly consider some different methods to test speaking skills in the classroom and lead a discussion of some of the pros and cons and objectivity of these methods.

Sunday, September 25th, 2005

Language in NLP

Speaker: Charles Adamson
Time: 2:00 PM - 5:00 PM (Sun., September 25th, 2005)
Fee (JALT members): free
Fee (One-Day members): 1,000 yen
Prefecture: Miyagi
City: Sendai
Venue: Sendai Sensai Fukkou Kinenkan (War Memorial Hall)
Description: NeuroLinguistic Programming (NLP) is the art and science of personal excellence. In this presentation, which will be superb preparation for a two-day workshop JALT/TALE will sponsor in February 2006, we will work with language, one of the keys to personal excellence. After a brief discussion of representational systems, the ways we process information, we will consider the Meta Model. In this model, distortion, deletion, and generalization (DDG) cause the differences between the meaning of the language and the specifics of the non-linguistic thoughts (deep structure) behind the words. You will learn and then practice a series of 12 questions that seek to reverse DDG. Finally, Meta Model based activities that you can use in your classroom will be considered.

Sunday, October 30th, 2005

English through Drama Workshop

Speaker: The Covenant Players
Time: 2:00 PM - 5:00 PM (Sun., October 30th, 2005)
Fee (JALT members): free
Fee (One-Day members): 1000 yen; students free the first time, 500 yen thereafter
Prefecture: Miyagi
City: Sendai
Venue: Sendai BEEB - Seminar Room A, 4th Floor - On the north side of Hirose-dori, near the corner of Hisashi 2-bancho
Description: Covenant Players is an International Theater and Communications Organization. This workshop will focus on some of the basics that we see as being important to good and clear communication. This encompasses a fun learning time through experience, but also equipping teachers with exercises and ideas to take back to their classroom. Come prepared to be involved and have a good time.

Sunday, November 27th, 2005

Intercultural Communication in the Language Classroom: Ideas and Activities

Speaker: Joseph Schaules (Rikkyo University)
Time: 2:00 PM - 5:00 PM (Sun., November 27th, 2005)
Fee (JALT members): free
Fee (One-Day members): Free!!!
Prefecture: Miyagi
City: Sendai
Venue: Sendai Mediatheque map
Description: The presenter will share a series of practical ideas for using culture to teach English. Many of the examples will come from the popular Identity text, which the presenter wrote. This session is supported by Oxford University Press.

Sunday, December 18th, 2005

JALT Conference Reports (& Bonenkai)

Speaker: Various Presenters
Time: 2:00 PM - 5:00 PM (Sun., December 18th, 2005)
Fee (JALT members): free
Fee (One-Day members): 1000 yen; students free the first time, 500 yen thereafter
Prefecture: Miyagi
City: Sendai
Venue: Sendai Mediatheque map
Description: Chapter members who attended the JALT 2005 conference in Shizuoka will report on sessions they found useful.

This will be followed by our Bonenkai!!! Members are encouraged to bring their spouses/partners! "A "lucky draw" will be held for prizes including a JALT membership and a really cool "TEACH WELL" shirt.

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The Japan Association for Language Teaching
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Tel: 0352885443