The Exploratory Learning and Teaching Newsletter of Dokkyo University ・ Winter 2008 ・ No. 12

Seasons greetings and welcome to our 12th issue!

Inside this issue Claudia Hamann shares a scene from her classes on how movies provide students with language learning opportunities.  The opportunity to present at JALT’s 2008 conference was too good to pass up for several Dokkyo teachers, and you can catch the abstracts from JALT 2008 on page 6. Or, just ask them in person how you can go about presenting next year. On page 7, Stewart Fulton and students share how poetry was conducive to a creative classroom atmosphere. Creativity broadens the mind, and so does travel. Just ask Yumi Muraishi. Her experience abroad awaits you on page 9. Languaging! regular contributor and translator, Yuko Iwasaki, shares her insiders’ perspective of the student-teacher experience in Japan. She threatens that it’s her last article for Languaging! because she is graduating, but just like Jason White, page 16, we understand the importance of friends as language learning resources and how groups of friends contribute to cooperative scaffolding. And we don’t delete people from our email address list! However, Christopher Carpenter, page 19, knows that when groups get together for discussion, remaining on task is sometimes a challenge. He shows us how you can structure your class discussions to be more fun and effective by assigning roles. Tetsuya Fukuda’s book review, page 23, is not to be missed as it addresses the very serious concern of World Dominance. Can English take over the world? Read on to find out which side you should take. Johannes Climacus P. Schreber of the infamous Pied Cow University, sets a challenge for us in this issue’s ‘The Vent’. Interested? Turn to page 25. All this and a little more is just a page turn away.

A SPECIAL GOOD-BYE & THANK YOU
A very special and well deserved thank you goes out to Christopher Carpenter. He has been the centre-pin of Languaging! for more than his fair share of time, and unfortunately next year he’ll be released from the role. Christopher, your patience for the organizing, skill for editing, sweat to operate the manual booklet machine, dedication to Languaging! and adding value to your community will be greatly missed. But as we said before, we NEVER delete anyone from our e-mail address list. We wish you the best on your next journey and look forward to our paths crossing again.        

As always, we would like to thank our guest editors, Takeshi Kikuchi, and Tim Murphey for all of their help.

The editors of Languaging! No. 12



Share your learning and teaching explorations!
Languaging! is a place to experiment, not just write about experiments.
Think about your favorite ways of teaching and learning – fun ways to learn that could help others. Think about the data you might collect and share in our informal newsletter: keeping a journal, recording your changing feelings and ideas, having friends observe your classes, visiting friends’ classes, getting feedback from students on your classes, your materials, or the whole education system! Read a good book? Write about it. Have a good idea? Write about it. Had a good conversation? Write about it!

Get your ideas out in Languaging! Ask your students to submit their ideas, too!
Send submissions for Languaging! No. 13 by May 15th to the editors at
languaging @yahoo.com

Ye Olde Standard Disclaimer
The opinions and views expressed in Languaging! do not necessarily reflect those of the editors nor of Dokkyo University (and maybe not even of the authors - after all people change their minds all the time!). Nevertheless, we hope you enjoy!

Click here to download the PDF file for
Languaging! No. 12

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