1 President's Message Kaori McDaniel, Los Gatos High School I recently attended a seminar for parents and educators, which focused on raising healthy children by putting less focus on grades and college admissions. At one point during the panel discussion, one of the panelists stated that teachers should attend more professional development opportunities to improve their teaching skills. There was a big applause from the audience, most of whom were parents. I was uncomfortable sitting in the middle of the applause. While I agree that there are teachers who are reluctant to go to conferences or workshops to improve, I thought the statement was rather unfair statement; the fees to attend conferences and workshops are usually very expensive, and in many cases, teachers have to pay the expense out of pocket – and it is a well- known fact that teachers do not get paid well. Thus, one of the important missions of CAJLT is to help teachers gain easier access to professional development opportunities available in their area. I am very happy to report that last month, by becoming an affiliate of Foreign Language Association of Northern California (FLANC), CAJLT members were able to attend the FLANC Fall Conference at a discounted rate of $25, instead of $80. In addition to attending their workshop, CAJLT members were invited to the gathering of Northern California Japanese Teachers Association (NCJTA) and had an opportunity to meet some NCJTA teachers. I would like to thank both FLANC and NCJTA for their support in making this happen. The regional Benkyookai run by our members, are open to all members. This is another way for teachers to learn without feeling a financial burden; this informal event also allows the participants to have discussions in a casual setting while developing a support network with one another. We all know that Japanese teachers are hard workers and are consistently looking for ways to improve teaching skills. In order to support such needs, CAJLT will continue cultivating means to facilitate our members' attendance at events for professional development. I hope all members will make the best use of these opportunities. In this issue... Presidents Message 1 Benkyoo kai Report 2 Peep hole 5 Japanese Program In University (CUSLB) 6 Global 30 Report 7 Japan Bowl 9 Announcement 10 Membership 11 Officers: President: Kaori McDaniel Vice President: Alex Blackwelder Treasurer, Membership: Naoko McHale Historian: Freda Yoshioka Media: Atsuko Kiuchi Want to announce to all members? Please use [email protected]CAJLT California Association of Japanese Language Teachers FALL 2013 Newsletter
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1
President's Message Kaori McDaniel, Los Gatos High School
I recently attended a seminar for parents and educators, which focused on
raising healthy children by putting less focus on grades and college admissions.
At one point during the panel discussion, one of the panelists stated that teachers
should attend more professional development opportunities to improve their
teaching skills. There was a big applause from the audience, most of whom were
parents. I was uncomfortable sitting in the middle of the applause.
While I agree that there are teachers who are reluctant to go to conferences or
workshops to improve, I thought the statement was rather unfair statement; the
fees to attend conferences and workshops are usually very expensive, and in
many cases, teachers have to pay the expense out of pocket – and it is a well-
known fact that teachers do not get paid well.
Thus, one of the important missions of CAJLT is to help teachers gain easier
access to professional development opportunities available in their area. I am
very happy to report that last month, by becoming an affiliate of Foreign
Language Association of Northern California (FLANC), CAJLT members were
able to attend the FLANC Fall Conference at a discounted rate of $25, instead
of $80. In addition to attending their workshop, CAJLT members were invited to
the gathering of Northern California Japanese Teachers Association (NCJTA)
and had an opportunity to meet some NCJTA teachers. I would like to thank both
FLANC and NCJTA for their support in making this happen.
The regional Benkyookai run by our members, are open to all members. This is
another way for teachers to learn without feeling a financial burden; this informal
event also allows the participants to have discussions in a casual setting while
developing a support network with one another.
We all know that Japanese teachers are hard workers and are consistently
looking for ways to improve teaching skills. In order to support such needs,
CAJLT will continue cultivating means to facilitate our members' attendance at
events for professional development. I hope all members will make the best use
場所:California State University, Sacramento Mariposa Hall 2007
San Francisco-Bay Area Benkyoukai Report Kaori McDaniel, Lost Gatos High School
We held our first meeting of the school year on Sat. 9/28 at Los Gatos High School and shared lots of information and
inspiring ideas. We learned about Japanese homestay exchange program at different schools and ways that local
Japanese teachers are linking their students with students in Japan, such as penpal and video letter exchanges. Teachers
also shared information and ideas about some of the new resources and programs they are incorporating into their
curriculum. Some of these include:
Goanimate, kidblog.com, blabberize, and dashlane (Kobayashi sensei)
NHK's お伝と伝じろう(Kubo sensei)
多読ライブラリー、季節で学ぶ日本語(McDaniel sensei)
Using "Shadowing" method to help students develop and improve speaking fluency and pronounciation
(Jordan sensei)
We also learned about a unit that Kobayashi sensei created that incorporates ゆるキャラ、including doing 「くまモ
ン体操」in class, and Jordan sensei shared an idea inspired by a home economics class project at Hanazono High
School in Kyoto involving making ご当地弁当 based on research about a particular area of Japan.
勉強会レポート
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MCLASC Fall Mini-Conference report Freda Yoshioka, Campbell Hall Episcopal K-12
The Modern and Classical Languages Association of Southern California (MCLASC) held its Fall Mini Conference at Santa
Monica City College on Saturday, Oct. 19, 2013. According to MCLASC president, Araceli Espinoza, nearly 180 teachers
registered. She hopes to double the conference in size next year. The half-day event featured dozens of one-hour
presentations by teacher-speakers, mostly high school and college level, from all over So-Cal. Attendees could attend up
to three different presentations. Brandon Zaslow of the California World Language Project gave the keynote address
and highlighted the Common Core Standards. He charged World Language instructors with becoming familiar with the
English & Language Arts (ELA) standards. There were language-specific presentations, specifically in Spanish, French,
Arabic and Korean. So come on, CAJLT members, let’s represent Japanese language teachers there next year!
FLANC 2013 Conference Naoko Mchale, Davis Senior High School
On Saturday, October 26,the FLANC (Foreign Language Association of Northern California) Conference was held at Chabot College in Hayward. Four CAJLT members presented at this conference with a common theme, culture, and I learned valuable and useful ideas from their workshops.
Kaori McDaniel Sensei and Ann Jordan Sensei emphasized the importance of building a curriculum based on aspects
of culture that interest students. As an example, McDaniel Sensei introduced her 妖怪(ようかい)Unit, where students
learned how to describe people through a series of fun activities. Jordan Sensei shared her 落語(らくご)Unit, through
which students learned to tell their original 落語 stories in front of the class. After showing a video of a very lively
student’s 落語, she explained that the student used to be very shy. Her approach helped him become more confident and outspoken.
The second presenter, Tomokazu Morikawa Sensei, started his presentation by saying that he changed his classroom management, curriculum and class activities, so that he could focus on students’ self- discoveries. Instead of traditional grading categories, he now uses categories based on skills such as Interpretive Proficiency and Speaking Proficiency. In this way, each student as well as the teacher can determine which skill should be improved. Then, he shared his AP class
unit, 自分らしく生きる. Starting with a self- introduction exercise, the unit develops into a series of social issues such
as bullying at school, 津波 victims and homeless people. His students’ project involving students in 福島 will be
completed next summer when they visit 福島. Kumi Kobayashi Sensei from Lynbrook High School presented a curriculum design that promotes thinking skills
through the examination of cultural topics. Students study Product, Practice and Perspective to understand various cultural topics, and they gradually learn to express their opinions in Japanese on those same cultural topics. Kobayashi Sensei showed an impressive video of her AP students exchanging their opinions in a Socratic seminar. After the AP exam, these students taught Japanese culture to middle school students.
After these wonderful workshops, I attended the NCJTA (Northern California Japanese Teachers Association) general meeting with other CAJLT members . There, Chika Shibahara Sensei from the University of California, Berkeley,
explained how we could utilize a movie more efficiently in our classroom. She showed us five clips of 四月物語, explaining what kinds of activities we could do with each clip. At this meeting, the president of NCJTA announced that the two organizations, NCJTA and CAJLT, two organizations concerned with Japanese education, would start collaborating in the future.
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TJSC Fall Conference Report Alex Blackwelder, Scripps Hill Senior High School
On Sunday, November 3rd, I had the distinct pleasure of attending the annual Teachers of Japanese of Southern
California (TJSC) Fall Conference along with Freda Yoshioka sensei, our CAJLT historian. The one-day conference took
place at the new location of the Japan Foundation, Los Angeles, and began with an award presentation to Maki
Watanabe Isoyama for her hard work and dedication to Japanese education over the years.
The main theme of the workshop was “Differentiated Instruction in Japanese Language Classes,” led by
Professors Hiroko Kataoka and Masako Douglas of CSU Long Beach. Drs. Kataoka and Douglas stressed the importance
of differentiation across the curriculum, from individual lesson objectives to class activities and assessment rubrics. The
diversity of students- cultural background, linguistic experience and ability, personal interests, academic readiness,
learning styles- was discussed as participants were asked, “Are we teaching all those students in the same way or
differently, and why?” Student readiness was defined as students’ current proficiency level and content knowledge.
Next, each area of differentiated instruction was defined and discussed:
Content- the “what” of instruction, including lesson objectives
Process – the “how” of instruction, including activities, student grouping, and time length
Product- the “assessment” portion of the lesson, including individualized outcomes
The importance of scaffolding was highlighted as process was described to the participants as well, including
examples from a writing-based lesson.
I appreciated the conversation that arose from the question, “Is it ethical to give different assessments to
different students within the same class, and what is the meaning of an “A” letter grade from student to student in a
differentiated classroom?”
Now with a two-year mandatory world language requirement in San Diego Unified School District, I have found my own
classes to include a more diverse range of learners than ever before. Therefore, I felt that the lecture on differentiation
was both important and timely, and I will work to include a more varied, individualized form of assessment for my own
students in the near future.
Professors Kataoka and Douglas emphasized that a truly differentiated classroom was not an overnight process,
but should be approached a step at a time.
I am very thankful for the kindness and welcoming atmosphere from TJSC, an organization that defines
excellence among Japanese educators in the nation.
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In each issue, we introduce Japanese teacher who is actively involved in Japanese language education. We
are introducing Umabe sensei at Torrey Pine High School in San Diego. Thank you, Umabe sensei for