2011/09/04

Listening to Chris Stillwell, one gets the impression that he is an excellent moderator. With a calm demeanor and an easy smile, he is someone you can trust. Perhaps it isn't surprising then that Stillwell's presentation generated candid contributions from even the quietest of our attending members. 

In order to demonstrate the intersections between conflict resolution and language learning and teaching, Stillwell guided Gunma JALT members through three activities. The first activity required members to identify different parts of speech which could 'trigger' conflict - some examples include the modal verbs had better and must. A double role-play activity had partners act out an argument using some of these trigger words, then role-playing the same argument without them. Last, partners practiced active listening while avoiding yes/no and why questions.

In a little under three hours, Stillwell showed attendees that conflict resolution techniques make excellent content for language classes while at the same time helping teachers and students deftly diffuse conflict in the classroom.