VariousAll are welcome to join us for this roundtable discussion meeting. The main focus will be on ongoing issues with our classes. Bring your own questions or concerns, and together we will work to offer solutions. We hope you will be able to join us!

Michael BergDespite the marked impact they have been shown to have in the classroom, growth/fixed mindsets are an under-researched area of foreign language learning (Lou & Noels, 2014; Mercer & Ryan, 2009). My research involves how these mindsets interface with students’ background factors and proficiency. Michael Berg has been in Japan over 10 years now. […]

Charlie BellGetting students to use the target language during communicative activities can be challenging for teachers. This presentation will discuss some of the common issues teachers face when implementing communicative methods, and inform how the correct sequencing of tasks can lead to greater learner participation and understanding in communicative tasks. The second half of this […]

Malcolm Swanson, Paul CollettIn this presentation, options for moving parts of a language course online will be demonstrated and discussed. Positive outcomes as well as possible pitfalls will be addressed. Both presenters have had extensive experience working with online learning resources and systems. Using Google Classroom – Paul Collett Google Classroom is an open platform […]

Hudson Murrell, Stephen CaseCollaborative testing (CT) involves learners, working in pairs or small groups, taking tests together. Learners have to negotiate and agree on the same answers. Collaborative testing claims to offer learners the chance to discuss their reasoning, fill in knowledge gaps, develop interpersonal skills and enhance understanding. This talk presents data from questionnaires […]

Barbara Hoskins SakamotoLet’s Go has the distinction of being the first EFL course book series for children, and of remaining one of the world’s best-selling course books through five editions for nearly 30 years. As co-author, Barbara has seen trends come and go in materials design for young learners, but some fundamentals have withstood the […]

Huy TranWhat is the role of the teacher in the Age of Information when the tools of learning are at students’ fingertips? Take a peek inside a student centered classroom of a semi-self-organized learning environment. The integration of educational technology is still being pioneered in education. This presentation will share several free online learning platforms, […]

Michael StoutIn this presentation I will begin by briefly defining action research. Following that I will describe a series of action research projects that I have conducted since 2011 in English conversation classes at two small universities, and I will explain how the insights that I have received have helped me become a better English […]

VariousWe all have ideas that help make our classes better for us and our students. Come and hear about some activities and approaches that our members have found useful in their teaching. Charlie Bell will discuss the preliminary results of a recent research project involving conversation modelling videos, and the implications these results might have […]

Rab PatersonThis session will cover a range of current best practices in digital pedagogy, with practical examples drawn from a number of pedagogical approaches to learning and related apps. These will all be demonstrated with examples from the presenter’s own classes, showing how a range of apps can be combined in an app-smashing way to […]

Chris FlynnFor our February meeting, Chris Flynn, president of the Fukuoka General Union, will lead us through a discussion of Japanese Labour Rights, looking in particular at the Labour Standards Law, and Unlimited Term Contracts. There will also be time for questions. It is hoped that this adds to teachers’ understanding of how different labour […]

Ben Tanaka (Shearon)Due to uncertainty about the virus situation, it has been decided to cancel this event. We will see about rescheduling later in the year. Personal finance is the cornerstone of a comfortable life. If you have good money habits and knowledge you will be able to enjoy your life and spend your time […]

Stephen Case, Andrew GallacherThis presentation highlights the development and implementation of a content and language integrated learning (CLIL) curriculum designed to instruct would-be teachers on the principles of game based learning (GBL) within their English language classes. Reasons for teaching GBL to these students stemmed from a desire to provide them with something more than […]

Justin HarrisUnfortunately, another casualty of the Covid-19 pandemic. We will endeavour to reschedule this event at some future date. Task-based language teaching (TBLT) is sometimes criticized as being inappropriate for teaching foreign languages in Japan because it focusses too much on oral language skills, and because of its emphasis on students’ existing language knowledge and […]

Jim RonaldPragmatics is usually defined as the study of how people use language in particular situations, contexts, and relationships. As classroom-based English teachers, if we are not simply teaching the textbook or teaching towards tests or exams, we may teach with some future possible situations in mind, and imagine various contexts for using English. These […]

Roger Ferrari, Sophie Otsuru, Ben Rentler, Malcolm SwansonWe all have ideas that help make our classes better for us and our students. Come and hear about some activities and approaches that our speakers have found useful in their teaching. This session will be presented live over Zoom. Details of the Zoom link will be posted […]

Justin HarrisTask-based language teaching (TBLT) is sometimes criticized as being inappropriate for teaching foreign languages in Japan because it focusses too much on oral language skills, and because of its emphasis on students’ existing language knowledge and skills. However, such criticisms are arguably the result of misunderstandings of TBLT. This talk will outline and address […]

Erin NoxonSpeaking practice, listening to different speakers, answering questions… All things you would love for your students to be able do in the language lab. But, do you have the time, the budget, and can you find the right software? What if you could do it all for free, with equipment that you already have […]

Chelanna White, Mark FennellyFor our March meeting, we will have two sessions focussing on teaching younger learners. Our first session with Chelanna White will begin at 5:30 pm and run until 6:10 pm. After a short break, our second speaker Mark Fennelly will talk from 6:15 pm onwards. Chelanna White Two Activities for High School […]

Tim ThompsonIn this talk, the presenter will provide tips for training activities, syllabus design, common mistakes, and both teacher and peer feedback on students’ presentations. While the focus will be on how to teach a university presentation skills course, it should also be useful for teachers of any level who incorporate student presentations into their […]

Whitney Tudor Sarver, Tracy KoslowskiThis presentation includes a basic overview of what constitutes critical thinking, tips and resources for selecting projects for your course, and methods for implementing projects which encourage students to analyze, synthesize, and create while developing their understanding of language and culture. The presenters will include examples of projects they have used […]

Namiko TsurutaThere is a strong disconnect between how English is still taught in schools, and its prevalence as an international language in our interconnected digital world. Moreover, many young adults lack confidence and a voice, often detached from issues in Japanese society. Are our traditional approaches to English language instruction preparing our learners to become […]

Miguel MisionAfter two years of the pandemic, it is still difficult to say what a ‘normal’ classroom will be like anymore. What important lessons were learnt in these past two years, and are there benefits to online learning beyond virus prevention? The author examined perspectives and experiences on what it was like learning remotely as […]

Jackson Koon Yat Lee Some ALTs and eikaiwa teachers in Japan often find themselves limited in career choices within their teaching environments, while the option to shift to university teaching seems to have an intimidatingly high barrier to entry. The purpose of this presentation is to introduce this career path and make it more transparent […]

Paul CollettFor quantitative research into foreign language learning or teaching, the dominant approach is arguably inferential statistics for statistical significance testing. Here, a test statistic (p-value) is calculated from sampled data, and decisions on the variables being tested-whether to accept or reject them as in some way contributing to the processes under study-are made based […]