Fukuoka JALT:

Developing Culturally Sensitive, Communicative Materials for Japanese Junior and Senior High School English Language Learners

Date: Saturday, July 12th, 2008 Time: 2:00 PM - 5:00 PM

Speaker: Sandra Lee McKay (San Francisco State University)

Description:
The purpose of this seminar is to develop classroom materials for teaching English to junior and senior high school students that are both culturally sensitive and meaningful. The seminar will begin by establishing criteria for developing materials that promote cross-cultural awareness and meaningful language learning. Next Ministry of Education textbooks will be examined to determine to what extent they meet these standards. Later in the seminar, the presenter will illustrate ways of reframing existing materials and, in some cases, supplementing them with Internet websites and exchanges so that they are more effective.

Bio: Professor Sandra McKay has taught at SFSU, Stanford, Georgetown University, and Temple University Japan. She has been involved in teacher education programs in Chile, Japan, Hong Kong, Hungary, Laos, Latvia, Morocco, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, Thailand, and Uruguay as a Fulbright scholar and as an academic specialist for the U.S. Dept. of State. Professor McKay was editor of the TESOL Quarterly from 1994 to 1999. She has published articles in the Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, the Harvard Educational Review, the Journal of Second Language Writing, the Modern Language Journal, TESOL Quarterly, and TESOL Journal. She has written and edited numerous books. Her books, Teaching English Overseas: An Introduction, and Teaching English as an International Language: Rethinking Goals and Approaches (both published by Oxford University Press), reflect her interest in the teaching of English in a global context. Her most recent book is Researching Second Language Classrooms (Lawrence Erlbaum, 2006).

Free and open to the public. Fukuoka JALT is co-sponsoring the first three hours of this weekend Temple University Japan Distinguished Lecturer Series.

Organization: Fukuoka Chapter of the Japan Association for Language Teaching (Fukuoka JALT)

Cost: free

Venue: Fukuoka Jo Gakuin Tenjin Satellite Campus (9F), Tenjin 2-8-38, Chuo-ku, Fukuoka-shi map

Location: Fukuoka City, Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan

Contact Fukuoka JALT

Website: www.fukuokajalt.org