Event

MASH JALT Tokyo Equinox 2010 (day 2 of 4)

Saturday, September 18th, 2010, 9:00 AM - 7:00 PM

Speaker: Scott Thornbury and Andy Boon

10.00 - 10.45 West Tokyo JALT Presenter Andy Boon: IMCD: Finding the way outside of the box
When conducting research by ourselves, it may be easy to become boxed in with our ideas and to be uncertain of how to proceed with our individual projects. And yet, if provided with opportunities to articulate our often chaotic thoughts and thus give them shape, clarity, and meaning in a supportive and non-judgmental environment to a fellow peer who is willing to listen and understand them, we may begin to see things more clearly, think more creatively, gain new perspectives on our research, and find our direction out of the particular box we are in. This presentation will describe how a number of teachers have made use of Instant Messenger Cooperative Development (IMCD) (Boon, 2005, 2007, 2009), an online tool which utilizes the Skype text chat function and Cooperative Development discourse framework for professional development (Edge, 1992, 2002). It will explore the journeys IMCD participants have made in regular sessions in order to help each other gain new understandings on particular projects and be enabled to move forward with their research.

11.00 - 12.30 Scott Thornbury: Big words, Small grammar
"Out of the slimy mud of words
there springs the perfect order of speech."
  (Eliot).
In this session, we will look at how, with just a handful of words, you can get a bridgehead into the grammar of English, without ever having to mention grammar at all. We'll see how the small words accrete other words, become big words, and then, given the right conditions, release their grammar "for free". In so doing, I will report on developments in psycholinguistics and corpus linguistics that suggest that language is a complex system with emergent properties.

12.30 - 13.00 Questions and Open discussion

13.00 - 14.00 Lunch break

14.00 - Meet at Toyo Gakuen lobby, then walk to train station

15.30 - Arrive at Takao Mountain

15.30 - 16.30 Walk and Talk our way up the mountain

17.00 - 19.00 Two-hour nomi / tabehodai: Our destination for "collaboration"

19.00 Whenever: Cable car down the mountain.

To pre-register for the 4 days or for individual days, please go to mashcollaboration.com/equinox-rsvp

Organization: West Tokyo Chapter of the Japan Association for Language Teaching (West Tokyo JALT)

Cost: JALT Members: Friday 500, Saturday 1,000, Sunday 2,500, Monday 2,500 (4-day pass: 5,000 yen)
Non-members: Friday 1,000, Saturday 1,500, Sunday 3,000, Monday 3,000 (4-day pass: 7,500 yen)

Venue: Toyo Gakuen University, Building 1, Hongo Campus, Tokyo.

Location: Tokyo, Tokyo Metropolis, Japan

Contact West Tokyo JALT

West Tokyo JALT gmail