As many of you may know, ACTJ is proud to be one of the organizations participating at Nakasendo 2009. In addition to supporting the event, two ACTJ members will be presenting at the conference. The details of their presentations are below:

Richard Miles (NEEC) - "Pronunciation Pyramids"

Pronunciation is always a hot topic in any English class. Students place a great deal of importance on pronunciation, but always seem to struggle with particular sounds. This presentation will deal with a few of the difficult sounds (L/R, V/B, TH/S and S/SH) that are particular to Japanese learners of all levels. Pronunication always goes hand in hand with listening and this presentation will demonstrate how to use “pronunciation pyramids” in the classroom, whereby students can be proactive and receptive. Students usually thoroughly enjoy this exercise and most importantly, spend considerable time listening and pronouncing the target sounds, as they can practice with a friend or in a larger context. Pronunciation pyramids are very easy to use and can be adapted to almost any level, age group or classroom situation.

Andy McInulty (Nanzan University) - "Timed Writing"

Timed Wring is a wonderful activity to begin any writing class. It uses writing as a cognitive warm up, as a signaling and settling activity at the beginning of a writing class and as a way of organizing your class into groups for the writing activities to come.

Writing is a complex task. In ordinary writing, you have to think of what to write, how to organize your ideas, how to explain your ideas clearly, how to make grammatically correct sentences, and how to spell correctly. Timed Writing allows you to separate the process of generating good ideas from all the other tasks. Timed Writing helps you practice thinking in English and putting these thoughts immediately on paper without worrying about all the other aspects of writing.

Timed Writing can also be adjusted to suit any age of learner at any stage of study.

Carolyn Pieroway (Yakumo Academy) - "Teaching English in English"

Japanese students of English have limited time in their English classes to acquire English skills. Moreover, being in a foreign language learning environment makes it even more difficult to increase exposure to English by using it outside the classroom. Both are good reasons for having English classes taught in English, but how can this be implemented and effective? This presentation will introduce reasons for teaching English classes in English and demonstrate some practical ways we can introduce English into junior high school classes. The presentation should be useful for Japanese teachers who want to use English in the classroom and also for foreign teachers who want to help Japanese colleagues build confidence to use more English in their lessons.

For more details about Nakasando 2009 (including pre-registration), visit the conference website