Date: Sunday, May 27, 1:30 - 4:00 p.m.
Place: Hokkai Gakuen University (3rd Floor, Building 6, above subway)
Cost: Guests Y500, JALT members free

Double Presentation

1. The Too Easy Guide to Self-Publishing (Paul Gemmell) 1:30-2:30 p.m.

In this age of the Internet, the power that has been placed in the hands of an individual with a computer is astounding. Anyone who has sought an instant answer to a question that has been nagging them since high school knows the greatness of this. “Just Google it.” Anyone who has had their hard drive erased by a virus in another instant knows the dangers of this. “Those #%&*@ hackers!”

In this brave new world, there is a wide range in the manner in which a book can be published, from a completely do-it-yourself style, to using a publishing house which constantly looks over your shoulder and provides a great deal of input, either wanted or unwanted. At the more liberal end, it is now possible to publish a book on line and have it delivered to your door in full colour for under $20. Within two weeks. With no up-front fees. And no pesky editors. And no huge production runs. And no deadlines but the ones you set. And…

This presentation will outline the steps in publishing material using a self-publishing site on the Internet. A live demonstration will be performed and ample time will be given to address any questions from participants during the course of the presentation. It will also take time to discuss the pros and cons of this type of self-publishing, in particular as compared to going through traditional publishing channels.

Bio: Paul Gemmell is an instructor at Sapporo Gakuin University in Ebetsu, Japan. He has self-published four course books and is poised to publish his book of short stories, The Alchemy of Moonlight, which has been a dream since the days before anyone had heard of a thing called the Internet.

2. Going ‘Multimodal’ in the Writing Classroom (Bob Palmer) 3:00-4:00 p.m.

Do you teach college writing? Can your students write at the basic sentence or paragraph level? Are you tired of teaching formulaic essays to those who may never sit for the TOEIC or TOEFL? Are you and your students losing motivation? If you answered "Yes" to most of the above, it may be time to go multimodal, especially if your class has Internet access.

“Multimodal writing” tasks move beyond single-mode print text into the world of videos, sound essays, slideshow presentations, brochures, and other media. Creative and inquiry-oriented, multimodal writing is one of the biggest recent changes in writing courses at American universities, largely replacing the five-paragraph formula paper.

In this presentation, the speaker will introduce several examples of multimodal writing produced in his classes with special focus on a WebQuest project he designed in collaboration with an ESL teacher in Australia and implemented last year in a writing class at Hokkai Gakuen University, including students’ evaluation of the project.

Bio: Bob Palmer is a lecturer at Hokkai Gakuen and other Sapporo area universities. A graduate of the TESOL Online Teaching Program, he has created a number of websites and training resources in support of English language teaching and learning, including the JALT Hokkaido website and his own online teaching gateway ELTPortal.