Note: If you haven’t done so already, the Site Chairs recommend that participants book their accommodation now.
Keynote: Matthew Cotter, Hokusei Gakuen University
“Indigenous Voices in the Global Classroom: Māori and Ainu Perspectives on Language Education”
Biography
Associate Professor Matthew James Cotter is a New Zealand-born educator and researcher based in Sapporo, Japan. His teaching and research focus on language and culture education, Indigenous language revitalisation, intercultural communication, and innovative approaches to language learning. Drawing on his engagement with Māori and Ainu language and culture initiatives, he is particularly interested in how Indigenous pedagogies can inform contemporary educational practice in the classroom. His work explores learner-centred, community-based approaches to language education and the ways in which digital technologies can support language learning, cultural engagement, and collaborative knowledge construction. He has presented widely at national and international conferences and is committed to fostering culturally responsive and inclusive learning environments.
There will be a guided tour of historic Hirosaki City on the afternoon of Saturday, September 26, starting at 13:00. We’ll meet at the Sightseeing Information Center near Hirosaki City Hall. The tour will be a walking tour of Hirosaki, including Hirosaki Castle, Hirosaki Park, three Victorian-style buildings dating from the 1800s, and maybe even enjoying a local apple pie delicacy. If time permits, we’ll also visit Neputamura culture center (http://neputamura.com/en/) where attendees can experience the local Neputa Festival, local traditional crafts, and possibly Tsugaru Shamisen (depending on the performers’ schedules). The tour will end with a train ride to the conference venue at the university for the evening workshops.
Saturday Afternoon Workshops
The afternoon workshops (information on the schedule link above) begin at 16:30 and will finish around 18:00
Networking Social
After the conference workshops on Saturday afternoon, there will be a social networking event starting at 18:30 at Dolan’s Irish Pub (https://dolans-pub.com/). The cost of the social is Y5000 (including all-you-can-drink) (Register and pay here) – by September 20th (11:59 pm) .
ICLE / TILES Full-day Conference
Sunday, September 27th, the conference will start at 9 am (registration from 8.30 am) and finish at 4: 30 pm.
Dear Iwate-Aomori JALT members and other subscribers,
Welcome to the June 2026 issue of the Iwate-Aomori JALT Newsletter. Thank you for your continuing support for Iwate-Aomori JALT. In this newsletter, we have a special reminder about our MEES 2026 conference coming up on Saturday, June 27. All info on MEES is available below and on the MEES 2026 website.
Announcements this month:
Michinoku English Education Summit (MEES) 2026
TILES / ICLE SIG 2026 Joint Conf Registration Open Now
Michelle Steele Best of JALT Award
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Michinoku English Education Summit (MEES) 2026
Location:Hachinohe Gakuin University – Hachinohe Art Museum Satellite Space, Hachinohe, Aomori
Date: June 27, 11:00am–5:20pm
Theme: Practical EFL Tips, Tools, and Techniques
JALT members: 1,000 yen / Non-members: 2,000 yen
(Fees to be paid in cash at the venue)
All up-to-date info including venue directions and things to see around Hachinohe can be found at the official MEES Facebook page and website:
We are planning to have dinner in downtown Hachinohe directly after the conference ends on Saturday evening. If you are interested in joining us, please contact us in advance (at official MEES contact email) so that we may plan accordingly. The dinner is a set course food / drink meal being arranged at Pizzeria Da Oro, a 5-minute walk from the conference venue. The deadline for signing up is June 21.
*Please visit the MEES Website for full presenter bios and abstracts.
10:00 ~ Registration Opens
11:00 – 11:10 Opening Comments
11:10 – 11:40 Session 1
Jonathan Isaacson (Tohoku Fukushi University) ‘Use of Recording Technology for a Better English Lesson’
11:50 – 12:20 Session 2
Rob Werner (Toyo University) ‘How to Use Wait Time to Increase Students’ Oral Participation’
12:30 – 13:00 Session 3
Kirk Johnson (Chiba Institute of Technology) ‘Utilizing Student Artistic Output to Generate and Activate Class Lessons’
13:00 – 14:00 Lunch Break
14:00 – 16:00 Featured Workshop
James York (Meiji University) ‘TBLT Gaming – A Practical Framework for Teaching with Games’
16:10 – 16:40 Session 4
Mat Davies (Part-time Lecturer and Business Communication Coach) ‘Structuring AI in the EFL Classroom: A Coaching-Led Framework for Preserving Learner Judgement’
16:50 – 17:20 Session 5
Jim Smiley (Iwate University) ‘The Reality Principle and EFL Teaching: From Theory to Classroom Practice’
17:20 – 17:30 Closing Comments
MEES FEATURED WORKSHOP
JAMES YORK
“TBLT Gaming – A Practical Framework for Teaching with Games”
This workshop presents a novel framework integrating Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT) with the use of board and video games to enhance second language acquisition. The approach shifts instruction to be student-led, utilising games as communicative tools that prioritise meaning and goal-oriented language use. The framework introduced to participants is a multi-phase process incorporating all four language skills as students research games, learn how to play, play them, analyse their performances, and produce a portfolio of their best performances. Key activities include L1 test-play, L2 gameplay with audio recording, group transcription, detailed error analysis using technology like Google Docs and AI assistance, and subsequent task repetition. One innovation is the “pro-gamer inspired” assessment model. This method addresses the inherent fairness challenges of one-shot testing by having students create self-edited “best play” montages of their L2 performance during gameplay. This encourages responsibility and self-reflection.
Participants will experience parts of the framework firsthand and I will present a large amount of student work to help audience members visualise how it might work in their own contexts.
James is an associate professor at Meiji University, Japan. His teaching and research is centred on games and literacy including language education, (educational) game design, and game literacy. He is the founder and co-editor of Ludic Language Pedagogy, an open access journal which publishes work on ludic approaches to literacy teaching. He is also the founder of the York Game Lab, an independent game publisher. His favourite game is Super Smash Bros. but is not good at it.
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2026 ICLE / TILES Collaborative Conference Registration Now Open
It is with great pleasure that we invite you to register to our annual face-to-face collaborative conference. This conference will explore how language education serves as a meeting ground for diverse identities, experiences, and perspectives. We will contact you again about social activities, Saturday evening networking gathering and Sunday lunch options.
Conference theme: The Global Classroom: Navigating East–West Perspectives in Language Education
Note: If you haven’t done so already, the Site Chairs recommend that participants book their accommodation now.
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Michelle Steele Best of JALT Award
The Michelle Steele Best of JALT (MSBOJ) award recognises presentations that have made a particularly valuable contribution to the JALT community. Each chapter and SIG selects one presentation that its members felt was especially informative, practical, or engaging.
This year, the Iwate-Aomori Chapter will choose its MSBOJ presentation through a vote by chapter members. If you attended the presentations, please take a moment to complete the Google Form and submit your preference by 30 June.
Embodied Learning: How Movement Improves Memory and Creativity
I always think of him as one of the first to employ his legs as an instrument of philosophy.
— Rebecca Solnit (referring to William Wordsworth)
This presentation discusses topics from a recently published book by the presenter entitled Moving Bodies, Wandering Minds: How Movement Enhances Creativity and Language Learning.
Excessive sedentary behavior has become a widespread problem across all age groups, driven by modern lifestyles and reinforced in schools where students spend much of the class day sitting. This persists despite wide-established evidence that physical activity (PA) improves cardiovascular health, lowers cancer risk, and supports mental health. More recently, research has highlighted cognitive benefits of PA, such as improvements in working memory, cognitive flexibility, creativity, and attention. In the first part of this presentation, I review this research alongside my own work examining how PA and physical enactment enhance foreign language vocabulary retention. This approach is part of “embodied learning,” an education framework based on the idea that cognition is grounded in bodily experiences and that movement can actively support learning at any age. Additionally, drawing on creativity research and my own current research project, I present how movement may enhance creative thinking.
In the second part, I share practical activities I have used to increase student movement both in and outside the classroom, including walking for creative writing, teaching abstract concepts through movement, and speed presenting. We’ll close with discussion and idea-sharing, inviting participants to ask questions, reflect on their own classrooms, and share any movement-based activities they might employ for language learning.
Brian J. Birdsell received a PhD in Applied Linguistics from the University of Birmingham, UK and currently is an Associate Professor in the Institute for the Promotion of Higher Education and Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences at Hirosaki University. His research interests include metaphor, embodied cognition, creativity, and CLIL.
