Hokkaido JALT Chapter

Hokkaido JALT usually meets on the 4th Sunday of almost every month. They have also held the Hokkaido Language Conference annually for twenty-three years. If you wish to present at the 24th annual conference on September 23rd, visit the chapter website and submit your proposal by July 13th.

The next meeting for the Hokkaido Chapter is on Sunday, May 25th, 2008 from 2:00 PM to 3:45 PM.

Using a CALL Classroom to Teach English through Drama

Hitoshi Eguchi, Hokusei Gakuen University

The benefits of using drama in language teaching have been explored by many language teachers. The pragmatic aspects of language can be taught with relative ease by putting students in a realistic context for language use in the real world. However, using such teaching techniques with Japanese college students is challenging because of their shy character and because it's not likely to be a teaching style in which they have been taught before.

The first half of this presentation will focus on the underlying principles of using drama in language teaching. The presenter will demonstrate how he gets his students to think about the differences between an "oral" class and a "communicative" class.

The second half will show how the teaching techniques can be employed without losing the students' cooperation and motivation through the use of a CALL classroom and its functions. The results of a student questionnaire about these techniques as well as possible variations of the techniques as options in teaching English at the college level will be introduced.

Bio: Hitoshi Eguchi is an assistant professor in charge of the pre-service teacher training courses and TEFL related classes at Hokusei Gakuen University. He is also an assistant CALL teacher at Hokusei. He is exploring his teaching style, for example, by speaking only English to his students even though he is a native Japanese speaker. He taught English in Korea and at a number of colleges in Miyagi before coming to Sapporo and has experience teaching the skills of writing, speaking, listening and grammar. He speaks English for professional purposes and survival Korean.

The meeting is at Hokusei Gakuen University, Oyachi, Atsubetsu-ku, Sapporo.
Cost for non-JALT members: 500 yen; for JALT members: free

» For more event information see the Event Calendar.

This Chapter has a web page at http://www.jalthokkaido.net