ELT Calendar

Sunday, June 11th, 2006

NEW Finding Out: A child-centered approach for Japanese children (in Nagoya)
Time: 9:30 AM - 2:00 PM
Speaker: David Paul
Organization: Macmillan LanguageHouse
Location: Nagoya City, Aichi Prefecture
Short description: For the New Finding Out information and activities tour, David Paul will run workshops on the following four themes: Active learning and communication.

How Gender Differences Influence Hearing and Listening
Time: 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Speaker: Gregg McNabb
Organization: Hamamatsu Chapter of the Japan Association for Language Teaching
Location: Hamamatsu City, Shizuoka Prefecture
Short description: The presenter will delineate gender differences in hearing and suggest how these may impact on teaching listening. This presentation should be of particular relevance to junior high school teachers and others who teach children from ages 11 to 20.

Using Kamishibai (story cards) in the EFL classroom
Time: 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Speaker: Erika Hiejima
Organization: ETJ Miyazaki (English Teachers in Japan)
Location: Miyazaki City, Miyazaki Prefecture
Short description: Erika Hiejima has a Bachelor Degree in Early Childhood Teaching and has been teaching young children abroad for 17 years. She has worked at Miyazaki English Kindergarten for the last 7 years.

Authoring Autonomy: Experience, Resistance and Resolution
Time: 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Speaker: Tim Murphey, Keiko Sakui, Neil Cowie, Stacey Vye, Eric Skier, and Martha Robertson
Organization: Osaka Chapter of the Japan Association for Language Teaching
Location: Osaka City, Osaka Prefecture
Short description: This is the 3rd annual collaborative event co-sponsored by Osaka JALT Chapter and the Learner Development SIG. This day-long event will focus on exploring teachers' and learners' learning experiences, identifying critical issues and moments in our development of learner and teacher autonomy, and learning from them.

Temple University / Fukuoka JALT Applied Linguistics Colloquium
Time: 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Speaker: Two Main Speakers and 16 short presentations
Organization: Fukuoka Chapter of the Japan Association for Language Teaching
Location: Fukuoka City, Fukuoka Prefecture
Short description: This colloquium includes two main presentations (see below) and 16 short presentations by second language teachers and second language acquisition researchers on various topics.

ETJ One-Day Certificate Course (Osaka)
Time: 10:00 AM - 5:30 PM
Speaker: Alastair Graham-Marr, John Wiltshier, Rob Waring and Maurice Jamall
Organization: Language Teaching Professionals
Location: Osaka City, Osaka Prefecture
Short description: This is the ETJ One-day certificate course in teaching Japanese students (for teachers of teenagers and adults). Different course contents are offered in alternating years.

TKT Seminar
Time: 12:00 PM - 5:30 PM
Speaker: To be announced
Organization: The British Council Tokyo Centre
Location: Tokyo, Tokyo Metropolis
Short description: TKT tests knowledge about the teaching of English to speakers of other languages, and concentrates on the knowledge needed by all English language teachers.

Practical Pragmatics: Teaching Speech Acts in EFL Classrooms
Time: 2:00 PM - 4:30 PM
Speaker: Toshiyuki Suzuki
Organization: Yokohama Chapter of the Japan Association for Language Teaching
Location: Yokohama City, Kanagawa Prefecture
Short description: In this session, Toshiyuki Suzuki will talk about his attempt to develop learners' pragmatic competence by the teaching of speech act performance strategies.

Teaching pragmatics through consciousness-raising tasks
Time: 2:00 PM - 4:30 PM
Speaker: Megumi Kawate-Mierzejewska
Organization: Chiba Chapter of the Japan Association for Language Teaching
Location: Chiba City, Chiba Prefecture
Short description: This seminar aims to enable participants to become aware of issues in interlanguage pragmatics, focusing on cross-cultural differences in the use of language, as well as teaching pragmatics through consciousness-raising tasks while attempting to increase students' learning motivation.

Student Projects in the EFL Classroom - Why and How.
Time: 2:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Speaker: Chuck Sandy
Organization: Saitama Chapter of the Japan Association for Language Teaching
Location: Saitama City, Saitama Prefecture
Short description: Classroom projects are an effective way to consolidate and extend learning, increase motivation, enhance classroom dynamics, and promote learner-autonomy.

Why listening?
Time: 2:15 PM - 4:20 PM
Speaker: Paul Shimizu, Publishing Director, Intercom Press
Organization: Matsuyama Chapter of the Japan Association for Language Teaching
Location: Matsuyama City, Ehime Prefecture
Short description: Listening is an essential element of your English conversation classes. No input, No output.