It was the busiest conference experience I ever had because of my involvement with the convention steering committee. Just doing a presentation is enough work, and doing more on top of that is a bit hard--but it is also just a matter of getting used to dividing energies.
So I was was busy with:
- Listening to presentations--I'll try to summarize what I learned in a separate article in the future. The most practical one for me was about the establishment and management of a Writing Center at a Japanese university. I also learned a lot about how Japanese departments structure grading of English classes.
- Making my presentation reporting on the Academic Speaking Assessment we use at ICU--Need to write an article on that too, with PowerPoint slides embedded.
- Moderating a session of presentations--This was a first experience for me, but apparently is a long tradition at JACET. I introduced the speakers, gave time management signals to them, opened up the Q&A (but let the speakers moderate it themselves), and closed the session. Both of my speakers were speaking in Japanese, so I guess I could tried to do all that in Japanese, but I did in the American style in English with "Please welcome...with a big applause" in the same way a Japanese professor had moderated my presentation.
- Helping at the Registration Desk--but it was during a slow hour and I had a good time chatting with the other volunteer staff members.
- Staying on stand-by to assist the Plenary/Invited speakers--I was just a backup person, and I never got called on, so I guess the main staff from the Hokkaido chapter did a great job!
- Networking: Went to dinner/lunch with a number of instructors and professors from different universities
- Exploring; And of course, searched around Sapporo for good places to enjoy sushi, ramen, sake, and beer. I need to write a different article on that too.
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