ELT Calendar

Saturday, March 11th, 2006

The 2006 Oxford University Press Kids' Club Tour in Nagano "Growing Up with Oxford - Putting Great Ideas Into Practice."
Time: 10:00 AM - 1:00 PM
Speaker: Hiroko Tsunoda, Miki Sakai
Organization: Oxford University Press Kids' Club
Location: Nagano City, Nagano Prefecture
Short description: The Oxford Kids' Club Tour 2006 - In conjunction with the Daily Yomiuri 50th Anniversary. Join presenters Hiroko Tsunoda (English Time) and Miki Sakai (Let's Go) as they show you how to put great ideas for Reading, Songs, Chants and Lively Communication for a wide range of student ages into practice in This tour also sees the launch of the Third Edition of Let's Go - Japan's most popular course for kids! Admission is free.

Beat Generation Literature in America
Time: 1:30 PM - 3:30 PM
Speaker: Chris Douthit
Organization: Yamagata Chapter of the Japan Association for Language Teaching
Location: Yamagata City, Yamagata Prefecture
Short description: The 1950's was a revolutionary time in American Literature primarily because of a group of crazy, hip freethinkers from San Francisco called the Beats, whose style (in writing and life), candor and subject matter broke taboos and opened discussion about sexuality, gender, peace, environmentalism and many topics which still inspire heated debate today.

Juggling and EFL.
Time: 2:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Speaker: Andrew Woollock
Organization: Nara Chapter of the Japan Association for Language Teaching
Location: Nara City, Nara Prefecture
Short description: Whilst at first juggling and the study of English may seem unlikely bed-fellows, the former is a great tool in stimulating and facilitating the latter.

Can Internet Technology Solve Age-Old Teaching Problems?
Time: 6:30 PM - 8:30 PM
Speaker: Mark Cowan
Organization: Kitakyushu Chapter of the Japan Association for Language Teaching
Location: Kitakyushu City, Fukuoka Prefecture
Short description: How are teachers evaluated for their classroom performance? Does lesson preparation really matter? Can't I just wing it? How are students' abilities evaluated? Do 1-to-5 or Poor-to-Excellent scale systems have any meaning? Do teachers really evaluate students against a standard benchmark, or are they really comparing students against other students in class? The presenter will demonstrate two information systems that can provide answers to these questions, but raise many more.

Methods to Conquer Pronunciation Difficulties
Time: 7:30 PM - 9:00 PM
Speaker: Victoria Taylor, ECC Foreign Language Institute
Organization: Gifu Chapter of the Japan Association for Language Teaching
Location: Gifu City, Gifu Prefecture
Short description: In this interactive presentation, Ms. Taylor will demonstrate an outline for a 5-week course consisting of 10 separate lessons focusing on common pronunciation errors by Japanese speakers of English.