ELT Calendar

Sunday, April 22nd, 2001

Vocabulary: what words do we teach and how?
Time: 9:30 AM - 12:00 PM
Speaker: Peter Warner and Nicolas Cueto
Organization: ETJ Aichi (English Teachers in Japan)
Location: Aichi City, Aichi Prefecture
Short description: Peter Warner shows how he makes and uses his homemade picture word-cards to get students of all ages talking with gusto, while Nicolas Cueto introduces his Extensive Reading and Vocabulary Thru Video secondary-school courses to highlight do's and dont's when deciding which words to teach.

Introducing Public Elementary School English and the Monbusho Handbook
Time: 10:30 AM - 12:30 PM
Speaker: Tom Merner, Japan College of Foreign Languages
Organization: Iwate-Aomori Chapter of the Japan Association for Language Teaching
Location: Morioka City, Iwate Prefecture
Short description: English instruction is about to become an option for the new "Period for Integrated Studies" in the Japanese public schools. Monbusho has published a "Handbook for Elementary School English Teaching Activities," to provide support to teachers.

Using Drama in the ESL Classroom
Time: 1:30 PM - 4:00 PM
Speaker: Ohno Akihiko
Organization: Hokkaido Chapter of the Japan Association for Language Teaching
Location: Sapporo City, Hokkaido Prefecture
Short description: Mr. Ohno is a free-lance dramatist who is involved in education and theater.

Kids / Dictionaries
Time: 1:30 PM - 4:00 PM
Speaker: Takeuchi Eiko and Brendan Delahunty
Organization: Nagoya and Gifu Chapter of the Japan Association for Language Teaching
Location: Nagoya City, Aichi Prefecture
Short description: Taguchi will introduce children's teachers to various activities that cater to short attention spans and the learning styles of children while encouraging teachers to avoid overuse of their own personal favorites.

Pragmatic Tasks With a Purpose
Time: 1:30 PM - 4:30 PM
Speaker: Robert W. Long III, Kyushu Institute of Technology
Organization: Kobe Chapter of the Japan Association for Language Teaching
Location: Kobe City, Hyogo Prefecture
Short description: DiPietro's strategic interactions have been used successfully in an ESL context, but it can be difficult for some EFL teachers to implement this approach.

The importance of non-verbal communication skills
Time: 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM
Speaker: Claire Tyers
Organization: Kagoshima Chapter of the Japan Association for Language Teaching
Location: Kagoshima City, Kagoshima Prefecture
Short description: This workshop aims to investigate the non-verbal communication that makes up around 70% of total communication. It demonstrates how non-verbal communication observed during role play projects can potentially aide learners in the learning of English in and out of the classroom.

Star Taxi
Time: 2:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Speaker: Theo Steckler and Marc Sheffner
Organization: Saitama Chapter of the Japan Association for Language Teaching
Location: Saitama City, Saitama Prefecture
Short description: Star Taxi is a story told in 20 scenes. The teacher becomes a director and students become actors who rehearse, then perform the simple yet authentic dialogues.