ELT Calendar

Sunday, April 17th, 2005

Introductory Certificate Course in Teaching English to Children (Sendai)
Time: 10:00 AM - 5:15 PM
Speaker: David Paul
Organization: Language Teaching Professionals
Location: Sendai City, Miyagi Prefecture
Short description: One-day course in teaching elementary school children. Course components: 1.

Using short stories and poems in Japanese University English classes
Time: 1:30 PM - 4:00 PM
Speaker: Hillel Wright
Organization: Toyohashi Chapter of the Japan Association for Language Teaching
Location: Toyohashi City, Aichi Prefecture
Short description: Using selections from the 2002 anthology Faces in the Crowds; a Tokyo international anthology, we will explore the ways university English teachers can employ literature, in short forms, to inspire class discussion, provide topics for speech or presentation and present examples for writing assignments - either critical essays or creative works.

Scarcely a Ripple: Surfing the waves of student anxiety and motivation
Time: 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM
Speaker: Terry Fellner and Matthew Apple
Organization: Himeji Chapter of the Japan Association for Language Teaching
Location: Himeji City, Hyogo Prefecture
Short description: Terry Fellner & Matthew Apple from Himeji Dokkyo University will present an intensive CALL program held over two weeks they developed in the summer of 2004 for a group of fourth-year low-intermediate level university students.

A Literacy Framework: Guided Reading Strategies
Time: 2:00 PM - 4:30 PM
Speaker: Robert Baines and Ellen Kawaguchi
Organization: Chiba Chapter of the Japan Association for Language Teaching
Location: Chiba City, Chiba Prefecture
Short description: Guided reading is a structured reading activity for informational text that helps students make sense of information. Workshop format proceeds from presentation with completed samples to participant practice with graphic organizer templates currently used in USA high school and college English and ESL classes, with specific application to English-Japanese bilingual textbooks addressing vocabulary development and narrative texts.

The Illusion of Synonyms
Time: 2:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Speaker: Andy Boon, Takushoku University
Organization: Saitama Chapter of the Japan Association for Language Teaching
Location: Saitama City, Saitama Prefecture
Short description: This presentation questions the synonymic relationship between bias and prejudice. Firstly, the two terms are compared using their entries in the New Oxford English Dictionary.

Oral Communication Benchmarks
Time: 2:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Speaker: Marcos Benevides, University of the Ryukyus
Organization: Okinawa Chapter of the Japan Association for Language Teaching
Location: Naha City, Okinawa Prefecture
Short description: The speaker will briefly examine two new language competency descriptor systems, the Common European Framework and the Canadian Language Benchmarks, and discuss the urgent relevance of such an open system for describing and assessing communicative EFL levels in Japan.