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Greetings from the Alliance for Language Learning and Educational
Exchange (ALLEX). ALLEX enables post-secondary institutions to establish
or enhance a high quality Japanese language program by providing them
with professionally trained, native Japanese instructors who teach in
exchange for tuition waivers to pursue a master's, associate's or second
bachelor's degree.
The ALLEX eMagazine is published periodically to keep our students,
professors, institutions, and friends up-to-date on recent ALLEX news.
Future issues will feature interviews with partnering universities,
current students, our academic team, and alumni/ae. If you have news to
contribute please contact us.
Thomas Mason, Jr. and Kazunori Ueno
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ALLEX Interviews Candidates in Tokyo |
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On Sunday, January 23, 2005 ALLEX completed interviews for the 2005
Intercultural Exchange Program. Professor Patricia Wetzel (Portland
State University), Professor Steve Nussbaum (Waseda University), Mr.
Kazunori Ueno (ALLEX) and Mr. Thomas Mason, Jr. (ALLEX) spent the
day in Tokyo's Ochanomizu district questioning candidates about
their desired program of study and evaluating their English
proficiency, linguistic sense, and potential teaching ability.
About twenty candidates selected from a large pool of applicants
came from across Japan to be interviewed. Among the candidates were
several Japanese living abroad in Thailand, Canada, and the United
States.
Professor Wetzel and Mr. Mason interviewed candidates together in
one room while Professor Nussbaum and Mr. Ueno interviewed next
door. Each candidate spent 15 minutes with each team and was
evaluated with a letter grade from each interviewer. The candidates
were then ranked according to interview grades (letter grades were
converted into numbers and averaged) and test scores.
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Scholarships for Summer Japanese Teacher Training Program |
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ALLEX's 2005 eight week summer intensive Japanese Teacher Training
Institute will be held at Portland State University in Portland,
Oregon from June 20 to August 12, 2005. Portland, known for its
natural beauty and bustling downtown, was proclaimed North America's
"Best Big City" by Money magazine.
The summer training curriculum includes a lecture component
(covering such topics as the basic principles of effective Japanese
language pedagogy, classroom teaching techniques, the linguistic
analysis of Japanese, and language testing); an observation
component (during which participants observe and analyze actual
Japanese language classes taught by master instructors); and a
demonstration component (during which participants teach actual
Japanese class sessions, which are videotaped and later critiqued by
program faculty members).
All ALLEX lecturers are required to attend the program before
beginning their assignments at partnering universities. The
training program is also open to summer-only students.
Summer-only participants include Ph.D. candidates in Japanese
studies, current high school and college instructors, and those just
entering the field. Financial assistance is available for
summer-only participants. Please see our webpage for more
information.
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ALLEX Welcomes Seven New Universities |
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Seven new universities have joined the 2005 Intercultural Exchange
Program. These new universities join four former Exchange:Japan
universities for a total of thirteen expected placements this fall.
(Two universities are taking two lecturers.)
We welcome these new universities to our program. ALLEX has two
immediate benefits for regional universities: 1) ALLEX lecturers are
professionally trained to teach Japanese courses and 2) the academic
quality of undergraduate and graduate students that ALLEX places at
the host university is often better than the students regional
universities find in their normal applicant pool. At many
universities this has had a significant positive impact on their MA
and BA programs.
To learn how to invite a professionally trained lecturer to your
university please contact Mr. Mason or visit our website.
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Alumnae Gather in Tokyo to Celebrate Prof. Wetzel's Visit |
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A group of Exchange:Japan alumnae gathered in Tokyo on
February 6, 2005 to celebrate Professor Wetzel's return to Japan.
All of the twelve studied and taught at Portland State University or
were closely connected to Professor Wetzel in some other way.
Those in attendance were Yamaguchi Minami, Tashima Yukiko,
Yamazaki Yoko, Kurasawa Yoshihito, Tanaka Satoko, Kayano Yoshiko,
Sawasaki Koichi, Tachibana Namiko, Takeda Yoko, Professor Wetzel,
and Thomas Mason. Alumnae from years two (1989) through thirteen
(2000) were represented.
A brief look at what these alumnae are doing now illustrates the
success and importance of the ExchangeJapan/ALLEX programs. Among
those in attendance were three alumnae who went onto to
professorships in Japan, a simultaneous conference interpreter, a
journalist, an English coordinator, and a translator. This small
sampling begins to tell a story of how the program has played an
important role in the careers of many participants while enhancing
university curricula across the nation.
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ALLEX at Association for Asian Studies |
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ALLEX will have a booth at the annual meeting of the Association for
Asian Studies in Chicago from March 31 to April 3, 2005. Both Mr.
Ueno and Mr. Mason will be available to meet with current
universities to discuss their Japanese courses and to answer
questions from new universities on how to best establish and enhance
a Japanese language program.
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