Our December meeting was:

Date and Time:  Saturday, 19 December 2015 - 2:00pm - 4:30pm
Speaker:  Kazumi Kato
Video Materials and Methods for Teaching Group Discussion in English

Do your students really speak English when they do group work? This presentation introduced a teaching method showing how to conduct group work in English. The task-based group project was conducted by native English speaking students in a college in the U.K., and their group work was recorded using a video camera. Based on the video, model materials for group discussion activities were made for Japanese students. Lessons using these authentic materials were conducted in seven different university classes in Japan with several revisions. Students record their discussions with iPads and then compare and analyse them. The speaker introduced the video materials and methodologies along with student reflections. This teaching method can help students notice their weak points and find better expressions and strategies for their group discussions in the classroom.

Kazumi Kato is a lecturer at Tokai University, School of Marine Science and Technology, Shimizu campus. She has experience teaching high school and junior college. Her main research interests are interlanguage pragmatics, speech acts, task-based language teaching and cooperative learning. She is interested in ESP and has found opportunities for her students to use authentic English in a port near her university. She also enjoys participating in the outrigger canoe club.

The presentation was followed by our bonenkai end of year party.
Participants are shown here:



Find out about November's meeting.