Category: newsletter

Dear Iwate-Aomori JALT members and other subscribers,

Welcome to the Iwate-Aomori JALT Newsletter. Thank you for your continuing support for Iwate-Aomori JALT.  Spring is here and there is a lot to talk about. We have a list of upcoming events and deadlines you should be aware of. Much of it is unchanged from last month, but our MEES call-for-presenter deadline is only days away. 

Announcements this month:

• April Chapter Meeting – Embodied Learning: How Movement Improves Memory and Creativity – Brian J. Birdsell
• MEES Featured Workshop – James York and Call for Presenters Deadline March 30 and Early Bird Discount!!
• TILES 2026 in collaboration with the ICLE SIG
• JALT2026 International Conference 
• JALT Non-Vetted Presenter Proposal

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• April Chapter Meeting- Embodied Learning: How Movement Improves Memory and Creativity – Brian J. Birdsell April 26

April 26 @ 1:30 PM – 4:30 PM

KIOXIA AIINA – Rm 602 (Google Maps)

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. 

¥1000 for non JALT members and free for JALT members.

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• MEES James York Featured Speaker Workshop and Call for Presenters Deadline and Early Bird Discount!!

Michinoku English Education Summit (MEES) 2026

June 27 @ 11:00 AM – 4:00 PM

2026

– CONFERENCE FEES & EARLY REGISTRATION DISCOUNT –

JALT member = 1,000 yen

non-member = 2,000 yen

(fees to be paid in cash at venue)

* Early registration discount – Register to join the conference by May 29th for 50% off applicable fee. Early registration must be made via the official MEES contact email

(MEESjapan (at) gmail.com)

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.

Call for Presentations Deadline

Conference Theme:

“Practical EFL Tips, Tools, and Techniques”

We welcome any proposals with relevance to language teaching and learning for any age group within the English as a Foreign Language context. Submissions may include action research conducted inside or outside the classroom, works in progress, teaching strategies and pedagogy, pilot studies, as well as proposals for discussion sessions and workshops.

Sessions are set at 30 minutes (including questions). Please advise us on your session format: formal presentation, workshop, discussion, or demonstration. Also, if you would like more than 30 minutes, or have any other questions regarding presenting, let us know.

Abstract Submissions: Abstract must be no longer than 300 words in English, in either MS Word, Mac Pages, or PDF file.

Send all abstract submissions to: MEESjapan@gmail.com

Proposal Abstract Deadline: Monday, March 30th, 2026.

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• TILES 2026 in collaboration with the ICLE SIG

This year the TILES seminar will be held in collaboration with the Intercultural Communications in Language Education (ICLE) SIG’s annual conference. The date will be Sunday, Sep 27 and the theme is – The Global Classroom: Navigating East–West Perspectives in Language Education. The event will be held at Hirosaki Gakuin University in Hirosaki (same place as last year) and will be an all-day event this year. We are also planning some activities for Saturday, Sep. 26th such as a networking reception and possibly other events. The call for presentation proposals will be issued in the near future, and any questions can be referred to the TILES site and Tsugaru-area co-coordinators, Edo Forsythe and Steven MacWhinnie. Details can be found in our upcoming Chapter newsletters and website as well as on the ICLE site: https://icle.jalt.org/  and for any questions, please contact  <icle.conferencechair@gmail.com>. Please put it on your calendar, and we look forward to seeing you all in Hirosaki!

IMPORTANT

The conference will take place from September 26–27, 2026. The Site Chairs recommend that participants book their accommodation well in advance, as there are limited hotel options in the area and they tend to fill up quickly. To avoid any inconvenience later, we strongly advise making a reservation early- ideally with a flexible cancellation option. 

Super hotels will open their booking reservations for September from April 1, so please consider booking using this link if you like- https://www.superhotel.co.jp/s_hotels/hirosaki/

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JALT2026 International Conference

Get some cool JALT2026 merchandise from our online print-on-demand store, https://suzuri.jp/JALT/products.

• JALT2026: 52nd Annual International Conference on Language Teaching and Learning & Educational Materials Exhibition

• When: Friday, November 20 – Sunday, November 22, 2026

• Where: WINC Aichi, Nagoya City, Aichi Prefecture

• Map: https://maps.app.goo.gl/d5LUJtWkxSmsjcda9

• Please keep an eye on https://jalt.org/jalt-international-conference/ for updates and access to all conference information.

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• JALT2026 Non-Vetted Presenter Proposal

The Iwate-Aomori JALT chapter is committed to supporting members in their professional development. We offer financial support for members who are presenting at the annual international conference of the Japan Association for Language Teaching (JALT) in November. This grant is intended in particular to support first-time presenters who wish to gain experience presenting at an international conference. Presentations supported under this scheme are not subject to JALT’s vetting process. The Chapter will cover the JALT2026 conference registration fee (¥23,000). Travel, accommodation, and other expenses are the responsibility of the applicant.

Applicants must be current members of our chapter. Priority will be given to applicants who do not have access to institutional funding. In return for this support, the selected candidate is expected to give a presentation at one of our local events, sharing key ideas and reflections from their conference session.  The deadline is March 31.

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We’d like to hear from you! 

If you have an idea for a presentation or speaker you’d like us to facilitate, don’t hesitate to let us know. You can contact us through the email below. 

Newsletter by Jason Hill, Iwate-Aomori JALT Publicity Chair

Thank you for being a part of our community.

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