Tag: English

  • Thinking about Critical Thinking

    Event Page on Facebook.

    With Iwate-Aomori JALT 

    Co-Sponsored by The Iwate Association of English Educators. 岩手県英語教育研究会.

    At Iwate University, Faculty of Education Room E21 (岩手大学教育学部一号館 E21号室)

    Presenter: Andrew Boon

    With the proliferation of fallacious arguments, “fake news,” and untrustworthy sources in today’s multimedia landscape, critical thinking skills are vital not only in one’s native language but also when engaged in the task of language learning. The presenter will give an overview of a new book in Routledge’s ‘Research and Resources in Language Teaching’ series that provides a springboard for teaching critical thinking skills in the language classroom (Hadley  & Boon, 2023). The presenter will explain what critical thinking is, outline a cyclical process for introducing students to critical thinking, demonstrate several critical thinking classroom activities that teachers can use in their classes, explore ways to incorporate critical thinking into the curriculum, and share ideas for how to create one’s own critical thinking activities.

    Bio

    Andrew Boon is a Professor in the Global Communications Department of Toyo Gakuen University, Japan. He holds a PhD in Applied Linguistics from Aston University, UK, and has published numerous articles on methodology, motivation, and teacher development. He is also author and co-author of several writing, listening and speaking, and news media ELT textbooks and scores of graded readers for English language learners.

    Address: 

    020-0066

    Iwate

    Morioka

    3 Chome-18-33 Ueda

    Japan

  • Upcoming Event: TILES2022 – Sunday September 25

  • Embracing Folk Culture through English Language Courses – Ben Grafström

    Date – January 30

    Time – 2:00pm – 4:00pm

    Venus – Online – Zoom Link TBA

    Event Page – https://www.facebook.com/events/323838102984391

    Ben Grafström (Akita University)

    Abstract

    This presentation is a reflection on my teaching practices—specifically, those I use in a class called “English Conversation for the Humanities” for first year university students. This class (in Japanese, Bunkei eikaiwa) is a core curriculum course for humanities and social science students. By selecting a cultural theme for the course (e.g., time studies, textual analysis, folk cultural studies), I tend to emphasize the “humanities” component over the “conversation” one. Since my background is in Japanese literary and cultural studies, emphasizing the bunkei provides the students with interesting course material as well as increases my motivation as a teacher.
    Keeping in mind that the ultimate purpose of the course is to improve students’ English language ability, I use a number of approaches that will meet their needs as foreign language learners. The approaches I rely on most are Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL), English Medium Instruction (EMI), Integrated Learning, and Active Learning. In this presentation I will share my successes with CLIL, EMI, and Integrated Learning, and my failure with Active Learning! Educators do not always share their failures with each other in public forums, but in so doing I hope to reflect on my teaching practices with colleagues so that we may all progress as educators together.

    BIO

    Ben has an M.A. in East Asian Language and Literature with a concentration in Japanese literature from the University of Colorado, Boulder. He is currently a lecturer at Akita University, where his course load mainly consists of English for Academic Purposes for 1st and 2nd year students.Ben has been in Japan for 13 years—3 in eastern Hokkaido and 10 in Akita. Before coming to Japan he was a high school teacher at Monsignor Bonner High School, just outside Philadelphia, and a graduate student at the University of Colorado, Boulder.