Frances Shiobara
About
Frances Shiobara has been teaching in higher education in Japan since 1989. She is an Associate Professor at Kobe Shoin University, Japan. She was previously Director of the Foreign Language Education Center and Chair of the English Department. She is also one of the founders of an International School English program for elementary school students. She has a Master of Education in Applied Linguistics from Temple University, Japan and a Doctor of Education from The University of Liverpool, UK. Her main areas of interest are teaching English to young learners, gender equality in higher education and attitudes to technology in education.Sessions
Teaching Younger Learners Creative Writing for Young Learners more
Sat, Jul 9, 12:20-12:45 Asia/Tokyo
Teaching writing to young learners typically involves answering questions or reproducing formulaic sentences. Although this encourages accuracy, it limits chances for creativity, and may not be motivating for students. This presentation explores two innovative activities to encourage young learners’ creative language use whilst giving importance to positive feedback in creative writing activities. Both activities give learners opportunities to experiment with language and extend their use of it while having fun. The first activity is to write their own fairy tale. The genre is introduced using videos before encouraging students to create their own stories. Watching different stories each week gives students inspiration as well as meaningful input. Writing their own stories is a good way to encourage learners to use a wide range of vocabulary and phrases to deepen the content of their stories. The second activity is a written retelling of a short video story. Students watch the video, then they retell the story together in the class, which they write in their notebooks. In this way, learners are exposed to meaningful output in speaking and writing. Both activities can be adapted to any age group and any level of English proficiency.
