November, 2014: Breeze Issue #85

A Free Monthly E-Newsletter for Friends of Japan & Teachers of Japanese

JFLA Activities at ACTFL 2014

by Amanda Rollins, Japanese Language Program Coordinator

No less than seven JFLA staff will be attending the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) Annual Convention and World Language Expo 2014 from November 21-23 in San Antonio, Texas. We’ve got our hands full this year!

We are co-organizing a Leadership Training Workshop with the American Association of Teachers of Japanese (AATJ) – the largest such workshop thus far, with 23 representatives from AATJ’s 23 affiliate teachers’ associations.  Every participant will attend special meetings about becoming a leader in the field of Japanese education, sessions from AATJ’s concurrent Spring Conference, and a plethora of networking opportunities. We hope they return from the conference enthusiastic about Japanese language education and eager to try new ideas.

Bright and early on Saturday at 8:00am, I myself will be presenting some very exciting news about JFLA’s online advocacy resources in my session “Advocacy and Support with the Japan Foundation.” I’ll also be covering our grants and support programs, so be sure to attend if you have a future event in mind, or if you’re considering applying to host one of the J-LEAP assistant teachers. There are so many ways we can support you, if only you knew!

As you may know, our Japanese Language Education Assistant Program (J-LEAP) brings native-speaking Japanese assistant teachers to institutions across the US and pairs them with a supervising lead teacher. On Sunday at 11:15am, two of the pairs will co-present an ACTFL/AATJ session titled “How Japanese Assistant Teachers Can Upgrade Your Program.” You won’t want to miss it.

You’ll also want to stop by our booth (#9043) in the Exhibit Hall. We’ll be surrounded by other Japan-related booths, and we’ll be jam-packed with information and a goodie bag for every teacher. Flip through the latest Marugoto volume, let us know how your school’s program is doing, and hear about all our new online resources. Looking forward to seeing you there!