2016/03/20 Third Annual Saitama-Gunma MyShare Event

Saitama Chapter welcomed six presenters from Gunma in this first-half of the Saitama-Gunma Dual My Share. David Gann, Joël Laurier, John Larson, Ray Hoogenboom and Daniel Hooper and Jacob Reed all shared their skills, feedback, and experiences.

Magic as a Means to Dialogical Discourse

by David Gann

Critical thinking begins with the ability to comprehend and analyze arguments. This involves distinguishing premises from conclusions and evaluating arguments on the strength of the logic linking the former to the latter. Gann introduced a fun and practical four-skills activity which treats a magic trick as an argument with a hidden premise.

David Gann is co-producing of Critically Minded Podcast and JALT Critical Thinking SIG Coordinator. He teaches at Tokyo University of Science.

Starting the academic year with the right team building tools

by Joël Laurier

As teachers, we set the tone of the class’ academic and social journey for the year. So often, we set the wrong tone through the choices of activities we present to the students. With the right activities to start the year off, so many classroom management issues can be addressed. Attendees joined Laurier in a short demonstration of social activities that can help students interact with each other while helping them reach their academic potential.

Joel Laurier is a lecturer in the Learning English for Academic Purposes at Toyo University. He is a cooperative learning trainer and a firm believer in the flipped classroom concept.

How to pass notes in English class

by John Larson

Do you remember the joys of exchanging notes in class? Risking a heart-pounding dangerous pass... Smiling silently writing the unsayable... Waiting hungrily for the hopeless heartbreaking reply... In this presentation, attendees learned how John incorporates passing notes into his English classes.

John Larson has been experimenting with different EFL techniques at Isesaki High School for over a decade. He has volunteered in various roles in Gunma JALT and currently oversees their websites.

Using word lists and MALL for vocabulary acquisition

by Daniel Hooper / Jacob Reed

This presentation centered around the utilization of recently developed high-frequency word lists used in conjunction with mobile-assisted language learning (MALL) to allow for efficient and rapid vocabulary acquisition. Reed and Hooper also referred to a study that was carried out with the app 'Memrise' in a university setting and briefly discuss relevant findings.

This presentation had a largely practical focus with information on the benefits of the chosen app and how this approach can be introduced into a number of different teaching contexts.

Daniel Hooper is a student in the Kanda University of International Studies MA TESOL program and a teacher in a private conversation school in Ota City.

Jacob Reed is an instructor in the ELI program at Kanda University.

Setting Up and Maintaining an Extensive Reading and ER Journal Project for First-Year University Students

by Ray Hoogenboom

According to Nation (2007), a well-designed language curriculum should contain a balance of meaning-focused comprehensible input (listening and reading), opportunities to produce meaning-focused output (speaking and writing), form-focused instruction (grammar), and fluency development (speed). Of these four, this presentation focused on input and output. Hoogenboom discussed how he sets up and maintains an extensive reading (ER) and written ER response journal project for first and second year university students.

Ray Hoogenboom is an Associate Professor at the Center for Language Teaching in Gunma University, and is the President of the JALT Gunma Chapter.