CJLEA Newsletter June 01

Since Joan Ericson and I were voted in as Co-Presidents of CJLEA last fall, I have enjoyed working with her and other officers. I have also found that members have been very supportive for CJLEA activities in many ways. I appreciate it very much and I would like to ask continuous support from all of you.

With my background of teaching, computer and business, I am excited about being able to bring all of my expertise to CJLEA as Co-President and a Public Relations officer. After talking to individual members, I have discovered that CJLEA is a pool of tremendous talents and experiences. What CJLEA needs are places and opportunities where we, CJLEA members, can share, show and promote our ability and talents in teaching Japanese language, culture and more. I feel honored to represent such an elite group of professionals. The cultural demonstrations at the CCFLT Spring Conference last February were excellent opportunities for us to show what we can do and to promote Japanese culture. I have a great amount of expectation that our newly formed committees, Outreach Committee led by Takeko Sakakura and Technology Committee led by Yumiko Guajardo, will be invaluable resources for us to set our vision and direction as well as to achieve our ever-expanding goals and missions. Of course, we have more basic businesses to take care of, such as changing our tax status to be able to receive tax-deductible donations. Any organization cannot be effectively run without operational funding. Let us cooperate, collaborate, and support each other to make CJLEA a strong association and to step forward to our mission.

In April, the class was invited to the University of Colorado by Kyoko Saegusa, the Senior Instructor of Japanese, East Asian Languages and Civilizations at CU. Saegusa sensei, assisted by two CU students, treated the Summit students to three separate lessons that engaged them in multiple activities related to Japan. Students learned the symbolisms and practices of chopsticks. Another lesson offered students the chance to see pictures of Japanese culture and daily life in the form of a book as explained by the author himself. Finally the students practiced their Kanji skills through games that focused on Romanji, the English translation and the appropriate Kanji.

Teaching middle school kids has taught me that organization and energy are keys to successful classes. The cultural experience at CU utilized this to keep the students fixated on the topics. Constant positive comments from students following the field trip suggest the outing as a triumphant success. Such a trip opens doors in the minds of engrossed young people.

The class has been deemed as a success proved by the high number of students interested in taking the class in the spring of 2002.

On Monday, May 7th, our Japanese two classes invited forty first and second graders from Park elementary school in Casper, WY to celebrate the Japanese festival, "Children's Day." The Japanese two students were divided into five groups, and each group had its own station in which they would teach the children some aspect of Japanese culture: sumo, origami, calligraphy, chopsticks, and food. It was a big success; both, elementary students and my students had fun and it was also a good advertisement for our "Japanese program." My students enjoyed sharing what they can do and know with the younger students.

The preparation was not that hard. I was just a coordinator. After brainstorming what cultural activities we should do, each student chose what he/she wanted to do, and each group discussed how to run the activity for 10-15 minutes and what they needed for the activity.

This time, I invited a class of a friend of mine, but I found out that my students wanted to invite a class of their favorite teacher when they were in grade school. As my network at the elementary school is limited, I will use my students' connections next time.

I also asked my students to explain something cultural, which was related to their activity. Students in the food station explained how important rice is for Japanese people and taught "itadakimasu/gochisoosama deshita" with its meaning. At the origami station where koinobori and samurai helmet were taught, the importance of carps as a symbol and reason why samurai helmets are decorated for the holiday were explained.

This is what we prepared for each station:
Sumo: sumo suits, happi coat & fan (for a judge), rope for marking a ring, mats, salt
Origami: markers, scissors, butcher paper, tape, twigs (for koinobori pole)
Food: cooked rice, saran wrap (they made a rice ball using the wrap), salt, teriyaki beef (instead of salted plum), teapot, green tea leaves, hot water maker, cups
Chopsticks: chopsticks, small bowls, cereals
Calligraphy: butcher paper, sumi ink, brush, aprons

Teaching East Asia by Lynn Parisi

Through generous funding from The Freeman Foundation, the Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations at CU has established a national outreach program to encourage teaching and learning about Asia in K-12 education.

The overarching goal of the Program for Teaching East Asia is to address the need for better education about the Asia and US-Asia relations by enhancing and expanding teaching about East Asia at the elementary and secondary school levels. Specific activities to address this goal include curriculum consultation, instructional materials development, and professional development programs--including workshops, seminars, summer institutes, and study-tours--for teachers. An underlying mission in all TEA programming is to bring current research and scholarship on Asia to K-12 teachers and, through them, to elementary and secondary students.

Teaching East Asia: Japan offers workshops on Japan to K-12 teachers and an annual summer institute for high school teachers on "Japanese History through the Humanities." Our summer institute this year is " Starting Over: Japan's Occupation Years, 1945-52." In addition, the Teaching East Asia: Japan program is conducting an outreach project that brings CU undergraduates in Japanese into Boulder Valley classrooms as service interns. The pilot project is titled "It's Elementary."

Teaching East Asia Teacher Resource Center. The Program for Teaching East Asia also provides a curriculum library of over 6,000 print and audio-visual materials on Asia to teachers in Colorado.

The National Consortium for Teaching about Asia (NCTA) is a national collaboration of five institutions-The University of Washington's East Asia Center, the Program for Teaching East Asia at CU, the East Asia Center at Indiana University, the East Asia Institute at Columbia University, and the Five College Center for East Asian Studies. The total grant is $6.8 million, divided among these institutions over 3 years. Through NCTA, the 5 institutions work together to support 25-30 high school teacher seminars a year on Asian history, geography, and culture.

Contact Information

We made a presentation titled "Technology-Based Courseware & Language Maintenance: Processes & Outcomes." One of the emphases was the importance of collaboration between a classroom instructor and an instructional technologist: an instructor with basic HTML knowledge and an instructional technologist with pedagogical background. Students' initiative and participation were also emphasized.

It is very evident that successful CALL programs are the result of the joint effort among classroom teachers and CALL specialists. While there are many good faculty development programs for classroom teachers to learn technology, the problem at present is that teachers do not have enough time to develop courseware based on what they learned at the workshops. The key for us is to learn the potential and limitation of the technology for ones' own curriculum and work closely with CALL specialists. Faculty members must remember that technology is here to serve communicative activities in the classroom, and technology adoption must not be the sake of technology adoption. Furthermore, computer assisted curriculum could be more students initiated and students driven. It should not be driven only by the availability of the computer technology.

We also attended the South Central Association For Language LearningTechnology (SOCALL) reception, business meeting & luncheon. Colorado is one of the 6 states (Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas & Colorado) affiliated with SOCALL. The SOCALL 2002 will be held in the next Spring at the University of Colorado, Boulder. We look forward to seeing many CJLEA members at the conference.

The TPRS Special Study Group, formed during the last CJLEA Spring Assembly, is planning to hold a two-day workshop in Colorado Springs in July to come up with teaching modules based on the National Standards (the K-16 Japanese National Standards) in order to create materials that will accommodate the requirements of K-16 articulation for all institutions in Colorado and Wyoming.

Our goal is to produce sample teaching materials (prototypes) towards the end of the workshop. Workshop participants will share their knowledge and experiences to find ways to integrate National Standard based instruction, issues in articulation and various teaching methods. This workshop is intended neither to learn specific classroom techniques nor to discuss the National Standards and/or their articulation. Its focus is to produce teaching materials that can be used as a supplement for all teaching techniques, including TPRS. We will also discuss the writing of organizational mini grants at the end of the workshop so that we can apply for Mini-Grant programs next academic year.

Sign up today and take advantage of this great professional development opportunity!

Tentative Schedule:
July 6th (9:00 am to 4:00 pm at PPCC)
9:00 - 9:30: Continental Breakfast
9:30 - 10:30: Exchanging/sharing information on textbooks, curriculum
designs & lesson plans. teaching techniques
10:30 - 11:30: Exchanging/sharing information on placement/validation
testing & articulation
11:30 - 12:30: Lunch
12:30 - 1:30: Brainstorm session - 1: List Vocab categories, Themes, Grammar
points, etc.
1:30 - 2:30: Brainstorm session - 2: TPRS and other communicative speaking
activities
2:30 - 3:00: Coffee break
3:00 - 4:00 Brainstorm session -3: Materials development -- ideas

July 7th (9:00 am to 4:00 pm at USAFA)
9:00 - 9:30: Continental Breakfast
9:30 - 10:30: Exchanging/sharing information on materials development &
technology
10:30 - 11:30: Exchanging/sharing information on materials development based
on the National Standards/articulation, etc.
11:30 - 12:30: Lunch
12:30 - 1:30: Brainstorm session - 4: Materials production: prototype:
phase-1
1:30 - 2:30: Brainstorm session - 5: Materials production: prototype:
phase-2
2:30 - 3:00: Coffee break
3:00 - 4:00 Wrap up session & discussion for the future workshop planning &
Grant proposal ideas/writing

The TPRS has a growing interest in K-12 institutions and great potential for application in high school and undergraduate language courses in an effort to beef up student speaking ability. Yet, a lack of adequate teaching materials and systematic/structured strategies in teaching due to relatively new concepts and underdeveloped areas in the field of Japanese language teaching have meant that many K-12 teachers are struggling to use TPRS teaching techniques effectively.

These are a few examples of what you find on the Internet. You may conduct your own search using search engines. One of the recommended is Google.

東京生まれの横浜育ち。幼少の頃は英国、幼稚園と小学校の低学年は米国N.Y.で過ごした経験から国際教育に小さい頃から興味をもっていました。日本語教育への関わりも早いもので10数年が過ぎました。Fairview高校での日本語教師を経て、現在はING Reという会社で日本語を教える傍ら、国際ビジネスのサポートに携わっています。

教えるテクニックには共通点があるにせよ、大きな意味での目的の違いは、国際的なビジネスコミュニケーションを円滑にすることであり、言語の背後にある文化、日本の習慣、ビジネスマナーなどが最大の課題になります。

日本に派遣される企業役員や社員には、日本語や日本の文化、ビジネスマナーを教えたり、セミナーや講習会を催したりしました。派遣された人たちに相手を理解しようとする意欲がめばえ、仕事への取り組み方が変わりました。その結果、ビジネスも円滑に進み、アメリカ側だけでなく受け入れ側からも非常に喜ばれたのは、何よりの生きがいとなりました。

皆様もご存知の通り、ボルダー教育学区のFairview高校の日本語プログラムは2000年を最後に廃止されましたが、日本語に対する関心は冷めやらず、当時の教え子でやる気のある生徒さんに刺激され、ボランティアで週末勉強会を開くに至り、夜遅くまで勉強したのもよい思い出です。彼らの努力も実り、二年連続で日米協会主催のJapan Bowlの全国大会出場を果たすことができ、生徒だけでなく私にとっても一生に残る思い出となりました。彼らが今後の国際貢献の役割を担っていってくれるものと期待して止みません。

現在でも会社の仕事の傍ら、ボランティアで高校の行事に参加し、日本語プログラムの復活をアピールしています。

JFLALC
The Japan Foundation Los Angeles Language Center's (JFLALC) Mini-Grant Program grants are emergency-type funds of a relatively modest amount, and are screened by the JFLALC. The primary objective is to support teachers of the Japanese language in the United States at the pre-collegiate level. Applicants should be organizations or institutions, and they are encouraged to seek additional resources elsewhere to complete the desired project. Completion of the application, observation of its details, and submission of supporting documentation are required for consideration.
For more information, visit JFLALC Mini-Grant Program Page

AAT J
The Alliance of Associations of Teachers of Japanese has established a fund for the purpose of helping K-12 teachers who are members of the Association of Teachers of Japanese (ATJ) or the National Council of Japanese Language Teachers (NCJLT) take advantage of professional development and in-service training opportunities. A limited number of grants are available to individual teachers for a minimum of $50 and a maximum of $600. An individual teacher may request funding only once each calendar year. Funding may be used to cover workshop or conference attendance, but not tuition costs for credit. Grant funds may also be used to hire a substitute teacher while you engage in an activity.
For more information, visit AATJ Professional Development Funding Page

CCFLT
The Grants Committee of the Colorado Congress of Foreign Language Teachers (CCFLT) reviews requests to fund special projects. Requests are accepted from foreign language professionals who have been CCFLT members for one full year prior to submitting the grant application. Grants awarded for the year may include the $1,000 Ronald W. Walker Memorial Grant, one $500 grant, and two $250 grants. Applicants must be specific in providing budget details. The postmark deadline for the Walker Memorial Grant is November 15th. In addition, the Grants Committee welcomes grant application in the $250 and $500 categories both November 15th and March 15th. CCFLT will notify applicants of the result within 45 days of the deadline.
For more information, visit CCFLT Grants Page

Please consider our invitation to join or renew membership in the Colorado Japanese Language Education Association (CJLEA). The aims of the Association are to promote interest in and improve the quality of instruction of Japanese language at all levels in the state of Colorado, and to provide for the professional/educational growth of the membership. The CJLEA was established in April 1995, with a grant from the Japan Foundation Language Center. Among the benefits of membership are receiving a newsletter, attending events and networking with Japanese educators and other professionals.

Membership is open to teachers and students of Japanese language and others interested in Japanese language and culture education.
Membership and Renewal Form

Joan E. Ericson, President
Colorado College
Ryoko Yoshida Keaton, Co-President & Public Relations
Transpacific Business Resources, Inc.
Kaoru Slotsve, Vice-President & Public Relations
Kelly Walsh H.S./Natrona County H.S.
Kyoko Saegusa, Secretary
University of Colorado, Boulder
Mako Beecken, Treasurer
Colorado State University

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