Natsuki Suzuki
Aoyama Gakuin Elementary School
About
Natsuki Suzuki teaches at several public elementary schools and a private school in Tokyo. She completed a Master’s degree from the English Department of Aoyama Gakuin University. Her aim is to foster a love of learning and build confidence as the essential elements for guiding all children to be autonomous lifelong learners. Her interest includes drawing, ukulele and magic as ways to teach, motivate and realize the true communicative purpose of learning and connecting through English. She likes to treasure the element of English as a means of cultivating new perspectives as well as communicating with others.Sessions
Accessibility in Language Learning Sustainable Inclusivity: Practical Solutions for Supporting Learners more
Sun, Jul 10, 11:45-13:15 Asia/Tokyo
As the pandemic forced us to move online, learner needs became more diverse and complicated in language education. Teachers’ resources and strategies increasingly face a growing need to reflect these changes. The Act for Eliminating Discrimination against Persons with Disabilities (2016) mandated the provision of equal educational opportunities for all learners, including those with special needs. However, according to JASSO (2020), the percentage of students with special needs in higher education slightly decreased last year. This raises the following questions: Does online teaching better accommodate learners with special needs? Did the online context level the playing field and make traditional differences and difficulties invisible for teachers in? Further research is needed to fully understand these changes. In light of this, the ALL SIG forum will focus on sharing ideas and relating experiences of all participants. This forum will showcase individual stories and experiences creating needs analysis framework for the purpose of assessing contexts and sharing strategies and resources. By creating a support network, educators can work together to address the diversity of needs reflected in today’s classroom. The goal is to raise awareness of diverse learner needs and develop inclusive strategies for language teachers and school administrators.
Lifelong Language Learning From Burnout to Burning Rubber more
Sat, Jul 9, 10:00-11:30 Asia/Tokyo
The pandemic introduced numerous challenges to our personal and professional lives as teachers. We may have felt an adrenaline rush in the early days as we had to rally all our personal and collective resources in transitioning to online teaching. But, as the pandemic dragged on, many of us felt the fatigue of having to pivot from F2F to hybrid to fully online teaching at the drop of a dime. The extra energy needed to help students cope with learning through different modes also drained our internal resources. This forum will focus on the strategies that teachers at various levels of education—from K12 to university and language schools and beyond—have replenished their stores of energy and enthusiasm.
