Japanese Teacher's Conference

A couple of months ago I had the opportunity to volunteer as a presenter at the annual Japanese Teacher’s Conference in Sydney. I was at the stage where I felt I had the confidence to get up and share my Web2.0 journey with my Japanese teaching peers, so I took the plunge and yesterday I presented to my peers for the first time. I loved the experience and felt like I’ve grown a little bit more as a result. After the conference and the presentations I saw, I am more convinced that "Teachers teaching teachers" is definitely the way to go.

Whilst preparing for the presentation I was determined to remain aware of what I had learnt from seeing other presenters in the past few years - and not repeat the mistakes that I had perceived in them. For me, proof that reflection is an important part of what we do. See this post here for clarification on that point. Also, as there are so many fantastic resources out here, I decided it may not be the best strategy to bombard people with information, though it’s very easy to do that without knowing it. So, I decided to try to take people with me on the journey that brought me to a place where I was talking to my peers about how to use technology with language students.

I began by explaining RSS (for visual learners) and readers like Google Reader and Bloglines, before moving on to the power of a PLN and where to go to start building your Personal Learning Network. I suggested that delicious and diigo (diigo groups in particular) were great places to start to do this, also briefly explaining about twitter. Some Web2.0 tools we can use in the classroom with language students was the next stopover and so, at that point in the presentation, I switched over from my version of death by powerpoint to the presentation wiki. I had also intended to show a couple of my class wiki as an example of how I use them but ran out of time; so for those who were at the presentation yesterday (and anyone else out there) check out Year 7 Japanese here.

Of the sites shown in the presentation, Voki seemed to be the biggest hit, and so it should be. It is a great site to get students to practice their speaking skills in a language and gain confidence in using the target language. For other sites I found useful last year, check out this post.

Thanks to all those who attended the presentation and for the positive comments. All feedback is appreciated so please let me know if you have any suggestions on how I could improve for next time.

Animoto

I've been a bit busy the past week or so as on top of the usual end of term assessment writing, marking and reports, I have been preparing for my first PD presentation. As part of the preparation for that presentation I have begun to use Animoto more in class and have prepared a short video to highlight what it is. Animoto is great for putting short videos together and even better if you grab an educator account as it allows you and your students to make longer videos with images, text and audio. Simple to use but effective. Students can include the target language in written or spoken form in their movies. Here's the one I prepared earlier ...

Motivational posters - Learn a Language

Over at Big Huge Labs (Flickr toys) they have some great tools to help spice up your photos; turn them into posters, calendars, even jigsaws. Anyway, I've been playing around with the 'Motivator' to help spice up the classroom and corridors around the language classrooms. The ulterior motive is of course to spark the student's interest in learning a language and help students to see its relevance.

It should be noted that I was able to produce these materials with funds provided by the Australian Government through the Languages Program.

So far it has worked pretty well and there's been a positive response from the students, especially to the tongue twisters we have put up. The picture here is one sample of what you can do. There are a couple more on my flickr page. Feel free to use them and create some more ...

Time Flying by ...

Breakfast conversation yesterday taught me something new. Commenting on the fact that the year seemed to be flying by and it was already March, I was informed of the following Japanese expression:

一月はいく、二月はにげる、三月はさる　(ichigatsu wa iku, nigatsu wa nigeru, sangatsu wa saru)

Literally this means: January goes, February flees & March departs (leaves). In Japanese the first sounds in each of the pairs of words (January / go, February / flee, March / depart) are the same, making it an easy expression to remember.

As a means to tracking each day and trying to get something out of them, I have been part of the Twitter365 group. A photo a day – most days, hence the picture for this post is February’s montage. Another great way of trying to make the most of your day is, for those with an iPod Touch or iPhone, download the app – Gratitude. Then, once a day, type in what you are grateful for. Helps keep things in perspective.

 

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MapSkip

Searching through my bookmarks for a site to help me with some inspirational lessons for Year 8 Japanese, I came across MapSkip. Although I had no recollection of actually bookmarking it, it seemed to be kind of what I was looking for.

What I was looking for was a site with maps that you could add placemarks and write content into the marker. Like google maps but more... On examination I found several reasons to like MapSkip:

1. It's relatively easy to create student accounts - just remember to tick the box indicating you are a teacher when you sign up. Student accounts are created through your account and their email is not needed. Sounds good so far. It does look like creating the accounts may take a little time though.
2. You can allow or block 'outsiders' from commenting on your student's stories. You can also filter the maps on the site so that you only see stories created by the teacher and students.
3. Not only can you add pictures but also audio and video content.

So, it allows you to add placemarks to a map and write stories at that spot which can include audio, video and pictures. What's more (for me) is that it will accept the Japanese script.

The story I want my students to tell is of their assigned character. Perhaps get them to used their favourite stuffed toy as Langwitches has done with Jose the Travel Bear. Take pictures in various locations and then write the story in the target language, add narration in the target language or even video. Of course, this would be really good if you were going on an overseas trip. Take photos of the toy in famous spots (see above picture from our 2007 Japan trip), add video or even interview the locals in their language. Lots of possibilities but I think I'll try local first.

There seems to be a lot of potential here ... but I'll need to use the site a little more first.

Any ther ideas?

Valentine's Day - Japan style

Honmei-choko, giri-choko & eko-choko.Chocolate, chocolate everywhere...
 
The Japanese have always been pretty good at adapting ideas from other countries to use in their own land, or re-package and even re-sell. In fact, as part of the modernisation process of the country people were sent all over the world to look at school systems, political systems, etc - but we'll leave that for another time. Valentine's Day seems to have appeared in Japan in the mid 20th Century and since then has been turned into a marketer's dream. How's it work ...
 
February 14th is Valentine's Day. This is the day that girls / women give chocolates to boys / men. "Honmei-choko" refers to chocolates given to boyfiends. On top of that there is also "giri-choko". The word "giri" in Japanese implies an obligation of some sort. Therefore, "giri-choko" are given to the boss or males who you wish to show "gratitude" to. This could well include people (ie a section head or boss) that you really do not like. An ideal quite typical of relationships between people in Japan. "Eko-choko" is new to me, but apparently an attempt to make the wrapping of Valentine gifts more ecologically friendly. The Japanese are renowned for using copious amounts of paper to wrap presents.
 
But wait there's more... March 14th is when commercialism is taken over the top. That's the day, known as "white day", when males return the favour and buy confectionery (originally marshmellows, hence the name "white day") for the females who they received chocolates from. I assume that this can get complicated.

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7 Things ...

It seems I was naive in thinking that I would squeeze out at least a couple of blog posts during the holidays. Term 1 is off & running ... But before we get too far into it, and having been tagged a while back by Jess McCulloch, I thought I could at least get one simple post in to start off the year. After all, it wasn't that long ago that I only associated the word 'tag' with schoolyard games (more specifically, being hit hard by a tennis ball).

Anyway, this first post is all about 'me'. 7 things you may not know about me & weren't really worried about in the first place. Mind you, I have enjoyed reading other blogs in this meme. As you build your Personal Learning Network (PLN) and discover the value of it, this kind of meme adds a little bit more to the connections being made. So, here goes ...

1. Despite being born in Wimbledon (England) I am far from a competent tennis player. In fact, the last time I attempted the game resulted in a prolonged back injury.
2. As a child, I lived for 6 years in Athens. An awesome place to live and go to Primary school. Although I don't remember the bits and pieces of Greek that I knew at the time, I think that it was here that I picked up my interest in languages. Many friends were from bilingual families and speaking more than one language was the norm.
3. Ever done something really silly ...??? Once, whilst at St Catherine's, as a result of being most concerned about receiving my dues from the tooth fairy, and after examining various 'safes' for it - I distinctly remember trying out every possible spot in my school desk ( one of the old sloping wooden desks complete with ink holder & groove for pencils) - I decided the best spot was in my ear. Sounds silly now but I thought it was the perfect plan. End result - surgery to remove it. Not sure if the tooth fairy came for that one or not.
4. 2nd year of University was not the best for me in terms of passing courses (more for not being there than anything else) but that was the year that I first went to Japan, on a Homestay program, and everything fell into place from there. Despite getting off at the wrong station and then having to wait several hours before eventually finding my Homestay family, I was fascinated by Japan from the very first moment - and still am.
5. In an attempt to save money and go back to Japan, I once worked at the airport in catering. This basically involved cleaning the scraps off the in-flight meal trays and putting them through the wash. During busy times things banked up a bit and some trays contained several science experiments worth of growth on the left-over food scraps. It's always good to gain a new perspective on things.
6. My wife claims that one of her first thoughts on seeing me was that she would "never marry that guy". It was at work (an English conversation school in Osaka, Japan) and allegedly my shirt was half hanging out at the time.
7. Down time for me is running, preferably along the bush tracks not far from our door, and cycling. This year I aim to ride to work more, to do my little bit for the environment - and because it's quite a nice ride.

So there you go ...

Time to tag a couple of others for this meme ...

Isabelle Jones

Lisa Stevens

Joe Dale

José Picardo