Incorporating Culture in the
Japanese Language Classrooom:
An Institute in Japan for Japanese Language Teachers

AATJ and the Japan Foundation Japanese-Language Institute, Urawa, announce joint sponsorship of a four-week institute in Japan during Summer 2010.

Twenty teachers of Japanese in the United States (both native- and non-native speakers of Japanese, at any instructional level) will visit schools, museums, and other cultural sites; collect authentic materials for classroom use; receive training in the use of new media and Web 2.0 technologies; receive (in the case of non-native-speaking teachers) language instruction especially designed for teaching professionals; and collaborate in creating thematic units on contemporary Japanese culture and society for use in their classrooms and for dissemination to colleagues in the Japanese language education field.

The institute will take place at the Japan Foundation Japanese-Language Institute in Urawa, Japan, June 18 – July 17, 2010. There will also be a pre-departure orientation in the United States. Project Director for the summer institute will be Yasu-Hiko Tohsaku of the University of California, San Diego; other faculty members will include the Japan Foundation’s Urawa Japanese-Language Institute faculty and a number of guest lecturers and resource persons.

Most of the costs of the program will be covered by the Japan Foundation and by the Alliance, which received a grant from the U.S. Department of Education under the Fulbright-Hays Group Projects Abroad program.