PanSIG 2021 Forum with ICLE SIG

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PanSIG 2021 will take place on May 15-16 in Mishima, Shizuoka Prefecture. The event is currently planned as a hybrid event (partially online), but will be moved entirely online if needed depending on the situation.

For PanSIG 2021, the TD SIG is delighted to be facilitating a forum with the Intercultural Communication in Language Education (ICLE) SIG, titled ‘Developing an Intercultural Understanding as Teachers’.

Over the next couple of months, we’ll be finalising the details, including the invited speakers, the session format, and the date/time. Please watch this space for information!

Teacher Journeys 2020: Panel Discussion

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Join us as we reflect on this year’s online conference, Teacher Journeys 2020: Experiences in Emergency Remote Teaching. Due to Covid-19, this year’s conference was unique with respect to both content and format. The organizers have invited four presenters to hold a discussion on the virtual sharing of their and others’ journeys through the pandemic as educators. We will discuss topics such as the process of creating their videos and lessons learned from others’, and also consider ways that this experience might inform professional teacher development post-coronavirus.

Date: Sunday, November 8
Time: 2 to 3pm (Japan Standard Time)
Hosted on Zoom

Learn more about the participants and access the meeting from the conference site.

TD SIG Annual General Meeting at JALT2020

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In this annual general meeting, members of the Teacher Development SIG will report on the recent activities of the group. Officers will share information and news about the SIG‘s events, membership, publications, and other related matters. As well as discussing previous work, ideas about the SIG‘s future will be shared, and the results of this year’s officer elections will be announced. Current and potential SIG members are encouraged to come along to this session. 

Date: Tuesday, November 17th
Time: 5:00 PM – 5:45 PM  

This session will be taking place live on Zoom. Registered participants of JALT2020 should follow information during the conference period for details about how to access and join the session. 

TD SIG Officer Nominations

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The TD SIG is always looking for new volunteers to join as officers. At this year’s JALT conference, in the same way as every year, we will be electing and deciding on officers for the year ahead. We have a number of different positions that require more volunteers, such as supporting our publicity, programs, and publication activities.

TD depends on a small group of active members helping and collaborating with each other to make sure the SIG can continue functioning smoothly. If you think you might be interested in putting your name forward to get more involved, please send us an email for more information at: jalt.td.sig@gmail.com.  A full list of our office positions are as follows:

  • SIG Coordinator
  • Membership Chair
  • Program Chair
  • Publications Chair
  • Publicity Chair
  • Treasurer
  • Webmaster

We look forward to hearing from you!

Teacher Development SIG Photo Competition 2020

The Teacher Development SIG is pleased to announce its very first photo competition!

Two winning photographs will be used in the first journal issue of 2021 and in the January 2021 newsletter.

All interested JALT members are invited to submit an original photograph related to (life in) Japan. Only members of the Japan Association for Language Teaching may submit a photograph, and entrants should remain a member up to the time the photo is used.

The photo must:
• be an original photograph taken by the person submitting it
• be in colour
• not have any licensing restrictions that prevents JALT from using it online and in print
• be high definition (minimum 1920×1080 pixels)
• be related to (life in) Japan
• not have any faces visible
• be accessible online and be shared with the TD SIG using an unrestricted link

Each photographer is allowed to submit up to 2 photographs.

Submissions are being accepted from August to September, but early submissions are welcome. The two winning photographs will be announced by December. 

Click here for the photo submission form.

Disclaimer
• It is ultimately at the discretion of the JALT Teacher Development SIG to decide how submissions will be shared between the SIG’s journal and newsletter.
• Submissions that do not win may be divided amongst other editions of the journal and newsletter.
• All submissions are subject to use by the Japan Association for Language Teaching, e.g. to share information about the competition throughout the organisation.
• Photographs will not be used outside of official JALT purposes.

JALT TD SIG Forum: Teacher Emotions in the Japanese Context

Unfortunately, our ‘Teacher Emotions in the Japanese Context’ forum scheduled for March 19 has had to be cancelled. We’re very sorry about this. We hope to arrange a similar event soon. Thank you for your understanding.

March 19, 2020: Teacher Emotions in the Japanese Context @ Toyo University (Hakusan campus) Tokyo. 14:00-16:30. Click here to register.

CUE & TD SIG Forum Call for Proposals

TD-CUE Joint Forum at JALT2020 in Tsukuba: Forms and Functions of Community in Education
The JALT CUE SIG & Teacher Development SIG Joint Forum at JALT2020 in Tsukuba will be on ‘Forms and Functions of Community in Education’.
The application deadline is Monday, March 2, 2020
Click here for abstract and submission information.

Report of ‘Using Video in Language Teacher Education’ Forum

On Tuesday, December 3, the TD SIG hosted a forum titled – Using Video in Language Teacher Education. The forum took place at Toyo University in Tokyo and was attended by approximately 15 people from a variety of different teaching contexts. The forum featured three speakers, Dr. Steve Mann from the University of Warwick, Robin Skipsey from the British Council, and Davey Young from Rikkyo University.

Dr. Mann opened the forum with a presentation that provided an overview of video uses for teacher development, and he gave some examples of different tools that could be used for implementing video projects. Following this, Robin Skipsey introduced the audience to a British Council project in which video was part of a cascade teacher training model. Robin talked about how trainee teachers used video to reflect on their own teaching practices, try new activities in their classrooms, and pass on useful approaches to others.

The final presentation saw Davey Young talk about how lesson observation videos are used to maintain quality assurance in a unified course at Rikkyo University. Through making recordings of lessons, both teachers and program managers were able to collaboratively assess how objectives were being met, for example.

As well as presentations, the forum also featured interviews. The TD SIG’s coordinator Matthew Turner asked questions to Robin about the content of his presentation, with Steve asking questions to Davey about his talk. Through the interviews, both the audience members and participants were able to interactively explore themes in more detail. The forum culminated in a discussion between the panel, led by questions from the audience.