JALT photo album 45
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AKITA JALT meetings in 2007
picture album page 3 - the 5th meeting of 2007
(pictures of the October meeting below)
September




Guest speaker: Mamoru Takahashi
Date: September 29th, 2007
Title: Action Log and Topic-Based Instruction
Time: 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM
Place: Joinus

11 people attended.

Chapter Report (to be printed in The Language Teacher) Guest speaker: Mamoru Takahashi AKITA – September 2007 Action Log and Topic-Based Instruction - by Mamoru “Bobby” Takahashi – This presentation was divided into two separate sections. He first explained the theory behind the use of an Action Log (AL). AL is a kind of action research. It is a tool that enables teachers to understand what students are thinking. Professor Takahashi then presented research findings on the use of two versions of an Action Log in his CALL class, and showed how employing it in conjunction with a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE), such as MOODLE, was much more effective. The second part of this presentation was a workshop on how to conduct topic-based instruction in the classroom. Merely exposing students to a piece of knowledge only once is not enough to improve their English skills. The workshop showed how to organize teaching materials under a specific theme or topic. The theme chosen was “Global Warming”, and the various activities demonstrated included jigsaw tasks, blackboards races, and board games. All of the hands-on tasks revolved around the central theme. The presentation ended with theoretical discussion of topic-based instructions, then a question and answer session. Fun was had by all. Reported by Stephen Shucart

AKITA JALT meetings in 2007
picture album page 3 - the 6th meeting of 2007
(pictures of the October meeting above)
October

Even to native English speakers, a medical case report or research paper abstract can seem like a linguistic minefield of tortured grammar and impossibly complex technical terms. Many teachers, doubting their own ability as well as that of their students to cope with such material, may choose to base courses for medical students on doctor/patient conversations, or on texts written for a non-specialist audience, such as newspaper or magazine articles. This is understandable, and ELT publishers offer many titles based on such content. However, such material, despite often containing relatively little language of use to medical students, can actually be more difficult for students to cope with than authentic medical texts.



Guest speaker: James Hobbs (Iwate Medical University)
Date: October 27th, 2007
Title: Recipes for success in teaching medical English
Time: 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM
Place: AIU (Akita International University)
Room: B-103

7 people attended.

Chapter Report (to be printed in The Language Teacher) Guest speaker: James Hobbs AKITA – October 2007 Recipes for Success in Teaching Medical English - James Hobbs (Iwate Medical University). Even to native English speakers, a medical case report or research paper abstract can seem like a linguistic minefield of tortured grammar and impossibly complex technical terms. Many teachers, doubting their own ability as well as that of their students to cope with such material, may choose to base courses for medical students on doctor/patient conversations, or on texts written for a non-specialist audience, such as newspaper or magazine articles. This is understandable, and ELT publishers offer many titles based on such content. However, such material, despite often containing relatively little language of use to medical students, can actually be more difficult for students to cope with than authentic medical texts. Drawing on his own experience of teaching second- and third-year medical students, Professor Hobbs showed how students could be taught to decipher complex technical terms with ease, and to identify the structure and key content of case reports and research paper abstracts. He then used simple classroom vocabulary acquisition activities, to demonstrate the ease with which highly complex medical terms could be understood and explained. Then he showed how medical texts from such sophisticated sources, as the journal Nature where much more effective than medical-oriented newspaper articles. While the presentation was of particular interest to those who teach medical students, it also provided a blueprint for how a science-oriented ESP class can be taught by a teacher with limited background knowledge, provided the teacher is willing to invest some time and effort in exploring the subject area. The presentation ended with a lively question and answer period. Reported by Stephen Shucart

more pictures
go to JALT photo album 46

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Akita JALT

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