JALT Open Forum: Living and Teaching in a foreign country.

We had a panel of three speakers for the topic of living and teaching language in a foreign country. Steve Quasha (Sugiyama Women’s University in Nagoya) came from Gifu and emphasized that if a teacher makes effort to get training as a teacher, the job becomes much more rewarding and less tiring. He said that JALT is a very important resource for him – especially the MY Share issues of the TLT. Mari Hakamata (Shizuoka University in Hamamatsu) talked about her experiences in Sri Lanka as a volunteer Japanese teacher in early twenties. As students tended only to memorize things, Mari tried to teach them simple phrases useful for their own daily lives. She emphasized the importance of learning the language native to the foreign country and making sincere efforts to become part of the local community. David Stephens, an ALT for elementary through junior high school, talked about using the 100Yen-shop to make materials which can raise students’ interest levels. He demonstrated how things like a cardboard box and kitchen-use items can be transformed into fun and effective teaching tools.