Two Teachers Talking

It’s holiday time for lots of people, and for most of them/us, that means buying gifts…and hopefully receiving, some, as well. Here’s our brainstorm session of gifts for the teacher in your life. As for your favorite podcasters, cash will do nicely.

“OK, let’s make this a little harder,” says Duo the Owl to us every day. We take a look at how some counter-intuitive practices can improve learning by tricking the brain to try harder. No, we’re not neurologists. But we have a podcast. Sans Forgetica - YouTube: https://youtu.be/CEXzSehu5HM Sans Forgetica - Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sans\_forgetica Why Making Learning More Difficult Improves Your Skill Development - Erik Hamre: https://hamre-erik.medium.com/desirable-difficulty-why-you-should-make-learning-more-difficult-on-purpose-c65223046d6b

Charles talks with Nerida Rand to find out how a background in improvisation plays out in the classroom. Nerida was an exchange student in a Japanese high school in the 80’s and has been back in Japan as a teacher since 1997. She teaches in the Graduate School of International Social Sciences at Yokohama National University as well as being adjunct faculty at Keio SFC. When school’s out she’s acting, improvising, and translating plays.

We discuss the why, how, and what of music in the classroom - as well as music for the teacher. Mentioned: Radio Paradise: https://radioparadise.com/player Misheard lyrics: https://bit.ly/t3lyrics

A bit tweaked at the end of the semester? I guess we were, too, so off we go on a lightning round session of time saving and emergency pull-stuff-out-of-your hat ideas. Mentioned: Socrative: https://www.socrative.com Google Forms: https://www.google.com/forms/about/ (does not require Google Classroom) Teachers for Ukraine: https://www.teachersforukraine.org Bonus link: - NYT - 145 Picture Prompts to Inspire Student Writing: https://tinyurl.com/nytpicprompts

We talk about teaching reading and all the ingredients that get baked into that. Why, what kind, how…all of it. Correction: only 55% of web content is in English, not 75% as I stated in the podcast. Mentioned: Episodes 73 and 77, the Paul Nation Interviews: http://twoteacherstalking.com Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China, Jung Chang: https://amzn.to/3QQCdkG "Why English?": http://tony-silva.com/eslefl/whyenglish.html

Plagiarism, again. Why the problem is so difficult to solve in Japan. Culture, society, comprehension, and plain old delinquency, the teacher is up against all of that in this fight. Mentioned in the podcast: Two Teachers Talking Podcast http://www.tony-silva.com/t3/index.html October 2021 - 141 Does everyone understand? Are there any questions? September 2014 - 54 Plagiarism

It’s a new school year in Japan, and very likely, most of your classes are now again face to face, or, at least, mask to mask. Things are returning to “normal.” Or are they? What is the new normal? How have the last two years changed you, your students, your teaching, their learning, and our academic universes?

Another year begins. Instead of talking about how, we discuss some of the whys. Why teach English? Why teach foreign languages? Why English?: http://tony-silva.com/eslefl/whyenglish.html Go Abroad: www.goabroad.com/articles/language-study-abroad/why-is-it-important-to-learn-a-foreign-language Decision making: How Knowing a Foreign Language Can Improve Your Decisions, Catherine Caldwell-Harris: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/foreign-language-improve-decisions/ Lead With Languages: https://www.leadwithlanguages.org/why-learn-languages/top-ten-reasons-to-learn-languages/

Tony and Charles talk about last months’ discussion with Professors George Trescott and Nathanael Rudolph on what’s involved in program coordination. Then, the discussion turns to Tony’s departure from Japan and his landing in Mexico.

Charles sits down with George Truscott and Nathanael Rudolph to discuss the art of Program Coordination. Approaches, philosophies, goals and outcomes, staff management, limitations, liabilities, and juggling all the balls.

Treading carefully into 2022, we first look back at Episode 143 (Teaching While Black in Japan) and two years of COVID Era Teaching. We then pull out our cloudy crystal balls for a look at the future.

Three very special guests join us to discuss being a black educator in Japan: hiring (and leaving), student interaction, staff interaction, peer interaction, teaching materials, stereotypes of the English teacher…and, most importantly, how we can improve things. Avril Haye Matsui is an educator, activist, researcher, and Ph.D. candidate, studying the status and roles of black women in ELT. You can view one of her JALT presentations here: The Changing Face of ELT: Black Women in ELT, https://youtu.be/8nO3fLcq-OQ Rachel Patterson serves as the Assistant Academic Director and instructor at the Berlitz-ELS program at the Kindai University Faculty of International Studies. Her focus is on teacher training and development, study abroad, and formal assessment. She lives in Nara and spends her free time gardening, studying Japanese, and wood burning. Professional Development Through Language Conferences: https://bit.ly/PDTLC-RP Davina Robinson is an educator, narrator, and singer living in Osaka. Tony and Davina

We all dream about it. What’s yours look like? But, remember the old adage…be careful what you ask for. Make your list and let’s compare notes.

We know that Japanese students’ English comprehension is overrated, even by those of us who know that their listening comprehension is overrated. But that’s not it, or, at least all of it. Join us in a deep dive on impediments to understanding and how maybe, just maybe, we can make things better. Mentioned: Grant Wiggins, Understanding By Design: https://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Design-Grant-Wiggins/dp/1416600353 Gary Larson, The Far Side Comic Strip, “What they hear”: https://desertdemocrat.files.wordpress.com/2015/03/gary-larson-far-side-cartoon-what-we-say-to-dogs-blah-blah-ginger.jpeg

Thoughts and comments on teaching pronunciation and the interview with Prof. Alison Kitzman in Episode 139. Then, a brief discussion of how computer translation may require a reset on how English, or any foreign language, is taught. Mentioned: My Cousin Vinny, Two Youths: https://youtu.be/NdCijCUj8w Perfect English in an incomprehensible essay: http://tony-silva.com/download/badessayannotated.pdf DeepL Translator: https://www.deepl.com/translator English Language Statistics: http://tony-silva.com/eslefl/whyenglish.html

Prof. Alison Kitzman of Kindai University talks to us about the what, why, and how of teaching English pronunciation in Japan. Included free: cicadas and a very bad Eliza Dolittle impersonation. Mentioned: Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning, Peter C. Brown: https://www.amazon.com/Make-Stick-Peter-C-Brown-ebook/dp/B00JQ3FN7M/ref=sr\_1\_1?dchild=1&keywords=make+it+stick&qid=1627252684&s=digital-text&sr=1-1 Stress in the Speech Stream, Dr. Wayne Dickerson: https://www.amazon.com/Stress-Speech-Stream-English-Teachers/dp/0252060962 “The ‘Cornfield Test’: A Study into the ‘Katakana Effect’,” Alison B. Kitzman Lenneberg’s (1967) Critical Period Hypothesis (CPH): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical\_period\_hypothesis My Fair Lady: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My\_Fair\_Lady\_(film) My Cousin Vinny: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My\

You know how you’re “supposed” to conduct and manage your classes, assignments, and grading. Sheer work volume—classes per week, students per class—often makes that ideal impossible. So, how do you get it all done and still maintain quality and sanity? With great difficulty and effort. And some tech.

Approaching mid-semester, an odds and sods SITREP. What can we learn and apply going forward this year, including a report from Tony on the world of retirement. Mentioned: Compleat (sic) Lexical Tutor: https://www.lextutor.ca

Two heads, too many cooks...so, when does it make sense to sit down and hash things out and when is it better to just go it alone? Mentioned: Modular Press - Charles' new textbook and materials publishing portal: https://modularpress.org. The Mythical Man-Month: Essays on Software Engineering, Fred Brooks: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mythical_Man-Month. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Robert M. Pirsig: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zen_and_the_Art_of_Motorcycle_Maintenance.