This year marked the eighth annual Teacher Journeys Conference, and the Teacher Development SIG, in collaboration with the JALT NanKyu Chapter, organised the Teacher Journeys x SUTLF Conference. The conference was held on Saturday, June 29th at Sojo University in Kumamoto, and was housed inside the recently built Sojo International Learning Center (SILC). The aim of the conference was to explore the winding but meaningful paths teachers take towards greater self-awareness and improved classroom practices.

The featured speakers were Christopher Hale of Akita International University and Fumi Takegami of the Prefectural University of Kumamoto. They spoke on the topics: ‘Educating the Educators: Exploring the Experiences of Teachers Enrolled in an American TESOL Program in Japan’ and ‘Reconceptualizing Practice: Implications for Teacher Development’, respectively.

Through the combined efforts of the day’s many presenters, conference attendees learnt about varying aspects of English pedagogy, the efforts teachers make in the classroom, the challenges they face and overcome, and how their varied encounters impact their professional aspirations and students’ motivation. The evening culminated in a networking dinner with the organisers, presenters and conference attendees.

The Teacher Development SIG and JALT NanKyu would like to thank all our presenters, invited guests, host (Sojo University), and the conference attendees for coming and taking part. To our members: thank you for your continued support. We are look forward to seeing you again at JALT National!

On Wednesday, March 20th, the Teacher Development SIG hosted a workshop on Teacher Identities and Emotions in partnership with Rikkyo University. Sam Morris of Kanda University of International Studies first spoke on“Frustration Regulation in Japanese University English Language Teaching”. Through group discussion, he led the audience to understand the meaning of frustration and its negative and positive roles in teaching. He also outlined in detail several strategies to deal with frustration when such feelings arise.

Next, Christina Gkonou of the University of Essex delivered a talk entitled“Understanding Shifts in Language Teacher Identities and Emotions”. She outlined the relationship between our students, our colleagues, and ourselves with our identities as teachers as a central hub. Christina shared the important message that emotion and identity are not formed personally within ourselves, but socially and dynamically in our greater teaching contexts. The sessions lasted approximately three hours in total, and were attended by about 30 people.

The Teacher Development SIG would like to thank Christina and Sam, along with Rikkyo University for such an engaging event! Check out their talks below. 

Sam Morris – Frustration regulation and language teaching (PowerPoint slides)

Dr Christina Gkonou – Understanding shifts in language teacher identities and emotions (PowerPoint slides)

Teacher Journeys 2018 and Call for Co-Sponsors Next Year

On Sunday June 3, TD held its biggest annual event, Teacher Journeys, at Rikkyo University with co-sponsors Tokyo JALT. The conference was attended by about 50 people, and featured plenary talks by Dr. Christina Gkonou of the University of Essex, and Dr. Tomohisa Machida of Akita International University, along with sixteen presentations in four sessions throughout the day. Look forward to proceedings of the conference to be published in ETD in the coming months.

Currently we are looking for chapters to partner up with for Teacher Journeys 2019. Please get in touch with program chair Mike Ellis (maikeru.desu@gmail.com) if you’d like to bring the conference to your area next year.