JALT photo album 54
go back to album 53

AKITA JALT meetings in 2010
picture album page 2 - the 3rd meeting of 2010
(go to the June meeting)

May





Guest speaker: Peter Ross
Date: May 29th, 2010
Title: Understanding Students' Non-Verbal Behavior: What does that silence mean anyway?
Time: 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM
Place: Joinus

8 people attended.

Chapter Report (to be printed in The Language Teacher) Guest speaker: Peter Ross AKITA: May – Understanding Students' Non-Verbal Behavior: What does that silence mean, anyway? by Peter Ross. There can be many reasons why students in a language learning classroom remain silent when asked a question. Ross' presentation and workshop showed the participants how to decode and interpret the silence in the room. By analyzing the physical behaviors of the students teachers can determine what might be going through the minds of students and adjust accordingly. After an opening explanation of the topic where participants brainstormed and discussed reasons for silence in the classroom, Ross led the meeting participants through an exercise that challenged them to analyze physical behaviors in order to determine what their fellow group members were thinking. According to Ross, everyone has "tell" signs that will give another person clues as to what someone is "really" thinking. After that Ross showed video of a study he conducted on this subject. After the video, participants at the meeting asked questions ranging from behaviorist psychology to cultural revelations about how the Japanese value human relationships. Participants found this presentation/workshop engaging and fun. Reported by Wayne Malcolm

AKITA JALT meetings in 2010
picture album page 2 - the 4th meeting of 2010
(go back to the May meeting)

June






Guest speaker: Joe Sykes
Date: June 12th, 2010
Title: Metaphor Elicitation as a Means of Investigating Learner Beliefs and Facilitating Reflection
Time: 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM
Place: Akita University, Student Support Center 2nd Floor Meeting Room

10 people attended.

Chapter Report (to be printed in The Language Teacher) Guest speaker: Joe Sykes AKITA – June 2010 - Exploring Learner Beliefs Through Metaphor – Joe Sykes. This was a workshop/presentation that was divided into two parts. During the first part Professor Sykes presented background material on the use of metaphors as a tool to elicit a deeper response from students when asked to describe their learner beliefs. The use of metaphors can tap into the student’s subconscious feelings and bring them to the surface. The second half of the presentation was a workshop in which the audience was divided into groups of three and then they generated specific metaphors based on pictures. A discussion of the results succeeded in facilitating a higher level of reflection. Reported by Stephen Shucart

more pictures
go to JALT photo album 55

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go to pictures of the meetings in 2001
go to pictures of the past meetings (1998 - 2000)
Akita JALT

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