The Japan Association for Language Teaching

Gunma Chapter

(Read the archived description for the Gunma Chapter)

Gunma Chapter Events in 2006

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

Sunday, January 15th, 2006

English Immersion in Japan

Speaker: Eugene Cooper
Time: 2:00 PM - 4:30 PM (Sun., January 15th, 2006)
Fee (JALT members): free
Fee (One-Day members): 1,000 yen
Prefecture: Gunma
City: Maebashi
Venue: MIT: Maebashi Institute of Technology (Maebashi Koka Daigaku), 460-1 Kamisadori, Maebashi
Description: Mr. Eugene Cooper will speak about Gunma Kokusai Academy, an English immersion school which opened in April, 2005. The school, located in Ota city, has attracted students from across Japan and has also received national media attention.

Sunday, February 19th, 2006

Ecotourism and the Environment: Concepts, Definitions and Diagrams

Speaker: Paul Cunningham, Rikkyo University
Time: 2:00 PM - 4:30 PM (Sun., February 19th, 2006)
Fee (JALT members): free
Fee (One-Day members): 1,000 yen
Prefecture: Gunma
City: Maebashi
Venue: Maebashi Kyoai Gakuen College, 1154-4 Koyahara-machi, Maebashi, Gunma (tel: 027-266-7575)
Description: Over the last several decades there has been a growing interest in the natural environment, the ways in which we interact with it, and the various impacts that we have upon it. This presentation/workshop will focus on how this topic might be used in the language classroom and will highlight the use of diagrams to conceptualize and define environmental issues. Participants will have the chance to work with and to create relevant classroom activities during the workshop portion of this session.

Paul Cunningham is a professor in the Department of Tourism and Cultural Studies in the College of Tourism at Rikkyo University. He has been teaching ESL for over twenty year in both the United States and Japan. He is currently working on a PhD in the area of ecotourism.

Sunday, April 23rd, 2006

Feminist Pedagogy in the ESL/EFL Classroom

Speaker: Reiko Yoshihara
Time: 2:00 PM - 4:30 PM (Sun., April 23rd, 2006)
Fee (JALT members): free
Fee (One-Day members): 1,000 yen
Prefecture: Gunma
City: Maebashi
Venue: Maebashi Kyoai Gakuen College, 1154-4 Koyahara-machi, Maebashi, Gunma (tel: 027-266-7575)
Description: Reiko Yoshihara will discuss feminist pedagogy and ESL/EFL. She argues the theory of feminist pedagogy and introduces the genealogy of feminist pedagogy and finds an intersection between feminist pedagogy and TESOL. She will discuss how to apply feminist pedagogy in an ESL/EFL context in Japan.

Sunday, May 21st, 2006

Corpus informed materials: a new era in language teaching

Speaker: John Letcher, Cambridge University Press ELT Representative
Time: 2:00 PM - 4:30 PM (Sun., May 21st, 2006)
Fee (JALT members): free
Fee (One-Day members): free
Prefecture: Gunma
City: Maebashi
Venue: Maebashi Kyoai Gakuen College, 1154-4 Koyahara-machi, Maebashi, Gunma (tel: 027-266-7575)
Description: The Cambridge International Corpus (CIC) is the largest living corpus in the world with over 800 million words of text, and is growing all the time. In recent years, Cambridge University Press has been using the CIC to research how language is used in contemporary society and to find the most useful grammar and vocabulary for learners. This research is now being used to inform a wide range of new and innovative ELT materials. The presenter will outline how the CIC is ustilized to inform these materials with natural, everyday language that students can use to sound more natural themselves. This presentation is sponsored by Cambridge University Press.

There will also be a display of some textbooks and teaching materials.

Sunday, June 18th, 2006

Assessing English Proficiency by Computer--Call Software and Prosody Analysis--

Speaker: Hiroyuki Obari, Professor, Aoyama Gakuin University
Time: 2:00 PM - 4:30 PM (Sun., June 18th, 2006)
Fee (JALT members): free
Fee (One-Day members): 1,000 yen
Prefecture: Gunma
City: Maebashi
Venue: Maebashi Kyoai Gakuen College, 1154-4 Koyahara-machi, Maebashi, Gunma (tel: 027-266-7575)
Description: This presentation is about effectiveness of the Computed Assessment System for English Communication (CASEC) as a means of assessing EFL learner's fluency in communication. The speaker and his associates compared the CASEC scores with the prosody analysis of the subjects' oral presentations. He will discuss the results of the comparison as well as some of the findings they have made on the prosody of Japanese speakers of English. Then, in addition, the latest software developed by the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) will be demonstrated to show how to automatically correct the pronunciation of Japanese speakers of English.

Bio-data: Hiroyuki Obari, Professor, Aoyama Gakuin Univ., MA in TESOL from Columbia Univ., PhD in Computer Science from Tsukuba University; Hiroaki Kojima, Senior Researcher at AIST, PhD in engineering from Kyoto Univ.; Machi Okumura, President of Prontest.

Sunday, July 2nd, 2006

Creating Campus Community: Global Issues and Experiential Learning

Speaker: Janell Pekkain, Sundai College of Foreign Languages 
Time: 2:00 PM - 4:30 PM (Sun., July 2nd, 2006)
Fee (JALT members): free
Fee (One-Day members): 1,000 yen
Prefecture: Gunma
City: Maebashi
Venue: Gunma Prefectural College of Health Sciences (323-1Kamioki-machi, Maebashi)
Description: Where is the eculturef in Cultural Festivals at Japanese schools? How can school events raise studentsf global consciousness? And why should they? Wefll discuss organizing volunteer Cultural Exchange Festivals including fundraising ideas for NPOs and how these events help to create a cohesive and authentic learning environment.

Saturday, August 26th, 2006

The 18th JALT-Gunma Summer Workshop at Kusatsu (Day 1 of the Two-day Event)

Speaker: William Grabe, Professor, Northern Arizona University
Time: 11:00 AM - 9:00 PM (Sat., August 26th, 2006)
Fee (JALT members): Program 3000yen, Room and Board 6000yen
Fee (One-Day members): Program 3000yen, Room and Board 6000yen
Prefecture: Gunma
City: Kusatsu
Venue: Kusatsu Seminar House, 737 Kusatsu, Kusatsu-machi, Guma-ken (venue tel: 0279-88-2212, fax 0279-88-8030)
Description: 18th JALT-Gunma Summer Workshop at Kusatsu

Dates: August 26(Sat)-27th(Sun), 2006

Theme: Teaching and Learning of Reading in English as an L2

Main Lecturer: Dr. William Grabe: Dr. Grabe is Professor of English and Chair of the English Department at Northern Arizona University. He received the 2005 AAAL Distinguished Service and Scholarship Award for his research on issues in L2 Reading. He will give two lectures at the 18th JALT-Gunma Kusatsu Summer Workshop. The tentative titles are 1) Research on L2 Reading Instruction: Implication for L2 Teaching and 2) Effective L2 Reading Instruction / From vocabulary to motivation: Building effective L2 reading instruction.

Registration: Contact Morijiro Shibayama, 2-38-4 Hirose, Maebashi, Gunma 371-0812, Tel/Fax 0272-63-8522, E-mail mshibaya@jcom.home.ne.jp The registration will be accepted on a first-come-first-served basis (max 40).

Participation Fee: 9,000 (Program Fee; 3,000, Room and Board including Party; 6,000).

Presentation: You are welcome to apply to give a presentation. There are six slots (30 min each) for presentations.

Schedule:

August 26 (Sat)

11:00 - 12:00 Check-in

12:00 - 13:00 Lunch

13:00 - 13:20 Orientation

13:30 - 14:00 Presentation

14:00 - 14:30 Presentation

14:30 - 15:00 Presentation

15:30 - 17:00 Lecture (1)

19:00 - 21:00 Dinner & Party

August 27 (Sun)

08:00 - 09:00 Breakfast

09:10 - 09:40 Presentation

09:40 - 10:10 Presentation

10:30 - 12:00 Lecture (2)

12:00 - 13:00 Lunch

13:00 - 13:30 Presentation

13:30 - 14:00 Closing & Farewell

16:00 ¨C 18:00 Music Festival (Optional)

Sponsored by: JALT Gunma Chapter (Co-Presidents: Michele Steele 0277-45-3233, Hideto Harashima 027-266-7101 / Co-Program Chairs: Barry Keith 0277-30-1944, Morijiro Shibayama 027- 263-8522, Hisatake Jimbo 0274- 62-0376, Hiroshi Haraguchi 027-251-3745)

Sunday, September 17th, 2006

Use of Literacy Autobiographies in Narrative: A Reflection on Biliteracy Development

Speaker: Yutaka Fujieda, Kyoai Gakuen College
Time: 2:00 PM - 4:30 PM (Sun., September 17th, 2006)
Fee (JALT members): free
Fee (One-Day members): 1,000 yen
Prefecture: Gunma
City: Maebashi
Venue: Maebashi Kyoai Gakuen College, 1154-4 Koyahara-machi, Maebashi, Gunma (tel: 027-266-7575)
Description: This presentation introduces the use of literacy autobiographies in writing classrooms. Literacy autobiographies as a narrative inquiry play a significant role as an accessible research methodology in L2 writing. This approach aims to explore the writerfs biliteracy experiences as well as the onefs insider views in-depth. These stories constructed by students have validity to foster better understanding about personal realities such as development success, struggles, difficulties, and so on. In this presentation, the presenter will demonstrate the research issues of litercy autobiographies. Then, the presenter will ask all participants to write their own biliteracy experiences (reading and writing development in both native langauge and second/foreign language) and share the stories with other members.

Mr. Fujieda is a full-time instructor at Kyoai Gakuen College. His research interest is second language writing, especially autobiographical analyses of biliteracy development and teacher/peer feedback studies.

Sunday, October 29th, 2006

Using Cooperative Learning in Your Classroom

Speaker: David Schneer
Time: 2:00 PM - 4:30 PM (Sun., October 29th, 2006)
Fee (JALT members): free
Fee (One-Day members): 1,000 yen
Prefecture: Gunma
City: Maebashi
Venue: MIT: Maebashi Institute of Technology (Maebashi Koka Daigaku), 460-1 Kamisadori, Maebashi
Description: The use of Cooperative Learning techniques creates a classroom environment in which each student readily contributes towards greater individual and group learning gains. The presenter will provide a brief overview of some of the basic principles at the heart of Cooperative Learning before introducing ways in which classroom activities can be managed to ensure greater student involvement and classroom efficiency.

Sunday, November 26th, 2006

Journalistic Feature Writing: A Bridge Between Elementary and Thesis Writing in University ESL Programs

Speaker: Robin Antepara, Tsuda College
Time: 2:00 PM - 4:30 PM (Sun., November 26th, 2006)
Fee (JALT members): free
Fee (One-Day members): 1,000 yen
Prefecture: Gunma
City: Maebashi
Venue: Maebashi Kyoai Gakuen College, 1154-4 Koyahara-machi, Maebashi, Gunma (tel: 027-266-7575)
Description: In this presentation I will show how interview-based journalistic feature writing can help university students prepare for the task of writing full scale research papers and theses in their junior and senior years. I will show how such assignments help bridge the gap between more basic writing tasks and thesis papers.

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The Japan Association for Language Teaching
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Tel: 0352885443