Japanese: TPR Game

ジャンケン(janken; rock, paper, scissors) is a popular game in Japan. It is played with your hands. Saying "paa" with an opened hand means paper, saying "guu" while making a fist means rock, and saying "choki" while putting 2 fingers out means scissor. There are many variations of janken, but let me introduce one of them today. Here is an example game of janken.

If you win, you can hit your opponent, and if you lose you can defend your self with a hat.

It is such a fun activity!

Local Events: Conference by Central Association of Teachers of Japanese

Hi all. Junko desu.

Here is some information about a conference which will be held on May 22nd and 23rd at Purdue campus. We will welcome some notable professors and have some interesting presentations and discussions. Some of the presentations will be done in English, so you might be interested in them:

http://tell.fll.purdue.edu/Japanese/

9:15 am	Takako Akiha (Tohoku University) 投射モデル(the Projection Model)」の格助詞「で」の学習・指導への応用 ―韓国人日本語学習者を対象とした教授実験を通して―
9:45 am	Michael Dixon (Indiana University) The effects of computer-assisted text input in early JFL learning
10:15 am- 10:30 am	Break
10:30 am	Kiyomi Fujii (University of Arizona), James Elwood (University of Tsukuba) & Barron Orr (University of Arizona) Collaborative mapping: Google Maps for language exchange
11:00 am	Keiko Schneider (South Methodist University) iTunesU integrated Japanese program
11:30 am	Keiko Kuriyama (Indiana University) 日本語未習者・既習学習者ダイナミックを考慮した情意要因の研究 (Anxiety and motivation in first-year Japanese: How true beginners and advanced beginners affect each other)
12:00- 1:30 pm	Lunch (delivered)
1:30 pm	Tomohisa Machida (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) Foreign language anxiety among intermediate-level university students of Japanese
2:00 pm	Yukari Nakamura (University of Florida), Kiyomi Fujii (University of Arizona) & Hiroko Fudano (Kanazawa Institute of Technology) Everybody in a circle now: Developing intercultural competence through Japanese college club activities
2:30- 2:45 pm	Break
2:45 pm	Misumi Sadler (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) & Jung Sun Kim (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) Developing an intercultural competence: The culture-learning discussion forum for first-year Japanese language courses
3:15 pm	Guohe Zheng (Ball State University) Authentic Materials for the Teaching of Spoken Japanese: Implications of Hirata Oriza’s Theory on Contemporary Colloquial Theatre
3:45 pm- 4:00 pm	Break
4:00 pm - 5:00 pm	Keynote Speech 1 Mutsuko Endo-Hudson (Michigan State University) 昨今の日常日本語、およびその日本語教育への含み
6:30 pm	Dinner at a local Japanese restaurant for interested participants

Sunday, May 23

9:00 am– 10:00am	Keynote Speech 2 Nobuko Chikamatsu (DePaul University) Preparing students for life-long learning of Japanese: Content-based language instruction with integrative curriculum development approaches
10:00 am	Sadatoshi Tomizawa (Ball State University) 日本語習得とオーセンティックコミュニケーションを目的 としたロールプレー
10:30 am	Naofumi Tatsumi (Purdue University) American learners’ compliment responses in Japanese
11:00 am - 11:15 am	Break
11:15 am	Shoko Watarai (University of Michigan) & Eiko Hirakawa (University of Michigan) 『日本語文法辞典：A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar』に準拠したワークブックの開発：中級以降の学習者による初級文法の正確な運用を目指して
11:45 am	Yoshitomo Yamashita (Seton Hall University) 第二言語学習者の読解におけるマルティ・コンピテンス：回想ミス キュー・アナリシスと眼球移動研究は何を示してくれるか
12:15 pm	Koji Tanno (University of Washington) How do learners of Japanese describe mental states in personal stories and how can we help them?
12:45 pm	Closing Remarks Mariko Moroishi Wei (CATJ 22 Organizing Committee Chair, Purdue University)

French Documentary: Tanger, un pari pour l'avenir (Advanced)

Hi all, Aurore here. Here is another interesting video Maghreb. It focuses on the candidature of Tangier to host the International Exhibition of 2012. It's a chance to hear a bit about this beautiful country and its rich culture. The different speakers have a rather neutral accent, so there isn't any problem in understanding them. Enjoy!

Tanger, un pari sur l’avenir. France 24.

1.Où se trouve Tanger ?

2.Comment la ville est-elle appelée ?

3.A quel événement la ville est-elle candidate ?

4.Comment la ville espère-t-elle convaincre de sa légitimité à organiser cet événement ?

5.Quels sont les buts du conseiller du roi ? (3 éléments de réponse)

6.Quel est le thème de la fête ?

7.Dans quelle mesure cela serait-il une aubaine pour Tanger ? (4 éléments de réponses)

8.Qu’est-ce qui se passera après l’événement ?

9.Qu’est-ce que Tanger développe depuis 5 ans ?

10.Citer 3 éléments qui rendent le Maroc particulièrement attractif.

11.Quelle est la crainte de certains habitants ? Pourquoi ?

12.Quel est l’argument du président du groupe « Relais de Paris ».

13.Quels sont les 2 enjeux de la candidature du Maroc ?

New: ACTFL Connection

Hello all, Chris here. The latest issue of the ACTFL Connection is out! Follow the link to read more:

ACTFL Connection

News: ESL GO Newsletter

Hello all, Chris here. This one is for our fellow ESL teachers. The latest issue of the Purdue ESL Department's ESL GO Newsletter is now available! Follow this link to access it:

http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~eslgo/newsletter.html

Update: April & 4 Month Summary 2010

Hello all, Chris here. Whew, the month of April is behind us and what a productive month it has been! We have reached a new high both in quantity and quality of posts, with a whopping 49 posts in April! The team of contributors has also been expanded with two new German contributors joining the ranks! We have also had more regular posts by our newer contributors! Let's continue the momentum and make May an even better month!

In related news, our Facebook group has really taken off with new fans joining daily! We have also started to work with the discussions feature on our FB page which will become a knowledge base of various issues teachers have to deal with as well as activity types, tips and tricks for teaching etc.

We will also be launching a special feature for those who become Followers of our site! While we appreciate all of our supporters on Facebook, we also want to encourage people to become followers of our site. To add incentive, we will make available to our followers a special PDF which will contain all of our posts and will be available for download on a quarterly basis! In addition, followers of the site will be the first to have access to future releases and products which will be coming out in the near future! Once things are moving along and we are in a position to release teaching materials and other products, there will likely be a discount available exclusively to Followers of the site! Stay tuned!

French: Une étude sociologique

Bonjour à tous! As a teacher of (young) adults, I take in consideration the current events in the language target to better put the language in its proper place for a learner, for it is vital to not only study the fundamental rules, but to also understand its context...its culture. In other words, to (really) get what make the language AND its people tick!

French level: Advanced (FR 300-400)

Objective: Analysis of current event-Photographs

Location: France-Europe

Instructions: Students will give a detailed description of both images; then, will make a logical-analytical-historical statement of the (possible) meaning of images. Compare & Contrast.

+Painting: "La liberté guidant le peuple" 1830. E. Delacroix



+Photograph: "Outrage à la France". 2010. Sources RTL-TF1
http://www.rtlinfo.be/info/insolite/monde/397531/scandale-il-s-essuie-le-c%E2%80%A6-avec-le-drapeau-francais-!/?article_comment_action=displayReportAbuseForm&newsCommentId=951481