Event

Cooperative Learning and Cooperative Spirit: Joel Laurier and Zenkoji Temple's Gokaicho Festival

Sunday, May 24th, 2015, 1:30 PM - 4:00 PM

Speaker: Joel Laurier (Toyo University)

Join us for an afternoon of learning about Cooperative Learning with Joel Laurier, the 2013 Kagan Academy Cooperative Learning Scholarship winner. This is also a wonderful opportunity to visit Zenkoji Temple during the Gokaicho Festival -- a chance to see a replica of the image that is believed to lead all people to the Buddhist Pure Land regardless of their status, gender or creed.

Using Cooperative Learning to improve student social skills and get better academic results

Administrators want improved student performance; parents want improved social skills instilled in their children; teachers want better performing students that are more autonomous; and students want to show everyone what they can do. But in this world of budgets over educational outcomes, standardized tests, and constant academic competition between students, teachers are faced with numerous constraints that make most of the above desires unattainable.

But are they really? As more and more research is being conducted on multiple intelligences and effective group work, Cooperative Learning (CL) has proven itself as an effective teaching approach that involves students using social skills in interdependent groupings, and achieving better results. The classroom then becomes an interactive stage for students to learn and use social skills while demonstrating more meaningful learning. This hands-on workshop is aimed at teachers of all academic levels who have varying levels of students in their class. It will show attendees how they can use CL to increase active participation between students while instilling a positive learning environment that leads to better achievement results. Attendees will be shown effective CL structures that make learning the student's responsibility, and facilitating the teacher's concern.

Joël Laurier teaches in the Learning English for Academic Purposes (LEAP) program at Toyo University. He is a 2013 Kagan Academy Cooperative Learning Scholarship winner and the 2011 John F. Fanselow Scholarship recipient from Teachers College Columbia University. His research interests include cooperative learning, language policy and bilingualism. Along with his sons Noah and Lucas, Mr. Laurier appears in the Yomiuri Kodomo Shinbun's Hello Eikaiwa weekly feature.

Access: We strongly recommend you visit Nagano by train. Nagano Prefectural College is in walking distance of Hongo Station (Dentetsu Line), which is only six minutes away from Nagano Station (see the Dentetsu Line Train Schedule).

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: Nagano Prefectural College map)

Location: Nagano City, Nagano Prefecture, Japan

Contact Nagano JALT

Miguel Mision