Learning Learning 『学習の学習』22 (1): local Get Together Reports

Getting Connected: Local Get-Together Reports
from Kansai,Tokyo, and Hiroshima
つながりを求めて：関西・東京・広島
Tokyo Get-together Report: Plans for2015

We also hope to work with you towards
hosting a second CCLT informal conference inDecember.

Our last get-together of 2014 featured theCreating Community: Language Together(CCLT) Conference. We felt blessed because of
the high involvement of both students andJapanese and non-Japanese teachers. For2015 we’ve made plans to have five gettogethers this year at Otsuma Women'sUniversity on April 19, May 24, June 28,
October (TBA), and December (TBA). We hopethat many people will be able to take part inthese meetings this year.
When the three of us met in March todiscuss ideas for the 2015 get-togethers, wereflected on the December event and cameback to questions of creating community. We
felt that it would be interesting in 2015 totake such questions as a common focus forpart of each get-together this year.
Our hopes are that this year’s gettogethers will involve:• working in pairs and small groups aroundpractitioner research into learnerdevelopment issues that interest get-together
participants;• developing together different
understandings of community building;• exploring broader issues to do with critical
approaches to education;• writing reflectively about the different gettogether discussions and learner development
explorations that participants engage in overthe course of the year.

Visit our webpage for more details about
Tokyo Get-togethers. (<http://tokyogettogethers.blogspot.jp>)

Andy Barfield, Ken Ikeda & Ágnes Patkó

Please join us this year!

LD Get-together Report: Kansai
Brandon KramerThe Kansai chapter has had some difficulty
getting together over the past year, and could
use your help! If you or anyone you know
would like to help lead the Kansai events send
us a message. Co-coordinators are also
welcome!
A few ideas for possible events include:

学習者ディベロプメント研究部会 <ld-sig.org/>•Organizing meetings with local area
chapters. Events with the Kobe chapter
have been very successful in the past,
but meeting with Osaka, Kyoto, andNara are also possible.

•Practical workshops where members
work together to brainstorm solutionsto classroom issues and other questions
related to student autonomy.

•Holding a workshop as part of anotherevent, either Chapter or SIG-related.

•A possible online meeting using Skypeor Google Hangouts.

6Learning Learning 『学習の学習』22 (1): local Get Together Reports
In the meantime, keep an eye out for an eventat the Osaka Back-To-School event in April.
If you are interested in helping, please do nothesitate to get intouch! <brandon.l.kramer@gmail.com>

2014 Hiroshima Get-together Report
Jim Ronald
We have not met for our Hiroshima LD gettogethers for two or three months, so our lackof getting together is all we have to report
this time. Which is a shame, as the various
benefits—reminders that this is time wellspent—are so obvious to us get-together
regulars. We share the various learnerdevelopment-related projects or activities weare involved in; share, read, and discuss
papers on learner autonomy or self-directed
learning; talk informally about various work(or not work-) related matters; encourage
each other in various ways; and become closer
friends.
At the same time, I've noticed thatmany of the people who join the get-togethers
are among the busiest people I know: working
on postgraduate degrees, conducting
research, helping with JALT or otherorganizations, with young children... And
working too! As coordinators of the Hiroshima
LD get-togethers, Ariel Sorensen and I both hit
a very busy patch, too, the first three months
or so of this year, and hardly noticed that no
get-togethers were happening. We are looking
forward to starting up again, on the last
Friday evening or Saturday afternoon of May.
If you are interested in joining us, you would
be very welcome! Watch out for details onHiroshima JALT's website or contact me, Jim
Ronald, directly: jmronald@gmail.com.

LDSIG Publications Available Online
Collaborative Learning in Learner Development
Published in 2014, and edited
by Tim Ashwell, Masuko
Miyahara, Steven Paydon andAlison Stewart. Twelve
chapters offer a multifacetedand critical new look at thewidely held assumption thatpeople learn best in groups.
Available here.
Learner Development Working Papers:
Different Cases, Different Interests.
Published in 2014, and editedby Andy Barfield and AikoMinematsu. Nine chaptersoffer multiple, andunexpected, criticalperspectives on the learnerdevelopment issues that itdeals with. Available online
here or in print here
Autonomy You Ask!
Published in 2003, and editedby Andy Barfield and Mike
Nix. Sixteen chapters ofJapan-based collaborative
research explore learner andteacher autonomy within
Japanese contexts. Available
here >

Learning Learning Archives

Newsletter of the JALT Learner Development SIG <ld-sig.org/>

Issues of Learning Learning
going all the way back to 1994
are now available in PDF
format here:.

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