1. ‘Where Can I Take My Japanese?’
AFMLTA National Conference 2011
Nathan Lane
Languages Domain Coordinator
St Columba’s College, Melbourne

2. Outline of Session What is contemporary learning for the 21st century?
About the project: contemporary learning in action in the Japanese classroom

3. What does ‘Contemporary Learning’ mean to you?
Handout
Discussion with the person sitting next to you

4. What is contemporary learning for the 21st century?
‘Continuous learning with clear purpose and connection to the real world is critical to developing the capabilities, dispositions and literacies required to live full lives in diverse communities and deal with issues and change in the twenty-first century’. (Contemporary Learning [LIOW] and The Treasure Within) ‘Learning Centred Schools: Teaching and Learning Framework and Strategy for 2008 to 2012’. Available online: earnCentreSchools/LCS_framework.pdf

5. Contemporary Learning Schema (Developed by the Catholic Education Office Melbourne)

7. Skills for our 21st Century Learners
Problem solving and decision making
Creative and critical thinkers
Collaboration, communication and negotiation
Intellectual curiosity
Self starters, self regulating, self evaluating
Flexible learners

8. About the ‘Models of Contemporary Learning’ project
This unit developed in conjunction with the Catholic Education Office Melbourne
Funding from the National Asian Languages and Studies in Schools Project (NALSSP)
Models are available online from Scootle website
Models cover a range of curriculum areas (primary/secondary) and have been created by teachers across Australia

9. About the Unit A ‘Model of Contemporary Learning’ in that it:
Is inquiry based
Links with the community
Develops ICT skills
Provides a real/authentic context for learning and developing Japanese skills
How do you make these links in your languages classroom? Record on the ‘Discussion Sheet’ and discuss with the person sitting next to you.

10. The ‘Story’ of the Model
5 minute video

11. What is inquiry learning?
The Victorian Essential Learning Standards (VELS) website defines Inquiry Learning as, ‘a student centred or active learning approach that takes as its starting point the natural process of inquiry, building on this to develop information processing and problem-solving skills. The focus is on 'how we know' rather than 'what we know', with students actively involved in the construction of their own knowledge.’

12. Planning the Inquiry Unit
The Integrated Inquiry planning model developed by Kath Murdoch was used in developing the units. The stages in this model include:
Tuning in
Finding out
Sorting out
Going further
Reflection
Action

13. Stage of Inquiry: Tuning In
Purpose:
To engage students in the topic
To gauge student interest and attitudes
To find out what students believe (understandings and misconceptions)
To provide opportunities for students to share what they already know and believe
To introduce/clarify language
To identify gaps in their knowledge and misconceptions
To assist with teacher planning of the unit

14. MCL Unit: Tuning In Interview students: Why did you choose Japanese?
Do you view learning a second language as useful? Why?
How do you think you could use your Japanese skills once you finish high school?
Think, pair, share: what ways Japanese can be used after high school (eg. careers, in art, animation).
Translate key words into Japanese.

15. Stage of Inquiry: Finding Out
Purpose:
To take students beyond what they already know
To challenge students’ ideas, beliefs and values
To enable the student to use skills (e.g. thinking, communication, cooperation, research skills) and knowledge to collect new information

16. MCL Unit: Finding Out
Research using the Internet to find ways Japanese can be used.
Questions for students during Internet research:
Are there any common themes emerging through the research (most likely students will identify jobs where Japanese can be used).
Group work task: search using the ‘Mycareer’ website/newspapers and put together a poster of current vacancies where the applicant needs to have knowledge of Japanese.
Homework task: ‘Is Japan All Around Us?’
Discussion of interview protocols (cultural understanding…design and create ‘meishi’-Japanese business card, to hand out during interview).

17. City Experience (3 stages)
Discussion prior to city experience:
Where would you find elements of Japan in Melbourne?
Where do we need to go to find elements of Japan in the city?
Refer to interactive map of Melbourne from
Stage 1: On the surface, how much is Japan and the Japanese language visible in Melbourne city?
Students work in groups and are allocated a part of the city to explore (eg. Collins Street). Students are to walk around their assigned area and photograph evidence of Japan/Japanese language (eg. photographs of Japanese restaurants etc.)
Stage 2: City treasure hunt. Read directions to Japanese places around Melbourne and collect information.
Stage 3: How is Japanese used in the workplace?
Visit a workplace where Japanese is used. Students to interview an employee in Japanese and find out how Japanese is used in the workplace.
Record interview and upload onto Wiki as Podcast.
Students also telephone/Internet conference with interstate companies such as The Japan Foundation in Sydney.
Companies where visits cannot be made are ed the questions and students read the responses.

18. Stage of Inquiry: Sorting Out
Purpose
To sort out, organise, represent and present information from the finding out stage of the unit
To provide opportunities for the students to use their preferred ways of learning to demonstrate their learning (knowledge, skills, values)

19. MCL Unit: Sorting Out
Return to class. Students to share photographs of part 1 of the excursion (upload onto Wiki page). Class discussion:
How did you find Japanese being used during the walk around your assigned area
How is Japan/Japanese represented in Melbourne city? (eg. mostly restaurants or language schools).
How did the treasure hunt increase your knowledge of the presence of Japan in the city?
Listening task: listen to each other’s interview Podcasts (stage 3 of the excursion).
Organise notes from interview on a data chart (using simple Japanese sentences).
Class discussion:
What did we learn about the way Japanese is used in the places visited?

20. Stage of Inquiry: Going Further
Purpose:
To extend/broaden the unit if appropriate
To allow students to investigate areas of personal interest
To use their preferred learning style
To present another perspective on or dimension to the topic

21. MCL Unit: Going Further
Guest speaker (Asia Literacy Ambassadors Project): Amanda Ralph
Students work in groups investigating the way Japanese can be used outside of school and they develop a presentation (their choice of format) in Japanese…multiple investigations.

22. Types of presentations for ‘Going Further’ stage of the Inquiry
Create job website in Japanese
Create a poster/PowerPoint/PhotoStory
Write a job application
Create an anime or other form of artistic presentation
Digital portfolio
Students create a job application in Japanese to apply to work at the workplace they visited (letter and resume).
Students participate in a mock job interview.
Create a website/digital presentation advertising a Japanese sporting or cultural club in Melbourne
Examples of presentations
Website:
Animation
Poster

23. Stage of Inquiry: Reflection
Purpose:
To provide opportunities for the students to think about their learning-how they learnt what they learnt and why
To identify changes in skills, knowledge and values
To draw conclusions and make connections between ideas

24. MCL Project: Reflection
Interview students:
How has your thinking of where you can take your Japanese changed from the start of the unit?
Where can you take your Japanese in the future?

25. Stage of Inquiry: Action
Purpose:
To identify what the students have learnt and the implications for personal actions
To enable students to make choices and apply their ideas
To relate their learning to real life situations

26. MCL Project: Action
Create Japanese promotion posters for younger students.
Expo of student work in the Hall. Audience: Year 9 Japanese class (to encourage them to continue with their Japanese studies).
At the conclusion of the unit, the students completed an evaluation

27. The ‘Petals’ on the Model

28. How Japanese skills were developed?
Speaking/listening: Industry visit interviews
Reading: Reading interview questions during interview and reading ed responses from businesses
Writing: Appropriate grammatical structures and vocabulary were introduced for students to use in the major assessment task for the unit

29. Conclusion
Real inquiry – choosing the topic (and questions, issues or problems), gathering information, analyzing information and presenting findings
Depthing down the learning. That is, developing higher order thinking skills.
Increasing student involvement and ownership of their learning
Catering for mixed abilities and individual differences. This was achieved by offering a range of assessment of learning tasks (the major assessment task for the unit) loosely based on Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences.
Offer opportunities for students to use Japanese in an authentic context
Offer opportunities for reflection on progress throughout the process
Students understand Japanese can be used outside of class in business and leisure. Thus they see a real purpose for learning Japanese.