Category: Uncategorized

  • TILES 2019 – Presenter list and schedule.

    Theme: “Communication in the Language Classroom”
    Sunday, September  29, 2019
    Aomori University of Health and Welfare.

    Please go to our event page for all the details.

     

    Up-to-date event information can also be found at the facebook event page.

     

  • Upcoming – Feb 26 – Joël Laurier – Cooperative Learning: a teaching strategy and a learner’s tool

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    Date and Time: Sunday, 26 February 2017– 1:30pm – 4:30pm
    Speaker: Joël Laurier
    Location: AIINA Rm 602 (map https://goo.gl/maps/kEQo5UV2jPr)
    Fee for JALT members: Free
    Fee for one-day members: 1,000 yen (500 yen for students)

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    2370963Administrators want improved student performance; parents want improved social skills instilled in their children; teachers want better performing students that are more autonomous; and students want to show everyone what they can do. But in this world of budgets over educational outcomes, standardized tests, and constant academic competition, teachers are faced with numerous constraints that make most of the above desires unattainable. But are they really?

    As more and more research is being conducted on multiple intelligences and effective group work, Cooperative Learning (CL) has proven itself as an effective teaching approach that involves students using social skills in interdependent groupings, and achieving better results.  The classroom then becomes an interactive stage for students to learn and use social skills while demonstrating more meaningful learning.

    This hands-on workshop is aimed at teachers of all academic levels, and will benefit who have varying levels of students in their class. It will show attendees how they can use CL to increase active participation between students while instilling a positive learning environment that leads to better achievement results. Attendees will be shown effective CL structures that make learning the student’s responsibility, and leave the teacher ’s concern.

    Joël Laurier teaches in the Leaning English for Academic Purposes (LEAP) program at Toyo University. He is a two time Kagan Academy Cooperative Learning Scholarship winner. His research interests include cooperative learning, language policy and bilingualism.

  • Upcoming – Dec 11 – Education as a Business – School Owner Simulation

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    Date and Time: Sunday, 11 December 2016– 1:30pm – 4:30pm
    Speaker:Ryan Hagglund
    Location: AIINA Rm 602 (map https://goo.gl/maps/kEQo5UV2jPr)
    Fee for JALT members: Free
    Fee for one-day members: 1,000 yen (500 yen for students)

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    Most teachers at some time have thought about running their own language school or wondered what it would be like. What would it entail? What might a successful model be? How might it differ from education in the non-profit world? This presentation will utilize a simulation style to highlight challenges and benefits unique to for-profit language schools. Participants will engage in decision-making scenarios and opportunities, observing how they affect both the educational and financial aspects of education as a business.

    Biography:
    Ryan Hagglund is owner of MY English School in Yamagata and adjunct professor of English at Yamagata University. He also serves as coordinator for the JALT School Owners’ SIG and regional group liaison for ETJ. He has an MA in TEFL/TESL from University of Birmingham in England, MAT from Willamette University in Oregon, and Oregon State teaching certification for JHS and HS. He lives in Yamagata with his wife and three boys.