Sunday, October 23rd, 2005, 2:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Speaker: Kyoko Fujise (Tokyo University of Science, Suwa)
In this session Professor Fujise will talk about how young women in the Meiji Era studied English and the motivation for doing so. This fascinating topic will describe how women who learned English were thought to be ideal wives for elite male university graduates at that time. Knowledge of English was thought to enhance the status of women and represented the sign of being a privileged and educated "modern girl" in that era. Fujise sensei will also introduce the works of Futabei Shimei, the first modern female writer of "Ukigumo", and Natsume Soseki who wrote about how how such fashionable young women were regarded as being charming. She will also contrast the teaching of English to women in other Asian countries.
This talk is a great opportunity to learn about how English was taught to women at a crucial time in the development of Japan. Please join us for a thought-provoking afternoon.
Organization: Nagano Chapter (formerly the Shinshu Chapter) of the Japan Association for Language Teaching (Nagano JALT)
Cost: JALT Members: free
Non-members: 1,000 yen
Venue: TBA
Location: Matsumoto City, Nagano Prefecture, Japan