Call for CT Scan contributors

Are you interested in writing on critical thinking in language education? Do you have classroom examples that you would like to share with interested teachers? If so, we would like you to write for us in JALT’s newest SIG newsletter, CT Scan, the official publication of the JALT Critical Thinking SIG! We aim to publish CT Scan four times a year, as well as produce promotional issues of CT Scan for attendees of the annual JALT International Conference and JALT Pan-SIG Conference. Our group of language educators interested in fostering critical thinking skills in language learners is growing daily, and we hope you will take this opportunity to connect with our readership!
The JALT Critical Thinking SIG would like to accept submissions for CT Scan in the following categories:
 
Features:  Maximum 1500 words. Please include sources.
 
Mini Articles: Maximum 500 words on an issue pertaining to critical thinking in primary, secondary or tertiary education. Please include practical applications which teachers can apply in their situations.
 
Lesson Plans:Maximum 1500 words with explanations of the activities.
 
Format for Submissions: Please send submissions as attachements in plain text with images if applicable.
Limit formatting of the document to the use of bold and italics.
 
Please send all submissions and inquiries about submissions by email to the editor at ctscan.editor@gmail.com.

CT and Tokyo Skeptics Collaborate Dec. 12th

David Gann, member of Tokyo Skeptics will talk about the Critical Thinking SIG and the Critically Minded Podcast produced by David and his colleague Nick .

David will talk about the podcast, why he and Nick created and produced it.

In addition, David will talk about the objections to the teaching of critical thinking in English language education, followed by a description of his research on making lower level students more proficient top-down readers.

When: 1pm, Sunday December 12th.

Where: Dining Cafe SHU
(non-smoking restaurant)
One minute walk from Ikebukuro Station, east exit
Higashi Ikebukuro Building B1
Higashi Ikebukuro 1-2-2
Toshima-ku

Tel 03-3980 3851            

A map to Dining Cafe SHU is here
http://www.shu-group….

Note that this Tokyo Skeptics Meetup event has a 300 yen fee.

Critical Thinking @ JALT Conference

The Critical Thinking SIG is represented at the JALT Conference 2010, titled “Think Outside the Box”, by our officers. Look them up at some of these presentations:
Saturday, 12:40PM, Rm 906 – Conversation analysis and the basics of debate
Saturday, 1:20PM, Rm 1206 – Witness in Palestine: An EFL teacher in the Mid-East
Sunday, 9:15AM, Rm 905 – Integrating thinking skills into the EFL classroom
Sunday, 6:30PM, Rm 1203 – Enhancing adult learning through global issues

CT SIG members are distributing CT Scan, our newsletter. Please ask Roehl and David at the conference. If you miss them, you can always download ct scan issue 1.

From basics to critical thinking and beyond

What am I teaching my students? Am I teaching them the rudiments of the English language for the sake of acquiring the knowledge of a second language? Linguists and educators tell us that such a knowledge base is valuable, because through the analysis of the language, the acquisition of the knowledge of grammar, syntax, phrases and functions, the students gain insight into the structure and functions of other languages and their own.

But what about the use of language? Is it enough to teach students how to write a correct sentence or politely conduct a transactional dialogue?

These are important foundations of language learning, but they are not the ends. Language is  a means of presenting ideas, arguments, propositions, predictions and hopes. In order to present these ideas in logical, well-supported, orderly and appealing ways, students need to practice and internalize critical thinking skills.

Before teachers get into rigorous critical thinking, students’ own curiosity about the world needs to be encouraged. Japanese students are, on the whole, no less inquisitive than students in any other country. And like students in any other country, they benefit from practice in asking and answering questions about the why and how of the issues they are confronted with in their textbooks, by their teachers, and in their own lives. In debates, reports, essays and discussions, the students are called on to take positions, support them with reasons and evidence, and ultimately to present solutions in an orderly fashion.

I think that, as soon as students start to use the language to ask their teachers and peers questions, it is important for teachers to encourage the development of critical thinking skills that students will need to make use of their growing body of knowledge through the medium of their new language.

I hope that the Critical Thinking SIG blog will become a place for teachers to share critical thoughts on the place of critical thinking in the English language classroom here in Japan and abroad, and a forum to share ideas about how we can assist students to look with curiosity and a critical eye at the world around them.

- Elizabeth Scally, Jissen Girls High School

CT Scan Newsletter debut

Welcome to the Critical Thinking SIG blog.

To get us started, the first issue of CT Scan, our newsletter, is ready to go. Click on the link to download the pdf file -  critical thinking handout v2.