On August 11th and 12th, Carleton hosted the annual conference of the Canadian Association for Japanese Language Education (CAJLE). The pandemic necessitated an online event but participants logged in from many locations across Canada and the United States as well as Japan. Carleton’s Japanese instructors were active as both organizers and presenters. Dr. Yoriko Aizu was a chair of the organizing committee.
We were honored to have a welcoming address from SLALS director, Dr. Michael Rodgers.
This year’s theme was “Japanese Language Education for the Future: Language and Mobility in a Changing Global Society.” The keynote address on this theme was given by Dr. Ikuo Kawakami from Waseda University. He also led a teacher workshop on “Mobility, Language, and Identify in the Mobile Lives of Children.”
A second teacher workshop, entitled “Lesson Design Utilizing Diversity of Learners,” was led by Ms. Keiko Yoshikawa, a Japanese-Language Advisor to Alberta Education. This was sponsored by the Japan Foundation.
Dr. Jérémie Séror of the University of Ottawa conducted a third teacher workshop on “Exploring Plurilingual Approaches to Language Learning Education to Support Linguistically and Culturally Diverse Students.”
Individual presentations and posters revolved around these themes as Japanese instructors consider the challenges and benefits of having students who grew up and live in multilingual households.
Congratulations to all involved on a successful conference!