Event Report, Shinshu Chapter July 2018

Last Sunday Shinshu JALT was very fortunate to host Louise Ohashi as she shared her presentation on Supporting Out-of Class Learning Through In-Class Activities and Supporting Students’ Learning Opportunities with Digital Technology.
Louise’s presentation started with a brief explanation on the target of one of the subjects she teaches – “Self Directed Learning”. The goal of this subject is to encourage students to be as per the namesake – more independent learners taking their own initiative. Students are first tasked with setting their goals for English and being more specific – “I want to speak good English” – well what does that mean? Students then refine their goals further in measureable terms and then start to plan how they can achieve both short-term and long-term goals. Louise shared what is called the SMART plan
Specific / Measurable / Achievable / Realistic / Time bound
Students are then asked to share both their plans and the levels of success they achieved or didn’t achieve. The end of term feedback indicated that most students were significantly encouraged from hearing about what their peers were doing and often similar activities were adopted and shared among students.
The second part of Louise’s presentation focused on the digital material available for both teachers and students and how they can be utilized. This ranged from the use of vocabulary building applications outside of class on the train, using LINE to communicate with classmates, using social networking to follow foreign celebrities and even Lyricstraining which lets studens listen to their favorite songs and fill in the lyrics. Louise also demonstrated the use of QuizletLIVE as a quick and easy way to enjoy quizes in class.
Louise also shared some survey information she gathered that indicated most students were very enthusiastic about using digital materials outside of class and thought it was beneficial to their studies.
One again ShinshuJALT would like to thank Louise for coming to Nagano to share her inspiring work and ideas. We hope you enjoyed your time here.
Reported by Publicity Co-Chair – Miguel Mision