The
winter Issue 2004 / Number 31

Biannually

T H E J A PA N
FOUNDATION
Los Angeles

Contents

2-4

1st Japan Foundation Symposium on Japanese Language Education in the
United States

4-7

Meeting the NCLB Challenge: The Role of Local Language Organizations

7-9

New Trends in Professional Development for World Language Teachers

9-11

Personal Advocacy

11-13 AP® Japanese Language and Culture to debut in 2006-2007
13-21 Reports: Regional and National Japanese Language Teachers' Associations on
the current Conditions of Japanese Language Education at the Local Level
21

AATJ’s 2004 Summer Institute in Japan

21

Applied Technology for Japanese Teachers:
My Summer Experience

22

Japanese Language-Related Grant Recipients for the Fiscal Year 2004/2005

23

Conference / Workshop Calendar 2005

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*** Please note the changes in our staff lineup. ***Staff name

Extension

HAYATO OGO, Director

101

YUKO SUSA, Deputy Director

102

YASUKO YOKOTA, Office Supervisor

105

MAKI WATANABE ISOYAMA, Academic Specialist 106
MAMIKO NAKAI, Program Associate (Language)110

MIKE JAFFE, Academic Associate

108

MEIKO KANEZUKA, Librarian & JLPT Coordinator 103
KAAI NISHIDA, Program Coordinator (Arts&Culture) 109
TOMOKO LIBERTUS, Office Assistant100

Office Hours :Library Hours :Address :9:30am-5:30pm
10:00am-5:00pm
333 South Grand Ave., Suite 2250
Los Angeles, CA 90071
Telephone :(213) 621-2267
Fax :(213) 621-2590
General E-mail:jflainfo@jflalc.org
Home page address : http:// www.jflalc.org

O F F I C E

M A P

Driving Directions to The Japan Foundation:
Wells Fargo Center is located on South Grand Avenue
at 3rd Street in Downtown Los Angeles.
The parking entrance is located on Hope Street.
The closest freeway exits are as follows:
110 Freeway: 4 th St. exit (from both North and South)
101 Freeway: Temple St. exit (from West),
Grand Avenue exit (from East)1st Japan Foundation Symposium on Japanese Language
Education in the United States
points of discussion were the encouragement of teacher training
and certification to meet new state standards imposed becauseof the act, and the promotion of Japanese language education.
The development of the AP Japanese Test and its future impact
on Japanese language education were also discussed byexperts, Thomas Matts of the College Board, and Carl Falsgraf of
the Center for Applied Second Language Studies.

On August 1st and 2nd The Japan Foundation, Los Angeles held
its first annual National Symposium on Japanese Language
Education in the United States at the New Otani Hotel and
Garden in Downtown Los Angeles. Japanese language teachers’
association representatives from 24 organizations and otherJapanese language educators from all over the United Statesgathered to discuss paths to, and plans for instructional proficiency and professional advancement. This symposium acted as aforum for Japanese language educators of all instructional levels
to exchange ideas and information, and to expand their networks, in order to contribute to the improvement of the educational environments in all 50 states.

All in all, the first-time symposium was a sweeping success,attracting around 100 participants and members of the press.
The following are summaries of some of the presentations at the
Symposium and reports from several of the Japanese language
teachers’ association representatives (including some that were
not in attendance) on the state of Japanese language educationin their respective regions.

The theme for this first symposium was “No Teacher Left
Behind”, examining the impacts of the 2002 No Child Left Behind
Act on Japanese language education in the US. The two focal“No Child Left Behind” (NCLB)
By Jaci Collins•“NCLB”, “Nickle B”, “No Child Left Behind”—what do these terms
mean and why should I be concerned about them if I’m a language teacher?

•
The “No Child Left Behind” Act (NCLB) was signed into law by
President Bush on January 8, 2002. NCLB is a reauthorization of
the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) passed
originally in 1965. It passed through congress at a time when
everyone was reeling from the September 11 attacks and looking
for another focus. It is also among the most controversial piecesof legislation to come out of congress during President Bush’sterm. It was announced with bipartisan zeal including a media
tour which included ranking democrats sharing the podium withranking republicans and President Bush. Who could vote againstor speak against an act entitled “No Child Left Behind”?

•••

Assess students in grades 3-8, and once during grades 1012, in reading and math by the end of the 2005-2006 school
year.
Certify that all teachers of core academic subjects are highly
qualified by the end of the 2005-2006 school year.
Assess students in science once during grades 3-6, 6-9, and10-12 by the end of the 2007-2008 school year.
Provide public school choice and supplemental educational
services to students in schools that have been unable to meet
Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) for two consecutive years.
Accept nothing short of 100 percent student proficiency by
2014.

The public wonders why there is so much fuss. The implementation and the threat of the punitive actions that can lead to eventual closing of public schools have educators and administratorsand state departments of public instruction scurrying and making
decisions that aren’t necessarily in the best education interest of
all children.

According to the United States Constitution the duty of providing
a public education falls in the hands of the individual state governments. However, since 1965 the federal government hasdeveloped a system of Titles which fund some programs for children in all states. Along with the federal money comes mandates
and with the 2001 ESEA reauthorization loads of accountability
requirements and a threatening system of reprimands and punitive actions for non-compliance. Title I which provides funding for
improving the academic achievement of the disadvantaged is the
Title that is tied most closely to NCLB but other Titles also provide funding to states and districts. In short if your state or district
receives federal money for programs for children from low
income and immigrant families under Title I then your schools
must comply with the rules of NCLB.

In the past, schools have been able to exempt some students
with exceptional educational needs or limited English skills fromtaking the tests. The schools have been able to average thescores of all students and the higher scores would offset thelower scores and the average usually met the standards set by
the state. With NCLB a school must test at least 95% of its students and must report the scores of disaggregated groupings. In
other words, a school reports the average of all its scores andalso an average score each of the subgroups of the population of
the student body, such as, the Children With Disabilities students, the Asian students, the Hispanic students, the Black students, the Limited English Proficiency students, the Economically
Disadvantaged students. In addition to the average of the scoresof all the students making Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP), thescores of each of these subgroups must also show AYP.

The requirements of NCLB are at first examination are practicaland non-threatening. It’s the implementation of these requirements that is causing the problems for language programs andhas the potential of devastating the growth in Japanese programs that has occurred over the past decade. Basically, the
NCLB act requires states to:

The testing doesn’t sound awful. I grew up in Iowa where we took
ITBS and ITEDS every year. The reality is that the test development is expensive and directs funds from already stressed edu2

cation budgets. The test administration and preparation is time
consuming and takes time away from instructional time. The reality is that each state is setting its own set of standards and creating its own tests. States that have traditionally valued setting highstandards and working hard to get as many students to meet or
exceed those standards are ironically having to reassess theircut scores for proficiency and adjust them down to the level ofsome states where education is not as highly valued. Is that agood thing?

••

In order to meet AYP a school must report their test scores foreach subgroup and assure that 95% of the students in each subgroup of students is tested and must show growth in attendance
rate for elementary and middle school level and increase in graduation rate for high schools. Non-compliance with either of these
two indicators can also put a school in the category of not meeting AYP.

••

As you can imagine, the accountability portions of NCLB areextensive. Districts and states are forced to divert funds from theclassrooms in order to create extra administrative positions justto comply with the required reports. In addition, funding for NCLB
is coming to the states in block grants rather than going to individual programs. Schools are making decisions to concentrate all
resources on reading and math. It makes sense since those are
the two areas currently being tested and the poor results ofscores in those areas can result in the eventual closing of aschool for repeated years of not meeting AYP.

•

As of March, 2004, all that became clarified or more complicated,depending on your point of view when the US Department of
Education provided more state flexibility in defining “highly qualified” for its veteran teachers. Now veteran teachers can demonstrate subject matter competency by passing a state-designed
subject matter test, completing an academic major in each academic subject they teach, or using the “high, objective, uniform
state standard of evaluation” (HOUSSE). It’s at this point that thisarticle could exceed its maximum length of 10000 words. Everystate has a different set of HOUSSE rules. The only common factor for each state is that the school must certify that all of its
teachers of core academic areas meet the requirements of being“highly qualified” by the end of the 2005-2006 school year.

The bulk of the NCLB act is a listing of punitive steps to be enacted if a school misses AYP for two or more consecutive years.
After the first two years, a school is labeled as SIFI—School
Identified For Improvement and parents must be notified of theschools status and given the choice of sending their children toanother public school. After three years of missing AYP, theschool must offer school choice to all students and pay for supplemental educational services which are generally private tutoring agencies for each low achieving, disadvantaged student. The
funding for this comes from the school budget thus putting theschool at an even greater risk of again missing AYP. After missing AYP for four consecutive years a school must implement certain corrective actions to improve the school, such as replacing
certain staff or fully implementing a new curriculum, as well as
continuing to offer public school choice and provide supplemental
services. After five consecutive years of missing AYP, a school
would be identified for restructuring and would have to implement
significant alternative governance actions, state takeover, the hiring of a private management contractor, converting to a charterschool, or significant staff restructuring as well as provide publicschool choice and supplemental services.

I advise each teacher of Japanese, especially in states where
you have been allowed to teach without a state license, to inquire
now about the HOUSSE rules in your state and to verify that yourcredentials meet the requirements for being certified as “highly
qualified”. If you wait until your school has to sign the certification
at the end of the 2005-2006 school year, it will be too late. You
could lose your job and in all likelihood the Japanese program
would disappear in your school if you do not hold the proper credentials by this date. If you inquire now and discover a deficiency
then you have these next two school years to complete course
work or other requirements in order to keep your job and yourJapanese program. In principle, there are funds to assist teachers who have deficiencies in credentials. Once again, each stateis different. You must take the initiative to inquire and take action
on this. It will be easier for your school and district to dismiss you
and cancel the program than to deal with the sanctions for having
a not “highly qualified” teacher on staff.

Also, by the end of the 2005-2006 school year, a school mustcertify that all teachers of core academic subjects are “highly
qualified”. The good news for foreign language education is that
Title IX of the NCLB act defines the core academic subjects forall students and includes foreign language! The bad news is theramifications that this stipulation can potentially have on programs being taught be teachers who do not all the normal credentials in place. Basically, the law requires that states establish
a specific definition for what constitutes a highly qualified teacher
for that state but that definition must include the following requirements:•

cation requirements waived on an emergency, temporary orprovisional basis.
A new public elementary school teacher must also have atleast a Bachelor’s degree and have passed a test demonstrating subject knowledge and teaching skills in reading, writing,math, and other basic elementary school curricular areas(such tests may include state certification exams in theseareas).
A new public middle or secondary school teacher must also
have at least a Bachelor’s degree and have either demonstrated a high level of competency in all subjects taught bypassing rigorous state academic tests in those subjects (mayinclude state certification exams in those subjects), or completed an academic major (or equivalent course work), graduate degree, or advanced certification in each subject taught.
A veteran public elementary, middle, or secondary school
teacher must:
Meet the requirements just described for a new teacher(depending upon his or her level of instruction) OR;
Demonstrate competency in all subjects taught using a stateevaluation standard. Among other requirements, such a standard must provide objective information about the teacher’scontent knowledge in subjects taught and considers, but is notprimarily based on, time teaching those subjects.

Please note that Japanese teachers are not being singled out inthis law. All teachers of the NCLB defined core academic areas
must comply with these rules of being “highly qualified”. The negative effect of this law can be devastating or it can make us
stronger by pushing Japanese teachers to better involve ourselves

Any public elementary or secondary school teacher musthave full state certification and must not have had any certifi3

the benefits of learning languages. A well educated American citizen of the 21st century must have proficiencies in more than one
language beyond English. It is important that we also herald themessage that language learning, even Japanese learning, is forall students. We must emphasize that even the science and mathoriented students need language and cultural skills in order tocompete with their foreign peers in our global society. We must
focus on performance skills and assist students in identifying
their strengths and developing their weaknesses. We must use
differentiation to make sure that the language learning is positiveand successful for all students. We want our students to have asense of a thorough knowledge and ability to perform well. We
must continue to make those cultural connections. Those letterand e-pal exchanges and student to student exchanges involvefamilies and parents and build your status in the school. It neverhurts to involve parents in activities and events or continually
have them verify their child’s practice and progress.

in issues that affect all language teachers and all teachers in our
schools. It is imperative that Japanese teachers join and become
active participants and leaders in state, local and national associations for Japanese teachers, for language teachers and for educators in general. There is “safety in numbers” as well as“strength in numbers”. Our colleagues in other languages will
support us and our programs if we do the same for, and better
yet, with them.
Japanese teachers along with German and Latin teachers arebeing singled out when it comes to the opportunity to achieve
National Board Certification. Having National Board Certificationis one of those qualifying advanced certifications that would certify a NBC teacher as “highly qualified”. The certificates forJapanese, German, Latin teachers and all elementary school language teachers were withdrawn in 2003 due to small numbers ofapplicants. We must continue to battle for the reinstatement ofthese certificate areas and then be prepared to act immediately
by applying when the certification opens again. If it were open to
Japanese teachers this year, National Board Certification would
be the fastest way for a successful Japanese teacher to get“highly qualified”, especially if he/she is in a state where a licensing procedure for teaching Japanese doesn’t exist. It is imperative that we all continue to advocate for the reinstatement ofthese certificates and the expansion of certificates in Chinese,
Russian, Italian and other languages.

Finally, it is imperative that we act as professionals and involve
our selves even in the political action committees of our education associations. NCLB is a law enacted by the United States
government. The only way for us to combat this law is to be
involved and informed. We can make a difference by writing letters to our congressmen and also by carefully considering thepositions of all candidates and then voting for candidates whoare pro-education and realize the importance of language education for today’s citizens. If you teach in a public school then you
are a public employee and your employment conditions are
directly affected by public and political actions.

We can take advantage of the Year of Languages events and theJapan Foundation Advocacy Kit to strengthen our program’s
standing in the overall school curriculum. We must emphasize

Meeting the NCLB Challenge: The Role of Local Language
Organizations
Yoshiko Saito-Abbott, PhD
California State University, Monterey Bay
Site Director, Monterey Bay Foreign Language Project
The following information can be found in the Resource Guide
prepared by the Professional Development and Curriculum
Support Division of the California Department of Educationand is available at:
http://www.cde.ca.gov/nclb/sr/tq/index.asp .
It was posted March 4, 2004 and can be downloaded in PDF or
Word format. It will be cited below as CDE Resource Guide.

Introduction
What can local associations and organizations do toassist teachers of Japanese to become certified as “highly qualified” and thus be in compliance with the No Child Left Behind Act(NCLB, 2001) by July 1, 2006? There are a number of ways they
can support their member teachers.

For the next two years NCLB will focus on requiring all core subject teachers to become “Highly Qualified.” Even though foreign
language is not included as a core subject in California, the
NCLB act includes foreign language as a core subject so all foreign language teachers must meet the NCLB requirements.

First, local associations and organizations can use their
networks to provide teachers with accurate information about the
NCLB Act. Knowing about the law, its goals, requirements andfunding resources are essential for teachers to examine their situation without raising unnecessary anxiety or uncertainly about
their future status.

How to comply with NCLB requirements?

Secondly, local associations and organizations should
encourage every teacher to verify his or her status with theirschool and district as soon as possible. Starting early will allow
sufficient time and access to more opportunities for those who
still need to fulfill the requirements. Since every teacher has a different educational background and professional experience,each must take the initiative. Do not wait until an administrator or
department chair contacts you. Seek the information proactively
if your have not already met the federal requirements learn whatsteps you need to take to become “highly qualified.”

In general, to be “highly qualified,” according to the
NCLB act, teachers must have:
A bachechor’s degree,
A state credential or certification, andDemonstrate subject matter competency for each core subject
they teach.
4

sion” teachers can demonstrate core academic subject-mattercompetence in multiple ways through combinations of prior experience in the core academic content area, course work, standards-aligned professional development, and observation andportfolio assessment in the core academic content area.
HOUSSE is a point system and the accumulation of 100 points inPART 1 (Assessment of Qualifications and Experience) complies
with NCLB teacher requirements. For those who cannot accumulated 100 points on HOUSSE Part 1, then they can use HOUSSE
PART 2 (Assessment of Current Qualifications throughClassroom, Observation and /or Portfolio Development) to gain
the rest of the points to reach 100 points: each observation is
worth 20 points and a portfolio assessment is 100 points. The
Table A illustrates how the HOUSSE options work.

In the past, one could teach Japanese, for example, if one knew
the language and had a credential/certification in another subject
area such as in math or history. However, from 2006 that will nolonger be the case. In this situation, with a full credential in one
or more subjects, one must demonstrate subject matter competency for any additional core subject, such as Japanese, theyteach. Demonstrating subject matter competency is discussed
below in the section on teachers who are “Not New to theProfession.”
NCLB also requires states to measure and report theextent to which all students have highly qualified teachers. States
must adopt goals and plans to ensure that all teachers are highly
qualified, and publicly report plans and progress in meeting
teacher quality goals. In other words, the states are obliged todevelop pathways for existing teachers to become “Highly
Qualified”. Understanding the terms “New to the Profession” and“Not New to the Profession” is essential at this point.

Table A
Teacher
HOUSSE 1
Prior Experience (years =10pts.)
Academic Coursework
Professional developments 20 hours=5pts.
Leadership & service

NCLB recognizes two classifications of teachers: “Newteachers” and “Not New.” When you evaluate your status, it isimportant to know how you are classified and what type ofteacher you are according to NCLB. “New to the profession” arethe teachers who hold a California Credential or a California
Intern Credential/Certificate that was issued on or after July 1,
2002. “Not New to the profession” are those individuals who holda California Credential or a California Intern Credential/Certificate
issued before July 1, 2002 (CDE Resource Guide § 1.5).
Depending on your category, the steps you must take are different.

A

B

C

20
0
10
30

50
30
20
0

20 pts0 pts.
0 pts.
0 pts.

HOUSSE II
Observations (1 observation = 20pts.)
40
0
0 pts
Portfolio (100 pts.)
00100 pts-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------total
100
100 120 pts.
For example:
Teacher A has 2 years of experience in teaching Japanese (20pts), 40 hours of professional development (10 pts), 1 year ofleadership service (30pts) add up to 60 points, but is still 40
points short. But teacher A can use HOUSSE II option and do 2
observations (40 pts) and fulfill the requirement of 100 pts.
Teacher B has 5 years experience (50 pts.), Academic coursework (30 pts) and professional development (20 pts.), which add
up to 100 pts.

Elementary Teachers, who are “New” to the profession,must pass a California Commission on Teacher Credentialing(CCTC) approved subject matter examination to demonstrate
subject matter competence. “New” middle/high school teachers
can also demonstrate their subject matter competence by passing a CCTC approved subject matter examination or completionof course work options. There are four options: a CCTC
approved subject matter program; a major in the subject; 32
semester units or the equivalent to a major in the subject; or possesses a graduate degree in the subject.

Teacher C has 2 years of experience (20 pts.) only, but candemonstrate academic knowledge with Portfolio option in
HOUSSE II.

Elementary teachers who are classified as “Not New” tothe profession can demonstrate their subject area
competence by either passing a CCTC approved single subject
matter examination, or completing the California High Objective
Uniform State Standard of Evaluation (HOUSSE).

In this way, there are many possible combinations of HOUSSE I& II that can work and options are flexible. For more information,
see CDE Resource Guide, sec. 3.

What qualifies as countable professional development?

Middle/high school teachers can demonstrate their subject area competence by either passing a CCTC approved single
subject matter examination, or completing one of seven options.
Those options are: completing a CCTC approved subject matter
program; a major; 32 semester units or the equivalent to a major
in the subject, a graduate degree or holding national Board certification in the subject; or complete the California HOUSSE. (CDE
Resource Guide § 1.7 – 1.8)

Professional development programs must be standards/framework-aligned, increase teachers’ academic subject
knowledge, sustained, intensive, scientific research-based andclassroom-focused. They must be an integral part broad school
wide and district wide educational improvement plans. It is also
important to recognize that one-day or short-term workshops orconferences will not count toward NCLB points. A 20-hour program, for example, is counted as 5 points and a 40-hour programis 10 points. A list of approved providers can be obtained easily
through a Local Educational Agency (LEA). A definition of theterm professional development can be found in Title IX, III, Sec.
9101, (34).

California’s HOUSSE Options
Each state is obliged to develop a plan to ensure that allteachers teaching a core subject are ‘Highly Qualified’ by the endof the 3005-06 academic year (NCLB act, Title I §1119) The
HOUSSE requirements may differ from state to state. For example, the state of California has developed ways to demonstratecore academic subject area competence. “Not New to the profes5

Seminar includes ten to eleven language/content-specific strands
in such languages as: French, German, Japanese, Korean, andSpanish. Content strands in English cover such topics as;
Literacy Development in the Foreign/Heritage language
Classroom, Communication based classrooms, and National
Board Certification. This standards/framework-aligned professional development program provided participation with 40 hours(10 points) of subject matter competence in the area of foreign
language education and was especially designed to assist language educators to meet NCLB requirements of California’s
HOUSSE Part 1 and Part 2 for “Highly Qualified Teachers.”

Who are approved providers?
There are many providers in California: County Officesof Education, Local School Districts, Institutions of Higher
Education, the California Foreign Language Project Sites(CFLP), and others. Local school districts have their lists of qualified professional development providers, but the role played by
local language associations like CLTA and CFLP sites such as
the Monterey Bay Foreign Language Project is most interesting.
They are providing eligible professional development as“approved providers.”

During the general sessions, the Executive Directors of
CLTA, (Lorraine D'Ambruoso) and CFLP (Duarte Silva),
explained the NCLB law, its impact in California, its requirements, and California’s HOUSSE options and provided informational handouts and suggested steps to take for the requirements
based on individual professional experiences.

How can language associations provide professional development?
As described above, each state has developed its own
pathways to meet the challenge of NCLB and local associations
can play an important role to assist teachers in meeting therequirements to be "highly qualified." Before describing how local
language association, CLTA, and state funded professional
development provider, CFLP, are playing a critical role in assisting language educators to meet NCLB requirements via
California HOUSSE Parts 1 and 2 for “Highly Qualified Teachers”
through year around activities. It may be helpful to explain briefly
the organizational structure of the CLTA and CFLP, and how
these two organizations work hand in hand. California is a largehighly populated state that has both high density and low-density
areas. In the state of California there are some 20 regional affiliates that make up the CLTA (such as FLAMCO, the Foreign
Language Association of Monterey County). CLTA's Board of
Directors includes representatives of the California Community
Colleges, the California State University (System) Foreign
Language Council, and University of California. CLTA has anannual conference and co-sponsors the annual summer seminarwith CFLP. CLTA maintains a presence in the state capital andactively promotes foreign language education in the state.

The Japanese Strand Summer
SeminarThis 40 hours professional development program provided participants 10 points of subject matter competence in areaof foreign language education (Japanese). The strand focusedon the creation of instructional sequences aligned with the
California Foreign Language Framework and the Japanese
Language Content Standards. Special emphasis was placed on
performance-based outcomes for the various levels of instruction
with the development of curriculum units that enable students toachieve the identified levels of desireable performance. We alsooffered strategies for maximizing instruction and integrating new
and emerging technologies in the area of Japanese language
teaching and learning. By the end of the seminar, all participants
created standards/ framework aligned curriculum units and daily
lesson plans to teach during 2004-2005 academic year.

MBFLP Activities

CFLP is one of the state funded subject matter projects.
CFLP currently has nine active sites in the state and each siteruns its own approved programs to meet the needs of its'
assigned area. Typically the Site Director works with local educational officials and with a team of teacher leaders to plan anddeliver professional development programs. The Monterey Bay
Foreign Language Project (MBFLP) is housed within the Schoolof World Languages and Cultures at California State University,
Monterey Bay and serves foreign language teachers the in tricounty area of Monterey, Santa Cruz and San Benito Counties.

Next, I want describe how each CFLP site puts together
programs to meet the CFLP’s highest priority for this year andnext, to deliver programs that assist teachers to meet NCLB challenge through the year long activities that MBFLP provides.
This year, 2004-05, MBFLP is offering a 40-hour program series
entitled “Teaching Effectiveness: Strategies to Maximize
Students Performance,” and a 40-hour Intensive Summer
Institute with follow-up programs throughout the academic year.
These programs are framework based and focus on strategies
that help students acquire the target language they are studying.
In the last two years, MBFLP has offered programs to introduce acomprehensive overview of the State Adopted Framework andthe Language Learning Continuum, followed by training in effective use of state adopted textbooks. This year MBFLP intends tofocus on strategies for teaching receptive and productive skills at
all levels. Teachers will be able to teach more effectively by using
new strategies suitable for teaching all students, from beginningto advanced levels. By the end of this program, participants will
improve their ability to deliver proficiency-based instruction that isaligned with the state framework to the region’s highly diverse
student populations. The program is designed to assist teachers
to become NCLB compliant by being certified as “ highly
qualified” by July 1, 2006, which is a top priority for all CSMP projects. MBFLP also models effective uses of technology to enhance

Professional development provided
by CLTA/CFLP to support teachers
The California Language Teachers Association (CLTA) andCalifornia Foreign Language Project (CFLP) have jointly conducted a weeklong summer seminar for the last twentyone years.
Attendees are all considered to be current of prospective leaders
who will take what they learn back to share with their local educational communities.
This year, CLTA and CFLP offered 40 hours of programs to assist language educators to meet NCLB requirementsof California HOUSSE, Parts 1 & Part 2 to be considered “Highly
Qualified Teachers.” The theme of the seminar was Meeting the
NCLB Challenge: Improving Student Academic Performance
Through Quality Language Teaching. Typically the Summer
6

sites similar to MBFLP. Working together with local associations
and organizations such as CLTA, sites are assisting language
educators to meet the NCLB challenge. The examples discussed
in this article refer to California. Each state is responding to thedemands of the NCLB act in ways consistent with it’s own educational environment. Accordingly, local associations should checkwith their own educational agencies to determine how they canbest serve their constituents. Local associations can also work
together with National organizations and support each other tostrengthen the voice of the profession and overcome the challenges we face.

students’ performance throughout the year and offers specificworkshops to help teachers keep current with ever changing
technology. Thus, we constantly demonstrate ways teachers canuse technology enhance literacy skills in teaching, learning andassessment as described in framework.
MBFLP is also engaged in partnership activities with“low performing schools,” (those who have low scores on(mandatory) standardized state-wide assessments in English andMath). The Salinas Union High School District, for example supported all language teachers to attend the Summer Institute aswell as regular programs with generous stipends for those whocomplete the programs. The Summer Institute is a total of 5 days
plus 3 days of follow-up activities during the academic year. All of
our activities must fit the NCLB definition of ‘professional development,’ they are aligned with standards/framework based education, and more importantly, they have to be research based.

Finally, I wish to thank the Japan Foundation Language
Center for inviting local associations to the conference in August
to learn about NCLB. Also, there will be an NCJLT sponsoredsession on NCLB at the 2004 ACTFL conference in Chicago on
November 19th from 4:30-5:45. If you plan to attend ACTFL
2004, please join us there.

The other important activity MBFLP is committed to isleadership development. We prepare teachers to become leaders of the profession through extensive professional development
activities such as preparing and delivering presentations withexperienced team leaders. We coach and sponsor team members to present at state and national conferences. Each site has
its own strengths and one our strengths is that the site is locatedin the School of World Languages and Cultures at CSU Monterey
Bay, and we have developed strong Japanese teacher leaders in
our area. As a result, MBFLP also provides the Japanese strand
as a part of the annual CLTA Conference and for the annual
Summer Seminar, described above. Our team includes several
Japanese teacher leaders who are now helping to empower
teachers of other languages in their schools and districts. They
are serving as department chairs, on state committees such as
textbook adoption, and one is president of local language association. They are active leaders in the FL community in our region.

Useful websites
NCLB Executive Summary
http://www.ed.gov/nclb/overview/intro/execsumm.html
The US Department of Education’s NCLB website
http://www.ed.gov/nclb/landing.jhtml
California Department of Education’s NCLB website
http://www.cde.ca.gov/nclb/index.asp
Reference
Professional Development and Curriculum Support Division,
California Department of Education, 2004 NCLB Teacher
Requirements Resource Guide
http://www.cde.ca.gov/nclb/sr/tq/index.asp
Lorraine D’Ambruoso, Liz Matchett, Duarte Silva, The
Implications of the NCLB Legislation for Foreign Language
Education, CLTA Annual Conference, Monterey CA. 2004

Summary
Throughout the sate of California there are additional

New Trends in Professional Development forWorld Language Teachers
Y.-H. Tohsaku
University of California, San Diego
In this short article, I will discuss new trends in professional development for world language teachers as well as online teacher training programs. This article is based on my presentation at First Annual Symposium of Japanese Language
Teaching organized by the Japan Foundation Los Angeles
Language Center on August 1st and 2nd , 2004.

1. Introduction
One of the goals of No Child Left Behind is to improveteacher quality. Specifically, this law requires that local school
districts ensure all teachers of core academic subjects (including
foreign languages) are highly qualified before the end of 2005-06
school year. Highly qualified teachers are equipped with demonstrated academic subject matter competence in addition to having a B.A. degree and a state teaching credential.

2. New Trends in Professional
Development
Recently, a focus of professional development for K-12
language teachers has been shifting from teacher training toteacher development. Thus far in teacher training, the same newknowledge or skills were imparted to teachers irrespective ofcontexts or conditions of each trainee. This type of training tended to produce passive teachers who simply apply what waslearned in training to their classroom. In a new type of professional development, on the other hand, teachers are expected to rethinktheir approach to teaching in terms of their actual classroom setting

Although the effect of No Child Left Behind on the
improvement of education is still to be examined, it is no doubtthat teachers are an important vehicle to improve student learning and we should strive to continue improving our knowledge
and skills necessary for our teaching. To this end, we are expected to participate in professional development activities, whether
or not laws require them to do so.

7

ers. A long-term professional development goals and plan aredeveloped for each teacher and along our career path, a focus ofprofessional development activities change in new professional
development.

and students, reflect on their classroom practice and management, find problems and their solutions on their own throughexperiments and other means. One of the goals of this new typeof professional development is to help teachers become reflective practitioners and self-directed teachers who will professionally grow through critical reflection of their practice, problem-solving, decision-making, and experiments. In other words, teachers
are expected to take a more active role in their own professional
development.

• Technology-Mediated: Thanks to the advancement of information and communication technology and its proliferation, it is now
possible for us to provide effective professional development byusing technology and, in actuality, many institutions and states
are offering technology-mediated professional development.
Japanese teachers would be also benefited from technologymediated training in many ways. I will focus on the possibility oftechnology-mediated professional development for Japanese
language teachers in the next section.

This new professional development is characterized by thefollowing features (Lang (1990), Yokomizo and Tohsaku (2003)):• Classroom-based and Experience-based: Traditional teacher
training focused on the acquisition of new knowledge and skills
separately from each teacher’s classroom situation, while new
professional development is designed based on each trainee’sclassroom practice and condition. Also, in new professional
development, trainees acquire new knowledge and skills whilereflecting on their classroom practice and applying them to actualclassroom situations. This type of experiential learning is known
to further deepen knowledge and enhance skills than traditional
teacher training.

3. Online Training for Japanese
Language Teachers
The first attempt to provide online professional development
for Japanese language teachers in the United States was theInstitute of the Teaching of Japanese (ITJ). It was organized by
the Lauratian Institution from 1995 to 1998 with funding from theFord Foundation. It was terminated after the designing of several
courses and the offering of one prototype course as the funding
period expired. In 1999, this program was transferred to the
Alliance of Association of Teachers of Japanese (AATJ) andrenamed to Japanese Online Instructional Network for Teachers(JOINT). After conducting a needs analysis of Japanese language teachers and some background research on logistics andfunding, AATJ organized a workshop on online professional
development for Japanese language teachers in Los Angeles in
2002, inviting those who have been involved in the development
and implementation of online teacher training by the American
Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) andGerman Online Distance Education Network (GOLDEN) of theAmerican Association of Teachers of German (AATG). The
ACTFL’s program has been offered to several universities aspart of pre-service training for foreign language teachers, while
AATG’s program, GOLDEN, has been offered to German teachers throughout the world as an in-service program. GOLDEN has
been considered the most successful and effective online professional development program for foreign language teachers.
Nihongo Kyoiku Gakkai in Japan has been offering online training programs for the past several years, too.

• Reflection and Problem-Solving: The first step to improve ourteaching is to take a close look at our own teaching practice andgrasp what is going on and what kind of problem we have in theclassroom. Then, we should try to solve the problem through avariety of classroom experiments. One method to improve ourteaching through reflection and problem-solving is Action
Research. Now many professional development programs incorporate Action Research and are successful in creating reflective
practitioners and self-directed teachers.
• Mentoring System: Not everyone has good self-reflection skills.
These skills can be gradually developed through dialogues withmentors who are usually experienced teachers or teacher trainers. These mentors can provide teacher trainees or novice
teachers with opportunities to critically look at, judge, and reflect
on their teaching and support for improving their teaching.
Nowadays, many professional development programs include a
mentoring system or mentoring• Sharing Experience: Sharing experiences with mentors, colleagues, and other trainees frequently leads to not only reflectionof our teaching but also discovering hints for solving problems in
the classroom, which, in turn, help us improve our teaching.

AATJ believes that it it is important to provide K-12
Japanese language teachers in the United States with opportunities for professional development. With gradually diminishingfunding opportunities, however, it has become harder to offer onsite teacher training programs which require a large amount oftravel expenses of both trainers and trainees. AATJ considers
that online training is a cost-effective way to provide professional
development. It is true especially for Japanese teachers. They
are dispersed all over the country and isolated from each other.
Online training can connect these teachers and create a professional community easily beyond geographical barriers. An asynchronous mode of online training makes it possible for teachers
to participate whenever they have time.

• Performance-based: The ultimate goal of new professional
development is to enhance our classroom performance rather
than simply expanding our academic subject competence.
Performance-based goals are set for professional development
and the achievement of those goals are assessed through, forexample, a teaching portfolio which includes a record of ourdevelopment as a teacher, e.g., goal statements, self-developed
teaching materials, students’ outcome (written assignments,
videos, audiotapes, etc.), videos of our teaching, and self-reflection and self-assessment reports.
• Long-term Development Plan: Professional development is nota one-time deal, but a continuous process from pre-service up to
retirement. Different goals of professional development are set
depending on what stage of career we are at, for instance, theInterstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium(INTASC) Standards for new teachers and the National Board ofProfessional Teacher Standards (NBPTS) for experienced teach-By carefully designing course structure and contents, wewill be easily able to offer professional development that includes
the feature discussed in the previous section. With rapidly
advancing technology, it is possible to use not only texts but also
graphics, sounds, and video segments, which definitely help
enhance the quality of online professional development courses.
8

Although there are such challenges as raising funds, developing contents, training facilitators, and so on, AATJ is committed
to exploring possibilities of online professional development for
K-12 Japanese language teachers in the United States.

References
Council of Chief State School Officers. 2002. Model Standards
for Licensing Beginning Foreign Language Teachers: A
Resource for State Dialogue. Washington, D.C.: CCSSO.
Lang, Dale 1990. A blueprint for a teacher development program.
In Jack Richard and David Nunan, eds. Second Language
Teacher Education. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

4. Concluding Remarks
Not only No Child Left Behind but the possible return of the
National Board of Professional Teacher Standards Certification
for Japanese teachers, and the start of AP Japanese present
Japanese teachers lots of challenges and require that we acquire
better and new knowledge and skills in order to be effectiveclassroom teachers. We should seek every opportunity to
improve our qualifications, knowledge, and skills. And our field asa whole should make every effort to provide Japanese teacherswith high-quality, effective professional development.

National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. 2001.
NBPTS World Language Other Than English Standards.
Washington, D.C.: NBPTS.
Yokomizo, Shinichiro and Y.-H. Tohsaku. 2003. Amerika no
kyooiku kaikaku kara nihon kokunai no nihongo kyoooshi kyooiku
e no teigen. In Y.-H. Tohsaku, ed. Nihongo Kyooshi no Senmon
Nooryoku Kaihatsu. Tokyo: Nihongo Kyooiku Gakkai.

Personal Advocacy
by Rie Tsuboi

and proud of what they do, and at the same time they have fun
and make new friends. As an advisor, I don't do much; I justencourage and motivate students. Students are responsible fororganizing all the activities.

What is happening in your class every day? A variety ofgreat things, I’m sure. Let the community know what you andyour students are doing! In order to establish and expand aJapanese program at a high school in San Diego, California, I
have tried many things. Here I will discuss what you can do tohave an active program and how you can let your community
know about your program. You can do this little by little. The discussion focuses on a high school program, but it can benefit nonhigh school teachers too.

3. Organize a trip to Japan.
Obviously, visiting Japan is a valuable experience for students
of Japanese. To be honest, it is not easy to organize a trip andtake students to Japan, but it is worth all your efforts. The experience not only helps to improve students' language skills andgives them a deeper understanding of the culture, but also
leads to the students' life-long interest in the Japanese language and culture. All of the students I have taken to Japan thepast four times had positive experiences and many of themwent back to Japan as long-term exchange students throughcollege programs, as English teachers through the JET program, or simply as a member of their new Japanese family visiting their second home. There are many exchange programs tohelp you organize a trip and it is always a good idea to talk to ateacher who has taken students to Japan before. (You can get
more information from the spring issue (2004) of Breeze, which
focused on the exchange program, or the Japan Foundation
Advocacy Kit. Both of which can be found online at
http://www.jflalc.org/newsletter/index.html)

Part I: 10 Things You Can Do to
Expand Your Japanese Program
1. Teach fun and educational classes.
As we all know, the class itself is the most important element. It
should be interesting, meaningful, and educational with a varietyof activities. Fun games, projects, and role-plays with meaningful
purposes improve students' language skills and make them lookforward to coming to class everyday. Attending workshops andsharing ideas with colleagues (any language teachers, even nonlanguage teachers) can always help you to better your teaching.
Also, it is very important that you incorporate Japanese pop
culture as well as traditional culture into teaching. For example,
students love learning songs they can sing at a Karaoke box,
watching new Japanese movies, or keeping up with modern
technology such as cool cell phones and pet robots! By using theInternet it is not hard for us, teachers living outside Japan, tocatch up with what is going on in Japan right now.

4. Host exchange students from Japan.
Having exchange students from Japan is as precious as our visiting Japan, and it is a lot easier! Many of my students have hosted students from Japan and they had a great time. There is somuch learning and understanding of languages and cultures
involved in this kind of experience. Students who cannot hostexchange students should be encouraged to join the fun too;they can arrange a get-together at a Japanese restaurant, aKaraoke party, etc. with the exchange students. Besides, manyexchange students are willing to visit our class and make a presentation about the Japanese culture for our students. The more
opportunities for your students’ to meet native Japanese speaker, the better! Contact local home stay programs and English language schools. They are always looking for host families andthere are so many Japanese people who visit the U.S. everyyear.

2. Sponsor school clubs.
Currently I am the advisor for the JNHS (Japanese National
Honor Society) and the Japanese Club in our high school. First
we started as a small Japanese club with a few members but
some of them wanted to do more, including community services,
so they also established the JNHS with about 20 members. The
main activities of JNHS at our school include "Peer Tutoring"
once a week after school, going to a local English school to help
students with their conversation skills, organizing get-togetherswith native Japanese speakers, participating in a local holiday
parade, and other community services. Students are very active
9

dents to our program, but you should also do ‘recruiting’ because
there are many students and parents who don't know whether or
not Japanese is offered in their community or where they can go
to take Japanese. One of the recruiting activities I do is to visit
two local middle schools about two weeks before the incoming
students sign up for the classes for the following year. A Frenchteacher from my school and I visit all the eighth graders' social
science classes in two middle schools in two days. We spend
only 10 or 15 minutes in each class between the two of us, but it
is very effective because all the incoming students meet us inperson and they are informed that Japanese and French are
actually offered; Spanish is not the only choice for their world language study. These visits definitely increase the enrollment.

5. Get involved in a sister city program.
Does your city or a nearby city have a sister city in Japan? Callcity hall and find out! Your help and involvement will benefit thesister program tremendously. In my case fortunately, my city’s
only sister city is located in Kyushu and the program has beenvery active and successful for 15 years. As a member of the sister city committee for the past 8 years, I go to a meeting at city
hall once a month, meet many wonderful local people, including
mayor and city counsel people, and participate in fun events. Our
activities include sending delegates to Japan, welcoming delegates from Japan, and organizing exchange programs for students, teachers, fire-fighters and nurses.
Also, as a joint program with the sister city program, our school’s
JNHS (Japanese National Honor Society) participates in thecity’s holiday parade every year. The JNHS members build ahuge float with a Japanese style to represent the JNHS and thesister city program. Many local people come out to the city's mainstreet, see the students in wool kimono and happi coats on the
float, and cheer for them. This is one way to show that our students are truly a part of the community.

9. Attend workshops and conferences.
You can also learn so many things every time you attend workshops and conferences, and there are so many of them available
through national organizations such as The Japan Foundation,
ACTFL, NCJLT and ATJ, and local organizations, such as
CAJLT, TJSC, and CLTA in California, By attending them, you
can learn about the current trends in teaching, acquire importantand necessary knowledge such as the information on theStandards, AP Japanese, and National Board certification, get
new ideas for activities, and more.

6. Introduce native Japanese speakers to students.
Students love talking to native Japanese speakers! How can we
make such opportunities? If there are English schools nearby
your school, contact them. Chances are, there are many
Japanese speakers who might not have many American friends.
They probably want to practice their English with non-teachers
and non-host family members sometimes. Last fall, a group of
several Japanese people from an English school came to ourhigher-level classes twice a month to help our students’ conversation skills. After a few visits, our students felt very comfortable
talking to them in Japanese and their speaking skills improved so
much! The Japanese people enjoyed meeting and talking to theAmerican students too. The teacher can arrange how the conversation should be carried out. For example, you can set a rule thatthe first 20 minute should be in Japanese only and the next 20
minutes should be in English only. Some Japanese people arewilling to talk in Japanese only and sometimes my students keep
conversing with them in Japanese for the entire hour!

10. Keep the records of your professional achievements.
Many of us are encouraged to maintain a "Professional Portfolio”
by our school and the district. It is a great to way to keep therecords of what we do (like everything I have mentioned so far,
#1 – 9!) and to reflect on our teaching. We can start by having afolder in a file cabinet and just throw in anything valuable: copies
of students' work, newspaper article on the program, recognitionof our achievements, photographs of a special event, etc.

Part II: Different Ways to Let Your
Community Know About the Japanese
ProgramNow, let the community know about all the positive things happening in your program! They will appreciate the updated information and you will make the students very proud of themselves.

Also last year, a young Japanese lady attending a nearby college
needed some community service hours and she visited ourschool every Thursday after school for 1 hour and many of ourstudents who wanted to practice speaking stayed and talked toher. She went back to Japan in July, but my students still misstalking to her. Thus, even if you know just one Japanese speaker
who can help students, it is very valuable.

1. Send school E-mails (Your school, other schools in the
district, district office, etc.).
This is a very easy way to communicate with your peers andadministration. Let them know the achievements of the students:
their participations of a special event, winning an award, etc..
2. Have students write articles for the school newspaper.
This one is easy too! If your students are in a journalism class,encourage them to write an article. If not, talk to journalism teachers. They can send a student to write an article. Ask the student
to take a photo to go along with the story. Any little story of yourclass will do.

7. Encourage students to participate in off-campus events.
Are there any great events such as Japan Bowl, speech contests,
and cultural events happening around you? If so, encourage students to participate in those events! They will definitely enjoy theirlearning experiences. Also, even when they take part in high-levelcompetitions, emphasize that the important thing is to have fun,learn new things, and appreciate such opportunities, which are
made possible through much effort of the organizers and volunteers. Having a positive attitude will make the experience even better. Different organizations such as The Japan Foundation andJapan Societies provide many opportunities, and you can checkwith you local teachers’ association for such events.

3. Have students write articles for a school / district
newsletter for parents and staff .
This is a great way to communicate with parents and staff. Have students write articles. Our school issues a newsletter for parents every
other month and the Japanese program always submits an article.
The JNHS students take turns and write articles on a variety ofthings such as participation of a speech contest, JHNS get-togetherswith Japanese friends, a trip to Japan, and hosting an exchange student. Attached photos attract attention of the readers.

8. Recruit students to your program.
You need students who want to study Japanese in order to havea successful program! All the positive things we do attract stu10

4. Ask a local newspaper to cover your stories.
Contact a person in charge of the education section of the local
newspaper whenever there is any kind of event they might wantto cover. Positive articles in newspapers, including free newspapers, have a great impact on the community. Again, photos will
attract more attention.

How did the audience understand the plays in Japanese?
Students came up with a brilliant idea. They did "rewinding": Afterevery few lines in Japanese, they "rewind" their acting, walking
backwards and do everything backwards, and do the same lines
in English. The audience loved this idea.
7. Share holiday celebrations (non-religious ones) witheverybody!
On Valentine's Day (2/14), students make "Origami Heart Cards"
or "Origami Heart Boxes" using pink copy paper, write a positive
message or simply "Happy Valentine's Day" to their teachers,
administrators, secretaries, librarians, and computer tech people,
and later student aides deliver the cards and boxes to them.

5. School events: Participate as a Japanese class /Japanese club / JNHS.
Are there any school events your students can contribute to?
Every year, my school holds ‘Exhibition Day’, the day any student
can volunteer to show off their talent. The Japanese program
always offers an "Origami class". Volunteer students from theJapanese classes teach Origami to other students. Last year we
had two one-hour sessions, and in both sessions our classroom
was full of non-Japanese language students who were excitedabout learning Origami. (One freshman boy told me, "This is thecoolest thing ever!")

On Children’s Day (5/5), students, boys and girls, make origami
kabuto using old newspaper and wear it all day. Tell students to‘educate’ other people, students or adults, by explaining theJapanese Kodomo no Hi. They love to wear the kabuto andshare the information others don't know.

6. Class Play: Invite students, parents, teachers,
administrators.
Show off the students' language skills in a fun way! Organize aclass play in Japanese and invite students from other classes,
parents, teachers, and administrators.

8. JNHS (Japanese National Honor Society) cords at
graduation ceremony.
At a ceremony, graduating JNHS members who have maintained
a certain G.P.A. and a certain community service hours areawarded with red and white JNHS cords. The students feel very
honored and the ceremony program, which is read by all theaudience, mentions the JNHS recognition. This is a wonderful
way to inform the community about the Japanese program.

This is how we did it one time: 1) Japanese V class was divided
into two groups. 2) They chose a story. One group chose"Kasajizo" and the other chose "Omusubi Kororin". They hadlearned those stories in the previous Japanese classes. 3) Eachstudent wrote a part of the script and the leader from each group
put the script together. 4) They decided who will direct, who willact, who will narrate, who will make costumes and props, and
who will be in charge of back ground music and lighting.

Useful Links:• Japan Bowl:
www.us-japan.org/dc/education/jbowl.html• Japanese National Honors Society (JNHS):
http://www.colorado.edu/ealld/atj/ncjlt/JNHS/• American Council on the Teaching of
Foreign Languages (ACTFL):
http://www.actfl.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=1• Information on National Board Certification:
http://www.colorado.edu/ealld/atj/SIG/prodev/
standards/nbpts/• Links to all Japanese language teachers’ organizations:
http://www.jflalc.org/teaching/resource/jz_org/index.html

Even some drama students who were not taking Japanese classhelped us after school. We practiced in class and also after
school a few times.
Meanwhile I got permission to use a theater and sent an allschool e-mail to invite the teachers and administrators to theplays. Parents were invited too. The two plays were performed
during class time, two days in a row, and a total of 5 classes,
several parents, some teachers who didn't have to teach that
period, and some administrators came to see our plays.

AP® Japanese Language and Culture to debut in 2006-2007
By Thomas Matts, Director
World Languages Initiative, The College Board
Since its inception in 1955, the College Board’s Advanced
Placement Program® (AP) has offered modern language courses and exams in Spanish, French, and German. The current
offerings include Spanish Language, Spanish Literature, French
Language, French Literature, and German Language. But this list
is about to undergo significant expansion. Under the banner of its
World Languages Initiative, the AP Program is welcoming four
new World Language and Culture courses and exams into its
portfolio. In the fall of 2005, AP Italian Language and Culture will
become available to students worldwide. And then in the fall of
2006, AP Language and Culture courses and exams inJapanese, Chinese, and Russian will be added to the roster.

the opportunity to challenge themselves to the rigors of college
level courses while still in high school. Currently, the College
Board offers examinations in 34 different courses, with over 1.4
million students in approximately 14,000 schools having taken
AP exams in May 2004. Over 90% of American colleges and universities recognize AP and have established policies regarding
advanced standing or the awarding of college credit for students
who have attained certain AP grades. Within each college anduniversity, AP policy is often further defined at the departmental
level as well.

World Languages Initiative

The Advanced Placement Program

In March of 2003, the Board of Trustees of the College Board
adopted a resolution that called on the AP Program to actively
explore the development and implementation of new AP language

The Advanced Placement program provides students worldwide
11witnessed over the last two decades, these voices are calling foran exam which measures students’ language proficiency, as
opposed to their ‘knowledge of’ the language. Standards-based
curricula and pedagogies that stress communicative competence
demand proficiency-based exams, these voices say. The AP
exam must be aligned with what’s happening in today’s classroom, they add.
In response to these many and earnest voices, the College
Board could immediately go about the business of developing a
proficiency-based examination. The AP Japanese Exam could be
explicitly tied to the ACTFL guidelines, for example, or it could
unflinchingly assess students’ relative attainment of theStandards for Japanese Language Learning found in theStandards for Foreign Language Learning in the 21st Century. In
so doing, the exam would surely be a departure from other highstakes tests that are so familiar throughout the field. And it would
perhaps have an impact on the way(s) Japanese language istaught, and perhaps ultimately on the ways other languages aretaught. So why not do just that?
Each AP world language exam finds itself at the nexus of one of
the most often-discussed and under-resolved issues in world language education: program articulation. Ultimately, an AP courseand exam must be aligned with and reflect the appropriate college level course content the respective Task Force identifies.
For the AP Japanese Exam, these parameters underscore thecritical importance of program articulation across the various levels of schooling in general, and the connection between highschool and college most specifically. As such, the Task Forceand the ensuing Development Committee will be asked to provide the vision and leadership to both identify and bridge whatever gaps or philosophical differences may exist between these twolevels of Japanese language education. Representing the best of
secondary and college level Japanese language teachers, theTask Force itself embodies this bridge, and will grapple withthese and other challenges beginning with its first meeting in
December 2004. They will determine the extent to which theJapanese language and culture teaching field is prepared for asignificantly different type of language exam. But preliminary evidence suggests that the field has positioned itself well for thischallenge.

and culture courses and examinations in Italian, Chinese,
Japanese, and Russian. The College Board views this initiative
as a first step in its commitment to furthering multiculturalism andmultilingualism in secondary education. In September 2003, theBoard put its plan into action by launching the development of an
AP course and exam in Italian Language and Culture. Initial workon the development of AP Chinese Language and Culture has
now begun, and as of December 2004, the College Board is
beginning the development of an AP course and exam inJapanese Language and Culture. The first AP Japanese course
will be offered in schools worldwide in the fall of 2006, with thefirst exam to be administered in May 2007.

The Content of AP Courses
In most subject areas, AP courses target the content of similarly
titled introductory college courses. In order to describe the suggested content of each AP course accurately, the College Board
regularly conducts college curriculum surveys to ascertain thecontent of the target courses. The existing AP courses in modern
languages prove to be an exception to the rule, however, as therespective Task Forces and Test Development Committees for
Spanish, French, and German have recommended that theircourses target the curriculum of third year, rather than introductory, college courses. The decision is made independently for eachcourse, however, and the AP Japanese Language and Culture
course need not follow this precedent. As such, AP Japanese
may target a first, second, or third year college level course, andthe recommendation of the AP Japanese Task Force will clearly
guide this decision.

Course and Exam Development
Timeframe
There is much to be done before the first course offering in fall2006, and this work is already well underway. First, an AP
Japanese Task Force has been empanelled to draft the initial
Course Description and examination specifications. Consisting of
12 members in all, with six accomplished secondary teachersand six college and university professors, the Task Force wasrecruited by the College Board from among nominations submitted by officers of ATJ, NCJLT, and AATJ, as well as their many
regional, state, and local affiliates. The Task Force will convene
several times throughout the 2004-05 academic year at theCollege Board’s offices in New York.

The Standards for Japanese Language Learning document
reflects a clear collaboration between secondary and tertiary
instructors, with a Japanese National Standards Task Forceevenly representing high school and college teachers fromacross the country. Further, it includes exceptionally well articulated progress indicators for grades 4, 8, 12, and 16. With eachsuccessive developmental level, the progress indicators carefullyalign themselves with age-appropriate cognitive and conceptual
development, as opposed to a meta-linguistic knowledge andcommand of a list of increasingly complex linguistic structures.
An important question for the Task Force is whether theseStandards and progress indicators are indeed a reflection of current practice across the various levels of schooling, including thecolleges and universities who will be asked to award advanced
placement or credit to students who score well on the exam.

Once the Task Force has accomplished its goals, a smaller,
more focused group, the AP Japanese Development Committee,
will work together throughout the 2005-06 school year to refine
the Course Description and exam specifications, and to develop
the first exam that will be administered in May 2007. The
Development Committee’s work will then extend beyond 200506, as they periodically refine the Course Description and continue to generate new forms of the exam. The Committee will becomprised of several members of the original Task Force alongwith several newly recruited high school teachers and college
and university professors.

Professional Development

The AP Japanese Exam

The College Board has a long tradition of making a wide variety
of professional development opportunities available to AP and
Pre-AP® teachers alike. Particularly for the new AP language
and culture courses, it will be important to support the work ofteachers working with younger students, such that they mightalign their teaching with the concepts and skills required at the

From throughout the Japanese language teaching profession,
many voices are calling for a departure from the formats and purposes of existing, well-known language tests. Citing a need toacknowledge and reflect the pedagogical changes the field has
12advanced levels. Opportunities for AP and Pre-AP teachers will
include real-time events delivered online, one-day workshops
offered throughout the country during the school year, an information session at the AP National Conference in July 2005, andweeklong Summer Institutes in 2006.

Additional Resources
The College Board publishes a full range of print and Web-basedmaterials in support of AP and Pre-AP teachers’ work. To familiarize yourself with the AP Program and its many resources, visit
the AP website, “AP Central”, at
http://apcentral.collegeboard.com, and the AP
Japanesewebpage at
http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/japanese. Additionally, toreceive current updates on all developments in AP Japanese,
join our mailing list by sending an e-mail to
apjapanese@collegeboard.org.

Currently under development:• May 17, 2005: A real-time, online event to introduce the AP
Japanese Course Description, exam specifications and item
types, and newly planned professional development opportunities• July 2005: AP Japanese information session at the AP National
Conference in Houston• Fall 2005: Pre-AP world languages strategies and VerticalTeams workshops offered throughout the country• Spring 2006: AP Japanese workshops offered throughout thecountry• July 2006: AP Japanese workshop at the AP National
Conference• Summer 2006: Weeklong AP Japanese Summer Institutes
offered at various sites throughout the country

The AP Japanese Task ForceThe specific content of these events will begin to unfold as thework of the Task Force proceeds and as the course and exam
begin to take shape.

Getting Involved Beyond YourClassroom
In addition to the Task Force and Development Committee, andbeyond their own teaching, there will be other opportunities forinterested high school teachers and college professors to
become involved in the delivery of AP Japanese professional
development events, i.e., workshops and Summer Institutes.
Specifically, twelve consultants per AP course are regularly
recruited from the field for this purpose. Additionally, AP Exams
are always read and scored by practicing AP teachers and college and university instructors in June.

Mutsuko Endo Hudson
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI

Laurel Rasplica Rodd
University of Colorado, Boulder
Boulder CO

Sandra Garcia
Forest Grove High School
Forest Grove, OR

Masumi Reade
The Woodlands High School
The Woodlands, TX

Hiroko Kataoka
California State University, Long BeachLong Beach, CA

Sufumi So
George Mason University
Fairfax, VA

Yukiyo Moorman
Walt Whitman High School
Bethesda, MD

Patricia Thornton
University of Minnesota
Minneapolis, MN

Hiroko Trasey Nomachi-Yuge
Venice High School
Los Angeles, CA

Yasu-Hiko Tohsaku
University of California, San Diego
La Jolla, CA

Toyoko Okawa
Punahou School
Honolulu, HI

Noriko Vergel
The American School In JapanTokyo

Reports: Regional and National Japanese Language Teachers' Associations
on the current Conditions of Japanese Language Education at the Local Level
can to help develop and support strong K-12 programs, b) help
secondary and college level faculty understand each other’s programs (goals and outcomes), and c) work on developing assessment instruments for smooth transition. We hope AP will be beneficial in moving toward accomplishing these goals. Anotherchallenge we face is meeting the diverse concerns of our membership. To address this problem, ATJ has created SIGs (Special
Interest Groups). There are currently five SIGs (ClassicalJapanese, Community College Teaching, Heritage Language,
Professional Development, and Study Abroad for Advanced
Skills). The SIGs hold meetings during the annual AAS/ATJ
meeting, occasionally sponsor separate workshops and publications, and report their activities to the board. ATJ works closelywith the NCJLT, and would like to work closely with all theregional associations as well as develop more active ties to otherinternational organizations of teachers of Japanese. Informationon the various activities of the ATJ can be accessed throughwww.colorado.edu/ealc/atj.

Report from ATJ (National)
By Naomi H. McGloin (ATJ President Elect)
The Association of Teachers of Japanese, which was founded in
1963, is an international organization of scholars, teachers andstudents of Japanese language, literature and linguistics dedicated to teaching and scholarship and to the exchange of information among teachers and other professionals to help broaden
and deepen knowledge and appreciation of Japan and its culture. It has approximately 900 members. It publishes the Journalof Japanese Language and Literature (two issues annually) anda newsletter (four issues annually), and holds an annual ATJ
Seminar in conjunction with the Association for Asian Studies.
One of the immediate issues ATJ is facing is the matter of the
AP Japanese Exam/Program. ATJ has been concerned with theissue of articulation between college and pre-college Japanese
programs since the 90’s, and we feel that in order to accomplishsmooth articulation between levels, we need to: a) do what we13

Our ability to advertise who we are as a group and individually isoften what will make or break us.

Report from NCJLT (National)
By Michael Kluemper, President

Making our face known is important. Get involved as much as
you can in state and national organizations and make noise.
Japanese presence is increasing on the larger language stage as
we move into positions such as Sandy Garcia did, now past president of the Oregon foreign language teachers’ association, andJaci Collins did, now president of the Wisconsin foreign language
association. This year’s nominee for the position of ACTFL
President Elect, which will be announced very soon, is Carl
Falsgraf. These things are huge strides for all of us.

NCJLT has a membership of over 800. It largely is made up ofteachers of Japanese language from levels kindergarten throughcollege level.
The No Child Left Behind Act will take resources away fromJapanese programs. This is a fact. One way to prevent some ofthe drain is to compete, speaking out and promoting our professionalism.
NCJLT has worked to help teachers increase their professionalism through professional development sessions and workshops
at ACTFL, the largest gathering of K-16 teachers in the US, andother programs sponsored by NCJLT such as the JNHS, nengajo
contests, teacher awards, etc.

Getting involved, professionalism in voice, appearance, and inaction increases our status, image, and level of importance to ourstudents and parents, our schools, and ultimately our politicians.

has engaged in many activities whose goals are to promote ourteachers and Japanese language learning. Among these activities are:
• Articulation Committee – Articulation among the different
grade levels, and between programs at the same level havemade it easier for students to make the change from program toprogram, and has allowed teachers to see what their peers are
doing. The overall effect has been to coordinate and strengthen
individual programs.
• Statewide Speech Contest – This year the AATJ will sponsor
the 16th annual 日本語弁論大会. This contest, which is open to
all students of Japanese currently enrolled in a Japanese class,attracts more that 80 applicants a year. In addition to giving students a chance to use their Japanese in a public forum, the publicity, goodwill and excitement generated by the contest help
show students (and administrators) the value and rewards oflearning Japanese.
• Communication – Newsletters, and the effectiveness of theinternet guarantee that our members are informed about issues
and topics affecting them.
• Professional Development- The AATJ sponsors as many
seminars as possible. Topics are as broad based as effective
testing, teaching writing, technology in the classroom, and implementing standards in the classroom.
• Presence – The AATJ is blessed in that most of its members
are willing to work and participate. We have representatives at
AZLA (Arizona Language Association) functions. Our members
often make presentations and serve on committees, and the
AATJ sponsors major speakers. It is vital that when facing the
Spanish Language juggernaut that teachers associated with lesscommonly taught languages such as Japanese, show they are a
viable and indispensable part of the educational community.

AATJ 2004 Report (Arizona)
By Kelly Moeur, President
Japanese teaching and learning is alive and well (?) in Arizona. I
question the word “well” because while student interest in business and cultural pursuits such as anime, have helped maintainand even fueled growth in many programs around the state, suchsupport is fickle and the fortunes of many programs could easilychange.
AATJ currently has 53 members, 38 of these teach inuniversity/college programs, 9 work in high schools, 2 teach inthe state’s only elementary age program and 4 たまごundergraduates who hope to enter the profession after graduating. The low
number of teachers in primary and secondary schools indicates afundamental imbalance in our student population. Ideally, we
should have a broad and stable student base, starting in elementary or middle school, that feeds into high school and eventually
into the programs offered by the state’s 3 universities. The realityof the situation is that this imbalance is almost impossible to correct, In recent years the Arizona State Legislature passed a bill
mandating foreign language learning in the elementary schoollevel. However, in their infinite wisdom, they neglected to provide
funding for these programs. In addition, administrators andschool districts are dealing with all the ramifications of No Child
Left Behind, and in Arizona, the AIMs standards tests.
Ostensibly, there is a will to implement foreign languages in thelower grades, but unfortunately, foreign language often loses in
the race for limited resources and money.
Advocacy for teachers and programs is one of the most important tasks of the AATJ, or any other ATJ group for that matter.
Advocacy can take on many forms. In recent years, the AATJ

with one team reaching the finals in 2003 and with most of teams
ranked in at least the top 10. We started with approximately 50
participants for the Japan Bowl and 25 for the speech contest.
The numbers of participants for both events has remained fairly
stable with a small increase every year. In addition to this, in thefall of ever year, two of our members host a Japan Immersion
Day, one in Tampa held at USF (University of Southern Florida)and another in Broward County, hosted by Pompano Beach Sr.
High School, both of which have been very successful.

AFTJ Summary of the State ofJapanese Language Education(Florida)
By Eiko Isogai Williams
The Association of Florida Teachers of Japanese (AFTJ) currently has 20 members, mainly secondary school teachers. Despite
the fact only about 50 % members attend our general meeting,
we have managed to hold the Japan Bowl Florida Regional
Contest and the Speech (and now also Skit) Contest since 2001.
Our students have been successful at the National Japan Bowl,

One of our challenges is the size of our state. We have often
been forced to split activities between the coasts and the reality

14remains that most of our active members are residents ofSoutheast Florida. On the other hand, UF and FSU, the big state
universities that have Japanese language programs, are at theNorth of the state and rarely, if ever, join in our activities.
Another problem we encounter is the challenge of teacher certification. There are no guidelines that have been established by
the state for proper certification, and what’s more, the standards
developed for the teaching of Japanese tend to be a rehash of
those developed for other world languages, without taking into
consideration the challenges of a language like Japanese.
Currently certification entails having a BA in Japanese and get-ting a signature from the principal stating that the teacher inquestion is proficient in the language. Our Dept. of Education
rarely asks for our input and Japanese is often treated as if it is
too small to pay any attention to, especially comparing toSpanish, which is the powerhouse in our state.

Report from AITJ (Indiana)

missions slips, scheduling, and helping them prepare their presentation. We are always very willing to do these things because
we are passionate about what we do, but we would like to direct
more energy into teaching our students. Another problem with
low numbers is that a difference in 5-10 students could mean
having two first-year Japanese classes or just one, which in turnwill determine whether or not the teacher will have to teachanother subject. As the numbers get smaller in the upper levels,
2 or 3 students in 4th year may determine if there will be separate 3rd and 4th-year classes or if they will be combined. If they
are combined, that will mean either teaching part time or teaching another subject.

Our aim as an organization and as teachers is to seek as much
help as possible for the advancement in profession for ourselves,
while in the meantime providing the necessary network for us to
do our jobs as well as we can despite what seems like an evergrowing set of challenges.

By Jane McMurrer, AITJ President
The Association of Indiana Teachers of Japanese has 33 members. While teachers from K-16 are welcome in our organization,
most of our members teach at the high school level. There aresome programs that offer Japanese at the middle school level,
especially in an exploratory setting. Several programs that have
had a full year of Japanese in the middle school have lost those
programs. Even some exploratory Japanese programs havebeen cut or reduced. Some of these cutbacks might be attributable directly to NCLB, while others may be due to a more general lack of funds available for education. We do have only a few
members at the collegiate level, but they are invaluable to ourorganization. The fact that they come to our meetings, holdoffices, present sessions, and inspire us, makes them integral to
AITJ. As we address issues such as continuing education, standards, and articulation, it is important that all levels be represented and supported in our organization.

Another major issue for many of our members is lack of teachingmaterials. Certainly Japanese textbooks have improved, butthere are still few good books to choose from. When textbook
adoption rolls around, we see our colleagues who teach otherlanguages receive piles of books with impressive ancillaries.
They receive these examination copies and other materials free
and are not expected to return most of them. (They also often
have several teachers who work on comparing the books.) We
know this is not the case for Japanese materials.

One of the most pressing issues in Japanese language education in Indiana is low enrollment numbers. We are fortunate thatmost students who take Japanese are truly interested in learning
the language and about the culture. However, due to small numbers, Japanese teachers often have to teach multi-level classes
and/or teach other subjects as well as Japanese. The fallout fromthese situations is obvious and counter productive: More preps
means there is less time and energy to spend preparing for eachclass. Multi-level classes mean that students get less from us
than they would if they had their own class. It also means that wemust spend time and energy recruiting. I was recently inspired bya colleague who took a personal day to recruit at the middle
school. This involves preparing materials for a middle school presentation AND preparing for a sub! Sending high school students
to the middle school to assist in exploratory classes involves per-The other side of the coin is that with small numbers, we are usually a tightly-knit group. We get to know our students very well.
There have been many opportunities for Japanese teachers over
the years to improve our language proficiency (we burn for evenmore such opportunities,) travel, and network. We also createand share many materials. We realize that some smaller schoolsthat started Japanese programs during the boom times are starting to loose their programs, but overall, things seem to be leveling out.
We certainly appreciate the support provided by the JapanFoundation in helping us reach our goals.
certification process. There has not been any new teaching positions in the past few years so new teachers have to leave thestate to look for jobs. There has been talk of going to one language in many schools; Spanish. This includes the elementary
distant learning programs where Moshi-Moshi has been replacedwith Hola-Hola.

ATJO report (Oregon)
By Atsuko Ando and Sandy Garcia
Current Membership: 77
The majority of our members are secondary teachers. We aretrying to recruit more elementary and college teachers by having
more sessions at workshops that address their needs.

ATJO projects: This coming year the ATJO board is working on
how to help teachers with advocacy issues.

Pressing Issues: Teacher Certification: The License of
Accomplishment is no longer a valid teaching license in the stateand so teachers, some who have taught for more than 15 years,
have to go back to school to obtain a new Initial Teaching
License. This has affected mostly native-language teachers.
There has been less involvement of many members in ATJO
activities (including being board members) largely due to the re-

The state of Oregon does have benchmarks that the Japanese
made and that the other languages copied.
As the other states mentioned, funding is an issue.

15

Test that the Japan Foundation gives annually. By analyzing thepatterns of the relationship between the linguistic profiles of thetest takers and their performance on that test, we may be able todiscern attributes that can lead to effective instruction strategy.
Similarly, we ought to be able to isolate specific attributes that
affect the performance of the CAJLS’s “Credit Test” takers as
well. If we can identify students who take two or more of theafore-mentioned tests (i.e. - SAT-II, AP-Japanese, J-F’s
Proficiency, and the CAJLS “Credit Test”), we can analyze theinter-relationship between their linguistic profiles and test-performance.

Report from CAJLS (California
Japanese Language Schools)
By Charles Igawa
The establishment of the AP Japanese is welcome news for themembers of our organization – the CAJLS (=Nihongo-Gakko).
However, we are unable to tell at this time as to how many of
Nihongo-Gakko students may consider taking such a test. We
can perhaps reach an estimated figurer from the number of thestudents who have taken the SAT-II Japanese test in the recent
past. Unfortunately, we do not have such data either. It certainly
behooves us to consider gathering such information.

The CAJLS Nanka-Shibu is presently discussing about the future
direction of the “Credit Test.” Given the fact that Nihongo-Gakko
operates typically as a Saturday-only, half-day school, two issues
are immediately apparent. One is the issue of articulation relative
to the instruction content at other institutions where Japanese istaught – e.g., high schools (both public and private) and colleges/universities. The other is the issue concerning the standards by which to assess the level of learning. Without suchstandards, the assessment of the student learning is not possible. Perhaps, the time has come when the CAJLS should
endeavor to develop clear standards for each level (i.e., J1
through J4 or J5) that is appropriate for the prevailing situation of
the average Nihongo Gakko. Once the level of student knowledge is clearly ascertained, the preparation for the specific test
can be strategically executed.

Observations by veteran Nihongo-Gakko teachers point to ahypothesis that the successful SAT-II Japanese test taker would
most likely come from a Japanese-speaking or Japanese-dominant household. Without such a background, they reason, theSAT-II Japanese test taker would not do well in the listening
comprehension portion of the test. The general feeling amongst
them is that the AP Japanese examination would likewise be adifficult test for those who are from non-Japanese speaking
household. In order to discern the general characteristics of thesuccessful SAT-II (and AP as well, soon) Japanese exam takers,
however, we need to carefully analyze each case.
We ought to also take a close look at the profiles of thoseNihongo-Gakko students who take the Japanese Proficiency

age all Japanese teachers in California to join our associationand to develop strong Japanese language program in California.
We offer many activities such as Benkyoukai, Video Contest,
Culture Festival, Language Camp as well as our quarterly
newsletters.

CAJLT Report (All California)
By Akiko Soda, Co-President
The California Association of Japanese Language Teachers(CAJLT) is a non-profit association comprised of California
teachers who are working to improve Japanese language andculture instruction primarily at the pre-college level. Currently,
there are over 100 members in the CAJLT. We are very concerned about the students’ population. Because of the recent
budget cut, Japanese programs have been decreasing in some
districts. There are more Japanese teachers who do not belong
to any teachers organization. We would like to reach and encour-

NCLB will impact some of our members who do not currently
have regular teaching credentials. We have just sent a survey toall members to find out the status of Japanese language education in California. Many teachers didn’t have much information
about NCLB. We encouraged our members to contact theirschool districts to find out about the meaning of “highly qualified”.

administrators' support is what we need. The community, in general, is not interested in Japan and Japanese culture, either. For
example, a CJLEA member planned a Japanese summer camp
for small children, and sent her proposal to two local organizations to get support from them. Neither of them responded to her
proposal one way or the other. We need to take positive steps toimprove the situation. Here are two cases to illustrate:

Report from CJLEA (Colorado)
By Hiroko Storm, President
Colorado Japanese Language Education Association (CJLEA)
has 33 members – one from Wyoming and the others from
Colorado. The majority of the members are postsecondary
school teachers. Some others teach in high schools, and only
one member teaches in a junior high school.

1. There are quite a few Japan-related organizations in Colorado.
Representatives of organizations get together regularly to talkabout their activities and exchange ideas. CJLEA joined thegroup recently. Communicating with each other and providing an
information network to each other will help each member organization to pursue advocacy.

We have held various workshops and given members' presentations at our bi-annual meetings to pursue professional development. Starting in 1999, a CJLEA project team worked on theOnline Teaching Materials Database Project, and our website(www.cjlea.org) was set up in 2003. Not only CJLEA members,
but also people outside of Colorado and Wyoming have contributed their teaching materials to the website.

2. Two CJLEA members took initiative, and we are planning tohold a CJLEA all school combined Japan festival. The tentativeplan is as follows:
The festival will be held in a junior high school in Denver. The
goals are: Let the community experience Japan in different
aspects, Present students' works, Promote interests in learn-

What we are concerned with lately is overall lack of interest inJapanese language education. We often hear about members'
unstable teaching positions due to budget cuts, etc. School

16

programs. The people targeted are young children (5-18 years
old), parents, school administrators, and community people.
College students will be invited to help young children. The festival will include food, music, crafts, books, videos, and things
related to Japanese history and geography.

The plan is at an early stage, and we have not set the date yet,but materialization of the festival would be a great opportunity topromote Japanese language education.

difference in the number of classroom hours between thoseschools and other, especially out-of-state, schools is widening,with grave consequences. For instance, at Yale University, twoyears of Japanese entails 600 hours of classroom instruction,
whereas at Georgia State University, even four years ofJapanese would necessitate only a little over 300 class hours(which is just enough to take the level 3 Japanese Language
Proficiency Test), with students still treading water after graduating with a minor in Japanese. Unfortunately, since GATJ has noinfluence over programming at individual schools, let alone policymaking, we are unable to remedy this problem.

Report from GATJ (Georgia)
By Miyuki Johnson, President (2004-2005)
1. Integrating the Internet in Teaching – As more and more scholars tout the benefits of on-line teaching, college and high school
teachers are urged to get training in computer technology.
However, many teachers still believe in the virtues of traditional
in-class teaching and are reluctant to learn to use what they may
regard as an overly complicated device. Fortunately, GATJ is
blessed to have Professor Masato Kikuchi, who has created online Japanese courses, the first ever in the state of Georgia. He
has been quite generous with his time, giving hands-on training
to some of the members, who in turn can impart what they havelearned to other members.

3. All elementary schools in Fulton County, GA will start foreign
language instructions from 4th grade. Students can’t choose foreign language, and the whole school has to learn 1 foreign language. There are two elementary schools that have Japanese
program so far. However, in both schools the Japanese programs are getting smaller, compared to last year.

2. Scheduling – Many language programs at Georgia colleges
have departed from the traditional daily schedule and switched toa three-hour-per-week schedule. As a result of this transition, theers in Illinois, which we believe would lead to an increasing number of Japanese programs. Japanese education in Illinois isgoing into an exciting, new phase. In July 2004, the Illinois State
Board of Education implemented the first Illinois certification test
for Japanese language, which will enable the provision of ateaching certificate in Japanese for the first time in Illinois. ManyJapanese educators in Illinois have volunteered to help in the
preparation of this test. IATJ will continue keeping its eye on thisdevelopment and will disseminate information about the certification process regularly.
Finally, IATJ and its members actively organize, promote andparticipate in Japanese related events and activities to increase
the visibility and reputation of Japanese language programs in
the area. In spring, children in Illinois participated in the Japan
Airline Foundation's Haiku Contest and received prizes. There
were also annual events such as the Japan Day cerebration at a
Chicago elementary school (with their students performing
Japanese dances and songs) and the Japan Symposium at a
community college in a Chicago suburb. A student from a
Chicago high school went to Japan this summer as a representative of the Japanese-Language Program for High SchoolStudents 2004, sponsored by The Japan Foundation Japanese
Language Institute, Kansai.

Report from IATJ (Illinois)
By Fukumi Matsubara, IATJ Secretary
Illinois Association of Teachers of Japanese (IATJ) aims to support Japanese teachers and promote Japanese language education in Illinois. It holds workshops three times a year and issues
newsletters bimonthly. The membership includes fifty teachers ofJapanese in K-16 education. IATJ's activities fall into three major
areas: support for teachers' professional development, advocacy
for provision of teacher certification, and promotion of Japanese
language education in Illinois.
First, IATJ plays an important role in teachers ' professional
development. The workshops provide teacher with a place formeeting and networking. They also present easy access toteaching materials for classroom activities. To respond to theparticipants' needs, topics pertaining to their interest are chosen
for the workshop sessions. At the Fall Workshop this year, we
invited a specialist in classroom management and learned howclassroom issues are handled in American schools. We also
talked about Japanese, the AP Test and the Japanese Honors
Society. In addition, for obtaining knowledge related to their daily
teaching, participants are granted a certain number of credits thatcan be applied for their certification renewal. IATJ hopes, in the
future, to provide grants for the members to attend national-level
conferences and workshops.

IATJ is continuing its efforts to promote Japanese language education and to enhance the network of Japanese teachers inIllinois. Please check out our website (http://www.ictfl.org/affiliate.html) for more information about IATJ.

Second, IATJ works for an increase of qualified Japanese teach-interactions between college level and high school teachers
except the IMATJ conference. In an effort to vitalize interaction
amongst teachers, IMATJ is considering some kind of join activities with CJLEA (Colorado) in coming years.

Report from IMATJ (ID, MT, NV, UT,WY)
By Atsuko Neely (President)
IMATJ currently has 14 members who have full membership status. We try to hold an annual conference/workshop in fall. The
biggest challenge is that out of 14 members, only two are secondary school teachers, and there is no existing vital means of17

past several years. We have however, been very active in conducting workshops and sponsoring Japanese Speech Contest
annually. The Sixth Louisiana Japanese Speech Contest will beheld in March 5 (Sat) in New Orleans. We welcome participantsfrom outside of Louisiana and try to reach out to Japanese language teachers in nearby states to join us.

Report from LATJ (Louisiana)
By Akiko Kamo, President
Demand and enrollment have been low in Louisiana. Numbers ofcollege courses and high school satellite programs of Japanesedeclined in the past ten years. Five colleges currently offer
Japanese courses. Six public high schools offer satellite programs (Irasshai) and one private school (Episcopal School)
offers a regular Japanese program. There is no higher institutewhich offers Japanese courses beyond second year. The students who studied Japanese in high school can not pursue
Japanese in colleges in Louisiana. LATJ has been a very small
association. The number of members has been 10-12 for the

NCLB has had no influence on LATJ so far. I asked a few publichigh school FL teachers and a satellite Japanese program facilitator. They haven't seen any changes in the FL area. But one ofthem remarked that her school has hired more English and Mathteachers in order to bring the students' scores up. She suspects
that it may affect FL in the future.
than ever. We have larger class sizes of around 40 students
per class in many of the schools. Teachers have had to combine levels, such as levels 3-5 at one time. All of these haveled us to having less time to do the same job. Thus field trips
or cultural activities are sometimes cut due to lack of time andenergy.

MCTJ(Minnesota – Absent at the Symposium)
By Laura Norman Koga
Q: How many members are in your organization?
A: We have 16 members. Not all are teaching at this time.

Q: Has NCLB influenced your association's activities? If so, how?
A: It has not yet influenced our group’s activities. For some reason here in Minnesota, we seem to be either not affected or
not aware of the changes that will occur with NCLB. Our
schools have not done any drastic changes with the exceptionof making sure all teachers have a valid teaching license,
which hasn't been a problem for our members.

Q: What are the target levels of instruction for your organization?
A: High School Japanese levels 1-4 is our target.
Q: Please list the three most pressing issues in Japanese language education in your region/state, and how your organization is dealing with them.
A: With school budgets lowered, we have found ourselves busier

the cut back of Japanese classes in middle schools in SF.
3. Communication between high schools and college curriculum has not been established: College placement tests are
not known to high school teachers.
4) Our activities:
1. Officers meeting- twice a week workshops for teaching
methodology and other topics in spring and fall (this one
is with Foreign Language Association)
2. Two newsletters a year
3. Support "Conference of International Pragmatic Linguistics"
at State University of San Francisco(website:http://www.ncjta.org/)

Report from NCJTA(Northern California)
By Haruko Sakakibara, President
1) Members: about 100 on the list Participants for the workshops
are about 40-60
2) Target levels: K-16
3) Pressing issues:
1. California's state budget cut resulted in the loss of classnumbers and combined classes.
2. Attention to Math and English test scores have resulted inlevel, but we also work with educators at American middle & elementary schools and schools for children of Japanese heritage.
We recognize that teachers need constant help and practicalinformation, opportunities to pool their talents, and to share information about effective classroom practices. Our members arealso engaged in grassroots relations with community administration and other school colleagues. Our students come from all ethnic, cultural and economic backgrounds in the US and those who
learn Japanese language and culture contribute greatly to relations between America and Japan in many profound ways.

NECTJ (Northeast - CT, DE, MD, ME,
MA, NH, NJ, NY, PA, RI, VT)
By Kazuo Tsuda
In 1992 a small but committed group of high school Japaneseteachers founded the Northeast Association of Secondary
Teachers of Japanese (NEASTJ). It was a non-profit organization
dedicated to improving the teaching of Japanese language at the
pre-collegiate level throughout the Northeast. NEASTJ changed
its name to the Northeast Council of Teachers of Japanese(NECTJ) in 2000. NECTJ covers not only secondary education,
but also a wider range of levels including elementary and education for children of Japanese heritage.

Each year we host a teacher's conference in New York in the fall,
Boston in the spring, a heritage language conference in New
York at the end of summer and a student-centered Japanese culture festival in the spring which provides high school students
with opportunities to learn more about Japan and use their
Japanese language skills. Four times a year we publish newsletters “ Zakk’ Bran” which have articles written by our members
and their students, announcements of job openings, school year

The purpose of NECTJ is to broaden Japanese language education in the northeastern area of the country and assist educatorsin their professional work as teachers of Japanese language andculture. The majority of our work focuses on the high school
18

New York, study group at Boston, heritage research group, NewYork State Regent group and Kisetsu Educational Group for textbook development. We have established an e-mail network andweb site for Japanese language teachers throughout the US. We
regularly facilitate exchange programs to and from Japan for precollege students.

training programs, upcoming activities, and other helpful information for our members. We publish the “Kisetsu” series textbooks
and other educational materials. We regularly facilitate exchange
programs to and from Japan for pre-college students, and wehelp our members attend national conferences for language
teachers.
In addition, we have five different study groups: study group at

University) that offer teaching licenses. It is also a long process.

Report from OATJ (Ohio)
By Elena Vdovina

Our organization has annual meetings where we discuss different problems we face at schools and universities. For example,
we discuss our standards, and we share our experience in teaching methods, and create new ways to motivate our students. We
also invite guest speakers. This year we were honored to have
Keiko Schneider who gave us a lot of information about how to
use technology in Japanese language education.

My name is Elena Vdovina. I am one of the representatives of
OATJ (The Ohio Association of Teachers of Japanese). Ourorganization has 30 regular members (high school and university
teachers of Japanese) and we will celebrate our 5 year anniversary next spring. Our goal is to promote and improve the study
and teaching of Japanese, to share our experience and to learn
from each other. We have about 10 high schools and 17 universities in Ohio that have Japanese courses, and all of them havetheir challenges. We try our best to know each other’s needs andto assist one another.

We will have our first regional Japan Bowl next year and we are
happy that our students will have opportunity to show their skills
and compete with other states. We have many talented students,for example, Scioto High School in Dublin won a lot of speech
contests that show their strong Japanese program. We are looking for different opportunities for them to grow. The OATJ publishes newsletters twice a year and we introduce our activities,
different schools programs, teaching training opportunities, andsharing our experience.

I am a teacher at Withrow International High School in Cincinnati
and I worry about losing our Japanese program. Two schools inour state lost their Japanese programs because of the budget
cuts last year. Prinston High School lost their program mostly
because of interest in offering American Sign Language, insteadof Japanese. Some schools don’t have problems with administration support, but if they face budget cuts, it is difficult to find highly qualified teachers to fill in part time positions. You can see theinfluence in NCLB and it is also difficult because we have only 2
universities (The Ohio State University and The Findlay

The OATJ has been supported financially by a grant from The
Japan Foundation and LLEEP program of the Ohio State
University.

A Report from TJSC
(Southern California)

Articulation between K-12 and higher education – In an attempt
to address this issue, the TJSC board committee has incorporated the current issues, ideas, and plans of the members in creating content for the workshops and to provide a platform for discussion. While it has been helpful to draw on the experience andauthority of the members, we are aware that the solution to thisproblem cannot be reached without working with the state boardof education, so this issue is still pending.

By Sachiko Tu, President
Q: How many members are in your organization?
A: TJSC stands for Teachers of Japanese in Southern California.
It was founded in 1984, and 2004 is the 20th year anniversary of
its establishment. There are 117 active members.
Q: What are the target levels of instruction for your organization?
A: TJSC consists of members who teach Japanese language inseveral different school settings, with the target levels of instruction being high school through college. Out of the 117 active
membersÅC31% are teaching in 4 year colleges, 23% in 2 year
colleges, 14% in weekend Japanese language schools, 12% inhigh schools, 6% in other Japanese language schools, and 1% in
Jr. high and elementary schools. (Note: 1) Some members did
not fill the "work affiliation" column. 2) Five teachers teach in multiple school levels.)

Heritage language learners – This is a huge issue we have discussed in several workshops. This issue involves the development of Japanese heritage language programs to accommodate
students' proficiency level, background, and learning goals. To
support finding a solution, TJSC can hold workshops under this
topic inviting experts and encouraging members and non-members to attend to discuss their own problems.
Teacher Training - TJSC supports Japanese teachers of different
levels to gain knowledge and receive input from their expertise.
TJSC has been inviting keynote speakers from throughout thenation and occasionally from Japan to speak at its workshops
and conferences. TJSC members have attended and participatedin nationwide conferences as well, and their reports are includedin the newsletter to facilitate ongoing learning and discussion of
the topics. However, it seems that only a small number of participants have attended or presented at nationwide events. The
TJSC board committee strongly desires all members to participate in order to improve this problem.

Q: Please list the three most pressing issues in Japanese language education in your region/state, and how your organization
is dealing with them.
A: TJSC holds biannual workshops and sends out a tri-annual
newsletter containing information about the workshops. The
workshop archive is available from the TJSC website (http://www. humnet.ucla.edu/tjsc/index.html). Checking throughout the TJSC's workshop archive, the following three issues are
the most pressing:19

Q: Has NCLB Influenced your association/s activities? If so,how?
A: This issue has not directly influenced TJSC activities, but
TJSC members who are teaching in public schools must alreadyfeel the impact. The board consists of 9 members who teach in
4-year colleges, 2-year colleges, high schools, and Japanese
language schools, so if any problem comes up in these levels,

emails are often exchanged in an open discussion. One of myreasons for attending today is to learn from the presentation on
the NCLB issue so I can bring that information to the TJSC board
committee for further discussion.

Report on WATJ
(Washington State)

The issues that we are facing:
In Washington State the interest in Japanese language is still
very strong. The number of learners is growing in spite of thebudget cut, which caused a decrease in the number of Teachers.
Many international schools started having Japanese Immersion
programs in the Pacific North West region. High school and middle school teachers are dominant in our association. We need toorganize more elementary and college level teachers andinstructors. That will expand the range of our activities. There is a
critical articulation gap between the college level and high schoollevel due to lack of communication. Class size is always big challenge. Foreign language is not currently a graduation requirement. To make our association more attractive we do: a website,
clock hours, workshops

By Yoshitaka Inoue, WATJ Board
Number of members:
80 members (as of August 2004)
Elementary10
Middle School
13
High School
40
College Level
10
Others7
Target levels
K through 16

FLES-educated students are related to falling numbers in highschool classrooms. For example, do the challenges of taking an
advanced Japanese class have corresponding benefits, in a dollars and cents way, to college bound high school students? Inother words, is there a possibility of earning Advanced
Placement credit for meeting the challenge of advanced/upper
level course work?

Report from WiATJ (Wisconsin)
By Patrick Bencke
The state of Japanese language education in the state of
Wisconsin is stable and promising. For the past two years highschool and middle school (grades 6-12) enrollment has held
steady at 2,939 students during the 01-02 school year and 2,949
students for 02-03. Middle schools seem to have a consistently
higher enrollment 1,608 students to 1,341 students in 2002-03.
While these numbers are small in comparison to the numbers ofstudents enrolled in other language programs (1.16%),
Wisconsin does have an excellent, albeit small, FLES program
and with continued support we our confident that the number ofstudents learning Japanese will grow. There were, for example,
1326 K-5 students in the 2001-02 school year. Students thatbegan studying Japanese in FLES programs are now in theirhigh school years, posing new challenges in curriculum.

In terms of teacher education and meeting the “highly qualified”
rating referred to in the legislation, the majority of Wisconsin’s
Japanese teachers (16.5 FTE positions) fall into this category.
There are 5.4 FTE positions filled by teachers that fall under the“not highly qualified” categorization. Two individuals are licensed
for different grade levels, two have licenses from other states,
and two have emergency licenses. The state department of public instruction is working with these individuals and their institutions to bring them to full licensure and into the “highly qualified”
category.

Another way to view the data is that for the two years statedenrollment steadily declined at the secondary level. In both
years, roughly three hundred students who had studied
Japanese in grades 6-8 abandoned their studies of Japanese
upon reaching high school. Addressing this attrition rate should
be a priority for maintaining Japanese programs around thestate. It may well be that the curricular challenges posed by the

Enrollment in Japanese language programs in Wisconsin is
steady. While we are challenged by the successes of our FLES
programs as well as the shortcomings in articulation, we work tomeet these curricular challenges. Our teachers continue to bequalified and committed educators. The state of Japanese education in Wisconsin is healthy and progressing.

20

AATJ’s 2004 Summer Institute in Japan
By Susan Schmidt
direction of Project Director Yasu-Hiko Tohsaku (University ofCalifornia- San Diego) include a sophisticated 15-minute video
introduction to transportation in Japan, illustrated reviews of verb
forms and sentence patterns, visits with Japanese students intheir classrooms and at leisure, a classroom unit on ecologically
conscious lifestyles, and a rich trove of photographs and films.
These materials will be available for use by other teachers. For
information please contact Susan Schmidt, AATJ’s Executive
Director, at susan.schmidt@colorado.edu.

As part of its mission, the Alliance of Associations of Teachers ofJapanese (AATJ) works to offer teachers professional development opportunities. One such opportunity in the summer of 2004
was a month-long Language, Culture, and Technology Institute inJapan for non-native-speaking K-12 teachers. Thirteen teachers
from around the US spent three weeks in residence at the JapanFoundation’s Japanese-Language Institute in Urawa, Saitama,
studying language, visiting local schools and other cultural institutions, and developing media-based materials for use in theirclassrooms and to share with others. Before leaving for Japan,
the group reviewed the basics of classroom technology at theJapan Foundation Center in Los Angeles, where they gatheredagain after returning from Japan to edit and finalize their materials and meet with other teachers at the First Symposium onJapanese Language Education in the US.

The Alliance is grateful to the Japan Foundation’s Urawa and Los
Angeles offices for their cooperation in making the Summer
Institute a success. Funding was provided by the japan
Foundation, the US Department of Education's Fulbright-Hays
Group Project Abroad program, and the Shoyu Foundation ofJapan.

The materials developed by the Institute’s participants under the

Applied Technology for Japanese Teachers: My Summer Experience
By Carolyn Lyson, Annie Wright School, Tacoma WA, USA
Over the course of the institute, we were working toward our final
happyo, where we would present our primary project to take backwith us. The presentations of these projects were very exciting and it was an added challenge to me to have to do it inJapanese! It is a rare occasion when I can use my language at a‘professional’ level, and though intimidating, it was a great experience. I know in truth that I took away much more from these presentations than I put in myself, and I am so glad that we all wereable to share the fruits of our hard work. The projects were asdiverse as the group, and represented a broad spectrum of technology usages.

This past summer, thanks to the Japan Foundation and ATJ, I
was able to attend the “Language and Technology Institute inJapan for Language Teachers” held in Saitama, Japan and Los
Angeles, USA. I would heartily recommend it to any Japaneseteacher who is attempting to use various forms of technology inthe classroom, no matter what your level of expertise.
When I left for the institute at the end of June I was a bit apprehensive. Though I had experimented with digital video in myclassroom and built a simple website for my students to use, I
had by no means mastered the use of either - and I had far morequestions to ask than I had advice to give. However, I found thatthe combination of group-oriented lectures on a variety of tech
topics and individual projects related to our own situations wasan ideal mix.

My own project involved the use of video in teaching aboutjikoshokai. Over the course of my time at the institute, I learned
how to film and edit digital video using my own equipment andthe software available to me. I purchased some missing pieces a mic that would plug into the camera, for instance - and generally worked out a smooth system for making successful recordings.
In the end, though I did create something somewhat useful to myteaching, the product was less exciting to me than the skills I
developed for future work. I now have my students create videos
on a regular basis to place in their digital portfolios.

Our group was comprised of non-native teachers from the USA,
Canada and England. We were quite diverse in our backgrounds,
as teachers, as technology users and as individuals. In someways, the best part of the institute was the connections I madewith these people. We not only collaborated during the program
itself, but we are still sharing our work as it progresses, and I
expect we shall continue to do so.

My only regret at the end of the program was that I did not havemuch time to process what I learned during the institute. It isnearly November and I still have not made additional edits on the
major project I produced! However, as so many of my ‘little, burning questions’ about day-to-day applications of technology wereanswered - and, as I mentioned above, I was able to put together
my own set of gear for recording and practice extensively during
my time at the institute - I have found the day-to-day flow of mytechnology-dependent lessons has proceeded much moresmoothly this fall. In all, it was one of the most beneficial andmeaningful teaching seminars I have attended in my career.

The institute began at the Japan Foundation office in Los
Angeles. We spent a few days boning up on basic video skills
and learning about resources available to us. We also talked
about the shape the Japan segment of the program would take,and made preliminary plans for how we would use our time there.
Once in Japan, we again were hosted by the Japan Foundation;
this time at their campus in Saitama. We had three intenseweeks (read: no free time!) of technology lectures, applied projects, school visits and Japanese courses. We also enjoyed ‘field
trips’ to the Ghibli Museum in Mitaka, and to Tono and vicinity in
Iwate Prefecture, and had four days of free travel time at the endof the coursework.
21

Japanese Language-Related Grant Recipientsfor the Fiscal Year 2004/2005
Lauren Lustig, Syosset High School (NY)
Lucinia D. Eubanks, Ann Arbor Trail Magnet Middle School(MI)
Lucy Miyagawa, John F. Kennedy High School (CA)Patrick Bencke, Menomonie High/Middle School (WI)
Sandra P. Garcia, Forest Grove High School (OR)Valerie Manakawa, Rutgers Preparatory School (NJ)

1. Support Program for Japanese Language Courses
Abroad – Salary AssistanceNo awards made2. Support Program for Japanese Language Courses Abroad– Support for Courses
Portland Public Schools (OR)
Volcano School of Arts & Sciences (HI)8. Japanes Language Program for Postgraduate
Students/Researchers at the Japanese –Language
Institute, Kansai, Japan
Hwei-Shuan Feng, John Hopkins University (MD)

3. Support Program for Developing Networks
Alliance of Associations of Teachers of Japanese (CO)4. Japanese Speech Contest Support Program
Arizona Association of Teachers of Japanese (AZ)
Association of Florida Teachers of Japanese (FL)
California Association of Japanese Language Teachers (CA)California State University-Los Angeles (CA)Hokka Nichibei-Kai (CA)Hyogo Business & Cultural Center (WA)Japan-America Society of Greater Detroit & Windsor (MI)Louisiana Association of Teachers of Japanese (LA)The Japan America Society Georgia (GA)The Japan America Society in Texas (TX)The University of Iowa (IA)United Japanese Society of Hawaii (HI)
University of Alaska-Anchorage (AK)University of Colorado-Boulder (CO)9. Japanese Language Teaching Materials Donation
Program
Pre-Collegiate & Public Organizations:
Arrowsmith Academy (CA)Bear Creek High School (CO)Bert Lynn Middle School (CA)Bloomington High School (IN)
Crystal Lake Middle School (CA)
Culver City Middle School (CA)Eau Claire North High School (WI)
Fulmore Middle School (TX)
George Washington High School(CA)Gladstone High School (OR)
Grant High School of Portland Public Schools (OR)Gyofukan (ID)
Hull Middle School (CA)Jan Ken Po Gakko (CA)John Stanford International School (WA)Liberty High School (OR)
Marble Hill School for International Studies (NY)Miller Middle School (CA)Mission San Jose High School (CA)Monte Vista High School (CA)
Moses Brown Upper School (RI)
Otay Ranch High School (CA)Patrick Henry High School (CA)
Ponce De Leon Middle Community School (FL)
Richmond Elementary School (OR)San Gabriel First United Methodist Church (CA)Shakunage Cultural Center (MI)Sunset High School (OR)Valley Christian High School (CA)Valparaiso High School (IN)
Winston Churchill Middle School (CA)

5. Assistance Program for Japanese Language Teaching
Materials
Eastern Michigan University (MI)6. Japanese Language Education Fellowship Program
The University of Iowa (IA)7. Training Programs for Japanese Language Teachers at
the Japanese-Language Institute, Urawa, Japan
1) Long-Term Training Program
No awards made2) Short-Term Training Program (Winter Course)
No awards made3) Short-Term Training Program (Summer Course)
Jenifer Smiley, Washington Middle School (WA)Mahua Bhattacharya, Elizabethtown College (PA)Collegiate Organizations:
Appalachian State University (HI)
Boston University (MA)
Dickinson College (PA)Florida International University (FL)
Kauai Community College (HI)
Palomar College (CA)University of California- Berkeley (CA)University of Nevada- Reno (NV)
University of Wisconsin, Eau Clair (WI)
William Paterson University of New Jersey (NJ)
Winona State University (MN)

4) Zaigai (Japanese Abroad)No awards made5) Three-Week Summer Intensive Training Course for
Teachers from the U.S., Canada, and U.K.
Anita Bieker, Lindbergh High School (WA)
Carolyn Hawes Lyson, Annie Wright School (WA)
Hui-Ling Haldeman, International Preparatory School (OH)
Jaci Collins, Manitowoc Public School District (WI)
Jennifer Pedersen, Crestridge School of International Global
Studies (NE)
Jessica Summers, Arcadia High School (CA)Joanne Delaney Shaver, Henrico County Public Schools (VA)
22

Conference / Workshop Calendar 2005
January

April

6-8
The Language Acquisition resource Center Symposium,"Saving the Less Commonly Taught Languages" will be held at
the Doubletree Hotel in San Diego, California. For more information visit http://larcnet.sdsu.edu/hlas.php

14-17 CLTA (California Language Teachers' Association)
Conference will be held at the DoubleTree Hotel, Ontario, CA.
Registration forms and registration information is now available
online at http://www.clta.net/conference/confindex.html

8
WATJ General Meeting and professional development
workshop at Lincoln High in Seattle, WA. Visit www.watj.org for
more information.

15-17 National Councilof Organizations of Less Commonly
Taught Languages (NCOLCTL) Conference will be held in
Madison, Wisconsin. For more information visit www.councilnet.org

10-11 The first event of 2005 to kick off the Year of Languages
in the US will be the National Language Policy Summit: An
American Plan for Action!, an international videoconference withparticipants from education, government, and business focusing
on the issues surrounding language policies in America. Monday,
January 10, 9 am-5 pm EST; Tuesday, January 11, 2005, 9 am12 noon EST. For more information visit
http://www.magnetmail.net/actions/email_web_version.cfm?recipi
ent_id=14998600&message_id=65086&user_id=ACTFL

May
17-21 CALICO 2005, CALL (Computer Assisted Language
Learning) and the Year of Languages: Critical Needs conference
will be held in East Lancing, MI. For more information visit
http://www.calico.org/conference/index.html

June

15
The Society for Teaching Japanese as a Foreign
Language will hold the Third On-Line IT Training Course forJapanese Instructors will be held starting Jan. 15, 2005 for 8
weeks. The details of the course will be found at
http://wwwsoc.nii.ac.jp/nkg/kenshu/kensyu-2004nendo-it.htm

2-4
The Voice and Vision in Language Teacher Education
Fourth International Conference will be held at the RadissonMetrodome Hotel in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The deadline forsubmission of proposals for papers and symposia was November
30, 2004. More information can be found at
http://www.carla.umn.edu/conferences/LTE2005/call.html

29
IATJ Winter Professional Development Workshop at Elk
Grove High School (IL). For more information, please contact
kumiko78@msn.com

4-5
IJET-16, the latest installment in the series ofInternational Japanese/English Translation conferences, will beheld at the Westin Chicago in Chicago, Illinois, USA. (For more
information about the IJET conferences, please see
http://www.jat.org/ijet/. For information about the Westin Chicago,please see http://www.westinchicago.com/. The IJET-16
Organizing 3Committee is now accepting proposals for presentations and panel discussions at IJET-16.

February
5
Surviving and Thriving in a Changing Environment:
Current Issues in K-16 Chinese & Japanese Language Teaching
will be held 9:00 am - 4:30 pm at 206 Ingraham Hall, Universityof Wisconsin-Madison. http://polyglot.lss.wisc.edu/east/eas.html

20-July 1 The National Foreign Language Resource Center(NFLRC) at the University of Hawaii at Manoa is pleased toannounce a 2005 Summer Institute workshop: Designing
Effective Foreign Language Placement Tests (at the University of
Hawai'i at Manoa) http://nflrc.hawaii.edu/prodev/si05p/

March
5
WATJ Conference will be at University Prep in Seattle.
www.watj.org

25-26 The Seventh Annual International Conference of theJapanese Society for Language Sciences will be held at Sophia
University, Tokyo, Japan. Submission guidelines are available on
the JSLS 2005 website at http://www.cyber.sccsu.ac.jp/JSLS/JSLS2005/cfp-e.htm

10-12 The 2005 Year of Languages Central States
Conference will be held at the Hyatt Regency in Columbus Ohio.
For more information, please visit http://www.centralstates.cc.
12Maryland Foreign Language Association (MFLA) 2005
Spring Conference will be held at McDaniel College Westminster,
Maryland. For more information, please contact
mesa@mcdaniel.edu

July24-29 The 14th World Congress of Applied Linguistics (AILA2005), hosted by the American Association for Applied
Linguistics, will be held in Madison, Wisconsin. Full details areavailable on the conference web site at http://www.aila2005.org/

19-20 Georgia Institute of Technology, School of Modern
Languages, and GT-CIBER will sponsor the Twentieth Annual
Meeting of the Southeastern Association of Teachers ofJapanese. A highlight of the conference will be a keynote
address by Professor Chikako Shinagawa of the University ofCalifornia, Santa Barbara. http://japanese.gatech.edu/seatj/

August5-10 FLEAT 5, the Foreign Language Education andTechnology Conference will be held in Provo, UT. For more information, please visit http://ce.byu.edu/cw/fleat5/

24-26 Emerging Technologies in Teaching Languages andCultures , the 7th annual DigitalStream Conference will be heldat
California
State
University
MontereyBay.
http://wlc.csumb.edu/digitalstream/

8-19 The National Foreign Language Resource Center(NFLRC) at the University of Hawaii at Manoa is pleased toannounce a 2005 Summer Institute workshop: Japanese for Nonnative Teachers (online) http://nflrc.hawaii.edu/prodev/si05j/

31
The Association of Teachers of Japanese (ATJ) 2005
Seminar will take place in Chicago in conjunction with the annual
meeting of the Association for Asian Studies (AAS). Professional
Development SIG is calling for papers or a panel. Information
about ATJ Seminar 2005 is available at http://www.japaneseteacihng.org/ATJseminar/2005/
23