News The proposed merger of Hamamatsu & Shizuoka chapters has been approved and from April 2017, our new name will simply be Shizuoka JALT. As of April 2017 the new website will be here: http://www.shizujalt.org ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This next presentation in Hamamatsu will be as "Shizuoka JALT" on April 23 from 13:30 - 15:30 at Create Hamamatsu. (coming earlier is fine) Intercultural Communication Skills Japanese Corporations Need: Applications to the Language Classroom
Prof. Tomoko Yoshida, Keio University As the world becomes increasingly global, most college graduates obtain jobs that involve communicating with a wide variety of people. To better understand what kinds of intercultural communication skills Japanese corporations need, we conducted five focus groups with a total of 27 participants. Our analyses revealed that participants’ examples of intercultural communication included more domestic examples (e.g., gender, region, job type, age) than international ones. Further, many of the techniques described by the participants were an amalgam of “Japanese” (e.g., sasshi, situation-specific adjustment) and “Western” (e.g., verbalizing thoughts, taking the initiative) communication skills. This interactive workshop will present the results of the study and provide an opportunity for participants to brainstorm and share different classroom activities to foster these skills. Tomoko Yoshida is a professor in the Faculty of Business and Commerce at Keio University. She is very well known in the field of Intercultural Studies and has authored, co-authored or co-edited over eight books or book chapters and 30 journal articles (too numerous to list here). She has also authored multiple articles on the experiences of Japanese returnees and Japanese biethnics in Japan. Born in the Philippines and having spent the first 18 years of her life outside of Japan, Tomoko has a personal and professional interest in the identity of those who live in the interstices of society. She has served as the journal editor of the Journal of Intercultural Communication since 2014 and will be the Vice President of SIETAR Japan starting in April, 2017. And she is also very friendly! --------------------------------------- Prior to Professor Yoshida's presentation (do attend!), Farrah Hasnain from Hamamatsu will be saddling up her horse and heading to Shizuoka to present about the ALT experience in Japan (she has already given a similar presentation in Hamamatsu). So if you missed it or would like to test your powers of recall... April 9, 2017 2 - 4 p.m. Shizuoka Kyouiku Kaikan (map) Effectiveness of Team-Teaching in Japanese High Schools Farrah Hasnain English education and team teaching in Japanese public and private high schools demand the collaboration of JTEs and ALTs. The roles of each in terms of lesson preparation/materials selection, as well as the perceived agency of the Japanese Teachers of English (JTEs) and Assistant Language Teachers (ALTs) in the present national foreign language curriculum can become sources of conflict and dysfunction. This is an examination of the pre-service and in-service training that JTEs and ALTs receive from their respective boards of education, government programs, and dispatch companies. Current and former senior high school ALTs and JTEs nationwide were surveyed and interviewed. Both parties felt that there needs to be clearer guidelines of their individual roles to team-teach effectively. Farrah Hasnain is currently in her third year of the JET Program as an ALT at a public senior high school. She is originally from Washington, DC. ANNOUNCEMENTS JALT PanSIG 2017Expand Your InterestsAkita International University, Akita, May 19-21, 2017General information about the conference of JALT’s Special Interest Groups (SIGs) is here: https://pansig.org/.
JALT 2017: Language Teaching in a Global Age: Shaping the Classroom, Shaping the World 43rd Annual International Conference on Language Teaching and Learning & Educational Materials Exhibition ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Looking for a new reading skills textbook?
Reading On 1 is a solidly researched, carefully written reading skills and language development textbook for Japanese false beginners. For further information, contact Gregg McNabb (rgregg@hotmail.com). Reading On 2 for intermediate learners will also be ready by April 2017 as a PDF. A comprehensive Teacher's Manual and a full multimedia student website are available for viewing.
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Like literature?
Some JALT's members are successfully published authors! Here's some weekend reading for you.
Prof. Wendy Nakanishi in Takamatsu has published her next crime novel in the Inspector Inoue series under her pen name, Lea O'Harra.
Progeny is available on Kindle and through Amazon UK and Amazon.com (not Amazon. jp :( ). Incidentally, the first one is Imperfect Strangers. The Kindle version is by Endeavour Press and in print by Fine Line Press in N.Z. She also has published textbooks for EFL learners.
Note: Not EFL/ELT books.
--------------------------------- Call for presentations
Do you have something INTERESTING to present? Hamamatsu and Shizuoka JALT are waiting for your presentation proposal, especially if it deals with the concrete, daily realities of the classroom.
Contact: Sue Sullivan at flowerclip62@hotmail.com
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Dan Frost (pictured below) won his Best of JALT award in 2015! His co-presentation with Prof. Kensaku Yoshida (上智大学 / Sophia U.) was stimulating!
President Jon Dujmovich & Adam Jenkins won in 2014!
A bunch of us are also previous recipients. Hamamatsu has talent!
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