News & Events

Lunch & Hike on Mount Ikoma

This spring, join NaraJALT for a fun day out on Mount Ikoma, featuring the best stone-oven pizza in Nara, easy-grade mountain hike, and exceptional spring views.

Date: Sunday, April 6th

Times, Locations and Links:

11:36 Ikoma Cable-car Tori-mae Station

12:00 Kumotei Stone-Oven Mountain Pizza Restaurant

14:00 Ikoma-sanroku Park

Lunch

Following the annual NaraJALT MyShare event, participants will walk to the Ikoma Cable-car Tori-mae Station, and catch the 11:36 cable-car to the Hozan-ji Station. From Hozan-ji, it’s a short walk to the secluded Kumotei restaurant, where participants will enjoy the most delicious pizza set-lunch.

Cost: ¥3,630

Hike

After lunch, participants will set off on a 30-min easy-grade hike to the Ikoma-sanroku Park, where they can enjoy afternoon tea among the cherry blossoms with spectacular views. For the return journey, participants can take a bus to Ikoma Station, or opt to hike the more challenging 60-min return-leg down the mountain.

You will not want to miss this unique opportunity to savour, stroll, and soak in the views of the beautiful Mount Ikoma in spring. Lunch reservation is limited and registration is essential, so be sure to fill in the form to reserve your spot.

NaraJALT MyShare

NaraJALT 2025 MyShare Event:

Sharing Practical Teaching Ideas

Date: Sunday, April 6th 2025

Time: 9:30am - 11:00am

Venue: Room 401 (4th Floor)

Ikoma Seisei Building

1-chōme-6-12 Motomachi,

Ikoma, Nara 630-0257
Venue Link

Cost: 500 yen (free for JALT members)

MyShare Background:

Originally a column in The Language Teacher for exchanging practical teaching ideas, the MyShare event gives participants a chance to share their most effective teaching Practices.

This open forum invites participants to present one tried-and-tested

language-learning activity in a round-table discussion. The room will be arranged in a circle to encourage interaction.

Guidelines for MySharers:

● Prepare a five-minute explanation of your activity.

● Bring a handout in the style of MyShare from JALT’s The Language Teacher.

● No slides or elaborate presentations required.

NaraJALT2024

NaraJALT2024 will be held onsite and in person at the Nara Women’s University on December 1st. We have another great lineup of speakers for you this year. The program has five presentations throughout the day with plenty of time during and after for networking. Furthermore, we are proud to introduce our first invited speaker: Ben Tanaka from Retire Japan

Speakers: Ben Tanaka, Erin Noxon, David Eckford, Olga Li and Akiko Mokhtari, and Eric Martin
Date: Sunday, December 1st, 2024, 9:00am-17:00pm
Location: Nara Women’s University. Lecture Hall N202 on the 2nd floor of the N building.
Cost: ¥1,000 (Free for JALT members)

Ben Tanaka (also Shearon) was born in Germany, grew up in northern Spain, yet claims to be British. He retired from formal work in 2022. He has been running RetireJapan since 2013 to help people living in Japan learn more about personal finance, investing, retirement, and life in Japan. He also helps his wife run a medium-sized English school and writes various things.

We would like to thank JALT CALL SIG for helping us bring Ben Tanaka to Nara.

NaraJALT2024 Program:
9:00–9:15: Opening
Presentation 1
9:15–10:00: Erin Noxon
Thirty Essential Google Tricks Every Educator Should Know
Presentation 2
10:15–11:00: David Eckford
The Benefits and Challenges of Teaching Traditional Japanese Arts in a Study Abroad Program
Presentation 3
11:15–12:00: Olga Li and Akiko Mokhtari
Enhancing Inductive Learning through AI-Assisted Paraphrasing and Prompt Engineering

12:00–13:30: Lunch
Presentation 4
13:45–14:45: Eric Martin
High-frequency Vocabulary: Understanding the Words that Our Learners are Likely to Know (and Those They Don’t)
Invited Speaker Presentation
15:00–16:00: Ben Tanaka
Ten Easy Steps to Sort Your Finances Out in 2025
16:00–16:15: Closing
16:15–17:00: OUP Social Hour

Invited Speaker Presentation
Ben Tanaka
Presentation Title:
Ten Easy Steps to Sort Your Finances Out in 2025 (Language Teacher Edition)
Abstract:

Personal finance is a lot like health: if you have good habits and a decent routine, staying healthy is fairly easy and you don’t need to think about it very much. If you don’t, it can seem almost impossible to even get started. If you are living in Japan there may also be a language barrier (even if your Japanese is good, the concepts and vocabulary of finance may be too much).
Luckily personal finance is pretty straightforward, and with a few key concepts and habits you can set up a financial foundation for your life that will allow you to have fun now and also ensure that your future self is not miserable.
This simple presentation will go over ten things you should probably be doing with your money in Japan, including saving, investing, financial planning, retirement planning, and more. We will cover NISA and iDeCo (including the very welcome changes for teachers), and there will be time to ask questions.

Erin Noxon
Presentation Title:
Thirty Essential Google Tricks Every Educator Should Know

Abstract:

This session will cover essential Google tools, tricks, and automation specifically designed for educators. For 30 minutes I will go over 30 different tricks and then answer any questions and we can share other good ideas together. It doesn’t matter if you are a newbie or a Google Certified Innovator; if your school is a Microsoft or Google School. Learn how to leverage Google’s free powerful features to save time, enhance productivity, and create a more interactive classroom environment. We’ll explore practical tips and you’ll leave with actionable strategies (and my slides so you don’t forget and can teach others).

David Eckford
Presentation Title:
The Benefits and Challenges of Teaching Traditional Japanese Arts in a Study Abroad Program
Abstract:

This presentation looks at introducing traditional Japanese arts as a formal part of the international student curriculum. The presenter draws on his experience of coordinating such a program for inbound students at a university in Osaka. Cultural exchange in authentic environments is the core component of the program, and the benefits and challenges of facilitating such courses are discussed.

Olga Li and Akiko Mokhtari
Presentation Title:
Enhancing Inductive Learning through AI-Assisted Paraphrasing and Prompt Engineering

Abstract:

This presentation introduces an initiative to integrate ChatGPT into summary writing classes for engineering graduate students. It will explore how ChatGPT is used to complete summary tasks, with a focus on the design of prompts and individual learning outcomes in English. We explore a pedagogical example where learners use ChatGPT to refine summaries they initially created without the aid of generative AI or machine translation tools. This method focuses on the challenging task of paraphrasing and demonstrates how AI can support inductive learning in prompt engineering. Actual data will be presented to illustrate the effectiveness and impact of this approach.

Eric Martin
Presentation Title:
High-frequency Vocabulary: Understanding the Words that Our Learners are Likely to Know (and Those They Don’t)
Abstract:

The highest frequency English words are arguably the most important words for EFL learners to know, precisely because they are used so often. However, upon entering university, to what degree can teachers assume that learners already know these words? I present the results of a recent study that I conducted, which suggests that word frequency rankings are far from perfect predictors of Japanese university EFL learners’ word knowledge, even among the highest frequency 100-word groups. I discuss how other word variables (e.g. word length), as well as teacher intuition, can aid teachers in making reasonable assumptions of their students’ abilities.

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