Event Report, Tottori Chapter November 2019

Presenter: Janice Bland, Professor at Nord University
講師：ジャニス・ブランド教授、ノード大学（ノルウェー）
Spinning a Story ~Weaving Grammar and Lexis~
「物語を紡ぐように〜文法、語彙の構築〜」
Event Report
初めにジャニス氏は、英語話者でさえ話している内容の４０〜６０％は慣用表現を元に構成されていること、それゆえ英語学習者も慣用表現に触れ、その一部の単語を変更しながら英語を構成する力を養うことが有用だということ、慣用表現を学ぶのに絵本の活用が有効であることなどをお話しされました。
その後、実際にシェスカ作「３びきのコブタのほんとうの話」を用いて、実際に中高大学生の英語学習に絵本を取り入れる方法を体験しました。参加者は絵の特徴を捉えてメモに残すグループ、絵本に用いられている英語表現から慣用表現を探すグループ、絵本の内容に信憑性があるかどうか判断するグループの三つに分かれ、それぞれ異なる視点から絵本を学習に活用できるか考えました。グループ活動では個人で考えてペアで共有し、その後全体で意見を共有する方法が取られました。参加者たちは、絵本の持つ力に引き込まれながら、相互的に多様な絵本の活用方法を学んでいました。
     Janice Bland, Professor at Nord University, and JALT 2019 Featured Speaker, began her presentation explaining the importance of chunks in normal English conversation. She told us that 40-60% of spoken English is based on chunks. Therefore, it is important for English learners to be exposed to as many chunks as possible and to change some words in them to form English sentences. Using picture books that are suitable for helping children to learn chunks, Janice introduced some useful ways for children to engage with language learning.
     After these explanations, Janice introduced how to use picture books to teach language in the junior high school, high school, or even university level. She showed a picture book called “The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs” written by Scieszka and Smith, and introduced activities based on it. The participants were divided into three groups: (1) A group whose members paid attention to the drawings in the book and took notes about what they found, (2) a group whose members were asked to find the English chunks used in the story, and (3) a group whose members judged whether the story was factual or not. All groups had to justify their opinions. The participants were asked to first think individually and, then, to share their ideas in their group. In the end, all participants were able to share what they had found in the story and we were exposed to many new and different perspectives. Janice showed the participants the power of the story and many ways that picture books can be used in the language learning classroom.
Event Date: November 9th, 2019 (2:00p.m. to 4:00 p.m.)
Location: Tottori University 鳥取大学（湖山キャンパス）