Featured Speakers

Alessandro Benati
University of Portsmouth, UK
Sponsored by: JALT JSL (Japanese as a Second Language)
Input & Output’s Role in L2 Learning and Teaching
Saturday, November 26, 10:55-12:25 PM
Research in SLA has laid the groundwork for a number of important discoveries in SLA. The acquisition of an L2 happens through a number of interactive factors: exposure to language input: make use of existing knowledge of the native language; access to universal properties. One of the key issues is to determine the role of input and output. In this workshop we will examine the role of input and output in language learning and teaching.
Professor Alessandro Benati is Professor of Second Language Acquisition and Head of School of Languages and Area Studies at the University of Portsmouth. He is internationally known for his research in second language learning and teaching, with special emphases on input processing theory and the processing instruction model. He has a strong publications record with 12 established monographs, chapters and articles in international journals (Language Awareness, IRAL, Second Language Research and Language Teaching Research).
Additional Featured Speaker Presentation (60 minutes) Raising Effectiveness in MFL Teaching in Schools
Sunday, November 27, 6:20-7:20 PM
Marco Brazil
Institute of English Teaching to Children (IETC)
Sponsored by: englishbooks.jp
Transformation From Memorized To Memorable English
Sunday, November 27, 5:45-7:15 PM
We all use different techniques throughout our day to remember information and ideas. The techniques we use form a vital part of our learning experience. They help us organize information into patterns and brains tend to remember information that forms a memorable pattern. This workshop will introduce and demonstrate useful techniques in enhancing memory and give participants hands-on activities that they can activate in a variety of classroom situations.
Marco A. Brazil holds a master’s degree in Psychology major in Education and an undergraduate degree in Development Communication. He has specialised in teaching your learners for over 18 years and training teachers in Japan, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, and Indonesia. Brazil is the training director of the Institute of English Teaching to Children (IETC), and an Associate of International Teacher Development Institute (iTDi). He has written several articles on games in the classroom and is presently a presenter for Oxford University Press Japan and Macmillan Asia. He is the international consultant for Teaching English to Young Learners Asia department of International TESOL Education in the Philippines.
Brazil believes learning and teaching English should be fun and easy for both students and teachers. His courses and workshops are certified and endorsed by the Department of Education (DepEd) and the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) in the Philippines. He recently had a story book published entitled The Monkey and The Turtle, which is his interpretation of an old Filipino folktale. In Japan, Marco is regularly referred to as The King of Games due to his prolific output of successful games and activities.He regularly conducts free workshops for the Mabuhay Classroom group, which was originally started to assist Filipino teachers in Japan.
Additional Featured Speaker Presentation (60 minutes) The Memory Toolbox: Making Learning Memorable
Saturday, November 26, 12:40-1:40 PM
Alastair Graham-Marr
Tokyo University of Science
Sponsored by: Abax
Transforming Student Listening
Saturday, November 26, 4:30-6:00 PM
Undeveloped listening skills can seriously hamper one’s ability to learn a foreign language. Moreover, many Asian-based learners struggle to comprehend naturally spoken English, due to the large phonological differences between English and many Asian languages. As such, students need to be taught how to listen to English. That is, to maximize student learning opportunities, time should be spent in-class helping students to access the world of English when they are outside the class.
Alastair Graham-Marr’s primary contributions to ELT are as a practitioner, particularly as one who brings a deep knowledge of theory into the production of materials for the classroom, with a special focus on the needs of East Asian students. As a writer, Alastair is perhaps best known for his four-level Communication Spotlight series, one of the best-selling texts for communication courses at the tertiary level in Japan, a status gained despite the books having a small marketing budget behind them. Communication Spotlight was the first series to systematically teach communication strategies, to help students gain explicit awareness of how they can repair conversations, check for understanding, and keep conversations going, and its success largely tied to how the teaching of these strategies can help students better develop fluency skills—in a European context, in contrast, many of these skills can be transferred by L1 interaction. Alastair has also co-written the three-level Academic Listening & Speaking series, co-written the two-level Step Into English and co-written and edited the three-level Top-Up Listening series. In all of these series there is a focus on helping students develop explicit awareness of how sounds change in connected speech. Listening to a stress-timed language such as English is particularly problematic for students whose L1 is syllable-timed such as Koreans and Chinese or for students such as Japanese whose L1 is mora-timed. Hence the easily observed phenomena of students who cannot ‘hear’ language that they know. And in terms of research, this has been the focus of Alastair’s most recent efforts.
Additional Featured Speaker Presentation (60 minutes) Adapting Literature Circles to Academic Classes
Sunday, November 27, 4:35-5:35 PM
Kimi Kondo-Brown
University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa
Sponsored by: JALT Task-Based Learning SIG and Testing and Evaluation SIG
Teachers Transforming Education Through Evaluation
Sunday, November 27, 1:40-3:10 PM
My presentation will show how teachers view program evaluation more positively when it is related to useful and meaningful transformations of program quality. To exemplify this point, I will present an evaluation project (an online exit survey project) with concrete materials used to enhance evaluation capacity building that supported faculty evaluation efforts. Despite challenges in survey administration and data use, the initiative has had a number of meaningful and productive outcomes for faculty.
Dr. Kimi Kondo-Brown has written and edited numerous books and articles about language teaching and assessment. Prof. Kondo-Brown has also given many plenary, keynote, invited workshop and other talks at international conferences. She is a teacher, administrator, and researcher with many years of experience in transforming learners, teachers, and researchers. More information can be found here: http://www2.hawaii.edu/~kondo/
She has also made many contributions toward second language education theory and practice. Her interests overlap with many of the interests held by JALT members and different SIGs, for example, testing, Japanese, heritage language education, and task-based language learning. In other words, in addition to appealing to the ordinary JALT member, she would have special appeal to members in such SIGs as; TEVAL, JSL, TBL, CUE, and Pragmatics.
Additional Featured Speaker Presentation (60 minutes) Transforming Curriculum With Task-Based Assessment
Saturday, November 26, 12:40-1:40 PM
Ryuko Kubota
University of British Columbia
Sponsored by: Tokyo JALT and JALT College and University Educators SIG
Critical Awareness of Language Myths
Saturday, November 26, 5:40-7:10 PM
Language myths or ideologies shape people’s beliefs about language and education policies. This workshop questions common myths about English by drawing on a study investigating the language choice of Japanese multinational corporate workers overseas. It will invite participants to explore the significance of border-crossing communication for language education, which emphasizes communication abilities and promotes active, critical, and reflective engagement in communication across linguistic, racial, and other kinds of difference.
Additional Featured Speaker Presentation (60 minutes) FL learning Paradox: Xenophobia and Globalization
Sunday, November 27, 2:15-3:15 PM
Sarah Mercer
University of Graz, Austria
Sponsored by: JALT Teacher Development SIG and Pilgrim’s
Transforming Teachers’ Professional Well-Being
Sunday, November 27, 12:30-2:00 PM
In this workshop, we will begin by challenging the dichotomy between teacher- and learner-centred approaches. Instead, I will show how the concept of relationship is central to successful language learning and classroom life. We will focus in particular on the importance for relationships of teachers’ professional well-being. We will consider the joys and challenges facing teachers across their career lifespan and discuss how we can use reflective tools for our professional psychological development.
Sarah Mercer is Professor of Foreign Language Teaching at the University of Graz, Austria, where she is Head of ELT methodology and Deputy Head of the Centre for Teaching and Learning in Arts and Humanities. Her research interests include all aspects of the psychology surrounding the foreign language learning experience, focusing in particular on issues of self and identity. She is the author, co-author and co-editor of several books in this area including:
‘Towards an Understanding of Language Learner Self-Concept’, ‘Psychology for Language Learning’, ‘Multiple Perspectives on the Self’ in SLA’, ‘New Directions in Language Learning Psychology’, ‘Positive Psychology in SLA’, ‘Exploring Psychology for Language Teachers’ (Winner of the Ben Warren Prize), and ‘Teacher Psychology in SLA’ (forthcoming). Speaker Attributes: See TED SIG and Pilgrim’s Speaker Affiliation: University of Graz, Austria
Additional Featured Speaker Presentation (60 minutes) Towards a Relational Pedagogy
Saturday, November 26, 2:30-3:30 PM
Ben Shearon
Tohoku University
Sponsored by: Sendai JALT
Transforming Your Future: Personal Finance 101
Sunday, November 27, 12:30-2:00 PM
Many teachers in Japan would like to get their finances in order, but aren’t quite sure where to start. This exposes them to three big potential dangers: not doing anything, doing the wrong thing, and being taken advantage of by ‘advisors’ or financial institutions. This workshop will cover basic aspects of personal finance and investing, as well as specific investing strategies for Japan.
Ben Shearon has been a teacher in Japan for sixteen years. A frequent presenter at JALT conferences, he also presents for OUP in Japan and throughout Asia. Author of several teaching handbooks, Ben also runs the teaching blog sendaiben.org.
He is also the founder of the RetireJapan website and community, which exists in order to share information about personal finance with residents of Japan. Recently Ben has been conducting very well-received workshops on personal finance at local JALT Chapters. His important message that teachers need to learn more about personal finance and take control of their future is one that also deserves to be heard at the national level.
Additional Featured Speaker Presentation (60 minutes) Personal Finance in Japan Q&A
Saturday, November 26, 6:15-7:15 PM
Chris Valvona
Okinawa Christian University
Sponsored by: Atama-ii Books
Write Global, Teach Local: The Great Textbook Myth
Saturday, November 26, 10:55-12:25 PM
Textbooks that claim to be universally useful rarely are, given that classroom materials depend on local context-specific factors to succeed. This workshop examines the various contexts of language teaching, and considers what materials are most suitable to each context. The speaker will illustrate various Japan-specific factors and constraints which led to the development of one particular set of task-based materials, and suggest practical tips for developing engaging and effective materials for diverse situations.
Chris Valvona is Associate Professor and Chair of English at the Okinawa Christian University. He holds an MA Hons in French and Linguistics (Oxford), and an MA in English Language Teaching (Essex).
He has co-authored several popular ELT books, including TOEFL iBT Basics (Nanundo, 2015), Amazing Japan (Asahi, 2013); Did You Catch It? (Cengage, 2012); Writing Research Papers (Macmillan, 2011); and Widgets: A task-based course in practical English (Pearson, 2008).
He has also written components (workbooks, audio scripts, etc.) for a variety of series including: Straightforward (Macmillan); Skillful (Macmillan); Milestones in English (OUP); and Solutions (OUP). His graded reader adaptations include seven titles from the Choose Your Own Adventure series (McGraw-Hill).
His main academic interests include task-based learning and ELT materials development. He has presented on these topics at local, national, and international conferences, often as a keynote or featured speaker.
Additional Featured Speaker Presentation (60 minutes) TBLT in Japan: A Question of Culture?
Sunday, November 27, 2:15-3:15 PM
Ken Wilson
Author, Teacher and Teacher Trainer
Sponsored by: Oxford University Press
Reducing Fear and Increasing Classroom Confidence
Sunday, November 27, 4:35-6:05 PM
Some students feel fear in a classroom, especially when the subject is a foreign language, where even to say ‘I don’t know’ or ‘I don’t understand’ can be an ordeal. This problem doesn’t reflect on the teacher’s ability or personality at all. The more we can reduce this fear, the more we can instil classroom confidence. In this talk, we will look at some strategies and activities to help make the classroom experience less threatening.
Ken is a teacher trainer and one of the authors of the Smart Choice series, published by Oxford University Press. In all, he has written more than thirty titles, including a dozen series of course books, and he also writes supplementary material which includes sketches, songs and drama resources.
Ken’s first ELT publication was an album of specially-written songs for ELT called Mister Monday, released when he was 23, which at the time made him the youngest published ELT author ever. Since then, he has written and recorded more than two hundred songs for English learners.
He has also written about a hundred radio and television programmes, mainly for BBC English, including fifty radio scripts for the Follow Me series, thirty Look Ahead TV scripts and a series of plays called Drama First.
Until 2002, Ken was artistic director of the English Teaching Theatre, a company which performed stage-shows for learners of English all over the world. The ETT made more than 250 tours to 55 countries on five continents, including three visits to Japan.
Additional Featured Speaker Presentation (60 minutes) How Do We Reach Our Hi-Tech Connected Students?
Saturday, November 26, 10:55-11:55 AM
Lynda Yates
Faculty of Human Sciences, Macquarie University
Sponsored by: Macquarie University
Culture, Talk and English for the Workplace
Saturday, November 26, 12:05-1:35 PM
Talk at work is heavily influenced by cultural values, and these vary not only from country to country, but across different industries and workplaces. In this workshop we will explore how cultural and professional values impact on talk at work, and the implications for using English in an international workplace. We look at some activities to help learners investigate for themselves how they can best acquire the language they need to fit in at work.
Lynda Yates is a Professor of Applied Linguistics in the Linguistics Department and Associate Dean International in the Faculty of Human Sciences, Macquarie University, Australia. Her recent research projects have addressed issues in intercultural pragmatics and the development of spoken skills appropriate to the contemporary workplace with a particular focus on the implications for second language teaching and learning. She has a strong commitment to the professional development of teachers and publishes in journals at the interface of research and professional practice such as Applied Linguistics, TESOL Quarterly and ESP Journal.
Additional Featured Speaker Presentation (60 minutes) Developing Rapport at Work
Sunday, November 27, 12:30-1:30 PM