Tag: University

  • MEES 2016 Call for Presenters Deadline

    Only a few weeks left until the deadline passes. Pass it along!

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  • Upcoming: January 31 – Diane Nagatomo

    Teaching English in Japan: Understanding Identity Development Through Teachers’ Stories.

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    Date and Time: Sunday, 31 January – 1:30pm – 4:30pm
    Speaker: Diane Nagatomo
    Location: AIINA Rm 707 (map https://goo.gl/maps/kEQo5UV2jPr)
    Fee for JALT members: Free
    Fee for one-day members: 1,000 yen (500 yen for students)

    NOTE: We are in a different room than usual.

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    This presentation for Iwate JALT will be divided into two parts. First, I will describe the results of my recent study that investigated the personal and professional identity development of English teachers in Japan who have chosen to reside here as permanent migrants. Most teaPhotochers come to Japan because of a desire for a temporary overseas adventure, but some decide to make Japan their permanent home and English language teaching their career. In particular, my research focused on foreign women who are married to Japanese men. These women must deal with the racially motivated employment constraints that affect all foreign EFL teachers in Japan, but unlike their male counterparts, they must also navigate gendered waters that primarily view women as wives and mothers. The participants of my larger study are women ranging in age from 25 to 64, and they have lived, worked, and taught in various contexts. My talk at Iwate Jalt,however, will focus mainly on one participant who has been living in a conservative and remote rural area in Japan for twenty years. Through “Victoria’s” narratives obtained from multiple interviews, I will describe the twists and turns of her personal and professional journey in Japan, which began with her teaching as an ALT on the JET program. Using Gee’s (2000) theoretical lens, I will describeVictoria’s resistance in accepting gendered and racial identity characteristics ascribed to her by others, and how she resourcefully turned them into achieved identity characteristics of her own making. The second part of the presentation will be a workshop, where participants will be invited to analyze and discuss their own personal and professional identity development using the four perspectives from Gee’s theoretical framework. Participants will hopefully become more aware that their own personal and professional identity development is the result of interaction with numerous people,not only with students, colleagues, and school administrators, but also with teachers’ own families and with members of the local community as well.

    Bio: Diane Nagatomo has been living and teaching in Japan since 1979. She is an associate professor at Ochanomizu University and her research interests include teacher and learner beliefs, teachers’ professional identity. She has written many EFL textbooks for the Japanese market and her first monograph, Exploring Japanese English Teachers’ Professional Identity, was published in 2012 by Multilingual Matters. Her forthcoming book, also published by Multilingual Matters, Identity, Gender and Teaching English in Japan, will be available from April 2016.

  • Activating Extensive Reading – Thomas Bieri

    On Sunday, April 26 Thomas Bieri, an EFL instructor at Nanzan University in Nagoya, and coordinator for the JALT Extensive Reading Special Interest Group(ER SIG)  came to Morioka and gave a presentation on extensive reading. Bieri spoke about hoIMG_0099w teachers at  junior high school through University can use ER as an effective tool for increasing English reading competency in students. What really set Bieri’s talk apart from other extensive reading presentations was the way he actually defined what extensive reading was in contrast to other forms academic reading such as intensive reading.

    Bieri explained many of the fundamentals of extensive reading and put emphasis on the fact that graded readers should be the choice of the students at a level that is easy for them to read.  He outlined some activities that teachers can use with readers during class time and looked at ways in which teachers can evaluate student progress through web tool such M-reader.

    Bieri stressed that extensive reading can also be a social activity in the classroom, with students sharing their favorite materials.  Finally, he gave a list of useful companies and links for useful material and readers.  Bieri’s talk was very informative and Iwate JALT would like to thank him for coming to Morioka.  They would also like to thank the Extensive reading SIG for sponsoring his visit.

    Reported by Jason Hill

    All photography ©2015 Jason Hill