Event Archives
2020 in Review
Saturday, September 26th via Zoom.
Zoom Games: Share and Play Together
How about being a student for a change, and trying out some games? Or being a teacher as usual, and setting up a game for us to play? We tried tried out some games that are designed for, adapted for, or just work well with Zoom-style online language classes: ice-breakers, board games - new games and games.
A recording of the session is available below.
Hiroshima JALT Sept. 2020.mp4Sunday, July 19th via Zoom.
Climate Change with Emphasis on Building Solutions: A Primer for Teachers and Students in Japan with Marian Hara, Kenneth Parker, and Sumire Jean Parker
A joint Matsuyama and Hiroshima JALT webinar
We heard from Sumire Jean, a high school student, on the challenges facing her generation regarding climate change, such as: 1) How do we stimulate interest and involvement of people her age? 2) Are there suggestions to motivate the initiative to research the solutions? 3) As a teacher, how can I become more informed myself so as to be in a better position to guide my students? 4) How do we balance things that governments and businesses can do and things we can all do to put us on the glide path by 2030?
We then heard a scientist’s view of some of the key sources of greenhouse gas emissions from the standpoint of Japan, together with the potential role Japan could take in building solutions. The focus for discussion revolved around: 1) development of carbon-neutral sources of electric power; 2) electrification of transportation; 3) broaching carbon sink capacity through growth of trees and forests worldwide, including urban communities.
Saturday, June 27th via Zoom.
Online My Share - Online and Offline Activities
Presenters were welcomed for 10-minute slots on topics including activities, tasks, and approaches that work well in both online and face-to-face classes.
Sunday, May 10th via Zoom.
Online My Share - Online Learning.
Our first online seminar addressed the transition to online teaching and learning learning that many of our members were experiencing. Speakers and topics included: Amir Feroze on post-class feedback online; Joseph Sanger on students, their families, and Eikaiwa teaching online; Kanade Kurozumi; Monika Szirmai on the ups and downs of online English teaching; and Philip Head on Flipgrid.
Saturday, February 15th at Le Reve.
Adam Beck discussed the Secrets of Success from the World’s Bilingual and Multilingual Families.
Adam Beck, a longtime resident of Hiroshima and an expert on raising bilingual and multilingual children, shared his experience of the past 20+ years working with bilingual and multilingual families around the world. In particular, he spoke about the key “secrets of success” based on his interactions and interviews involving a wide range of families, which constitutes the theme of a new book he is now writing. Adam is the founder of the blog Bilingual Monkeys (http://bilingualmonkeys.com) and the forum The Bilingual Zoo (http://bilingualzoo.com) and, with his wife, is raising two trilingual children with ability in Japanese, English, and Spanish.
Sunday, January 26th at Hiroshima YMCA. Andy Boon led two sessions.
Conversations We'd Like Our Students to Have. Agency, quite simply, is having the power to act. However, learners need the appropriate tools and scaffolding in the classroom in order to take this initiative. This presentation described how we can help learners become more active in speaking classes. It also demonstrated ways to scaffold the learning process so that learners can be exposed to and engage in more authentic conversations in the language classroom.
Equipping Students with Basic Qualitative Research Skills. In this presentation, the presenter described a university EAP (English for Academic Purposes) course he helped to develop which focuses on students conducting research on topics they select. It explained how students are equipped with three basic qualitative research skills that they can use to collect primary data for their research and include comments from students related to their EAP learning experiences.
