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Y5 J-LEAPSEPTEMBER, 2015: BREEZE ISSUE #95
A FREE MONTHLY E-NEWSLETTER FOR FRIENDS OF JAPAN & TEACHERS OF
JAPANESE

WHAT IS J-LEAP AND WHAT DOES IT HAVE TO
DO WITH ME?
2015 J-LEAP ARRIVAL TRAINING AT GEORGIASTATE UNIVERSITYBY LESLIE OKADA (BIRKLAND) ROBERTS, TLI

Do you want to improve your teaching and are you willing to do what it takes to make it more
exciting, meaningful and effective in order to grow your program?
Are you looking for an affordable two year program that offers one of the best professional
development training workshops in the US taught by nationally recognized trainers?
Are you a department of one Japanese teacher? Do you wish you had another teacher tocollaborate and team-teach with in Japanese so your students have the advantage of listening
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to and communicating with a young, native speaker who has received some training in teaching
Japanese and knows the current culture of Japan?
Could you use a little extra money to purchase items for your program to help generateinterest, motivation as well as exposure to authentic materials?
Would you like access to a mentor/coach/teaching community with whom you can share ideas,strategies, questions and concerns without feeling intimidated?
If you answered, “Yes” to any of the questions above, then continue reading to see how thisprogram can work for you.
My name is Leslie Okada (Birkland) Roberts and I am a retired classroom Japanese language
teacher who has been active in the teaching of Japanese since the early 1980’s. I have seen
the changes and been involved in every aspect of Japanese language education over theyears. In 2013, I joined The Laurasian Institution as the program consultant for J-LEAP. Some of
my responsibilities are to serve as a ‘coach’ or mentor to the Japanese teachers in thisprogram, plan the training, and generally share the knowledge and skills I have accumulated
over the years to improve the quality of Japanese programs in the US.
J-LEAP uses abbreviations such as LTs and ATs
in explaining the program. K-12 Japanese
language teachers who teach Japanese in thepublic, private, immersion schools are referred
to as Lead Teachers (LTs) and are encouraged
to apply. Assistant teachers from Japan who
team-teach with the LTs are called Assistant
Teachers (ATs).
Each year, from the end of September to theend of December, The Laurasian Institution
accepts applications from Japanese teachers
in the US who are interested in having an AT asa teaching partner. In the meantime, in Japan, the Japan Foundation is accepting applications
from people interested in becoming an AT in the US. Once the LTs and the ATs have been
selected, we go through an extensive matching process, to make the best match possible.
In May, an online training session is held with the newly selected LTs to go over with them, thecontent of the training I will conduct in Tokyo with the newly selected ATs. We discuss nationalstandards; creating standards-based lesson plans using the 5-Step Lesson Plan format; talkabout the role of the AT; and discuss the 90% use of the target language as well as thedifferences between the Japanese and US school systems. The purpose of this training is toassure both the LT and the AT have a common understanding of the terminology and concepts
when they meet at the Arrival Training.

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Around the last week of July, we conduct the Arrival Training in the US. This year’s training washeld at Georgia State University in Atlanta, GA. (See photo of all of this year’s participants) The
LTs and ATs from the year before and thenewest LTs and ATs are flown to the trainingsite and housed in dorm rooms. There are many
opportunities for the LTs to get acquainted,
network and collaborate during meals and in
the dorms after hours.
The training that is conducted is a dual track
system so that the content for the second year
LTs is not repeated and different from the firstyear. Upon arrival, the new LTs and ATs spend
time with Vickie Virvos, a communications
specialist, learning strategies for how best tocommunicate with one another depending upon ones personality types. All the training ispractical and hands on. For example, the LTs and ATs role play various situations that mightoccur and resolve it, using strategies they learned earlier.
Yo Azama, a former ACTFL “Teacher of theYear,” and a favorite among the participants,
conducts a session on national standards,
goes over how to create standards-based
lesson plans, demonstrates ‘best practices’and guides first year LTs and ATs as they
prepare a 10 minute demonstration using oneof the team-teaching styles.
After the second year LTs and ATs work with
Vickie Virvos on their goals for the second
year, Yo Azama works with these pairs on
assessment and standards-based thematicunits. The task for these LTs and ATs is to create a summative or formative assessment anddemonstrate it or explain it in a 10 minute video. All files are uploaded to Google docs to giveeveryone at the training access to these files.
While each group of LTs and ATs are working on their curriculum, we hold individual and paired
meetings with each team. During the individual meetings, the LTs and ATs can ask questions orshare personal concerns with us. The purpose of these meetings is to check-in with the LT andAT to make sure all is going well at school as well as with the ATs living conditions.
On the last day of the Arrival Training, the new LTs receive advice from the second year ATs,
while the second year LTs offer advice to the new ATs. Later, both groups of LTs and ATs get
together separately and hold a Q and A session.

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Many interesting and innovative advocacy ideas areexchanged and uploaded to google docs for all participants
to access. Also, this year, J-LEAP Professional Learning
Communities (PLC) were established for all the teachers tobe able to discuss ideas, share thoughts, ask questions,collaborate, and learn from one another.
Following theArrival Training,a colleague
from the JapanFoundation andI travel to eachnew site to visit
the new pairs tosee ifeverything is going well. Should there be anyquestions regarding teaching or the classroom, I
can offer suggestions or ideas for ways to deal with the concerns. Another purpose for thesesite visits is to determine overall, what additional training is required and incorporate it during
our Follow Up Training in the fall.
In November, we conduct another online session with the new LTs, prior to ACTFL. This is theFollow-Up Training and is held the week before ACTFL, in whatever city the ACTFL Conference
will be held that year. Unfortunately, only the first year ATs attend this on-site training. The
purpose for this online Follow-Up Training session for the LTs is to assure both the LTs and ATs
share the same understanding of what is covered with the ATs during this training.
The following summer, the LTs and ATs entering into their second
year with J-LEAP will fly to the Arrival Training for their last yearof training. They will receive additional training and set new
goals for their last year with their AT with Communication
Specialist, Vickie Virvos. Once again, the returning LTs and ATs
will work with Yo Azama on standards-based thematic units andformative and summative assessments.
Additionally, we are considering granting Clock Hours for thoseteachers who complete all the requirements and assignments
during the year. There are 4 assignments given throughout the 2years. The assignments are as follows:
1. The first year, each new team will submit a 20 minute teamteaching video in the fall of year one to establish a baseline.
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2. In early December of year two, the team will submit a second, 20 minute video segment of alesson where the AT is teaching the class. It would be desirable to video the AT interactingwith the students demonstrating best practices. The purpose of this video is to showcase theAT teaching the class. This video should also be included in the ATs E-Portfolio.
3. During the second year, the LT/AT is required to submit an assessment sample. The
assessment piece will include a sample of team-developed assessments that accompany a unitand puts into practice what was learned at the Arrival Training. This will be uploaded to thehomework folder on google drive.
4. The third video is due in early May of year 2 showing the LT and AT team- teaching. They willanswer the same questions and reflect on their team-teaching and write about how theirteaching has improved/changed as a result of participating in this program.
One of our goals is to “raise the bar” of Japanese language teaching in the US, but it takes
teachers who are willing to put in the time and the effort to make it happen. Teachers who havebeen through this program have improved their teaching, increased the percentage ofJapanese they speak in the classroom; gained a networking group of Japanese teachers who
have gone through the same training; gained confidence as well as leadership skills. We arevery proud of the teachers and their assistants who have made a definite impact in Japaneseclasses throughout the USA.
J-LEAP applications for the 2015-2017 school year are available on the Japan Foundation Los
Angeles website and on The Laurasian Institution website.
https://www. jflalc.org/jle-j-leap.html
http://www.laurasian.org/Programs.htm
Come and join us as we work to “raise the bar” and change our programs into more effective,
dynamic, thriving Japanese programs in this country. Remember, it all starts with you, theteacher! I look forward to working with you.

AUTHOR BIO: LESLIE OKADA ROBERTS
Leslie Okada Roberts’s involvement in Japanese language education
nationally and internationally has spanned the past 30 years. Since
retiring from the classroom in 2013, she works part time as a language
program consultant for The Laurasian Institution which manages the JLEAP program.
She was the founding president of both WATJ (Washington Associationof Teachers of Japanese) and later NCSTJ/NCJLT (National Council of
Secondary Teachers of Japanese/National Council of Japanese Privacy - Terms

Language Teachers), now known as AATJ.
Her Japanese class was filmed by WGBH, Boston as part of a 26 video library series on
Teaching Foreign Languages. These videos are still used for Staff Development/Teacher
Training purposes.
Because Leslie is passionate about Japanese language teaching, her goal is to support as
many teachers by sharing methods, strategies, mistakes, philosophies, ideas, etc. which she
has learned from and experienced, to help teachers produce strong Japanese programs attheir schools.

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