The Language Teacher
July 2004

Teachers College, Columbia University, Tokyo
Public Seminar Series

Michele Milner

Perspectives

. . . with Joyce Cunningham & Mariko Miyao perspectives@jalt-publications.org

The Tokyo campus of Teachers College (TC), Columbia University is a busy place on weekends. In addition to classes for the MA TESOL program and the new Peace Education certificate, TC offers a series of seminars to explore various practical issues in teaching and classroom-based research. The seminars are held monthly and draw a wide variety of educators; all share a common goal of wanting to investigate new ideas that they can use in the classroom to enrich their teaching practice.

TC's public seminar series has welcomed speakers from near and far. Last year, Howard Gardner of Harvard spoke on his theory of Multiple Intelligences and its development over the last 20 years. Cooperative Learning expert, Spencer Kagan, also gave an extremely well received interactive workshop. In addition, Carolyn Graham stops by twice a year to show the enduring educational appeal of her famous Jazz Chants.

In September, TC will welcome the world-renowned and esteemed linguist M. A. K. Halliday of the University of Sydney. He is visiting Japan to continue his research with the Riken University Brain Science Institute in Tokyo. His presentation will be on aspects of his most recent research there, i.e., modeling the language-brain through a systemic functional view of how language works in context.

M. A. K. Halliday was trained in Chinese for war service with the British army and studied for 3 years in China (Peking University and Lingnan University), returning to take his PhD in Chinese Linguistics at Cambridge. Having taught Chinese for a number of years, he changed his field of specialization to linguistics and developed the systemic functional grammar, elaborating on the foundations laid by his British teacher, J. R. Firth. His seminal paper on this model was published in 1961. He then taught at London University and in 1976 moved to Australia to teach at the University of Sydney, where he remained until he retired. TC Tokyo is delighted to welcome M. A. K. Halliday back for his second presentation as a Featured Speaker.

The seminar series also provides a forum for TC graduates working at different types of schools to show how they are applying their studies in a Japanese educational context. Seminars have focused on reading instruction, materials design, media use, and communicative tasks and provide participants with practical tasks to try in their classrooms right away.

The new Peace Education program at TC also hosts a colloquia series to provide a public forum for the discussion of crucial global issues. Chaired by peace education pioneer Betty Reardon, it explores topics such as the changing role of the United Nations, teaching for tolerance, and international peace education programs.

This summer TC is starting an Intensive Program for Integrated English Teaching Skills (August 3-6) to explore the problems of teaching EFL and ideas for using the communicative approach. This workshop will include presentations by TC professors: Terry Royce (Program Director) on Monkasho textbooks and multimodality; Wendy Bowcher (Tokyo Gakugei University) on teaching the four skills through grammar; Elite Olshtein (University of Tel Aviv) on second language acquisition; and Ted Quock (Keisen University) on classroom techniques for integrating the four skills.

Many people are surprised to know that the New York-based Teachers College has had a campus in Tokyo for the past 18 years. The seminar series' aim is to make TC Tokyo a learning center for educators, where they can exchange ideas and engage in stimulating discussions about issues that are important to them.

Teachers College, Tokyo campus is conveniently located near Suidobashi station and the Tokyo Dome. Most of the seminars are free, but reservations are required since space is limited. For current information about the seminar series and TC's programs, visit the TC website www.tc-japan.edu or contact the Teachers College Office; t: 03-3221-9771; office@tc-japan.edu.

Reported by Michele Milner

The Language TeacherJuly 2004

Teachers College, Columbia University, Tokyo Public Seminar Series

Michele Milner

Perspectives

The Language Teacher
July 2004

Teachers College, Columbia University, Tokyo
Public Seminar Series