A Branding-Tool for Japanese University English Language Programs
Introduction This paper is divided into two parts. In Part 1, I will discuss some basic ideas from marketing and branding. Then in Part 2, I will provide a conceptual overview of an English-as-a-foreign language (EFL) resource website based on content-based instructional (CBI) methods. This paper is relevant to educational marketing administrators, second language instructors, web developers, media production specialists, and publishers or anyone involved in the language education industry and its peripheral industries. This might seem like a broad target audience, but what I hope to communicate through this modest paper is that those in the educational field need to seriously consider the fact that educational institutions operate on a business foundation, and to effectively tackle issues that involve the promotion and competitiveness of an organization, ideas from the above sectors need to be considered. Branding is not only about changing the color of a logo or changing locations. The re-branding of a university, a faculty, or a department takes large to small-scale changes / additions / transformations and other processes needed to adapt to the current market situation. Incidentally, I believe that this paper will indirectly inform and clarify how emerging technologies and trends in the “digital-visual-app / i-everything culture” can be woven into the educational setting; specifically, into EFL materials. As with all technologies and trends, the status quo is temporary; thus, in order to “future proof” or still be relevant in a couple of years, the concepts described in this paper are not meant to be set in stone. Unlike an obsolete personal computer, the concepts in this paper are meant to be shapeless, formless, malleable, and constantly open to modifications.
Lights, Camera, Action! Student-produced Videos in an English Language Program
When considering the use of videos in the English as a foreign language(EFL) classroom, one might have the image of instructors using movies for listening / viewing activities, e.g., having students watch a scene from a film then having them answer a list of comprehension questions or even completing a cloze exercise of some sort. Instructors might also ask students to watch a short clip then have them describe either verbally to a partner(who did not view the clip)or in writing the sequence of events in a paragraph. Another activity might be to play the video then stopping the movie just before a significant point in the film, and then having the students guess what they think will happen in the next scene(assuming they have never seen the movie) . The above are just a sample of activities for using videos in the EFL classroom as they are relatively easy to execute, convenient to integrate into a syllabus, and there is a wealth of Hollywood films that might draw out students’ motivation to learn English. Moreover, students tend to enjoy an occasional film where they can sit back, relax and, of course, take notes on the movie(it is a classwork after all) . However, when we practitioners think about the use of videos for EFL instruction, it is not common to have movie-making activities as part of the language learning syllabus, i.e., we hardly hear of students producing a short movie for the purpose of exercising their English language skills. Perhaps the notion of EFL students as filmmakers / videographers might be out of the scope for many instructors for a number of reasons; a lack of awareness and interest in media production on the part of the instructor; the amount of preparation involved to carry out such a project; equipment issues; expectations and goals of the students; curricular issues, etc. Perhaps an even more core reason why students as filmmakers is not considered such a common EFL activity might be because of one simple
Annual Reports
Links [1] https://isc.idaho.gov/annual2015 [2] http://www.isc.idaho.gov/annual2014 [3] http://www.isc.idaho.gov/annual2013 [4] https://isc.idaho.gov/../annual2012 [5] https://isc.idaho.gov/../annual2011 [6] https://isc.idaho.gov/../annual2010 [7] https://isc.idaho.gov/../annual2009 [8] https://isc.idaho.gov/../annual2008 [9] https://isc.idaho.gov/../annual2007 [10] https://isc.idaho.gov/../annual2006 [11] https://isc.idaho.gov/../annual2005