Okayama Chapter

(Read the archived description for the Okayama Chapter)

Okayama Chapter Events in 2006

Events archive by year:
2008 [11]; 2007 [13]; 2006; 2005 [12]; 2004 [9]; 2003 [9]; 2002 [12]; 2001 [8];

Sunday, January 15th, 2006

A Workshop on practical activities for the Japanese elementary school English lesson.

Speaker: Chris Creighton
Time: 3:00 PM - 5:00 PM (Sun., January 15th, 2006)
Fee (JALT members): free
Fee (One-Day members): 500 yen
Prefecture: Okayama
City: Okayama
Venue: Sankaku A Bldg. 2F
Description: Outline: In the two hour time allotted I would like to go through the processes of putting together and giving an English lesson for Japanese elementary students. Theoretical musings will be kept to a minimum. The basics in identifying lesson goals, selecting or making suitable activities, presenting them, and following up will be covered. Various problem setting tasks will be set out. Bring your scissors, colouring pencils, glue, and some construction paper.

Intended audience: This is aimed at anyone who is in, or may be placed in, an elementary class of 25 to 40 expectant, highly charged, dynamic 6 to 12 year old children. The workshop can be given in English and Japanese depending on the needs of the participants.

Chris Creighton taught English in various elementary schools in Okayama city for over two years. He also holds the Cambridge Certificate English Language Teaching Young Children extension.

Sunday, February 19th, 2006

Factors Affecting Nikkei Brazilian Parents� Language Choices for Children at a Brazilian School in Japan

Speaker: Toshiko Sugino (Dept. of Foreign Language. National Defense Academy)
Time: 2:00 PM - 5:00 PM (Sun., February 19th, 2006)
Fee (JALT members): free
Fee (One-Day members): 500 yen
Prefecture: Okayama
City: Okayama
Venue: Sankaku A Bldg. 2F
Description: According to a 2004 Immigration Control Office survey, Nikkei -Brazilians account for nearly 300,000 of the 2 million registered foreign nationals. In a city where the largest number of Nikkei-Brazilians reside, some parents choose Portuguese-mediated Brazilian schools over Japanese public schools for their children�s education. The presenter investigated the factors that affect these children�s language learning from historical, socio-political, and socio-economic perspectives.

Saturday, April 15th, 2006

Task-based Language Learning Through Debate

Speaker: Eiko Nakamura
Time: 3:00 PM - 5:00 PM (Sat., April 15th, 2006)
Fee (JALT members): free
Fee (One-Day members): 1000 yen (students 500 yen)
Prefecture: Okayama
City: Okayama
Venue: Okayama Sankaku Building near Omotecho in Okayama city
Description: Learners' language development through debate tasks observed in a high school English classroom is closely examined. A chaotic period in which learners pushed themselves to paraphrase and improvise their speech during a debate task was recognized. Learners' decision-making to take a risk of increasing language deficiency seems to play an important role for language development. This presentation explores crucial factors to push learners to make maximum use of their target language.

Eiko Nakamura recently completed a master of Education at Okayama University. She teaches part time at Kawasaki University of Medical Welfare.

Saturday, May 20th, 2006

Extensive Reading: a look at its effects on long term reading habits

Speaker: Richard Lemmer
Time: 3:00 PM - 4:00 PM (Sat., May 20th, 2006)
Fee (JALT members): free
Fee (One-Day members): 500 yen
Prefecture: Okayama
City: Okayama
Venue: Sankaku A Bldg. 2F
Description: Numerous studies have attributed positive affective results, improved reading fluency, vocabulary acquisition and additional learner gains to extensive reading(ER). Much ER research has involved intact classes and short term gains. This study compares the reading habits of junior college English department graduates who participated in an ER program for four semesters with those who did not.

Goodwill or wind chill? An examination of the introduction of "ethos

Speaker: Peter Burden - Okayama Shoka University
Time: 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM (Sat., May 20th, 2006)
Fee (JALT members): free
Fee (One-Day members): 500 yen
Prefecture: Okayama
City: Okayama
Venue: Sankaku A Bldg. 2F
Description: The Education Ministry in Japan has made institutional evaluation a requirement to improve the quality and effectiveness of teaching. While the "ethos" of an educational institution is the ground bed of all that takes place within a school this often get bypassed in formal evaluations of quality and standards. While difficult to define, a school's ethos can be described in terms of first impressions, the "feel" of the environment,and is composed of values and beliefs, attitudes, and relationships. In Scotland, the use of "ethos indicators" has been successfully introduced by the Education Ministry there to provide schools with techniques for gauging the interpersonal context of learning, which has an impact on the nature and extent of the learning which can take place. This presentation examines in more depth the importance of measuring a school's ethos,outlines some ways currently used in Scotland, shows the results of a small scale study carried out in Japan, and seeks participants' views on ways in which we can learn about a school's underlying ethos in their institutions.

Sunday, June 4th, 2006

Students' motivation and resistance in language classrooms

Speaker: Keiko Sakui
Time: 3:00 PM - 5:00 PM (Sun., June 4th, 2006)
Fee (JALT members): free
Fee (One-Day members): 500 yen
Prefecture: Okayama
City: Okayama
Venue: Sankaku A Bldg. 2F
Description: Language teachers know that many students show motivation and enthusiasm for learning English. But we also see some students who are not interested in what we try to teach and even show resistance in various ways. In this presentation, we will explore, from an educational-sociological perspective, what student motivation and resistance mean and how they affect teachers' classroom decisions. The presentation will adopt an interactive style in which participants can share experiences and thoughts on the topic to raise awareness and learn from each other.

Sunday, July 23rd, 2006

Two Action Researches with Learning Strategies

Speaker: Jason Williams, Notre Dame Seishin University
Time: 3:00 PM - 5:00 PM (Sun., July 23rd, 2006)
Fee (JALT members): free
Fee (One-Day members): 500 yen
Prefecture: Okayama
City: Okayama
Venue: Sankaku A Bldg. 2F near Omotecho in Okayama City
Description: This presentation will focus on two action research projects designed to teach students how to use learning strategies to become more self-reliant. One project focused on teaching communication strategies in order to keep students from using dictionaries during oral communication activities. The other focused on getting students to locate, use and evaluate opportunities to practice English outside of class.

Saturday, December 16th, 2006

Setting Up An Extensive Reading Programme

Speaker: Simon W.J. Thornley - Sanyo Gakuen University, Okayama
Time: 3:00 PM - 5:00 PM (Sat., December 16th, 2006)
Fee (JALT members): free
Fee (One-Day members): 500 yen
Prefecture: Okayama
City: Okayama
Venue: Sankaku A Bldg. 2F near Omotecho in Okayama City
Description: This talk will address some practical issues involved in establishing an extensive reading programme in Japan. The presenter will draw from his own experience of different types of programme; from private classes, to the introduction of extensive reading within university curricula. Communicating the benefits of ER to stakeholders, investing in books and their administration, introducing students to unfamiliar study methods and expectations, monitoring progress and using tests to determine initial reading level will be covered.

Following the presentation the Okayama chapter will hold it annual bonnenkai.

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