AUGUST 2020

VOL. 9, NO. 3

AATJ
NEWSLETTER
Message from the President
全米日本語教育学会

会員の皆様

残暑お見舞い申し上げます。秋学期が既に始まっているところ、
これから始まるところ、１００％オンラインで始まるところ、対面との組み合わせになるところ等、状況は様々かと思いますが、皆さんお元気にお過ごしであることをひとえに願っております。
毎年8月上旬には、蝉時雨の中で行われる広島・長崎での原爆死没者慰霊式並びに平和祈念式典の映像を目にし、歴史の重みを感じさせられるのが常ですが、今年は戦後75年ということに重ね、100

Junko Mori

年に一度の規模と言われるパンデミックの中で迎える夏となり、

森純子

成長期に生まれ育った私たちの世代にとって、今回のコロナ禍

感慨もまた一入というところなのではないでしょうか。戦後高度は、その及ぼす社会的、経済的、精神的な打撃、そして先の見えなさという点において、人生で最も困難な事態と言えるかもしれま

せん。さらに、アメリカでは、コロナ問題に加え、黒人差別問題に対する抗議デモ、秋の大統領選挙に向けての様々な政治的動き、と混乱を極めた世情が続いております。このような中でどのように教育に取り組んで行くのか、若き人々を導いて行くのか、どのように自身の心の平静を保って行くのか…。
そんなことを考えている中、『いのちの深呼吸』というドキュメンタリー映画を観る機会がありました。ご存知の方もいらっしゃるかと思いますが、アメリカ人女性ラナ・ウィルソン監督が、自殺防止活動に取り組む一人の僧侶を３年半にわたって密着取材して作り上げた作品で、2017年に発表されたものです。大禅寺（岐阜県関市）の住職・根元一徹さんは東京のサラリーマン家庭で育った
元パンク・ロッカー。そうした異色のバックグラウンドを生かしての様々な取り組みは、従来のやり方に縛られず人と繋がり、サポートしていく試みを追及せざるを得ない私たちの今の状況に繋が1

AUGUST 2020

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るものを感じました。この映画の視聴をきっかけに、調べてみたところ、この大禅寺だけではな
く、日本全国の様々なお寺が現在オンライン座禅会なるものを開催しているようです。私自身は、
まだオンライン座禅会には参加しておりませんが、感化され、チベット製のお鈴を購入してしまいました。お鈴の音色と裏庭の虫の音に癒されながら、心のゆとりを持てるようにし、9月からの新学期に備えたいと思っているところです。
さて、以下、AATJ並びに関係学会の活動状況について、簡単にまとめたいと思います。様々な天災・人災による困難の続く中、会員の皆様の教育研修・研究発表の場への参加意欲は止まることな
く、夏の間も様々な活動がバーチャルで開催されました。後続の記事に詳細は報告されております
が、北米における日本語教育界においての初の１００％バーチャル学会としてThe 28th Central
Associa9on of Teachers of Japanese Conference (CATJ 28) がミネソタ州のマカレスター大学の主催によって５月30日・31日に開催されました。奇しくもその数日前に同州で白人警官によるジョージ・フロ
イド氏の殺害が起こり、抗議デモが暴徒化する中での開催となりましたが、入念な準備と冷静沈着な態度で臨んでくださった鈴木聡子大会委員長、および他のマカレスター大学の教官・スタッフ陣のおかげで、大成功の学会となりました。
３月、全米の教育機関が突如オンライン化せざるを得ないという前代未聞の状況に陥る中、会員の方々の緊急対応をサポートするという目的で始まったAATJウェビナー・シリーズは、夏の間も２、３週間に一度のペースで開催され、毎回多くの方々にご参加いただきました。ウェビナーの開催にあたっては、国際交流基金ロザンゼルス日本文化センターにご支援いただきましたこと、ここに謝意を表します。また、シリーズの企画・運営にご尽力いただいた斎藤アボット佳子先生（カリフォ
ルニア州立大学モントレーベイ校）に感謝いたします。ウェビナーは引き続き、秋にも定期的に開催していく予定です。

また、例年11月にACTFLの一部として開催されてきたAATJ年次秋季大会も、やむなく規模を大幅に縮小してのバーチャル学会という形になってしまいました。形態変更に伴う諸々の対応には、魚立康夫先生（フロリダ大学）、政井孝幸先生（ワシントン州グラハム・カパウソン高校）、徳田淳子先生（カリフォルニア大学サンディエゴ校）にご尽力いただきました。通常秋季大会で行われていた
表彰式、AATJの活動報告等につきましては、ウェビナー・シリーズの中に随時取り込んでいく形で実現させる予定でおります。さらに、今秋予定されていた香港・マカオでの日本語教育国際研究大会の延期に伴い、日本語教育学会・国際連携員会が中心となり、世界の日本語教育従事者をつなぐイベントを企画したいと動いてくださっています。AATJからは、国際連携員でもある佐藤慎司先生（プリンストン大学）と、この春Facebook上に「Covid-19と日本語教育」というグループを立ち上げ
世界的な情報交換の促進の場を作ってくださった塙由起子先生（ニューヨーク大学）に代表として
この企画の話し合いに参加していただいております。
一方、AAS（アジア研究学会）の会場を借りて毎年開催しているAATJ年次春季大会についても、2021年3月の開催に向け、ナズキアン富美子先生（コロンビア大学）、森美子先生（ジョージタウン
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AUGUST 2020

VOL. 9, NO. 3大学）、河合見恵子先生（ヴァージニア大学）のリーダーシップの下、企画が進んでおります。AASとしては現在ハイブリッド、オンラインの可能性も視野に入れつつ、シアトルで対面の学会を開催する方向で検討中とのことで、AATJとしても、AASの動向に合わせ柔軟な姿勢で準備を進めていくことが求められています。
最後に三つほど、新たな取り組みについてご報告がございます。まず一つは、日本語名誉学生団体（JNHS）の活動を促進するために、小林公美先生（カリフォルニア州ロスガトス高校）、ホリー・
ディディオーグレン先生（ニュージャージー大学）にそれぞれ中等教育部門、高等教育部門のディレクターを務めていただくことになりました。次にAATJ生涯功労賞についてですが、ノミネーショ
ンの手続きをAATJウェブサイトに公開いたしましたので、推薦したい方がいらっしゃる場合はそちらをご覧になり、11月30日の締め切りまでに、資料を揃えていただければと思います。最後にAATJとしてのダイバーシティ（多様性）・インクルージョン（包括性）への取り組みを本格化するため、タスクフォースを設立することにいたしました。秋の半ばまでにはメンバーを決めたいと思っておりますので、候補として検討すべき方の提案（自薦・他薦問わず）をお待ちしております。
では、皆さまのご健勝ご活躍を祈念し、筆を擱くことにいたします。
２０２０年８月７日

会長

森

純子

Dear Members of the American Associa2on of Teachers of Japanese,

I hope you had a chance to enjoy the summer despite everything that has happened in the world.
For some, the fall semester might have already started, whereas for others, this might be a crunch
9me for last-minute prepara9on. What your “classroom” looks like might also vary considerably.
Regardless, I sincerely hope that you all are staying healthy.
Every year, early August brings a 9me of reﬂec9on of the heaviness of history, prompted by theimages of the Atomic Bomb Vic9ms Memorial Ceremony and Peace Memorial Ceremony held in
Hiroshima and Nagasaki, accompanied by the sound of cicadas. This year, these images seem totrigger even deeper thoughts given that it marks the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II andthat we are suﬀering from this once-in-a-century pandemic. For our genera9on who were born andraised during the post-war high economic growth period, this pandemic might be the hardest
circumstance that we have ever endured for its social, economic, and psychological impacts and theunpredictability of the future. In addi9on to the pandemic, the U.S. has been shaken by Black Lives
Ma^er protests, as well as various poli9cal ac9vi9es leading up to the November presiden9al
elec9on. Under such a condi9on, how should we approach educa9on and guide our students? And
how could we maintain our own peace of mind? …
When I was pondering on these ques9ons, I happened to encounter a documentary ﬁlm en9tled,
The Departure. Some of you might know, but this ﬁlm released in 2017 was created by American
director Lana Wilson, who spent three and a half years closely following a monk who dedicates

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himself to suicide preven9on. Mr. I^etsu Nemoto, head priest of Daizenji (City of Seki, Gifu
Prefecture), is a former punk-rocker who was raised in a salaryman family in Tokyo. Watching theﬁlm, I found his various ini9a9ves informed by his unique background inspiring, especially giventhat we now face the situa9on where we have tocome up with new strategies to connect with,and support, peers and students without relying
on our conven9onal methods. Intrigued by theﬁlm, I surfed the internet and realized that not
only Daizenji but also many other temples
throughout Japan now host online zazen
sessions. I haven’t tried one yet, but it promptedme to purchase a Tibetan singing bowl for myhome use. With the help of serene sound of thebowl and crickets chirping in the backyard, I am
trying to calm my mind in prepara9on for the
new semester to begin in September.
Now, I would like to provide a brief highlight of ac9vi9es that AATJ and related associa9ons haveengaged in this summer, or are planning for the fall. Despite the series of natural and humancaused disasters, AATJ members have remained highly mo9vated to par9cipate in workshops andpresent their research, as evidenced by a number of virtual events held over the summer. For
instance, the 28th Central Associa9on of Teachers of Japanese Conference (CATJ 28) was held on
May 30th and 31st as the ﬁrst 100% virtual conference on Japanese-language educa9on in North
America. The conference took place during the 9me when the protests triggered by the police
killing of George Floyd turned violent in the vicinity of the host ins9tu9on, Macalester College in
Minnesota. Despite the challenges, the conference organizer, Professor Satoko Suzuki, and theteam of Macalester faculty and staﬀ led this conference to a great success with thoroughprepara9on and calm demeanor.
The AATJ webinar series that started in late March for the purpose of suppor9ng AATJ members to
respond to the abrupt shig to remote delivery con9nued during the summer. The sessions, oﬀered
every two to three weeks, have a^racted a large number of par9cipants. On behalf of theassocia9on, I would like to express our sincere gra9tude towards the Japan Founda9on, Los
Angeles, who sponsored this series. We also thank Professor Yoshiko Saito-Abbo^ for her 9relesswork in planning and coordina9ng these sessions. We plan to oﬀer webinars in the fall as well.
As you may know by now, our annual fall conference, held in conjunc9on with ACTFL in November,will be scaled down and oﬀered virtually. The conference organizing team, consis9ng of Yasuo
Uotate (University of Florida), Takayuki Masai (Graham-Kapowsin High School, WA) and Junko
Tokuda Simpson (UC San Diego), worked hard to manage various adjustments that we had to maketo the original plan. The contents of our general mee9ng typically held during ACTFL, such as theaward ceremony and announcements regarding AATJ ac9vi9es, will be distributed among diﬀerent
sessions of our fall webinar series. Further, following the decision to postpone the Interna9onal

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Conference on Japanese Language Educa9on, scheduled to be held in Hong Kong and Macau thisfall, the Society for Teaching Japanese as a Foreign Language (日本語教育学会, NKG) in Japan is
now leading a discussion to organize some virtual events to connect a global network of Japaneselanguage educators. We have appointed Shinji Sato (Princeton University), who has already been amember of the NKG’s commi^ee, and Yukiko Hanawa (New York University), who established and ismanaging the Facebook group en9tled “Covid-19と日本語教育”, as AATJ representa9ves for this
discussion.
In the mean9me, the planning of the annual spring conference to be held in March 2021 inconjunc9on with the Associa9on of Asian Studies (AAS) conference has also been underway, thanks
to the leadership of Fumiko Nazikian (Columbia University), Yoshiko Mori (Georgetown University)and Mieko Kawai (University of Virginia). AAS is currently planning to hold an in-person mee9ng in
Sea^le, while exploring means to make the conference hybrid or en9rely online depending on thestate of the pandemic. AATJ also needs to remain ﬂexible in adjus9ng our plans by closely
monitoring AAS’s decisions.
Finally, there are three new ini9a9ves to report. First, in order to promote ac9vi9es associated with
the Japanese Na9onal Honor Society, we have appointed Kumi Kobayashi (Los Gatos High School,CA) and Holly HK Didi-Ogren (The College of New Jersey) as co-directors. Second, we haveestablished the procedures for nomina9on of AATJ Life9me Achievement awardees. Please review
the AATJ website for details and submit your nomina9on materials by the November 30th deadline.
Finally, in order to explore ways to improve AATJ’s capacity to address issues concerning diversity
and inclusion, we have decided to form a diversity and inclusion task force. Our plan is to iden9fy
task force members by mid-fall, and so we welcome both self- and referral nomina9ons ofcandidates for this undertaking.
This is all for now. I will end here while wishing your health and prosperity for the coming semester.
August 7, 2020

Junko Mori, President

NFMLTA Grant Opportunities
The NFMLTA Travel Support Grant applica9ons for the fall cycle are now
being accepted at www.nfmlta.org and will close September 1, 2020.
The NFMLTA/MLJ Learning and Teaching Priori2es Grant applica9ons forthe fall cycle are now being accepted at www.nfmlta.org and willclose September 15, 2020.

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Message from the Vice President[副会長からのご挨拶]
会長、次期会長をサポートすべく活動している札谷新吾です。新学年を目前に授業の形態が対面なのか遠隔なのかまだお決まりでない先生方もいらっしゃるのではないでしょうか。いずれにせよ私たち現場の教師にとっては想像を大きく超えるような新たな挑戦が待ち受けているに違いありません。このような状況の中、教師一人一人が孤立することなく仲間の教師と悩みや情報を共有しながら克服していくために、AATJも学会として夏休み期間中から続けているウェビナーシリーズを継続してまいります。引き続きAATJからのEメールにご注目ください。また、過去に行われたウェビナーもAATJのホームページにて公開しております
のでよろしくお願い申し上げます。
5月にはオンラインでの日本語日本文化APテストは厳しい状況の中、例
年通りの受験者数で実施され、そのリーディング（採点）作業もオンラインで無事に終了することが出来ました。APテストの実施や採点に関わっていらっしゃる先生方、本当にありがとうございました。

Shingo森会長も触れていますが、かつて僕がディレクターを務めていた

Satsutani

JAPANESE NATIONAL HONOR SOCIETY にあってはニュージャージー州のオグレン先生（大学担当）とカリフォルニア州の小林先生（中学高校

札谷新吾担当）がその活性化を目指して立ち上がってくださいました。
TEACHER AWARDの受賞者も秋の学会までには会員の皆様にご報告できる見込みです。
さて、今般の新型コロナウイルス感染の世界流行と相俟って様々な社会運動が活発になってきています。森会長が述べられているようにAATJもこの社会情勢に呼応すべく学会としての「多様性(Diversity)」と「包括性(Inclusivity)」への取り組みに関するタスクフォースを立ち上げることになりました。AATJ傘下の教師会の先生方のご協力をよろしくお願い申し上げます。
新型コロナウイルス感染制御措置による厳しい状況がしばらく続きますが、これを機会にさらにいっそう教師間の絆を深め、発展しながら乗り越えて前進しきましょう。
地方の教師会に属していらっしゃらない先生方やAATJの傘下に入っていない教師会の先生方のお話も聞かせていただきたいのでsatsutan@cod.eduまでいつでもご連絡ください。

SHINGO SATSUTANI, Vice President of AATJ
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VOL. 9, NO. 3

2020 Annual Conference at ACTFL 2020 Virtual
The 2020 AATJ Fall Conference will be held on November 20-22, in conjunc9on with the American
Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) Annual Conven9on and World Languages
Expo. The format this year will be virtual. All presenta9ons are pre-recorded and will either besimulive or available on demand. During simulive sessions, which occur on a speciﬁc schedule,a^endees will be able to view the pre-recorded content and interact with the presenter through achat feature. On demand sessions will be available to view any 9me throughout the conven9on
dates. All presenta9ons will be available for viewing ager the conven9on un9l December 31, 2020
(included in the registra9on fee). During the virtual conven9on, a^endees will be able to go into
the Exhibitor module to visit with any exhibitor. There will be dedicated break 9mes in theschedule for visi9ng virtual exhibits.
Registra2on

Registra9on Category

Early bird (by 9/16/20)

Regular (by 12/18/20)

Member$185$245

Non-Member

$285

$345

To register for the ACTFL Conven9on, please go to this Registra9on page and click the “Register
Online” bu^on.
If you are a current AATJ member, be sure to scroll down the ACTFL 2020 Virtual Registra2onpage and use “Conven2on Partner Organiza2on Registra2on” under Op2on 2 in order to registerat the lower member rate.
ACTFL S2pend Award Program

ACTFL will award a number of $100 s2pends to registrants who fall into several categories,
including ﬁrst-2me aVendees. Informa9on is available at the ACTFL S9pend Award Program
page. Applica9ons for the s9pend must be submi^ed by Wednesday, September 16,
2020. Please note: In order to apply for a s1pend, you must be a member of ACTFL (notjust a member of AATJ), and you must have already registered for the conference.
Applicants will be no9ﬁed of the decision by Friday, October 9, 2020. Applicants must have met all
the requirements before applying. Once your par9cipa9on in the ACTFL 2020 Virtual Conven9on is
veriﬁed, you will receive a $100 credit back to your original form of payment.

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VOL. 9, NO. 3

S2pend Categories:• First 9me a^endees who have never a^ended an ACTFL Annual Conven9on & World Languages
Expo• Individuals who iden9fy as Black, Indigenous, or People of Color (BIPOC)• New Teachers who are within the ﬁrst three years of their teaching career• Full-9me students in a college or university program (undergraduate or graduate level)
AATJ-Sponsored Sessions for the ACTFL 2020 Virtual Conven2on
AATJ plans to sponsor two simulive sessions (video with live presenters available for Q&A in a chatfeature during the session) and six on-demand sessions including three prac9ce-oriented paper
presenta9ons and three research-oriented paper presenta9ons. Because of the online format, thenumber of accepted papers and presenta9ons sessions has been greatly reduced from past inperson conven9ons. The list of AATJ-sponsored presenta9ons follows. There will also be a full lineup of ACTFL conven9on keynote speakers and general-interest sessions.
This year’s AATJ Teacher Award Ceremony and General Mee9ng will be held outside of the ACTFL
2020 Virtual Conven9on. We will no9fy members at a later date regarding these online events inthe fall.
Two Simulive Sessions
Re-Building Civics through the Lens of
a World Language Classroom
Clayton Frederick
Salinas Union High School District
Yo Azama
North Salinas High School
Mio Nishimura
Alisal High School
Michelle Lupisan
Cameron Chien
North Salinas High School(Language of presenta4on: English)

Entrepreneurship in the Japanese Classroom:
Crea2ng Thinkers and Doers
Junko Tokuda Simpson,Yasu-Hiko Tohsaku, and Izumi Takeda
University of California, San Diego(Language of presenta4on: Japanese)

Six On-Demand Sessions
Status of Implementa2on of Core Prac2ces by HSAP and College Teachers
Yoshiko Saito-Abbo^
California State University Monterey Bay
Kiyomi Chinen
California State University, Long Beach
Shingo Satsutani
College of DuPage(Language of presenta4on: Japanese)

Feedback That Actually Promotes Growth
Kumi Kobayashi
Los Gatos High School
Jeremy Kitchen
Lynbrook High School(Language of presenta4on: Japanese)

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VOL. 9, NO. 3

Six On-Demand Sessions
Learning beyond the Language through the
Implementa2on of Tasks in Class
Shinji Shimoura, Mako Nozu, and Chizuru Imase
University of South Florida(Language of presenta4on: Japanese)

Read, Read, Read!! Authen2c Materials forDiﬀerent Purposes
Junko Hosoi
Aragon High School(Language of presenta4on: Japanese)

AATJ Prac2ce-Oriented Paper Session
Session Chair: Yasuo Uotate, University of Florida

AATJ Research-Oriented Paper Session
Session Chair: Junko Tokuda Simpson, University ofCalifornia, San Diego
Strategies, Constraints and Priori2za2on in Teaching
Japanese Honoriﬁcs
Sanae Eda
Middlebury College
Misako Chapman
Cornell University(Language of presenta4on: Japanese)
A Discourse Analy2c Perspec2ve on the AP
Japanese Conversa2on Task
Nana Suzumura
California State University, Long Beach(Language of presenta4on: English)
An Analysis of Teacher-Student Interview
Conversa2ons on a Course Project
Kiyomi Kawakami
University of Colorado Boulder(Language of presenta4on: Japanese)Eﬀorts to Develop Social Jus2ce Themes into
Japanese Language Educa2on
Naemi McPherson
Brown University(Language of presenta4on: English)
Semester-Long Cultural Poraolio Project:
Development of Interculturality
Hiromi Takayama
Rice University(Language of presenta4on: English)
Cue Words: Promo2ng Self-Correc2on andCulture in Japanese Class
Karen Cur9n
Portland State University(Language of presenta4on: English)

Scholarships for US Students to Study atInternational Christian University in Tokyo
The United States Scholars Ini9a9ve (USSI) provides full-tui9on support for
four years of undergraduate study at Interna9onal Chris9an University,
Japan’s leading liberal arts ins9tu9on located in Tokyo.
Japan ICU Founda9on awards two scholarships annually. The online
applica9on opens on September 1 and runs un9l December 1, 2020, forscholarships beginning in 2021.
More informa9on is available at h^ps://www.jicuf.org/ussi.
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Meet the New Japanese National Honor Society Co-Directors
AATJ is very excited to introduce the new Co-Directors for JNHS, Kumi Kobayashi (pre-college) and
Holly Didi-Ogren (college). The mission of the Co-Directors is to provide leadership and guidance to
JNHS chapters, and to help foster a sense of community among JNHS members and teacher
sponsors across the US. Results from an AATJ survey earlier this year showed that 80% of teachers
who sponsor a JNHS chapter at their schools say that it has some or signiﬁcant impact on program
advocacy, but in the schools that don't have JNHS, one third say it's challenging to ﬁnd the 9me or
they're not sure how to get started. As JNHS co-directors, Kobayashi sensei and Didi-Ogren sensei
will be able to help with that. They are both ac9ve and enthusias9c believers in the power andvalue of Japanese Na9onal Honor Society, and are working on some great ideas to support andbring together the JNHS community.

Kumi Kobayashi, JNHS Co-Director (Pre-College)
この度、Japanese National Honor Society (JNHS) Co-DirectorとしてAATJのお手伝いをさせていただくことになりました、小林公美と申します。私はカリフォルニア州のロスガトス高校で教えておりますので、JNHSのPre-College Chapterを担当いたします。ロスガトス高校では、パートナーの原裕輝子先生と力を合わせて、生徒が中心となって動くように、JNHSの活動を盛り上げています。私がロスガトス高校に赴任したのは、２年前です。その前はサンホゼのリンブルック高校で教えておりました。ご存知の方も多いと思いますが、ロスガトス高校の日本語プログラムはPresident-Electのアン・ジョルダン先生が立ち上げられて、今年で２０周年を迎えるプログラムです。ジョルダン先生には退職されてからも、様々な面で頼りになるメンター・サポーターとして助けていただいております。
我が校のJNHSの活動を少し紹介致します。ここ３年毎年12月にHaiku Holiday Film Faireと題しまして、日本関係の映画祭を開催しています。学校の生徒や保護者をはじめとして、コミュニティの方にも、日本に興味を持ってもらったり、普段見ることのない日本の映画を楽しんでいただくイベントです。売り上げは、日本の里親支援NGOや近郊の山火事の被災者などに寄付しています。企
画、運営もJNHSのオフィサーとメンバーを中心に進めています。もちろん教員が道筋を示した
り、喝を入れる場合もあります。試行錯誤しながら生徒たちも団結し、イベントが無事に終了した
後には、JNHS自体がグループとして成長します。そのほかには、Feeder中学校に出向いて日本語プログラムを宣伝したり、日本の姉妹校が交換留学で訪れた際に交流活動をホストしたりしています。

10AUGUST 2020

VOL. 9, NO. 3

今年は、１００％リモートで新学年が始まります。通常のようなミーティングやイベントができな
い中、どのようにJNHSを盛り上げていけるのか、生徒と共にアイデアを出し合い、面白い企画を実行するつもりです。今後はJNHS Co-Directorとして様々な地域で活躍しているJNHSを紹介していきたい思っています。どうぞご協力お願いします。こんな時期だからこそ、コロナもびっくりして退散するぐらいの前向きさでがんばっていきましょう！

My name is Kumi Kobayashi, and I am excited to serve as AATJ’s newly appointed Co-director for
JNHS. I teach at Los Gatos High School (LGHS) in California and will be represen9ng the Pre-College
JNHS chapters. Keeping students as the focus, my fellow Japanese teacher, Yukiko Hara sensei, andI work closely together at Los Gatos High to create and maintain enthusiasm for JNHS. Before
coming to Los Gatos High two years ago, I taught at Lynbrook High School in San Jose. Some of you
may know this already, but the Japanese program at Los Gatos High was started by AATJ’s
President-elect, Ann Jordan, and is looking forward to its 20th anniversary next year. Although
re9red, Jordan sensei con9nues to be involved as a mentor and supporter.
I’d like to introduce a few of our JNHS chapter’s ac9vi9es. For the past three years, we have beenputng on the “Haiku Holiday Film Faire”, where we have screened ﬁlms related to Japan. It is an
event that promotes interest in Japan among not only students and parents, but also community
members, and to introduce them toJapanese ﬁlms that they might nototherwise have the opportunity tosee. The proceeds from the ﬁlm
fes9val have gone to support
organiza9ons such as the NGO Nihonno sato oya shien, and closer tohome, a fund to help vic9ms of theNorthern California ﬁres. The
planning, organiza9on, andpromo9on for this event is done by
the members and oﬃcers of JNHS,
with the two Japanese teachers providing guidance and encouragement, of course. The challenging
experience of putng on such an event through trial and error from start to ﬁnish, helps thestudents to bond and grow together as an organiza9on. In addi9on to the ﬁlm fes9val, JNHS does
outreach to the feeder middle schools to market and promote the high school Japanese programand plans cultural exchange events with visi9ng students from our sister school.
This year, with school star9ng 100% remote, we won’t be able to meet or put on events in theusual way, so together with the students, we plan to brainstorm engaging ac9vi9es and ways tomake them happen in this unique environment. As JNHS Co-director, I look forward to yoursupport in sharing news and ideas from JNHS chapters all around the US. Let our posi9ve, can-do
attude chase away the Corona virus!

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AUGUST 2020

VOL. 9, NO. 3

Holly Didi-Ogren, JNHS Co-Director (College)
As many of you are already aware, schools may establish their own Japanese Na9onal Honor
Society chapter annually, and students may be inducted into the society in recogni9on of theiracademic achievements in Japanese. As JNHS co-directors, Kobayashi-sensei and I hope to learn
more about what schools with JNHS chapters are already doing, to create a space for sharing ideas
related to JNHS, and to encourage schools to form their own chapters so that their students can berecognized at the na9onal level.
Before saying a bit about how the JNHS chapter at my own ins9tu9on has been working for the
past several years, let me ﬁrst give a bit of background about my professional self. I hold a joint
posi9on in the Department of World Languages and Cultures, and in the Sociology/Anthropology
Department at The College of New Jersey. I am the Japanese Program Director in the Department
of World Languages and Cultures, and teach courses on contemporary Japan and Linguis9cs in theSociology/Anthropology Department. I hold a PhD in Linguis9c Anthropology from the University ofTexas (Aus9n), and have been teaching Japanese language full 9me since 2001. The Japanese
Program at my ins9tu9on has been small but vibrant for many years, and we have been fortunate
to have academically strong students who could be inducted in the Japanese Na9onal Honor
Society every year since college chapters became an op9on. JNHS inductees have gone on to workin a variety of posi9ons related to Japan and Japanese: the JET Program, as bilingual editors in theworld of publishing, as ESL teachers in the greater New York City area, and as Japanese language
teachers.
As of academic year 2019-2020, Japanese is now also part of a new major in World Languages and
Linguis9cs. Japanese was not connected to any academic major prior to this, so this is watershed
moment for our Japanese Program. This has prompted colleagues in the major and myself toreconsider the func9on of JNHS, which heretofore has been a recogni9on of student achievementin Japanese shortly before they graduate, rather than (or in addi9on to) an honor society thatencourages inducted students to take a leading role in advoca9ng for academic ac9vi9es related toJapanese language and culture.
I look forward to hearing about what other ins9tu9ons are doing with their JNHS chapters, toexchanging ideas, and to promo9ng the study of Japanese through recogni9on of students who
have excelled academically in developing their language proﬁciency.

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AUGUST 2020

VOL. 9, NO. 3

Itching to get (back) to Japan with your students
but dreading the planning and contingencies?
With 30 years of experience, we can take care of all that! Join us for an October 2nd virtual info session
focused on the summer 2021 New Perspectives: Japan program and your needs. No time for an info session?
Follow the link and share your thoughts anyway. We want to hear from teachers like you!

Learn more and sign up today at laurasian.org/info.

A 2-week group study tour with homestays
and school visits, New Perspectives: Japan is a
program of Laurasian Institution and open to all
U.S. middle/high school students and teachers.

Accredited Travel Agency | Hassle-Free Cancellations
13

AUGUST 2020

VOL. 9, NO. 3

AATJ Lifetime Achievement Awards
The AATJ Life9me Achievement Awards honor living members of AATJ who have demonstrated alife9me of achievement in Japanese educa9on at the na9onal and interna9onal level. The award ispresented annually at the AATJ Annual Spring Conference, but it is intended to be awarded only
when there is a deserving candidate who meets strict criteria. The Life9me Achievement Award
may be given posthumously.
ELIGIBILITY:
Nominees for the AATJ Life9me Achievement Awards should meet the following criteria:Years of dis2nguished service: The award is for life9me achievement rather than for a one9me contribu9on, no ma^er how substan9al. Nominees should have a minimum of 25 years of
dis9nguished service to Japanese educa9on.
Areas of Dis2nc2on: The Life9me Achievement Award is presented for achievement inleadership, service, teaching, and research (in the case of a nominee who holds a posi9on inhigher educa9on). Dis9nc9on can be demonstrated through:• service to AATJ such as: oﬃces held, commi^ee memberships, special projects, mee9ngs,
publica9ons;• service beyond the requirements of the nominee’s job at the state, and na9onal/
interna9onal level;• crea9on of scholarly publica9ons, textbooks, and other relevant materials and programs
that have made signiﬁcant impact on Japanese educa9on at the na9onal/interna9onal
level.
Nominators may be anyone familiar with the nominee's career. Nominators must be current
members of AATJ. Current members of the AATJ board are not eligible to be nominated for thisaward. Nomina2ons should be kept conﬁden2al.
NUMBER OF AWARDS:
Normally, not more than two awards per year will be given.
NEXT NOMINATION DEADLINE:

November 30, 2020.

NOMINATION LETTER AND SUPPORTING MATERIALS:
Each nomina9on submission should be supported by a le^er of nomina9on and up to three le^ersof recommenda9on that speak to the nominee's dis9nc9on. The nomina9on (as one PDF
document) is to be submi^ed electronically to aatj@aatj.org by the deadline. Nomina9ons will be
kept on ﬁle and reconsidered each year for ﬁve years. Nomina9on materials may be updated
annually (op9onal). Nomina4ons may be withdrawn (by the nominators) at any 4me.
❏ LeVer of Nomina2on. The le^er of nomina9on should describe a^ributes and contribu9ons of
the nominee in the three areas of dis9nc9on listed above. It should also include the name, address,and email address of the nominee; the name, address, email address and signature of thenominator; and the names of the authors of the le^ers of recommenda9on.
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AUGUST 2020

VOL. 9, NO. 3❏ LeVers of Recommenda2on. Up to three le^ers of recommenda9on may be included. Le^ersof recommenda9on should focus on the quality rather than the quan9ty of the performance of thenominee, emphasizing the dis9nc9on of the nominee's performance.
Note: It is the nominator's responsibility to ensure that nomina4on submissions are complete withthe leDer of nomina4on and the leDers of recommenda4on. Incomplete packets greatly decrease anominee's chance of receiving the award. It is also the nominator’s responsibility to maintain the
conﬁden4ality of the nomina4on un4l the award review process completes.
SELECTION PROCESS:
A selec9on commi^ee of three members, which may include AATJ Board members, will be
appointed by the AATJ oﬃcers, and examines the dossiers submi^ed and chooses the recipient(s).
The past recipients of the AATJ Life9me Achievement Awards may be invited to serve on theselec9on commi^ee.
ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE RECIPIENTS:
Recipients are no9ﬁed by early January. An oﬃcial le^er from AATJ will be sent to the recipient, as
well as to the head of the recipient’s aﬃliated school or unit (e.g. Principal, Superintendent,
Department Chair, Dean). The announcement will be made in the AATJ Newsle^er and on the AATJ
Website. The 2020 awardee(s) will be recognized at the AATJ Spring Conference, to be held inMarch 2021.
PAST AWARDEES:
2015 Laurel Rasplica Rodd2017 Seiichi Makino
2019 Naomi Hanaoka McGloin

Gambarimasuku? Yes, Gambarimashita!
#みんなでがんばりマスク, an AAT/Japan Founda9on LA collabora9on was a great success!
Throughout the month of May, we received over 170 submissions from all over the US, including
mul9ple submissions from several students. Kyoko French sensei’s students from Southwest HighSchool in Minnesota were very enthusias9c par9cipants, with over 60 responses! All of thesubmissions were posted on JFLA’s Instagram page and included photos, original artwork,
anima9on videos, and even a rap from a CSU Monterey Bay student.
AATJ wishes to say a special thank you to JFLA’s Lena Kelly, whose management of the project and9ming of the posts kept interest and mo9va9on high. To view all of the clever, crea9ve, and ogeninspiring posts, just go to jﬂalc on Instagram and search back to May. Here are just a few. And
remember, we all s9ll need to #みんなでがんばりマスク！
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AUGUST 2020

VOL. 9, NO. 3

Hana Jacinto from CSU Monterey Bay says:֐ड़‫ࢯے‬͹ࢨྫ͗ड़ͱ͖Δ͕฾͠Ξ͹Պࣆ͗͏ͯ΍Ґ৏Ͷଁ͓ͪ͹Ͳঙ͢Ͳ΍घঁ͜Ͷ͵ΖΓ͑ͶϩϱώΝഛ͏Ήͪ͢ɽ͞Η͖Δड़པΖ͞ͳ͖Δघఽ͏Ήͤɽ͕฾͠Ξɼຘೖඔັ͢͏ྋཀྵΝࡠͮͱ͚Ηͱ͍Ε͗ͳ͑ʄ
#ΊΞ͵Ͳ͗ΞͻΕϜηέ
#japan #japaneselanguage #drawing #ill
ustration #photo #foreignlanguage#΢ϧηφ #ࣺਇ#͕͑ͬ࣎ؔ #stayathomewithJF

Maddie Tatum from Southwest HighSchool sent us a message: ࠕɼָߏͶߨͮͱͺ͏͜ΉͦΞɽͲ΍ຘೖ઎ਫ਼ͪ
ͬͳਫ਼ైͪͬ΍ҲॻͶͺͪΔ͏ͱ͏Ήͤɽࠕ‫ޢݶ‬Νห‫͢ک‬Ͷ͚͏ͲͤΓɽͨ͢ͱɼτέόϫζʖΝ࢘ͮͱɼॕୌΝ͢ͱɼਫ਼ై͹ΊΞ͵͗ΞͻΕϜηέ!Ή
Ͳ୉৐෋Ͷ͵ΕΉͤ͸ɽ#ΊΞ͵Ͳ͗ΞͻΕϜηέ
#japan #japaneselanguage#foreignlanguage #study #ห‫ک‬#͕͑ͬ࣎ؔ #stayathomewithJF

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AUGUST 2020

VOL. 9, NO. 3

Skye from Matthew C. Perry High School sent us a message: ࢴͺɼໂΝ‫ݡ‬Ζ͞ͳ͗ͳͱ΍୉ࣆͫͳࢧ͏Ήͤɽཀྵ༟ͺɼਕਫ਼͹஦ͲໂΝ‫͓א‬Ζࣆ͗ͮ͘ͳड़པΖͳ৶ͣͱ͏Ζ͖ΔͲͤɽʹΞ͵Ͷ‫ࣰݳ‬͗‫ͱͣ״ͳ͏͵͚؃‬΍ɼໂΝࢧ͏ड़ͤͳͮ͘ͳঙ͢Ͳ΍ΆΞ͹Εͳ‫ັ͏؃‬͹ਕਫ਼Ν‫͘Ͳݩܨ‬Ζ͖΍͢ΗΉͦΞɽ#ΊΞ͵Ͳ͗ΞͻΕϜηέ
#japan #japaneselanguage #foreignlanguage #illustration #drawing #΢ϧηφ #ֈ #͕͑ͬ࣎ؔ #stayathomewithJF

17

AUGUST 2020

VOL. 9, NO. 3■ JNTO 「ビジットジ パ

バ チ

セミナ 」のご案内

日本政府観光局(JNTO)、訪日外国人数 増加 向
取 組
一貫、日本語学習者
訪日教育旅行お留学 促進 取 組
い。
例年、American Council on The Teaching of Foreign Languages(ACTFL、全米外国語教師協会)が開催
言語 語学
開催時 、
(VJ)
出展、「朝食」開催
いが、今回 、独自 「
日本紹介
」
開催
頂き
。
、訪日教育旅行及 留学 受 入
熱心 日本 地方自治体 旅行会社
各種支援制度及 受 入 事例
紹介、
、日本 現状
後 「
」 おい
計画
い
触
頂 予定
。
、 う 奮
参加
い。

JNTO ビジットジ パ

バ チ

セミナ

開催日時: 12月03日(木) 西海岸時間16時～17時30分 東部時間19時～20時30分）
内容： 地方自治体等
教育旅行受 入 支援 事例 紹介、
「
おい
旅行計画」
対象： 全米 日本語教育 携
先生及 教育関係者
募集人数： 100名様
参加費： 無料
セミナ 参加ご希望の方は、下記へご登録ください。

https://sites.google.com/view/visit-japan-virtual-seminar/＜お問合 事前 質問連絡先＞
JNTO
US事務局
NTA America, Inc. E-mail：support@ntaamerica.com
受信後、E
連絡
頂き
。

18

AUGUST 2020

VOL. 9, NO. 3

2020 AP Japanese Exam Update
Ann Jordan, President-Elect

Otsukaresama to all of the AP teachers on making it through very unique and challenging
circumstances this past year. The AATJ is very grateful to Otani sensei and Dan Carolin sensei forclarifying the process, providing 9ps and strategies, and helping relieve some of the teacher
anxiety. The coming year is also uncertain, but looking ahead to preparing for the 2021 exam, we
have some news to share from the College Board. They are in the process of producing short video
presenta9ons by high school teachers that address the AP themes/skills and strategies forteaching. Dan Carolin sensei is coordina9ng those eﬀorts for Japanese and those videos will bemade available to teachers on AP Central. In addi9on, several college teachers will serve as guest
lecturers to provide AP students a taste of how these topics are addressed in a college classroom.
AATJ is commi^ed to helping to advocate for AP Japanese teachers and to support them as best wecan. Data collected from last year’s AATJ survey of the concerns of AP Japanese teachers wasshared directly with the AP Japanese Development Commi^ee and resulted in the forma9on of a
focus group that made several improvements to what was going to be this year’s exam experience.
Of course, the pandemic put all of that on pause as everyone was scrambling to ﬁgure out whatthe 2020 exam would be and how to deliver it with everyone sheltering at home.
If you aren’t already doing so, be sure to check the AP Japanese Online Community regularly fornews, resources, and to par9cipate in the discussion board:
AP Japanese Survey
We have prepared a very short survey to try to get a picture of this year’s exam experience forstudents as well as how we can best support AP teachers this coming year. Please respond to thesurvey by Sept. 22.

Advancing Our Teaching Practice: A Series of Coaching Videos
AATJ’s professional development team, with generous support from the Japan Founda9on-Los
Angeles, has produced a series of short videos demonstra9ng best prac9ces in the language
classroom. This series of short videos (approximately 15 minutes each), with Yoshiko Saito-AbboV,
PH.D, & Salinas, CA, Lead District Instruc2onal Coach Yo Azama, oﬀers a unique professional
development opportunity for Japanese language teachers. In the videos, experienced mentor
teachers demonstrate and explain research-based teaching prac9ces, with lessons and 9ps for
conduc9ng interpersonal tasks in the classroom. The topics of the videos are: (1) Designing andConduc9ng Oral Interpersonal Tasks; (2) Designing and Conduc9ng Oral Interpersonal Group Tasks;(3) Focusing on Form in a Dialogue Context Through PACE; (4) Focusing on Comprehensible Input;
and (5) Designing and Conduc9ng Interpersonal Communica9on Tasks. Learn why Japanese
language teachers are admired in the world language educa9on community, and adopt some of
their teaching prac9ces in your own classroom!
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AUGUST 2020

VOL. 9, NO. 3

AATJ Resources: Webinar Series on Remote Teaching
In March 2020, under the impact of the worldwide coronavirus pandemic, teachers around theworld made an emergency pivot to teaching their students online. Japanese language teachers
were no excep9on: at every level of instruc9on, from elementary school to college, they were
informed, ogen with only a few days’ no9ce, that they would be teaching remotely for theforeseeable future.
Japanese language educators rose to the occasion magniﬁcently. Those with experience teaching
online reached out to colleagues who lacked that experience with advice and mentoring. A
webinar organized in mid-March by a group of New England teachers a^racted 500 par9cipants
with 24 hours’ no9ce.
AATJ’s oﬃcers and directors sprung into ac9on as well. Under the leadership of President Junko
Mori and Professional Development Director Yoshiko Saito-AbboV, a spring/summer series ofwebinars began on March 28 and con9nued un9l August 8:
1. “Flying by the Seat of Your Pants: Crisis Teaching Without Sacriﬁcing Proﬁciency,” on March 28,
featured presenters Lauren Rosen (Director of the University of Wisconsin System Collabora9ve
Language Program) and Magara Maeda (Senior Lecturer of Japanese at University of WisconsinRiver Falls).
2. “Pivo9ng to Remote Assessment,” on April 11, featured presenters Cameron Chien, (North
Salinas High School, Salinas, CA); Asako Hayashi-Takakura (UCLA), and Suwako Watanabe(Portland State University, AATJ Past President).
3. “Remote Teaching for Younger Students,” on April 18, featured presenters Noriko Otsuka
VanKeuren (Fox Mill Elementary School, Fairfax County, VA) and Kazumi Yamashita-Iverson(Maloney Interdistrict Magnet School, Waterbury, CT).
4. “Social Emo9onal Learning in the Classroom,” on April 25, featured presenters Noah
Schechtman (Program Director of the Center for Wellness and Achievement in Educa9on)
and Margaret Peterson (Execu9ve Director of the California World Language Project and aformer Japanese language teacher).
5. “Preparing for the 2020 AP Japanese Exam: Key Info and Strategies,” on May 2, featured
presenters Koji Otani (Thomas Jeﬀerson High School, Alexandria, VA); Dan Carolin (Kennedy
High School, Cedar Rapids, IA); Ann Jordan (J-LEAP, AATJ President-Elect).
6. “Teaching Wri9ng Online: Hiragana, Katakana, Kanji,” on June 22, featured presenter Ellen
Bearn (formerly of Lehigh University, she has been teaching Japanese online to high school
students in Pennsylvania for over 10 years).
7. “Facing the New Normal in Fall 2020: Prac9cal Tools,” on July 7, featured presenter Magara
Maeda (Senior Lecturer of Japanese at University of Wisconsin-River Falls).
8. “Deeper Engagement in Learning,” on July 21, featured presenter Yo Azama (Lead Instruc9onal
Coach, Salinas (CA) Union High School District; 2012 ACTFL Teacher of the Year).
9. “Promo9ng Social Jus9ce and An9racism in Japanese Language Teaching,” on August 8, featured
presenters Ryuko Kubota (University of Bri9sh Columbia); Michelle Lupisan (Salinas HighSchool (CA); and Clayton Frederick (Evere^ Alvanez High School (CA).
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AUGUST 2020

VOL. 9, NO. 3

From early June onward, each hour-long webinar was followed by a 30-minute “coﬀee hour” inbreakout rooms where a^endees could con9nue discussing the issues and compare notes. The
webinars were a^ended in person by large numbers of AATJ members and others; a^endance
ranged from 150 to 300+ a^endees. All of the webinars were recorded; video recordings, as well
as PPT ﬁles and transcripts of the chat discussions, are posted on AATJ’s website and can be viewed
freely. The archive of all webinars, plus resources from other organiza9ons and conferences, can befound at h^ps://www.aatj.org/teaching-resources.
AATJ is grateful to the Japan Founda9on-Los Angeles, which sponsored the July and August webinar
sessions.
More webinars are being planned for fall and winter 2020-21. Announcements and updates will be
posted at the link above. Please send sugges4ons for future webinars by email to aatj@aatj.org.

AATJ Diversity and Inclusion Task Force
Purpose: To explore ways to improve AATJ’s current prac9ces with the goal of enhancing its
capacity to address issues concerning diversity and inclusion within the associa9on/profession, inthe classroom, and in the society in general.
Procedures and 2meline
Aug. - Sept. 2020: AATJ solicits self- and referral- nomina9ons of poten9al task force members.
Oct. - Nov. 2020: AATJ Execu9ve Oﬃcers review the list of nominees and appoint 6-10 individuals toform a task force that achieves a balanced representa9on of diﬀerent cons9tuents.
Dec. 2020 - Aug. 2021: The task force will review AATJ’s mission, bylaws, ac9vi9es, methods ofcommunica9on, and others, and develop recommenda9ons to be presented to the AATJ Execu9ve
Oﬃcers and Board of Directors.
Sept. - Oct. 2021: AATJ Execu9ve Oﬃcers and Board of Directors review the task force’s
recommenda9ons and develop an implementa9on plan.
Nov. 2021: Implementa9on of recommenda9ons to begin.
If you are interested in being considered as a member of the task force, or would like torecommend a colleague whom you think should be considered, please submit your self- or referral
nomina9ons via the Online Nomina9on Form.

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VOL. 9, NO. 3

J.LIVE Talk 2020 Online with High School Division
The J.LIVE Talk 2020 Preliminary Round applica9on will be open from Tuesday, September 1, 2020
to Thursday, October 8, 2020. This year, we are adding a High School Division for the ﬁrst 9me. Dueto the COVID-19 pandemic, instead of an in-person event, we will have an online compe22on
through Zoom, which will be livestreamed on YouTube.
For complete informa9on, please carefully read Eligibility and 2020 Preliminary RoundApplica9on on the J.LIVE Talk 2020 website. You can view our promo9onal video with highlightsfrom our past 4 years of events. For your reference, we compiled a 'Tips for Online Presenta9on' to
be a successful presenter.
Please note that for the High School Division Applica9on, there is a page that requires a signatureby an applicant's parent or legal guardian, in addi9on to one by his/her instructor. FrequentlyAsked-Ques9ons are answered on our FAQs for Applicants page. If you have any other ques9ons,
please contact us. We look forward to receiving your students’ applica9ons!

Hello! You are invited to apply for the J.LIVE Talk 2020! Our preliminary application period will startsoon.
J.LIVE (Japanese Learning Inspired Vision and Engagement) Talk was founded in 2015 as acollege-level Japanese language presentation competition. It's similar to a TED Talk where apresenter shares his/her vision using audio-visual materials and interacts with the audience. This isa perfect chance to showcase your Japanese proficiency and dynamic presentational skills to theworld!
This year, there are two new changes. First, we are adding a High School Division for the first time.
Second, instead of our usual in-person DC event, J.LIVE Talk will be livestreamed on YouTube
using Zoom. Please visit our website https://jlivetalk.com/ to learn everything you need to know
about eligibility, preliminary application, tips for online presentation and more. You can also
watch past J.LIVE Talk events to see our finalists and their award-winning presentations.
In order to apply, you will need a Japanese teacher who can be your mentor and coach if you arechosen as a finalist. For those who are interested in applying to the J.LIVE Talk 2020, pleasecontact your Japanese teacher and discuss all the application and eligibility details. If you haveany questions that our website doesn't answer, please contact us: info@jlivetalk.com.
We can't wait to receive your application!
Sincerely,
J.LIVE Talk 2020
Japanese Program
East Asian Languages and Literatures
The George Washington University
801 22nd Street, NW, Washington, DC 20052
Phone: 202-994-7106, Fax: 202-994-1512
Email: info@jlivetalk.com
Website: http://www.JLIVEtalk.com
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News from the Japan Foundation, Los Angeles
Gree9ngs from The Japan Founda9on, Los Angeles! During this diﬃcult 9me with the pandemic
and other unforeseeable events, we have con9nuously worked with AATJ for online projects,
webinars, and sharing various Japanese language related resources. We always appreciate thesupport from Japanese language teachers all over the United States. Today, we would like toreintroduce our menu of support through our organiza9on.
For Japanese language educa9on, we have recently launched a new type of grant called COVID-19
Relief Grant. This special grant is available through July 1st and un9l September 30th, 2020 or un9l
funding is exhausted. The grant covers part of Japanese instructor’s salary and fringe beneﬁts up to$10,000 on a cost sharing basis. For more informa9on, please visit COVID-19 Relief Grant. As wehave been receiving considerable amount of inquiries for this grant, please check with our grant
specialist, Mamiko Nakai in terms of availability. If you have any Japanese Language Events thatneed support and need help purchasing teaching materials, our program coordinator, Mike Penny,can further assist you. Please email language@jﬂalc.org if you have any ques9ons/inquiries.
In addi9on to ﬁnancial support, we have been working on a new video project called, “Sensei! Why
Japanese?”. We wanted to showcase various Japanese teachers who learned Japanese as a second
language and decided to embark on their career as a Japanese language teacher. Everyone hadamazing stories and personal experiences so we hope these videos encourage not only language
learners but also other teachers as well. As an advocacy coordinator, I hope that these videos canbe useful to promote connec9on between Japanese language teachers and that it’s a community. I
also write support le^ers for schools to promote Japanese language programs and oﬀer freeadvocacy goods for your classroom. If you have any ques9ons or concerns, please feel free tocontact Lena Kelly (lena_kelly@jﬂalc.org) at any 9me! I look forward to hearing from you.
At our organiza9on, we not only handle grants and provide advocacy for Japanese language
educa9on. We have Music Mondays, contemporary dance performances from Japan, and othercultural events. The videos are all archived and available to be viewed through our YouTube
channel so please feel free to share with your students and colleagues.

28th Central Assoc. of Teachers of Japanese Conference Report
Arthur Mitchell and Satoko Suzuki, Macalester College

Overview: The CATJ28 Organizing Commi^ee is happy to announce that we had an extremely
successful online conference made possible by superb presenta9ons as well as the ac9ve
a^endance of many educators and researchers from around the globe. This was the ﬁrst online
conference on Japanese language educa9on hosted in the US. We had 280 registrants (themaximum we could host). They were mostly from North America, but some were from Japan,
Singapore, Vietnam, Australia, France, and Ukraine. The theme of the conference was diversity and24

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conference was diversity and inclusion in Japanese language pedagogy. Many of its presenta9ons
addressed the issues of systemic exclusion that impacts our Japanese language classrooms,
departments, and ins9tu9ons. Numerous par9cipants men9oned how grateful they were that
Macalester held the conference online and spoke of being inspired to alter their teaching and theircurriculums going forward.
Keynote Addresses: The ﬁrst keynote speaker, Yuri Kumagai, addressed the deﬁni9on of terms like“inclusivity,” emphasized the necessity of cri9cal perspec9ves in inves9ga9ng diversi9es, andshowed us student work that reﬂects such stances. The second keynote speaker, Yo Azama,
discussed the primary importance of crea9ng deep connec9ons within the high school classroom,
between student and teacher, and students and the language, and argued for the need toincorporate social issues in the language classroom. The ﬁnal keynote speaker, Junko Mori,contextualized the importance of challenging na9ve speaker privilege within a 40-year history ofJapanese language teaching in US colleges.
Individual Sessions and Roundtable Discussion: Though several papers were devoted to issues ofJapanese linguis9cs and language pedagogies, most of the papers directly addressed the mul9ple
facets of diversity, equity, and inclusion within the Japanese language classroom, from theperspec9ve of colleges as well as high schools. The breakout sessions of the Roundtable Discussion
provided an opportunity for each a^endee to discuss issues of diversity from their own
experiences in a small group context. A ques9on that was distributed beforehand focused theseconversa9ons on individual encounters with the issues of diversity in the classroom.
Theme of Diversity: While the theme of diversity addressed a growing development in Japanese
language classrooms, the theme had special resonance ﬁrst because of the Covid-19 pandemic andthe inequi9es that it has exposed, but also because of the mass demonstra9ons against police
brutality and systemic racism that ﬁlled the streets of Minneapolis, St. Paul, and other US ci9es theweek before the conference. Many par9cipants came away from this conference convinced of theurgency of rethinking their pedagogy and integra9ng a cri9cal attude toward ideologies ofna9vism and other types of systemic discrimina9on and exclusion.
Virtual Format: There was widespread praise and gra9tude for how well and how smoothly thevirtual conference was run. Many a^endees reported that the online aspect was what allowed
them to par9cipate. Finally, a great number of survey respondents requested that future
conferences be online or at least have an online component. As a response, we prepared adocument en9tled CATJ28 Virtual Conference Blueprint. We wrote it so that other people who arethinking about organizing a virtual conference can use it as a reference. We elaborated on the ways
CATJ28 was set up, the thinking that went into each aspect of the planning and execu9on, as wellas post-conference reﬂec9on.

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Post-Conference Survey Results(Click here for the complete survey results)

How will your teaching be aﬀected going forward? この学会で得た情報は、今後の教授法にどのように影響をもたらすとお考えですか。(Representative answers)
I feel empowered now to teach more conﬁdently in all areas. Before this conference, I felt crippled
by my NNS status. I am so grateful for this conference and this theme in par9cular at this moment.
日本語教育の中にある様々な多様性、特に、ジェンダーダイバーシティや多様性を重視した批判的な言葉の教育の要素を取り入れていきたい。
I was reminded that diversifying the lesson content, delivery, assessments, are important for
language teachers to stay relevant in the ﬁeld.
多様性や包摂性などあまりいままで深く考えていなかったことについてセンシティブになれると思います。また漢字教育のイデオロギーなど、漢字教育の方法を変えると思います。
I will do my best to incorporate real issues into our "normal" units. Also, as a non-na9ve teacher, inthe past, I have felt ignored and looked over, but it was the opposite at this conference. This was
the ﬁrst 9me I have ever had such discussions about na9ve and non-na9ve teacher situa9ons.
ことばの教育を通して人間教育に携わっている先生方がたくさんいることに共感しました。これからも堂々とそのような授業を展開していこうと思いました。

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What suggestions do you have for future conferences (e.g. themes, schedule,
speakers)? 今後の学会のために、何かアドバイスがおありでしょうか（テーマ、スケ
ジュール、講演者など）。 (Representative answers)
All three keynote presentations were fantastic! It'll be great if the future meetings can meetthis year's level, but it may be difficult to do so. If the online format can be run as smoothly
as this one, it's not a bad idea to offer future meetings this way because we can reach out
to a wider audience and the participants won't have to worry about traveling, hotel,
unforeseen incidents, etc., though of course the face-to-face format has many different
merits.
プログラム間に時間的な余裕があり、いろいろな発表を聞きたい参加者にとって、とてもよかったと思います。今回の講演者は３名とも素晴らしかったですし、ラウンドテーブル
も、異なった視点からの指摘があり、興味深いと思いました。研究発表も、刺激を受ける
内容のものが多かったです。 オンラインでの開催というのも、悪くないと思いました。もちろんネットワーキングという意味では、直接会えることにこしたことはありませんが、宿泊や移動の心配をする必要もなく、プログラムとプログラムの間に、会場を急いで移動する必要も、トイレに並ぶ必要もありません。また、会場が寒かったり暑かったりして発表に集中できない、会場の設定でスライドが見にくいということもなく、とても快適でした。難点は、Zoom fatigueでしょうか。 最後に、基調講演の３名のスライドについては、発表時にPDFなどを共有していただけるとありがたいと思いました。
I loved this theme of diversity and inclusion, and I think that this theme can be exploredagain next year. There is just so much to it, and nowadays, it's more important than ever tocontinue discussing this topic.
セッションとは別にいつも開いているズームの部屋があれば、普段の学会でしか会えない
ような方と少し立ち話のようなことができるのかなと思いました。
Every single speaker was just amazing! The only regret I have is that I was not able toattend all of them because I had to choose one lecture from the choice of two at each timeslot. If all the lectures were made available somehow (if they were recorded), that would begreat!
今回のように高校、大学で教えている先生が一緒に話し合える場が大切だと感じました。

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American Associa2on ofTeachers of Japanese, Inc.
Campus Box 366
University of Colorado
Boulder, CO 80309-0366

hVps://m.facebook.com/AATJ2012/@AATJ14
If you have any news to share on our Social Media,
please email Kazumi Yamashita-Iverson at:
kyamashita@waterbury.k12.ct.us28