Sessions

The Quarter Speaks Out: Women in Japanese Academia

Out of the 5,351 foreign full-time university teachers in Japan, only 967 are women (Huang, 2018). This eight-women panel addresses personal and professional issues influencing the careers of women teaching English in Japanese universities. These issues include career-building, balancing personal and professional lives, being in the minority, workplace harassment, and membership in professional communities. In addition to providing mentorship and inspiration, the panelists will invite the audience to be active participants in this innovative forum.

Webinars to the Rescue! Teachers Training Teachers

The presenters will highlight reasons teachers tend to resist technology in teaching, explain the importance of training, and then give a workshop showing how the Niigata JALT chapter has been successful in showing teachers around Japan best practices for using technology. We will show participants how to set up a webinar step-by-step explaining needed equipment and giving practical tips. Based on feedback for our webinars, we hope to inspire others to hold online events.

Beyond Four Skills: Planning Based on Four Strands

Many language-program curricula are organized according to the four skills. However, Nation’s (2013) four-strands model (fluency practice, meaning-focused input, meaning-focused output, language-focused learning) offers a different, more comprehensive approach. This presentation introduces a project which applied J.D. Brown’s curriculum design process, using Nation’s four strands as the underlying principle. The presenters discuss integrating CLIL, EAP, extensive reading, and other aspects under the four-strands principle, with particular attention on a stand-alone class for fluency development.