Giselle Fabling (Penrhos College) received funding fram AISWA through the ATP Languages to attend The Japan Foundation (Sydney) Intensive Seminar for Teachers of Middle Year Japanese.
Giselle writes:
During the term 3 holidays The Japan Foundation (Sydney) Intensive Seminar for Teachers of Middle Year Japanese provided me with a valuable opportunity to refresh and improve my Japanese speaking, listening, reading and writing ability. In addition it provided me with a new repertoire of Japanese language teaching resources and ideas.
The most valuable aspect of the seminar was the immersion nature of the program. At the end of day one my brain was hurting due to trying understand all the Japanese being spoken and remembering how to say things in Japanese! But the immersion paid off - I felt more confident every day and my listening and speaking skills improved.
One highlight of the program included networking and sharing resources with 20 other teachers of Japanese from Australia and New Zealand. Being able to share resources and gain an insight into how other educators are approaching the teaching of Japanese was such a positive and valuable learning experience.
The Intensive program included a range of topics and themes that demonstrated methods of adapting a variety of resources to make them age and language appropriate for middle years classrooms. The seminar sessions were expertly put together and included:
- Exploring how to incorporate the Art Speaks Japanese resource into the curriculum and writing haiku.
- Intensive language up skilling and discussion sessions based on themes such as digital waste, giving compliments, Japanese literature and the revival of traditions with a modern twist.
- A rather daunting session called ‘Sharing issues with native speakers’ included themes titled ‘Things I would like to leave for future generations’ and Amazing! Good recycling!’
- Exploring web resources and integrating IWB into the Japanese language classroom
- Cultural based sessions, including a fabulous demonstration and lesson by renowned Japanese calligraphy artist Ren, as well as a lesson on how to incorporate the beautiful Furoshiki cloth into daily life.
I am indebted to AISWA for providing funding through the ATP Languages Scholarship, enabling me to travel to Sydney to participate in the program.
Category
Teacher professional development
