CJLEA Newsletter July 01

It's been over 6 years since I came to Colorado from the city of Kumamoto, which is located in the center of Kyushu Island. I was a high school English teacher for two years over there, and in May 1995, I moved to Boulder, Colorado. I started the new life here, made new friends, and began thinking about getting a job in the United States. Teaching was something I missed after coming to the United States, and I started a college student life again in Education at CU Boulder. I obtained the teaching license in secondary Japanese, and in the summer of 1998, I was looking for a real teaching job.

Job search was not easy. I applied to almost all the public school districts in Colorado, but there was NO position openings for Japanese teacher. I even sent my resume to other states, but of course, nobody wanted to hire a brand-new teacher who just finished student teaching in this field and also who lived far away from their location. It makes sense. I applied for the other types of jobs, but my visa situation did not allow me to work outside of the field of Education. Four months passed with no jobs, and I almost gave up my effort to stay in the United States.

One day, a telephone call from one of the private schools in south Denver I applied for... "We received your resume, and it looks really good. But unfortunately, we've just hired a Japanese teacher a few days before you turned in your resume. Your resume looks really really good though." This head of school kept saying that my resume looked very good, but here again, I did not get a job. Well, it's time for me to go back to Japan. Shall I go to Tokyo or Osaka?

Then, two weeks later, I received another phone call from the same school. "Hi Naomi. This is Buffie Berger from Montclair Academy. The Japanese teacher we hired just turned down the offter. She is moving to another state because her fiance got a job there. So now we want to meet you. When can you come to have an interview with us? Sooner is better since the school has already started." Oh, my, I was delighted. I set an appointment for the next day. That was September 12, 1998, and I officially started teaching 3 days later. I was given a brand-new classroom for myself with no desks, no chairs and no textbooks yet. I remember that the first thing I made to decorate the wall of my classroom was the chart of Hiragana and Katakana. And my 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students sat on the floor and learned the greetings.

This is how I got this teaching position at Montclair Academy. This is a K-8 independent school, which used to be known as St. John's Academy. Last year we were officially accredited as the member of the Association of Colorado Independent Schools. Montclair is a relatively new school, and I feel that this is a "hand-made" school. We just finished the whole-school curriculum making process, and the number of the students is growing each year. We are expecting about 275 students next year. (Yes, it's a small school.)

As the first Japanese teacher at Montclair, I have been busy setting up the program. 1st through 4th grade students have an opportunity to learn introductory Spanish, and when

they go to 5th grade, they take both middle school Japanese and Spanish exposure programs. When they go to 6th grade they pick Japanese or Spanish as a core academic course for the next 3 years. I suppose this is a very common scenario for all the schools, but usually Spanish program gets more students than Japanese. I hear a lot from students that they like my class better but Spanish is more useful, or they want to take Japanese but their parents want them to take Spanish. To make my Japanese program more attractive, I try to use any opportunities to advertise my program. Such as my 8th graders' Japanese folk tale performance in a school assembly in the fall, setting up a pen-pal relationship with a junior high in Japan, celebrating Setsubun as a whole school activity, incorporating cooking and art in the program, and also posting students' works on the bulletin board in the hallway.

Teaching 10-14 year olds is not always easy. Sometimes they bring a fight they had during the lunch time to my classroom. When they get older they like to talk about boys and girls during class. Compared to high school students, it usually takes 2-3 times longer for them to learn the same thing. I also have a variety of academic levels of students in each class including the ones who have learning disabilities, and my next goal is to individualize the lessons more according to the student's ability. And don't forget, COMMUNICATE WELL WITH PARENTS! (especially with the parents whose kids are having difficulty keeping up with school work.) In the middle school level, it is important to keep parents informed.

The CJLEA Fall Assembly will be held at Montclair Academy, and I am looking forward to seeing you all!

While teaching ESL at Casey Middle School, I noticed few electives offered to students. I proposed teaching a quarter elective entitled "Exploratory Japanese." After some e-mail exchanges with the district, my principal got approval for the course for the second semester.

With no materials or curriculum at hand, I fell back on my ESL training and my experience learning Japanese. The first quarter all of the students chose to take the elective and were very enthusiastic. The focus of the course was on the Japanese language. The first task was mastering hiragana. While the students eagerly dived into the task, by the end only a few could read hiragana without consulting their charts. I'm still working on a better way to teach hiragana.

Over the course of nine weeks, the students learned basic classroom commands, numbers, days of the week, months, family members and weekend activities. Most of the class was conducted in Japanese. I received a lot of positive feedback from other teachers. The students were constantly practicing their Japanese. Most of the students wanted to continue on, however, the schedule was set up to give another group of students a chance to take the course.

A week after a spring snow storm interfered with our original plans, my students and I had the chance to visit CU. Saegusa sensei put a lot of effort into ensuring a full day of fun and educational activities for my students. We sat in on and participated in a second semester Japanese class. My students had a great time playing hiragana bingo and interacting with the CU students. I think the chopstick challenge may have been the favorite activity of the day. In spite of their stomachaches from eating too many pieces of Japanese ame, the students told me that it was the best field trip they had been on.

All but one of the eighth graders in the first class, has signed up to take Japanese at Boulder High School. To me this is a success. I think this class would work better as a semester or even year long course. This would give us more time to delve into the language and learn some history and culture along the way.

It's Elementary Service Project - 2001
by Janet Hoaglund

The Program for Teaching East Asia offered the fourth year of "It's Elementary: A Japanese Language-Culture Service Project," during spring semester 2001. The project is designed to give EALC undergraduates in Japanese an opportunity to apply their language skills and their knowledge of Japanese culture. The students work with TEA staff to create elementary lessons, then deliver their lessons to first-grade students who study Japan as part of their social studies curriculum in the Boulder Valley School District. The six interns from EALC who participated this year were Melisa Lansky, Justin Maki, Marc Musteric, Jessica Rodd, Kyle Seike, and Laurel Swift. The CU students began their internship in January with several training and lesson development sessions, coordinated by TEA staff member Janet Hoaglund. Between February and April, the interns made a total of 45 visits to 25 first-grade classrooms throughout Boulder Valley; they worked with approximately 625 elementary students. Five of the students earned CU credit for spending 45 hours preparing and presenting lessons in elementary schools. The program has been fortunate to have students volunteer their time for two years in a row. This year, Marc Musteric, graduate student, shared his time and expertise.

Four of the interns culminated the semester service program with special presentations as part of the Kohl (Broomfield) Elementary School "Passport Day" on April 27. The parents at Kohl invited speakers to represent various nations around the world. Each country was given a classroom and first through fifth grade students traveled the world, "flying" from country to country throughout the morning. "It's Elementary" encourages interactive lessons emphasizing student participation. For Japan, the interns taught Kohl students how to write some kanji including their school name. Marc had students form kanji shapes using body movement. Laurel followed this up with teams playing telegraph kanji on each other's backs. Justin and Jessica walked students through the actual writing of kanji on paper. The interns then guided Kohl students through a buffet of Japanese food and an examination of clothing from a Japanese artifact trunk.

First-grade teachers often request that interns present "kamishibai," Japanese story board tales. Melisa, Laurel, Kyle, and Justin translated kamishibai from Teaching East Asia's resource center and were able to combine class assignments with their lesson plans. Jessica prepared a lesson on a day in the life of a Japanese first-grader using the resource center's School Life artifact trunk. The program hopes to enrich the classroom experience of the elementary students and foster greater interest in Japan. One intern's suggestion for the future, "Try to get more schools involved because this unique program influences children to think on a more global level," gives cause to believe that this hope is being realized.

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.

Laurel Rasplica Rodd

I'm pleased to have an opportunity to introduce myself (or reintroduce myself) to the CJLEA membership--especially as I've been unable to attend many of the CJLEA meetings in the past few years due to meeting overload! I appreciate the opportunity to apologize and to reiterate my belief in the importance of the activities of this group: The health and continuation of every Japanese program in the state depends heavily on our collaborative efforts and ongoing communication!

I've been at the University of Colorado since 1994, having moved here from Arizona State University. Since 1995, I have served as Chair of the Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations, and--at the same time--as President of the Association of Teachers of Japanese. Although I've occasionally felt some administrative overload, I can truly say that these have been learning years for me. ATJ was founded in 1963 a): "To promote and encourage cooperation and free intercourse among scholars, teachers, and students of Japanese language, literature, and linguistics, and others engaged in those activities, and to promote academic work and foster research and study in those fields and to broaden and deepen knowledge of Japan and its culture; b) To promote the exchange of ideas, information and esperience relevant to the concerns of its members through meetings, educational seminars, publications, correspondence, and other such activities; c) To encourage the development and dissemination of superior methods of teaching Japanese language, linguistics, and literature, and to aid in the attainment of increased teaching expertise, broad competence, intellectual depth, and overall professional excellence; and d) to publish the journal and newsletter of the Association and other materials."

As you can see, that's quite a broad agenda, and it has kept me busy for the past few years. I was fortunate to be President at a time when there were many exciting developments in the field, such as the rapid increase in K-12 Japanese programs, the Standards movement, and the development of online technology that opens many new avenues to us. I was particularly pleased to bring about a strong collaborative relationship among teachers of all levels of Japanese that has led to the Alliance between ATJ and the National Council of Japanese Language Teachers. If you haven't looked recently at our website (www.colorado.edu/ealld/atj), I encourage you to do so. I'm confident you'll find something of value to you, no matter what your teaching situation.

At the University of Colorado, I've been involved in getting a new M.A. in Japanese up and running. We're very pleased with the calibre of students it has attracted and with the variety of their interests: about a third go on to PhD programs in Japanese literature or linguistics, others teach in K-12 programs, and still others have taken positions in translating and editing, in business, and in non-profits and government organizations.

My own background is in Japanese literature (though I'm also interested in both linguistics and pedagogy), and I've written on such topics as waka, Buddhist literature, and modern women writers. During my sabbatical this next year, I hope to finish a translation of the Shinkokinshu and make progress on a book about Yosano Akiko.

I look forward to seeing you at future CJLEA meetings and to continuing and expanding the exciting collaborations going on already between University of Colorado Japanese programs and other programs in the state!

Technology Q & A by Ryoko Yoshida Keaton

Q: I have seen these words, "PDF files" and "Acrobat Reader," on the Internet. What are they?

A: "PDF" stands for Portable Document Format. Some pages on the Internet are in this format. There are several reasons why the format is used, but major ones are that pages in PDF format preserve original layout (such as fonts, formatting and graphics) and that they can be viewed no matter what computer (Windows, Mac, etc.) you use. You just need to have "Acrobat Reader" installed on your computer. "Acrobat Reader" is free of charge and can be downloaded from this page. The page looks like the picture below. Follow the steps in the page.

I recommend that you install Acrobat Reader so that you can view and print documents such as Standards for Foreign Language Learning by ACTFL and The Japan Forum Newsletter.

E-mail your technology related questions to Keaton.

This grant program is intended to facilitate K-12 teachers' participation in Japanese or foreign language workshops/conferences held in the United States. Priority will be given to presenters and delegates of local Japanese teachers' associations. Successful candidates will be granted the cost of airfare (discount coach class). An individual can be awarded this grant only once per fiscal year (April 1 though March 31).
For more information, visit JFLALC Travel Grant Program 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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