Third in a series of unpublished blog posts from this insanely busy past few months... from my trip to Japan, which was magical, fun and energizing. This is Part 1... read the back story here and more here
On the subway after another amazing fish dinner!
Last summer I was delighted to learn that the project, written by a friend and funded by the Japanese Government had prompted a return engagement, complete with all travel expenses, for
me to give some talks on Story, Storytelling and ELL in Tokyo,
Japan for JASTEC (Japan Association for the Study of Teaching English to Children ) and the publishers, Shogakukan Shueisha. Three years ago my sponsor and host, Professor Mitsue Allen-Tamai, had
published a book, Teaching English to Young Learners through Stories and Activities and she had arranged for me to return when she was super busy - giving a major presentation for the national department of education on her work in a model school.
Back in November, 2011 I was a guest speaker at Aoyama Gakuin University talking about "Storytelling: An Organic Base
for Literacy and Language". While visiting Aoyama Gakuin University I met with undergraduate and graduate students who have an interest
in teaching English. I also had the opportunity to present a longer, formal seminar on
applied storytelling in ELL classes in a meeting exclusively for
practitioners who are actually teaching English to children.
All the students, but especially three undergraduates really impressed me. After the workshop, Mai, Yu and Shunjuku joined Professor Mitsue Allen-Tamai and I for coffee and each told me a personal story that I will never forget. I was so happy to meet with them again.
Professor Allen-Tamai teaches a model lesson for a 6th grade class - in front of 100s of educators. No pressure, right?
Professor Allen-Tamai has been teaching courses to train college
students to become English teachers of young children at both the
undergraduate and graduate levels. She is quoted at the end of this
article in the JapanTimes. This January
I was very excited to visit several classrooms with lessons in full swing.
Wakuwaku, Doki doki shimasu ne! (So very excited and
thrilled! At least this is what I hope I said. )
Below is the introduction Dr. Allen-Tamai made for me.
