May 15 deadline approaching to register for community college conference

The East Asian Studies Center will present "Bringing East Asian Studies into the Classroom: Community Colleges, Liberal Arts, and CCP/AP Courses" on Tuesday, May 23 from 8:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the Fawcett Center. The conference will kick off with a film screening of Ode to My Father on Monday, May 22 from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. at Gateway Film Center. Both events are free and open to the public.

The conference will feature panels on East Asia Strategies and Connections, East Asia on Campus - Success Stories, and Incorporating East Asia Content into Existing Programs.

Featured speakers include:
Christopher Bjork, Vassar College
Dan Choffnes, Carthage College
Ann Marie Davis, The Ohio State University
James De Monte, Lakeland Community College
Julie Ellison-Speight, The University of Arizona
Deborah Gavlik, Sinclair Community College
Jennifer Manise, Longview Foundation
Shaun Marsh, Lorain County Community College
Jennifer Nardone, Columbus State Community College

Travel stipends available to attendees. The registration deadline is May 15.

Rebecca Allen to present at annual OATJ workshop on May 13

The Ohio Association of Teachers of Japanese, with support from the East Asian Studies Center, will hold its annual Spring Workshop on Saturday, May 13 from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. online. Rebecca Allen, Dublin City Schools, will present "Exploring the High School to University Transition for Japanese Learners."

Abstract: Japanese teachers at the K-12 and college/university levels have a wide variety of tools and assessments available to understand and communicate about students' skills and goals. In this presentation, Ms. Allen will give a detailed comparison of several of the most common assessments of Japanese learners' skills. Ohio Department of Education proficiency targets for K-12 world language programs and their correlation to these outside assessments will also be addressed.

During this workshop, OATJ will gather information from K-12 instructors about their questions related to the assessment and placement of incoming students in Ohio college and university Japanese programs. Topics such as the types of proficiency tests and qualifying scores recognized at each institution, specific courses an incoming student might receive credit for, guidance about how to communicate with college and university Japanese programs, and the format and goals of various departments will be discussed. The results of these discussions will be the core of surveys sent to Japanese language programs around the state. Results of these surveys will be compiled and shared with the OATJ community.