2013/09/08

Title:  Building Strategies and Skills in Critical Media Literacy:

Empowering English Learners to Access, Understand, and Engage with News

Speaker: Anna Husson Isozaki

This September, Gunma JALT was proud to welcome one of our own to the stage. Longtime friend and member Anna Husson Isozaki presented on how we can help students acquire the skills needed to find their way through the funhouse hall of mirrors that we call mass media. It is a challenge, but one that Isozaki deems necessary. She quoted Bernstein and Davis saying, "The main role of a free press is to provide citizens with the information they need to lead good lives and to help society improve." Media literacy is about personal empowerment - giving our students the ability to find, share and respond to the issues that matter to them.  Perhaps even more importantly, Isozaki skillfully showed that the backbones of media literacy: thinking, checking and looking for ourselves are necessary skills for students and teachers alike. After a short break, Isozaki introduced participants to her treasure trove of carefully curated media links. Her collection, bio and powerpoint file and more can be found in her Google Drive folder created especially for this event. 

Anna Husson Isozaki is from the U.S., and has been teaching in Japan since 1992, presently adjunct at Gunma Women’s University. She holds an MA in Advanced Japanese Studies from Sheffield University (U.K.) focusing on social issues and evolving legal structures addressing them in Japan, and co-translated and edited several novels before beginning her journalism studies certificate with the University of Massachusetts. Presently her academic research focuses on building media literacy, critical thinking, and acquisition of fluent second language literacy. She can be contacted at anna-isozaki@nifty.com.