Margaret Kim
Otemae University
About
Margaret C. Kim is an Associate Professor at Otemae University, and is the SIETAR Kansai program coordinator. She is a member of the SIETAR CCM SIG. Her current research interests are gender issues, intercultural training and project-based learning. She earned her MA in TESOL from the School for International Training. She has had the experience of teaching in Cambodia, Malaysia, S. Africa, the United States and Japan.Sessions
On-line presentation (research report on practice and activities) (30 minutes) Guest Speakers and the Promotion of Intercultural Collaborative Dialogue in the Classrooms more
Sat, Nov 27, 11:10-11:40 Asia/Tokyo
The benefits of guest speakers in English as a foreign language (EFL) classes have been established by scholars such as Leor (2015) to be an effective way to provide specific knowledge to students while at the same time encouraging them to make a personal connection between the material and their life. Yet there are fewer studies that look at the benefits of guest speakers through the lens of fostering intercultural communication competence or intercultural collaborative dialogue in the classroom. Yet guest speakers can be crucial to intercultural competence in that they offer new perspectives, ideas, and language usage. This presentation builds on existing research into the efficacy of guest speakers to foster intercultural communication in any curricula through the introduction of case studies of global-issue oriented guest speakers, both in-person and online, with students of mixed English levels. We introduce student responses to guest speakers on diverse subjects such as Japanese colonialism, gender and sexuality, the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, and Japanese comfort women, among other topics, ultimately demonstrating the benefits of classroom collaboration with guest speakers. By discussing both online and in-person lectures, we demonstrate the efficacy of both and demonstrate ways guest speakers can be utilized in mixed-level English courses in Japanese universities.
On-line workshop (110 minutes) Having what it takes - Exploring intercultural perspectives on leadership more
Sat, Nov 27, 13:20-15:10 Asia/Tokyo
Research has demonstrated that effective leadership is critical for successful businesses, as well as for educational, social and political organizations (Bush, 2003). Even in everyday life, there are numerous examples where disappointing outcomes can be easily traced to the people at the top. In the past, it was thought that a good leader would have knowledge and experience in their particular field; however, studies have shown that effective leadership, in fact, involves an additional separate skill—it is not necessarily a naturally given talent. The effective leader has the ability to shape the goals, motivations and actions of others. Some would claim that vision is an essential requirement, and all would agree that the ability to communicate to others is essential. Rather than an academic analysis of good leadership, this workshop invites participants to explore this area in a unique way—through first observing an actual interaction of two people and then participating in a discussion to try to understand what qualities and actions of leadership occurred or were not displayed. It is expected that there will be different points of view as far as what motivations were displayed and what actions were most effective. The goal is not for everyone to reach the same conclusion, but instead to encourage a diversity of perspectives where hopefully every participant can hear a new viewpoint that had never occurred to them before. Unlike most conference discussions, this one welcomes healthy disagreement. Bush, T. (2003) Educational leadership and management. Sage: London
