Nagoya and Gifu JALT:

Culture in Language Education

Date: Sunday, October 11th, 2026 Time: 1:30 PM - 5:30 PM

Speaker: Dr. Alan Thompson (Gifu Shotoku Gakuen University), Dr. Cameron Smith (Aichi Gakuin University). Submission deadline September 13th

Description:
Join us for a relaxed day of guest speakers, fresh ideas, and great company.

Keynote Speakers:

  • Dr. Alan Thompson (Gifu Shotoku Gakuen University)
    Encountering Culture and Language through Authentic Texts
    Texts composed for general readers and audience--poems, raps, novels, plays--serve as the main materials in several skills and content courses at a Japanese university. In this talk, I will illustrate their use in learning pronunciation, prosody, and phonetics, in building automaticity in conversation, and in understanding cultural differences. I will also raise and discuss various issues involved in deploying authentic texts, such as their role in relation to controlled language, the use of Japanese-language texts, and bilingual/translingual presentation and discussion.

    Alan Thompson has a PhD from the University of Toronto and teaches at the Faculty of Humanities, Gifu Shotoku Gakuen University. His main research interests are in literature & language teaching and in language contact & change.
  • Dr Cameron Smith (Aichi Gakuin University)
    Culture and History CLIL to Support Critical Thinking in the Age of Generative AI
    In this presentation, I will describe the approach taken to the latest revision to a presentations-based CLIL textbook series on world culture and history designed for Japanese university students. The revisions address three issues. First, improving the choice of unit themes to enable a class of students to produce a sufficient variety of presentations. Second, the longstanding CLIL challenge of bridging subject matter expertise and language teaching expertise. Third, the need to strengthen the course's critical thinking and peer interaction components, particularly given the advent of generative AI.

    Cameron Smith received his PhD from Edinburgh University. He teaches in the Department of English Language and Cultures at Aichi Gakuin University. His research interests include creativity in language education, AI in education policy, and CLIL.

Materials display: Poster Presentations and Short Presentations

Call for papers: submit your proposal here. (Submission deadline September 13th, 2026)

Sponsored by: PAWS International

Organization: Nagoya and Gifu Chapter of the Japan Association for Language Teaching (Nagoya and Gifu JALT)

Cost: JALT Members: free
Non-members: 1,000 yen

Venue: Juroku Plaza (next to JR Gifu Station)

Location: Gifu City, Gifu Prefecture, Japan

iCal Add this to iCal
(Need help?)

vCal for Outlook Add to Outlook
(Need help?)

0Google Calendar

You can add this event to your iCal calendar.

  1. Click on the iCal icon. Your iCal software will start.
  2. Click 'Subscribe':
    click subscribe
  3. Under 'Auto Refresh', select 'Every day' in case the the basic details change:
    auto-refresh daily

You can add this event to your Microsoft Outlook calendar.

  1. Click on the MS Outlook icon.
  2. See what happens.
  3. Tell us what happens. I don't have MS Outlook on a Windows computer, so I can't test it.
  4. If you click on the icon and nothing happens, do this:
    1. Right-click on the icon and save the file.
    2. According to Microsoft's support page, in Outlook's File menu, you should click Import and Export.
    3. Click to select Import an iCalendar or vCalendar file (*.vcs), and then click Next.
    4. Click to select the vCalendar file you've just saved, and then click Open.

Contact Nagoya and Gifu JALT

Website: jalt.org/nagoya-gifu

Chapter Programs
Email QR Code:

Intercom Press