Beliefs & Practices

How do I promote proficiency? I believe that knowing the signposts can help us get to where we want to go. I provide Can Do statements at the beginning of all of my lessons so students know what they will be able to do by the end of the lesson.

I encourage the use of group tools such as google slides to begin writing about themselves and their world that includes images and videos they produce. They are very proud of their work and so am I. I also encourage my students by participating in national and local Japanese contests and taking the National Japanese Exam.

These are things they display in their Language Portfolio. At the end of the program they have a visual of who they were at the beginning of the program, and what they have achieved in the language by graduation.

Online learning has been difficult for shy students during this pandemic, so I have them visit my office or meet by zoom for less stressful one on one conversations. I remind them to be gentle with themselves while showing them the ACTFL Standards diagram. They all have high standards for themselves but are frustrated when they feel they are not developing as quickly as they may have in other languages.

How do I engage and motivate learners? I believe that every student in my classroom truly wants to learn to speak and read Japanese. Therefore it is important to develop a learning ecology, not only in the classroom, but between the courses, other campus learners, and alumni.

In my classroom I recognize that many have had learning challenges. I encourage a positive and supportive environment where every student is valued and given the time they need to interact in the Japanese language in the first semester. For some, they do not have the courage to speak in the classroom until the end of the semester, for others they are testing the language waters from the first day - both are valid.

Between the courses taught in the same semester, I ask the upper levels to provide proofreading and tutoring with the lower level. The studio environment is like a family, so I extend this Sempai/Kohai system to my program as well.

Outside of the classroom, students interact with others on campus through a poster campaign seeking like minded types and through social media with alumni who send encouraging words of support.

Finally my EM was about the Possible Selves Program - a program to motivate learners to go beyond the program in order to achieve proficiency. While I implement this in the second semester, I also introduce students to possible job opportunities and mentors.

How do I teach grammar and vocabulary? In many language classes there are distinct grammar and vocabulary activities. In my classes I approach grammar and vocabulary in multiple ways. As I introduce them to new concepts, I will pause to see if they have any vocabulary they would like to add. Many have studied on their own before join my program. We also look at possible cognates (loan words) between Japanese and English. My artists collectively make cognate wordbooks based on their majors to plump up their potential vocabulary.

As most of my MAFLT experience has been online, I use Jamboard and google slides to introduce students to grammar and allow them to play with the language in small group drills where they are completing a task. This task is related to the end project they will create at the end of the unit. The FLLITE Program has encouraged me to not treat them with kid gloves. We dive into Japanese websites and authentic documents as soon as we can.

I also want my students to learn more grammar and vocabulary on their own. Each semester they are required to submit four ethnographic genre studies of books they read from my graded reader library. While they are nervous their first eight weeks of class, but week 9 most are reading and enjoying the books they've chosen. Their ethnography notes include identifying new vocabulary and kanji, as well as noting grammar they are familiar with or want to find out more.

How do I raise intercultural awareness? Many of my students are from homogeonous suburbs in the midwest. We begin the first semester of Japanese by writing their cultural autobiography. I want them to know who they are and what has influenced them to be who they are. From this point my students write an ethnographic blog post each week about what they are seeing and experiencing in the language, in videos they watch, in the books they read. My in projects also use the ICC benchmarks for proficiency. I want my students to compare and contrast things they are noticing. When we use authentic materials, whether government checklists, foodie websites, or new years card construction sites, I want them looking at how the information is presented, not only the words used, but where the words are, are they vertical or horizontal, and what colors and graphics are being used. For my art students the language study is not only about words and interactions, but also about colors and visual representations. knowing this will enhance their own work.