Dear chapter members,
Time goes by so fast. It’s already December and 2020 is almost over. It looks like there is help on the way in the coming new year, but until then we hope everyone is staying healthy and safe. We have a lot of information for you this month about upcoming online events.
This month, December 5th, Kyoto JALT and the GALE SIG are collaborating on a one day event to share ideas about and experiences of harassment. Keynote speaker Fiona Creaser will begin the event with talks outlining types of harassment. This will be followed by workshops in separate zoom breakout rooms. There will be two counsellors available for those who wish to talk with an experienced professional about their own personal experiences dealing with harassment.: Those who wish to make an advance appointment please follow these links: (http://bit.ly/3iy94Zz) Counseling (http://bit.ly/35vsZnf)
In the new year we are holding an event that is truly global in nature. We have a multinational line up of speakers on Issues of Race and Native Speakerism in ELT. Race has implications on all aspects for our profession, including why we teach English, what we teach, how we teach, and who should teach. Join Kyoto JALT for a one-day event concerning these issues. If you are interested in more information please follow the link to our facebook event page or scroll further down in the newsletter.
The Social Justice + Language Teaching Working Group will hold their next meeting Wednesday, December 9th at 4 pm. If you are interested in joining, please fill out the registration form. Working Group leader, Betsy Lavolette, will send out Zoom links closer to the day.
Also, in this issue, you can find more details about events throughout Kansai and calls for papers/presentations..
Richard Sparrow
Publicity Chair
On behalf of the Kyoto JALT Team
Kyoto JALT’s 2020 Event Schedule (Upcoming)
- GALE Collaboration on ‘Harassment’: December 5, 1PM~
Featured speaker: Fiona Creaser
Counselor support: Sarah Mulvey, Brain Cullen
Workshop leaders: Yoshi Grote (non-binary workshop leader), Robert O’Mochain (men’s workshop leader) , Gwyn Helversen (women’s workshop leader)
- Issues of Race and Native Speakerism in ELT: January 23rd, 9AM-
Keynote Speaker: Ryuko Kubota (University of British Columbia)
Invited Speakers:
JPB Gerald (EdD candidate at CUNY Hunter College)
Robert J. Lowe (Tokyo Kasei University)
Phan Le Ha (Universiti Brunei Darussalam)
Vijay Ramjattan (Brandeis University)
Details about Kyoto JALT’s December / January Events
Kyoto JALT Collaboration with GALE SIG: Coming Together to Share Ideas About and Experiences of Harassment
Date: December 5th, 2020
Time: 12:30 PM - 4:45 PM
Speakers: Fiona Creaser (Kitakyushu University), Dr. Brian Cullen (Nagoya Institute of Technology), Sarah Mulvey (J’Expat Network), Yoshi Grote (Kyoto Sangyo University), Gwyn Helverson (Osaka University), Robert O’Mochain (Ritsumeikan University)
Advanced Registration: Seminar (http://bit.ly/3iy94Zz) Counseling (http://bit.ly/35vsZnf)
Social Justice + Language Teaching Working Group
Date: Wednesday, December 9th, 2020
Time: 4:00pm – 17:30
Facilitator: Betsy Lavolette
Venue: Online
The focus of the Social Justice + Language Teaching Working Group (SJ+LT Working Group) is as follows:
- What can we do to promote social justice in our classrooms (and beyond)?
- How can we make Kyoto JALT (and JALT) a comfortable space for all language teachers?
More concretely, we plan to do the following in monthly synchronous meetings:
- Discuss and provide feedback to each other on our lesson plans and classroom experiences that involve SJ.
- Read and discuss book chapters, articles, etc. on SJ themes.
- Plan and implement SJ-themed activities for students and teachers.
The next meeting will take place as follows: Wednesday, December 9, 4 p.m. To get the Zoom link, please sign up here.
Issues of Race and Native Speakerism in ELT
Registration: Required (to be announced)
Date: Saturday, January 23rd, 2020
Time: 8:50AM-3:15PM
Keynote Speaker: Ryuko Kubota (University of British Columbia)
Invited Speakers:
JPB Gerald (EdD candidate at CUNY Hunter College)
Robert J. Lowe (Tokyo Kasei University)
Phan Le Ha (Universiti Brunei Darussalam)
Vijay Ramjattan (Brandeis University)
Race has implications on all aspects for our profession, including why we teach English, what we teach, how we teach, and who should teach. Join Kyoto JALT for a one-day event concerning these issues.
Timetable:
8:50 Open the Zoom room
9AM Dr. Vijay Ramjattan
10:10AM Mr. JPB Gerald
11:20- PM Prof. Ryuko Kubota
12:30PM - LUNCH/BREAK
1 PM Prof. Robert Lowe
2:10 Prof. Phan Le Ha
3:10 Closing/announcements
Abstracts
Keynote: Ryuko Kubota (University of British Columbia)
Critical Approaches to Race, Racism and Antiracism in English Language Teaching
Issues of race, which are linked to native speakerism, have long constituted a hidden reality in English language teaching. This presentation exposes the concepts of race, racism, and antiracism and explore their complexities and interlocking relationships with language and other identity categories. I argue that educational practices for justice and anti-oppression necessitate explicit, collective, strategic, and hyper-reflexive engagement in race, racism, and antiracism.
JPB Gerald (EdD candidate at CUNY Hunter College)
Worth the Risk: Decent(e)ring Whiteness in English Language Teaching
This is a discussion focused on Gerald’s recently published article in the BC TEAL journal and its implications for the field of language education. It begins with a short presentation on important terminology regarding racism and whiteness, moves into the arguments about how to decenter whiteness in the field of language teaching, and will be followed by a question and answer session.
Robert J. Lowe (Tokyo Kasei University)
The ‘Native Speaker’ Frame in English Language Teaching
This talk introduces the concept of the ‘native speaker’ frame in ELT - a perceptual filter of Western ‘native’-normativity through which ELT professionals interpret their experiences and justify their practices. While overt consequences of native-speakerism such as hiring discrimination are becoming more widely recognized in ELT, those effects which are less obvious (such as beliefs around educational technology and student cultural deficiency) often go unrecognized. After a brief discussion of frames and framing, a definition will be given of the ‘native speaker’ frame, followed by examples of the frame in operation. The talk will highlight how subtle discourses of superiority and inferiority can still exist, even in cases where surface-level equality has
been achieved.
Phan Le Ha (Universiti Brunei Darussalam)
“Aren’t We All Complicit?”: Multiple Faces of Race and Language in ELT
This talk invites the audience to critically engage with complex issues and questions surrounding the increasing transnational mobility of English language teachers. It offers multi-layered discussion of transnational teacher mobility, whereby race, religion, skin colour, nationality, language, work politics, and scholarly and professional perspectives all come together in nuanced ways that invite rigourous examination. As teachers move across borders, they bring with them certain identities and worldviews, knowledge, ideas, pedagogies and other socio-cultural and linguistic resources and prejudices. At the same time, they constantly respond to varied, even contradicting, demands, needs, expectations and judgements of students, peers, institutions, and the ELT profession. While all these are happening, pains, gains, and uncertainties experienced by many teachers are often sidelined. I shall discuss in-depth accounts from teachers of diverse backgrounds who have taught English in Asian and Gulf countries. Through these accounts, I show that many deep-rooted perceptions and discourses associated with native speakers of English (i.e. Westerners, the idea of the West and Westerners), race (including White, Black), ethnicity (for example, South Asian) and religion (for instance, Islam) continue to travel, invade different professional TESOL/ELT spaces and haunt teachers themselves. Many TESOL/ELT professionals remain trapped in these perceptions and discourses, as victims, offenders, both, or somewhere in between. After all, aren’t we all complicit?
Vijay Ramjattan (Brandeis University)
Raciolinguistic Enregisterment and Aesthetic Labour in ELT
Due to the colonial spread of the English language, embodied whiteness and “nativeness” in English are deeply intertwined. Indeed, through the process of raciolinguistic enregisterment where people come to “look like languages” (Rosa, 2019), native English speakers are often imagined to be white. This has implications for ELT, which rewards workers who possess a particular look and sound. Specifically, ELT is a type of aesthetic labour in which looking good for the job entails being white while sounding right means having a native speaker accent. The purpose of this presentation is to explore the consequences of this racialized aesthetic labour. First, it leads to racist hiring practices that disadvantage racially minoritized teachers. Moreover, it furthers the deskilling of the ELT profession by emphasizing embodied traits as “credentials.” The presentation concludes by outlining possible tactics to disrupt conceptions of the white native speaker of English as the ideal worker in ELT.
News
JALT2019 Plenaries on YouTube
Our JALT2019 plenary sessions have been uploaded to YouTube. Here's the plenary speaker playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLpP8yzHmmyNEoKhvf9fQ6SgN_ib4JH56P
JALT2020 content on YouTube
https://youtube.com/c/JALTJapanAssociationforLanguageTeaching
Call For Papers
Call for Papers Deadline: 2nd Performance in Education: Research & Practice Conference/ Student Showcase, Film Festival, and Performances
Date: Monday, December 7, 2020 (All day)
Event Speaker: Plenary Speakers: Dr. Rod Ellis and Dawn Kobayashi
Fee for JALT members: JALT Members (Presenter) - 2,000 yen, JALT Members (Participant) - 1,000 yen, PIE SIG Member - Free
Fee for non-JALT members: non-JALT members (international and domestic) - 3,000 yen, Full-time students - Free
Contact or Queries: Send Email
Deadline: December 7, 2020
The title of the conference is "Performance in Education: Research and Practice," so presentation submissions should be relevant to the elements of the title; that is, they should be about performance, education, research, and practice.
You may submit as many proposals as you like, but because of the particular system being used, you need to submit them one at a time. We suggest all people submitting to first write all the personal and presentation details in a word processing document first, then copy and paste the details into the online submission form. That way you have a record of your title/s and abstract/s, and if you submit several proposals, you will not have to re-input your personal details.
TYPES OF PRESENTATIONS
Short presentation on practice (no time limit)
Short presentation on research (no time limit)
Poster presentation on practice (no time limit)
Poster presentation on research (no time limit)
Performance (no time limit)
Student Showcase Exhibition & Performances (no time limit)
Student Film Festival
Call for papers website: https://sites.google.com/view/sddpalresearchconference/call-for-papers?a...
Living on the Edge 2021: Stories that connect us
Date: April 24th and 25th, 2021
Place: Online
Submission Deadline: December 30th, 2020
Submission URL: Please submit your abstract (~250 words) to differenceconference@gmail.com
Online Events
JALT-Ibaraki Chapter December 2020 Joint Online Event
Date: Saturday, December 5, 2020 (All day)
Event Speaker: Details will be announced later
Fee for JALT members: Free
Fee for non-JALT members: Free
Event Theme: Emergency Remote Teaching and Blended Learning
The 4th CEGLOC Conference “Language Education in 2020: Emergency Remote Teaching and Blended Learning” online on 5 December 2020.
The University of Tsukuba CEGLOC FD Committee in collaboration with the JALT CALL SIG and the JALT Ibaraki Chapter will hold the 4th CEGLOC Conference "Language Education in 2020: Emergency Remote Teaching and Blended Learning," on December 5th, 2020.
Latest Information
To register,
1. Go to: http://www.cegloc.tsukuba.ac.jp/page/page000796.html
2. Scroll down the page and click the PDF File "Program 4th CEGLOC Conference Dec 5, 2020 detailed"
3. To register, click "Participation Registration" in blue font.
(Online Conference) Details of the call for presentations or participation registration can be found at: https://b24-n3d8tg.bitrix24.site/4thCEGLOC-Conference
Online Meeting Link:
The 4th CEGLOC Conference “Language Education in 2020: Emergency Remote Teaching and Blended Learning”
Developing the Willis TBLT framework for a Japanese context: the ITOTIF Framework Fukuoka JALT
Date: Saturday, December 5, 2020 - 6:30pm to 8:00pm
Event Speaker: Justin Harris, Paul Leeming
Fee for JALT members: free
Fee for non-JALT members: free
Online: The Zoom link will be posted on the Fukuoka JALT website ( https://fukuokajalt.org) the day before.
Task-based language teaching (TBLT) has become increasingly popular in Japan, and many teachers use the TBLT framework created by Jane Willis (1996). Although the framework is practical, easy to use, and effective for language learners, one potential weakness, especially in EFL contexts such as Japan, is the lack of opportunity to provide students with language input before they have to speak. In this presentation we will introduce the Input Task Output Task Integrated Framework (ITOTIF) which we have developed in an attempt to address this problem. Although still retaining the pre-task, main-task, post-task cycle, lessons begin with a comprehensive input task cycle, which functions to introduce language to students that could be potentially useful in the subsequent output (or speaking) task, while also introducing the topic of the lesson. In this way, lessons maintain a task-based approach, but students are provided with language they may not know and may need, before they are required to speak. After briefly outlining the theory behind the framework, we will provide examples, from our textbook series On Task, of how the ITOTIF actually works in practice.
Justin Harris is an Associate Professor at Kindai University. His research interests are primarily focussed on the practice of language teaching, and how theory may inform improved practice. Areas of interest include TBLT, teacher training, and English as a lingua franca. He is a founding member and the coordinator of the JALT TBL SIG.
Paul Leeming is an Associate Professor at Kindai University and an adjunct professor at Temple University Japan. His research focusses on TBLT and interaction and engagement in the language classroom. He is a founding member and the program chair for the JALT TBL SIG.
「ラップブックを活用した文法九九ゲーム "Bunnpou Kuku" Grammar Activity for Young Learners Nagoya JALT
Date: Sunday, December 6, 2020 - 1:30pm to 2:30pm
Event Speaker: Yoko Ikegame
Fee for JALT members: Free
Fee for non-JALT members: Free
This presentation will be conducted in Japanese. 日本の児童にとって難しい文法項目とは、やはり、日本語にはみられない現象が起きる項目です。「文法九九」とは、それらの項目を算数の九九のようにチャンツや歌で覚えて、自分で英作をする時の道具として使う、という方法です。 文法九九を使えるようになるためには、「ことばへの気づき」が必要です。言葉への敏感性を育てるアクティビティもご紹介します。 Grammar learning for Japanese students are challenging because of the complicated rules, therefore, this approach : Bunpou Kuku is a tool for them to remember the grammar rules with chants for English compositions. Furthermore, the practical activities to use this chant to enrich students’ senses toward language and will be introduced in this workshop. Yoko Ikegame has been contributing Elementary schools English educations by doing presentations and workshops. She is a founder of NPO which provides learning activities for the levels and an editor of English subject textbook: Junior Horizon. Her publications are many and one is 話し合い力をそだてるコミュニケーションゲーム62（中村堂）菊池省三先生と共著
Online Meeting Link:
Zoom Link
YoJalt My Share Yokohama JALT
Date: Saturday, December 12, 2020 - 1:00pm
Event Speaker: Many
Fee for JALT members: Free
Fee for non-JALT members: 1,000 yen
Contact or Queries: Send Email
Event Theme: We'll be sharing lots of practical ideas for language teaching and learning!
Join us to hear seven short talks on various ideas to take back to your classroom! Titles: They and Them: Creating Awareness on using Pronouns through the ‘Stay Woke’ Phenomenon on Social Media; “Learning through the Looking Glass”: Methods to Provide Implicit Instruction through Self Transcription; Speaker Wants to Know; Comfort Zone vs. Challenge Zone in Language Learning; Applying pragmatic content to teaching English as a foreign language; Ideas for Zoom classes; and Issues in Teaching Discussion Classes.
Location: Online via Zoom
Monthly Meeting - JALT2020 Highlights Sendai JALT
Date: Saturday, December 12, 2020 - 3:00pm to 5:00pm
Event Speaker: Various JALT Sendai members
Fee for JALT members: Free
Fee for non-JALT members: Free
Contact or Queries: Send Email
Local members who attended the JALT International Conference online will present summaries/reflections on the best presentations they attended at the conference. This is a great chance to learn about new research, pick up on innovations in ELT and hear about other highlights of this excellent conference. We'll also do a bit of brainstorming on future programs for JALT Sendai. This is always a stimulating, fun session. Please join us! (Virtual bonenkai follows the meeting, after 17:00 ...)
Online Meeting Link: Register to get meeting information
December MyShare Event - Writing Workshop Iwate-Aomori JALT
Date: Sunday, December 13, 2020 - 1:30pm
Event Speaker: Julia Christmas, (University of Niigata Prefecture),
Sarah Deutchman (Waseda University), Timothy Ang, Kathryn Akasaka,
Rachel Stuart(UMGC)
Fee for JALT members: Free
Fee for non-JALT members: Free
Contact or Queries: Send Email
- Using Google Slides to support Writing in Online or Hybrid Classrooms
This presentation focuses on an ongoing and small-scale classroom-based research project that evolved from the need to help students overcome the barriers of writing for academic purposes. It will offer background of both the project and the literature linking sociocultural perspectives and collaboration with writing to support noticing by increasing the “visibility” (Hyland, 2003) of academic writing features. In addition, the presentation will share practical, technology-based pedagogy (primarily Google Slides and Docs) for improving writing skills that will be of interest to teachers in CLIL and other academic writing classroom contexts.
Julia Christmas, (University of Niigata Prefecture) has classroom experience that includes many years at both secondary and tertiary institutions in Japan. Her research interests include CLIL and CALL.
- Using Corpora to Support and Develop Writing Skills
This presentation hopes to show the basics of how to use the CocaCorpus and Sketch Engine for Language Learners. The presenter will explain how to make materials that help students do corpus searches by themselves (e.g., collocates, connotations, noticing patterns). Participants are encouraged to play active roles during this presentation as they’ll have the opportunity to try these tools for themselves in a breakout room workshop. Possible issues with these tools and how teachers can help students avoid them will also be shared.
Sarah Deutchman currently works at Waseda University where she has taught academic writing and discussion for 3 years. Her area of research focuses on using and analyzing corpora, building vocabulary lists based on corpora, and polysemy.
- Storytelling Through Google Speech to Text
Google Speech to Text is a powerful voice technology that has become part of our daily lives with its applications such as Google Home. This presentation will delve into the technology from a learning standpoint and familiarize the students with the use of it for creating short stories through Google Docs. The activity will be extended online through a breakout room group discussion.
Timothy Ang is currently finishing his Masters in Bilingual and Multicultural Education at the University of Alcalá. He teaches English at universities in the Kansai area of Japan. His current interests include Task Based Learning, Student Motivation, Computer Assisted Learning, and Curriculum Development.
- Planning a Day Out with Padlet
In this short presentation, the presenter will demonstrate how to use the map feature on Padlet. They will detail how their students practiced informative writing by creating reviews of favorite places in the area, then worked with a partner to plan a perfect day out. If time permits, participants can write a review of their favorite place.
Kathryn Akasaka came to Japan on the JET program and has been here ever since. She holds a BA in Education from Earlham College and currently works at Shirayuri JHS and HS and lecturing part time at Iwate University, Iwate Prefectural University and Iwate Medical University.
- Using Online Discussion Boards to Teach Summarizing & Paraphrasing
In this short presentation, the presenter will share how they have used online discussion board tasks to help students learn to summarize and paraphrase, an essential skill in academic writing. They will also share how they helped students intentionally incorporate new vocabulary and grammar into their posts, and ultimately later in their term essays.
Rachel Stuart has been teaching in Japan for 6 years and holds a MA in TESOL from Biola University, California and currently teaches in the Bridge Program at the University of Maryland Global Campus (UMGC) in Misawa, Aomori. She is also the program chair for the Iwate-Aomori JALT Chapter.
LD SIG: Creating Community in Language Teaching CCLT6
Date: Sunday, December 20, 2020 (All day)
Event Speaker: Various
Fee for JALT members: SIG members 1,000, JALT members 1,500 yen
Fee for non-JALT members: 2,000 yen (students free)
Contact or Queries: Send Email
Event Theme: Creating community in language teaching; bringing together teachers and learners; autonomous learning inside and outside the classroom; overcoming challenges
CCLT is an annual platform for teachers and students to present their experiences of autonomous teaching and learning. For the first time in 2020, we are going online. Please join us for an energetic day of panel discussions and presentations. The schedule will be available soon on the LD SIG page!
Finally
Kyoto JALT on Social Media
Visit our website https://kyotojalt.org/
To keep up to date with all the things from Kyoto JALT via Facebook, please join our Kyoto JALT Facebook Group
Follow us on Twitter: @JaltKyoto
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Hope you have a safe and productive December
Richard Sparrow,
Publicity Chair
On behalf of the Kyoto JALT Team
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