Teaching effectively in English (basic course): Online workshop for faculty members and graduate students

＜About＞Tuesday, February 9th, 2021, 10:00-17:00 @Zoom meeting room

Professional and Global Educators’ Community (PAGE) organized an online workshop “Teaching effectively in English (basic course): Online workshop for faculty members and graduate students.” We invited Mr. Masakuni Yoshinaka (Global Professional Development Consultant with ALC Inc) as an instructor. (This program is identical to the one held in September 2020.) A total of 9 participants consisted of faculty members, graduate students, and researchers at the University of Tokyo.

The workshop was intended for people who were expecting to teach in English in the near future and those who already had experience of teaching in English but were willing to brush up on their basic skills. The activity involved group discussions by using the breakout rooms of Zoom.

In the first half of the workshop, the participants discussed the problems that non-native English speakers are likely to encounter when delivering classes in English by citing examples such as using wrong phrases for giving instructions to students and making grammatical errors that are misleading. Then, they worked on structuring an introduction that attracts and motivates students in the first class of a course, and each of them gave a five-minute mini-lecture. They exchanged feedback among the participants and also received thorough feedback from the instructor.

In the latter half of the program, the participants realized their own communication style and tendency by using a simple self-assessment sheet. Then, various cases of student behaviors with different values and backgrounds were presented, and the participants tried to figure out why they showed such behaviors through active group discussions. They learned about cultural differences, how to deal with them, and the differences between high-context and low-context communication styles.

Here are some of the feedback we received from the participants after the workshop:
“The instructor spoke slowly for us, so it was easy for me to understand what he said. He also gave precise answers to our questions.”
“It was quite a long session, but thanks to its program including breaks and group work activities, I really had a pleasant time joining the whole workshop. I’d like to refer to the structure of today’s program when I design my own classes.”
“I am satisfied with the lecture touching on the topic related to the differences between how to teach Japanese and overseas students. The instructor gave a lot of examples and advice on how to adapt yourself to various students.”
“It’s a pity that the PAGE project is going to be closed. I hope there will be continuously-held events that could provide us with this kind of learning opportunity.”

The PAGE project, launched in FY2015, will be closed on March 31, 2021. During the project period, we held 21 seminars/workshops on how to bridge the gap between knowledge and practice of teaching in English, which were joined by 240 people in total. We hope our programs will serve to enhance your future research and educational activities.

Click here for a free online program provided by the PAGE project: English Academia.↓
https://www.he.u-tokyo.ac.jp/englishacademia/en/

Click here for more details of the PAGE project. ↓
https://www.he.u-tokyo.ac.jp/en/activities/page/