Our language immersion seminar to support non-native teachers of Japanese was held from Monday 22 to Wednesday 24 January at the Foothills Conference Centre in Mooroolbark. The seminar was expertly organised by Nicole Struthers, the Secretary of the JLTAV. Many thanks to Nicole for organising all aspects of the event. Many thanks also to our mentors: Yuichi Deguchi, Kaori Deguchi, Takanori Hayakawa and Masae Uekusa, who generously gave their time to mentor their groups and to share their wealth of knowledge with us. Thank you also to Jessica Winstone, the JLTAV Vice President, for her support and assistance throughout the event.
Each group was assigned a mentor to work with throughout the seminar. Teachers were grouped according to their language ability, from beginner to advanced, so everyone had a chance to improve their language skills. The participants engaged in various sessions organised by their mentors. The mentors focused on improving Japanese through a variety of games, cultural and language based activities.
We thank all the teachers who enthusiastically participated throughout the seminar. The feedback for the event was very positive. A participant said:
These Immersion seminars really are Food for the Soul. This was the third time I’ve come and every year I come away with renewed confidence in my language skills and great appreciation for the mentors’ skill in facilitating such engaging enjoyable sessions. The accommodation is always lovely and we all emerge refreshed, relaxed and so well fed! Such a privilege. Thank you. We thank the Victorian Government for providing funding to enable this event to occur. We also thank the Japan Foundation Sydney for providing the JLTAV a significant grant through the Sakura Network to assist in running the event.
