Yasuhiro Omoto, University of California, Berkeley
yomoto@uclink.berkeley.edu
Keiko Schneider, Saboten Web Design
kschnei@sabotenweb.com
The Internet is an enormous resource pool for teaching. It is not well known that the Internet also connects teachers for sharing materials/information and provides a place for collaboration.
In this presentation, Omoto will present "Japanese Language Material Ring" project. Lack of materials is often problematic in less commonly taught languages including Japanese. It hopes to fill the need of more materials such as copyright free/safe materials, teaching plans and so on.
Schneider will present "TAPPED IN" and "senseiOnline". It is an online community for educators. Not only members can own their virtual offices (membership is free), but guests and members are welcome to participate in online forum on various topics from different disciplines. senseiOnline is a listserv for teachers of Japanese who potentially and currently use on-line materials in teaching and more topics that are important to teaching and learning of Japanese.
This handout is available at
http://www.sabotenweb.com/confedrence/SEATJ2001
NihongoWeb was created in 1998. It offers information on (1) Japanese Computing, (2) teaching materials and (3) teaching ideas. There are more than 50 people visiting NihongoWeb each day.
(1) NihongoWeb (http://www.nihongoweb.com) has information on how to set up Japanese-ready computers with detailed texts and pictures. It also has much useful information on freeware & shareware which can aid Japanese language teaching
(2) NihongoWeb also has more than 600 free downloadable photos of Japan and about 100 visual aids. As long as the materials are used in educational settings, educators may use them without worrying about copyright issues.
(3) It is imperative that one can adapt the materials to fit his/her own needs and the needs of their institution, so NihongoWeb has detailed texts explaining how to make materials and how to use them in class. After reading information posted in NihongoWeb, it is easier to adapt materials and teaching ideas to fit a particular class rather than creating them from scratch.
NihongoWeb also provides the stroke order of Hiragana, Katakana and some Kanji along with their pronunciation. It also offers a web-based Japanese proverb dictionary and Gairaigo dictionary. Currently NihongoWeb is working on materials on CD-Rom free of charge for Japanese language educators.
If you have any questions regarding NihongoWeb, please contact Yasuhiro Omoto at yomoto@nihongoweb.com
Japanese Language Material Ring (JLMR) was established to allow Japanese language educators to share teaching materials, information on computing, and teaching ideas more effectively and efficiently. Webring connects to other websites providing original materials, and educators can use these materials without having to worry about copyright issues. Since anyone who wants to share materials can participate, the amount of materials will grow as members continue to join. Please contact Webring Manager, Mayumi Ishida at mayumi@nimbus.dartmouth.edu
JLMR aspires to establish an online community for Japanese language teachers, serving as a source of teaching materials, information and teaching ideas.
TAPPED IN (http://www.tappedin.org) is an online workplace of an international community of education professionals. Teachers and librarians, professional development staff, teacher education faculty and students, and researchers engage in professional development programs and informal collaborative activities with colleagues. Existing interest groups include, Foreign Languages, EFL, Techclass--The role of technology in k-12 classrooms, Social Studies Forum, K-3 Teacher Resources, Cybrarian and more.
Here is how to log in as a guest and get to After School Online:
1. Go to http://www.tappedin.org
2. Click the "Guest Login" Button on the TAPPED IN home page
3. Be patient while loading
4. When prompted in the bottom window, erase the text next to the word SAY, and type your name and hit return.
5. When loading is done, you will be in the Reception area.
6. To talk, type in the message in the window next to the word SAY. Then press the SEND button or the ENTER key
7. In order to get to After School Online room, you can click on After School Online in the map.
Calendar
http://www.tappedin.sri.com/cgi-bin/calendar/calendar.cgi
TAPPED IN has numerous forum almost everyday you can participate. Most are held in After School Online (instruction below.)
What can educators do here?
http://www.tappedin.sri.com/info/whatdo.html
The list hopes to serve as an online community of those who are concerned with Japanese language/culture education. It will help networking, sharing ideas and supporting each other. Possible topics would be software and hardware issues, showing and using Web pages as a material, using listserv as a class management tool, using chat sessions, e-mail penpal projects, making Web page as projects and syllabus, creating Web-based materials, on-line assessments, delivering class partially or totally on-line, related announcements, "Somebody, help!" and non computer related issues that concern the members are welcome.
Current members include teachers of Japanese (Elementary, Immersion, Middle/High School, Community College, University/College, Other Education Institutions), English teachers in Japan, CALL specialists, Language Lab Technicians, Engineers, Web Designers, Graduate Students and eager learners of Japanese. Geographic locations are US, Canada, Japan, Australia, UK, Europe, Russia, West Indies, Mexico, Southeast Asia, Central Asia and the list is expanding. Those who have non-educational domain will be asked to verify the interest/involvement in Japanese education, but it is solely for the purpose of eliminating the chance of spam activity. People without educational institution shouldn't be discouraged in joining the list.
Future events:
Yoshiko Kawamura, Tokyo International University, Japan (3/23)
Lesley Shield and Sue Hewer, Open University, UK (4/19)
Yoko Kano, University of North Carolina, Wilmington
Eiko Ushida, Carnegie Mellon University
And more!
Previous events:
http://www.sabotenweb.com/bookmarks/about/benkyoukai.html
-"Cultural Liberation: East-West Biculturalism for a New Century" by Steve McCarty, Kagawa Junior College, Japan
- "Making CALL Count (Improving CALL and On-line Activities)" by Greg Dablestein, Brisbane Grammar School, Australia
- "Enhancing language learning through electronic reading" by John Fahey of University of Texas at El Paso
-"Synchronous vs Asynchronous in Education", Cys Bronner, World Without Borders
-"Web-based Japanese Language Assessment" by Carly Born and Joanna Hollis, Monterey Institute of International Studies
- "Internet Videoconferencing and Japanese Learning" by Suzuko Anai of University of Essex, UK
- "Global Virtual University Project" by Yoko Kano of University of North Carolina, Wilmington
-"Interinstitutional Collaborative Learning on the Web. Projects and Ideas" by David Ashworth of University of Hawaii
- "Changing Trends in Japanese Language Education" Steve Liston , Kyozai, Australia
Events for the year 2001 will be announced through senseiOnline list. http://www.sabotenweb.com/bookmarks/about/senseiOnline.html If you have any questions, please contact senseiOnline Manager, Keiko Schneider at kschnei@sabotenweb.com
Copyright 2001 Yasuhiro Omoto and Keiko Schneider
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