It’s Sunday 26
th of January and I’m up at the
crack of dawn to meet Jim at Matsumoto station to catch the first express train
to Nagoya for my first ETJ experience: a series of presentations at the Sugiyama
Jogakuen University. Or so I thought. After missing our train by the skin of
our teeth, we decided to hole up at the nearby Mos Burger for a quick nap and
recharge before getting on the next express train to Nagoya.
We arrived
fashionably late, so unfortunately we missed the first set of presentations
which started at 10:00. We went to get ourselves signed in and were asked to
make some name badges for ourselves, I felt like a student arriving for his
first day at a brand new school. This feeling was further enforced by every
presentation that I observed, learning new and creative materials or teaching
tools from many experienced English teachers and publishers working around the
country.
 |
| Ritsuko Nakata |
My first presentation, “Getting forgetful kids to remember”
by Ritsuko Nakata, outlined the importance of her “MAT (Model, Action, Talk)
method”. It focuses on giving students a meaningful context to the language
that they are learning, as well as encouraging the use of gestures within to
classroom to aid students when learning vocabulary so they are not dependent on
the teacher to practise the language by constantly listening and repeating.
This allows the students to practise the language among themselves and also
feel accomplished for doing so.
Next up was David Paul’s presentation on “motivating
teenagers and adults to communicate”. This was a presentation I did not want to
miss as from personal experience a student who is not willing to communicate is
the most difficult to teach. Many ideas and techniques were presented with an emphasis
on personalization and the importance of recycling language to build confidence
in the students (also as a way making sure they aren’t forgetting everything
you teach them as soon as they walk out of the classroom!). We looked at using
activities which encourage a communicative response rather than using language
that is situational and regurgitated from any old classroom textbook.
 |
| Mari Nakamura |
My next presentation was by Mari Nakamura on her new book
“Lily and the Moon” to engage children’s hearts and minds with a picture book.
A story inspired from her childhood following the adventures of Lily the
ladybird as she meets an array of little critters on her journey to see a
ladybird on the moon. The book can be used as an aid for teaching times of day,
colours, animals, nature and comes with an array of activities and flashcards
to use within the classroom. There was a strong emphasis on the use of gestures
and the involvement of the students whilst reading.
 |
| David Paul |
Next was another presentation by David Paul on his publication
“Finding Out”, a step by step child centred course for children. What I found
intriguing was his use of “nonsense” words in his book to strengthen the
students the ability to read, rather than focusing on their ability to
recognise written words from exposure and repetition. In this manner a student
can’t learn to read any word regardless of if it is real or not and will never
be afraid when faced with an unseen word.
Last of all was Jo Ando’s presentation on the importance of
phonics textbooks in the classroom. Albeit more of a sales representative than
an experienced teacher with multiple publications, he pressed the importance of
incorporating captivating images and the use of colouring in phonic textbooks
to maintain the interest of the students.
Having only just started teaching my own classes the Monday
before, I have had very little opportunity to try and implement ideas and
activities of my own into the classroom. Now having attended the series presentations,
I feel armed to the teeth with new techniques and activities that are going to
help engage the students in the classroom environment and inspire them to
further develop their English language skills. The whole experience has aided
me in broadening my mind into the depth and excitement of English language teaching,
and I am looking forward to implementing the plethora ideas, techniques and
activities that I was able to take away from this event.
Thank you to all the staff involved in organising such a
wonderful event, I will be waiting in anticipation for the next event.
Also a very big thank you to Jim for encouraging me to attend, showing me around, introducing me to many new people, as well as convincing me it would be a great idea waking up at 6 a.m on a Sunday!
Damian Gowland
In Japan, many people think their own health is very important. So, quite healthy take-away restaurants like Hokka-ben and Hokka-motto are looked upon well.
