jalt56

AKITA JALT meetings in 2010
picture album page 3 - the 5th meeting of 2010
(go to the November meeting)

October

Guest speaker: Marc Helgesen
Date: October 23rd, 2010
Title: ELT and the Science of Happiness: Positive psychology in the classroom
Time: 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM
Place: AIU (Akita International University)

7 people attended.

Chapter Report
(to be printed in The Language Teacher)
Guest speaker: Marc Helgesen

AKITA – October 2010 - ELT and the Science of Happiness: Positive psychology in the classroom - Marc Helgesen. Positive, motivated students -- engaged in what they are studying and with each other -- learn more. This workshop started with everyone receiving a homemade cookie, and the eating of it by sections became the metaphor for the entire talk. Professor Helgesen asked the question: “How do we facilitate that positive attitude in the classroom?” This was an activity-based session that looked at the ways positive psychology (TIME magazine called it “The science of happiness”) could be combined with clear language learning goals for active, invested learning. This is more than mere “hippy-dippy”, “healie-feelie”, California-esque “positive self-talk”. Positive Psychology is based on data gathered from scientific experiments. Starting from the set-point of personal affect and moving to the tipping point of positivity ☺, Professor Helgesen gave a hands-on –literally, as the workshop included back massage - demonstration of how to apply the Science of Happiness to EFL/ESL teaching methodology. Not only was the cookie delicious, but the entire audience was noticeably happier by the end of the presentation.

Reported by Stephen Shucart

AKITA JALT meetings in 2010
picture album page 3 - the 6th meeting of 2010
(go to the October meeting)

November

Guest speaker: Mr. Soryong Om
Deputy Head of English Department, Institute of Foreign Languages, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Date: Thursday, 18th November, 2010
Title: Teaching and Learning English in Cambodian High Schools: Challenges and Prospects
Time: 18:30 - 20:00
Place: AIU (Akita International University) D Building, Room 104 (D-104)

24 people attended.

Chapter Report
(to be printed in The Language Teacher)
Guest speaker: Mr. Soryong Om

AKITA: November - 2010 Balsamo Asian Scholar/Four Corners Tour Presentation: Teaching and Learning English in Cambodian High Schools: Challenges and Prospects by Soryong Om. People ranging from Akita citizens to AIU students and professors, and Akita-JALT members attended this special event presentation, which was held at Akita International University (AIU), and coordinated by Akita-JALT. The presenter was a featured speaker at the 2010 JALT National Conference in Nagoya. For this particular presentation he talked about the challenges within the Cambodian education system, specifically targeting high school. Not only did he discuss challenges, but he also gave reasons for optimism. Om believes things will get better because they have gotten better. The education situation is better now than it was during various brutal dictatorships. Also, the government of Cambodia is trying to put as many resources as it can into improving the current education system. Om believes these are signs pointing toward a bright future. His mastery and depiction of Cambodian education history as well as general history was insightful and riveting. The entire presentation provided a lot of food for thought, which quantified itself by a healthy and extensive question and answer session.

Reported by Wayne Malcolm

more pictures
go to JALT photo album 57

go to pictures of the meetings in 2009
go to pictures of the meetings in 2008
go to pictures of the meetings in 2007
go to pictures of the meetings in 2006
go to pictures of the meetings in 2005
go to pictures of the meetings in 2004
go to pictures of the meetings in 2003
go to pictures of the meetings in 2002
go to pictures of the meetings in 2001
go to pictures of the past meetings (1998 - 2000)
Akita JALT

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