The Power of Stories to Teach and Motivate

Speaker: Jarrett Dave, Ragan Jr.

Date: Saturday, April 21st, 2007

Time: 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM

Location: Akita

Venue: Yugakusha

Description: Story telling has been the preferred method of teaching since ancient times. It is still used in many societies as a way to help people understand the world. From the stories we hear and tell we learn right and wrong, and what is deemed useful and wasteful. In socio-cultural terms we construct our identity along with others in our society through the stories we tell. In neuroscience terms stories help us make patterns of neurons in our brains that are used to shape and control our behaviors, thoughts and beliefs about what is possible and impossible for ourselves and for our society.

The presenter would like to discuss the effectiveness of motivational stories in the language classroom as both a tool for language learning and for enhancing learning strategies, thus improving the learners?f motivation for language acquisition. He will share one or two of his favorite motivational stories that he uses to help himself and his students construct a more useful way of looking at and hopefully tackling the world of learning English specifically and life in general. The participants will then be asked to share their successful motivational stories in pairs or small groups. I hope the participants will go away with a better appreciation of the power of stories to both teach language, and enhance motivation and practical learning skills.

Cost for JALT members: free

Cost for JALT non-members: 1,000 yen for non-members, 500 yen for students

Organization: Akita Chapter, Japan Association for Language Teaching

This URL: http://www.eltcalendar.com/events/details/3573

Contact Akita JALT Chapter:

URL: http://www.edinet.ne.jp/~takeshis/jalt.htm

Suzuki Takeshi:

takeshis@mail.edinet.ne.jp

Phone: Home: 0184-22-1562 Office: 0184-22-1562

Other Past Events (Archive) for Akita JALT Chapter

Saturday, November 22nd, 2008

Content-Based Instruction: A tale with two flavors