March 30 - SIETAR Kansai presents: Women's Mini Film Festival, co-sponsored with Osaka & Nara JALT

March is Women’s History Month, so in celebration:

Women Filmmakers: Past, Present, and Future
Sat, March 30, 2:00 - 5:00 pm

Language: English
Venue: Nishinomiya Daigaku Koryu Center (ACTA East Tower 6F Room 1)
2 minutes from Hankyu Nishinomiya Kitaguchi station
Social event (optional): Dinner after the session at a nearby restaurant
Reservations are required by March 27 (Wed). Contact: fujimotodonna@gmail.com

The Film Festival presenters:

PAST: Tamarah Cohen taught English at the university level and made several thought-provoking films as well as transforming hundreds of student presentations into interactional video-based teaching material. She retired early to devote herself 100% to her cat sanctuary in Kyoto. (Tamarah won't be present for the event, but Donna Fujimoto will show some of Tamarah's former students' videos.)

PRESENT: Felicity Tillack is an Australian writer and filmmaker who has made several feature and short films based in Japan. She has an active YouTube channel, Instagram, and TikTok series–all of which explore Japan and its culture. Her debut 2019 film “Impossible to Imagine,” a romantic film dealing with identity and bicultural issues, is streaming on Amazon Prime. Those without Prime can watch the film on Vimeo (rent or buy). Please watch this before the event due to time constraints. 

FUTURE: Seunghyun Lee, is a designer and videographer from Seoul who has recently made a short feminist-leaning video based on a Korean legend. She is currently working on using video to bring to life the oil painting and personal records of Jang-Mi, an up-and-coming artist, who is painfully aware of Korean society’s anti-women currents. This collaboration is new and innovative, and it promises to open interesting perspectives in the world of art and film.

Summer Eikaiwa Forum

Please join Osaka JALT in our second Summer Eikaiwa Forum! Current and former Eikaiwa teachers as well as any and all language professionals can meet, network and grow professionally in this series of presentations from Eikaiwa teachers. The event is online and free. All are welcome!

This time we'll have two presenters:

Paschal Orjika has been teaching English in Japan for half a decade now. He holds a B.A. in Philosophy and an M.A. in Human Resource Development. His field of specialization is adult education with an emphasis on self-directed learning. 

He will be presenting Self-directed Learning in the English Classroom.

Olivia Allanson is from Sydney, Australia, but now resides in Shiga, Japan where she works as an Eikaiwa English Teacher. She graduated from The University of Sydney with a bachelor's in English along with a master's in TESOL where she gained experience teaching practical English to international students. Born in the middle of a cultural hot pot, she developed a passion for language and its ability to connect and unite people of different backgrounds. As such, she places great value on language as a communicative tool, rather than as a summative assessment.

She will present a condensed version of her Masters thesis which focuses on CLT (Communicative Language Teaching). In this she will touch upon the key principles, goals and benefits of CLT through an interactive approach

Please register for the event here.

Summer social by the river, in Minoh park

Come join us in Minoh Park by (and in) the river to cool down, connect with old and new friends, and help wind down the semester while helping raise awareness of and some funds for a good cause. We'll have some refreshments to share, but please bring a bento if you like, snacks, beverages, and a rubber duck if you have one and would like to participate in the rubber duck race! (Rubber ducks can be found at Daiso and other stores.) It's 100 yen to sponsor a duck, or pitch in whatever you like, with all proceeds going to support Kodomo Shokudo, a volunteer group that provides free or reduced-priced meals for underprivileged children in Minoh and throughout Japan.

Meet at Minoh station at 2:00, or join us on the east bank of the river about halfway to the falls whenever you can, for as long or as short a time as you like as you enjoy all that the park has to offer. All are welcome, and the more the merrier!

If you miss the group get-together at 2pm, simply come up the walkway towards the waterfall. Walk past the Insect Museum and after walking under the red bridge at Ryoanji Temple you will see Yamamoto Coffee shop on your right. Go down the slope towards it, cross the rustic bridge looking at the "Monsoon Cafe" blue tarp, take a left, and keep walking along the river until you find us near the next bridge and public bathroom.

RSVP here to give us an idea of how many to expect, and to get emails of updated and more detailed information.

March 25th - GRAPE - Graded Readers Authorship & Publication Experience

Osaka JALT is proud to co-sponser GRAPE!

Graded Readers Authorship & Publication Experience

 

March 25, 2023 -  11:00 to 4:00

Temple University, Osaka Center, Japan

Learn how to write and publish graded readers with Rob Waring, Paul Goldberg, Ann Mayeda, Trina Chalmers, Heather Dixon, Paul McAleese, and Paul Mathieson.

Fee 2,000円 JALT / 3,000円 non-JALT

Pre-registration is required, click below

Unfortunately, we have reached our limit and can no longer accept new applications.

What is the GRAPE?

Graded Readers Authorship & Publication Experience

The GRAPE is designed to help authors write and publish graded readers. On the day of the event, participants will learn from experts in the field on the major aspects of the creative and publication process. After the event day, participants will continue to work together in an organized peer-support system via Google Classroom, with the goal being to publish stories on an online extensive reader platform.

April 2022 SIETAR Kansai

Osaka JALT is proud to co-sponser, along with JALT Osaka, Kyoto, Nara, Kobe:

April 2022 SIETAR Kansai: 

Biased Teaching, Biased Language, Marginalized Students

Speaker: Masaki C. Matsumoto (writer, speaker, YouTuber)

Date:   April 24, 2022 (Sunday)

Time:   14:00-17:00

Fee:     Free for all

Language: English (Q & A in English and Japanese)

ZOOM Online presentation *registration required*

Contact: fujimotodonna@gmail.com to get the Zoom link; for any questions.

Description: Students who come from minority backgrounds face obstacles that teachers, classmates and administrators may not be aware of. Subtle and not-so-subtle biases exist, and it is important to not only raise our awareness, but to also actively work on ways to combat any resulting negative effects. Biases exist not only in the ways that educators teach, but also in how language itself operates within the confines of social and cultural landscapes. The speaker will share examples of biased teaching and of biased language where students may feel ignored, left out, or forced to silence themselves in the classroom—and in some cases, they may even feel compelled to quit learning altogether. Be prepared to have your eyes opened!

Presenter:

Masaki C. Matsumoto is originally from Tochigi prefecture and currently lives in Gunma prefecture, where he blogs, produces YouTubes and podcasts, while lecturing on topics that draw attention to issues that dispute heteropatriarchy—in particular, these include the LGBT movement, the history of social discourse on sexual desires, and the rights and dignity of sex workers.

For details, see https://medium.com/@MasakiCM 

ja.gimmeaqueereye.org