ELT Calendar

Saturday, December 10th, 2005

Teaching Listening to Low Level Learners: The Importance of Script and of Suprasegmental Phonology
Time: 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM
Speaker: Alastair Graham-Marr of ABAX Publishers
Organization: Akita Chapter of the Japan Association for Language Teaching
Location: Akita City, Akita Prefecture
Short description: Teaching listening effectively means teaching both phonology and knowledge of discourse. That is, giving students a solid awareness and working knowledge of the phonology of natural connected speech - elisions and liaisons, weak forms and reductions - helps develop their 'bottom-up' decoding skills while developing student knowledge of discourse, particularly of scripts (those discourses in English that tend to follow a set pattern) helps develop their 'top-down' predictive skills.

December My Share (and 2005 Christmas Party)
Time: 2:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Speaker: Group Participation
Organization: Nara Chapter of the Japan Association for Language Teaching
Location: Nara City, Nara Prefecture
Short description: Join Nara JALT's December meeting featuring a My Share session at Tezukayama University, followed by the annual Christmas party at English Masters (both in Gakuenmae).

Breaking In: Magazine Writing for Children
Time: 3:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Speaker: Suzanne Kamata, Tokushima author/editor
Organization: The Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) Japan
Location: Tokyo, Tokyo Metropolis
Short description: The Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) Tokyo presents Breaking In: Magazine Writing for Children with Tokushima author/editor Suzanne Kamata.

Functions of fixed expressions and idioms and metaphors in two different genres in English
Time: 3:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Speaker: Nobuko Tahara
Organization: Okayama Chapter of the Japan Association for Language Teaching
Location: Okayama City, Okayama Prefecture
Short description: Fixed expression, idioms and metaphors are widely seen in many texts but their functions are not often understood. The presenter will report on the study of the distribution of these vocabulary types in two kinds of English texts (an information report and an analytical exposition), and the transferability of their functions into the Japanese translated texts.

Engaging Learners in Their Own Learning with a Drama Approach
Time: 4:00 PM - 6:00 PM
Speaker: Steve Brown
Organization: Kobe Chapter of the Japan Association for Language Teaching
Location: Kobe City, Hyogo Prefecture
Short description: A description of this event should be posted at a later date. .

Learning about the TOEFL-iBT
Time: 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM
Speaker: Megumi Kawate-Mierzejewska
Organization: Kyoto Chapter of the Japan Association for Language Teaching
Location: Kyoto City, Kyoto Prefecture
Short description: This seminar introduces the TOEFL-iBT. In this seminar, the following will be covered: the new test format - Description of each section (Speaking, Reading, Writing and Listening), sample questions; understanding and setting score scales, rubrics for Writing & Speaking, Speaking and Writing samples, CBT and PBT score comparisons, TOEFL iBT Registration, Fees, and Policies, and Resources and Skill Building Tips.

Managing Students' On-line Learning with MOODLE
Time: 6:30 PM - 8:30 PM
Speaker: Nigel Stott and Malcolm Swanson
Organization: Kitakyushu Chapter of the Japan Association for Language Teaching
Location: Kitakyushu City, Fukuoka Prefecture
Short description: If you would like to set up an e-learning course for your students, then you might like to consider using the course management system MOODLE. This open source software package allows you to create on-line courses that include self-checking quizzes, assignments, discussion forums, writing journals, surveys, lessons, resources, and so on.