Teaching Conversation Skills Online

This presentation will describe ways to teach conversation online. It will focus on how the researcher utilised the textbook Discover Conversation and Microsoft Teams to implement a one-semester conversation skills course for university students. It will provide an overview of the Discover Conversation methodology, the activities and assessment that were employed, and feedback from students who undertook the course.

Escape the Classroom: Compete, Cooperate, Communicate With Escape Rooms

The presenter, an escape room creator and writer, will introduce the concept of escape rooms and how they can effectively be used in the classroom. Participants will receive tips on how to add cooperative and competitive elements to quizzes and communication activities along with suggestions for creating immersive puzzles and challenges to engage students. Additionally, the presenter will share how she brought escapism to her university students adapting to English classes on Zoom.

Writing Graduation Theses and Other Research Papers

Tackling a graduation thesis in English is a huge challenge for undergraduate students in Japan. It is easy for seminar students, for example, to feel overwhelmed. Emphasizing surveys and interviews as means of collecting data can get the research process started and help students understand the goal of creating knowledge. This presentation will cover materials appropriate for students who will benefit from consideration of writing their research in English.

Creating a Textbook for Extensive Reading: An Impossible Dream?

Research has consistently shown that extensive reading (ER) helps students in numerous ways, and most teachers would like to incorporate ER into their English courses. In many contexts teachers are required to use a textbook, and the difficulty with effectively implementing ER may be how to integrate ER with other course materials. This presentation describes a project to create a course based around ER materials, where tasks in the textbook facilitate learning through ER.

The Fine Art of Explaining Japanese Culture

One difficulty for many EFL teachers facing oral discussion classes relates to the simple issue of conversational topics. Some topics might be either uninteresting or unfamiliar to some students making it difficult for them to contribute opinions or questions. Explain It: Discussing Japanese Culture in English is a textbook solving this problem, helping students to explore their own culture and opinions about it. Topics range from sports, handicrafts, superstitions, the arts, and theater, among others.

Helping Matters: English for Social Welfare

Helping Matters is an ESP textbook for social welfare students. It introduces relevant topics in realistic situations to prepare future social workers who may be called upon to help foreigners in a professional setting. We will talk about why we decided to write this book, its development and how the book can be used in your classroom.

Writing Publishing and Using ELT Content in Japan in 2021 and Onwards

A discussion and advisory forum-style session addressing the current state of play and future predictions for teachers, writing and publishing (or wanting to), and teachers using any published content for ELT classes. Bring your questions about getting published or sourcing and using materials in the new normal book supply chain. We will cover everything from conceptualizing and publishing through to selection and use of ELT content in the current climate in Japan and the world.