First we made a schedule then we determined topics.
Penelope’s topics of interest are:
- Teaching speaking so that students can perform well on the new Center Test
 - Team teaching
 - How English teachers in Japan make use of the good points ESL
 - Active learning
 - Focus on meaning
 - CALP (Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency)
 - BICS (Basic interpersonal communicative skills)
 
Rocky’s topics of interest are
- Second Language Acquisition
 - Speaking: Children in Kansai learn English speaking earlier than Tohoku, she wants to compare the children’s speaking skills.
 - Active learning
 
Here is an example of how to narrow down a topic:
Main Topic: Education
Education sub: teaching English, understanding students, development, class management
Teaching English: Development
Development in teaching English: Children’s linguistic development
Children’s linguistic development: speaking
Children’s linguistic development in speaking: how do students progress from single-word utterances to speaking in phrases/sentences?
Next time: Try to break down your topic.
