Languaging! The Exploratory Learning and Teaching Newsletter of Dokkyo University

Dokkyo University	The Exploratory Learning and Teaching Newsletter of Dokkyo University
	Thank you for visiting the Languaging! webpages. Here you will find virtual versions of the same newsletter we copy, fold and staple once a semester at Dokkyo University in Saitama, Japan, just north of the Tokyo metropolis. This is a newsletter written and published by students and teachers. Many of the contributors study or work at Dokkyo, but we invite everyone to contribute and explore with us. Check out the latest issue, Languaging! No. 12 And download the full PDF for the Winter 2008 issue! Also in these pages you will find the Languaging! archives (revisit issues 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 ), Languaging! Links, and Languaging! News. And don't forget to sign our Guest Book. We are a work in progress! We greatly appreciate your comments and suggestions for our newsletter and website. And please contribute your ideas! We want to hear what you have to say about learning and teaching languages. If you would like to receive email notification when the new issue of Languaging! becomes available, please send an email to the editors at: languaging@yahoo.com Write "Add me to the mailing list" in the subject line. Please visit our sister "access publications": Outside the Box: The Tsukuba Multi-Lingual Forum (Tsukuba University) Peerspectives (Kanda University of International Studies)
Archives No. 12, No. 11 No. 10, No. 9 No. 8, No. 7 No. 6, No. 5 No. 4, No. 3 No. 2, No. 1	About Languaging! Languaging! is a semesterly newsletter published by students and teachers at Dokkyo University in Saitama, Japan. Our goal is to encourage students and teachers to explore their learning and teaching more reflectively by writing about it and sharing their ideas in our community of learners (we are all learners, after all). We want to encourage people to learn and teach (and write) together. We believe learning and innovation happen most frequently (and most productively) when people are doing it together. We want to encourage others to innovate, to collaborate, to take risks, and even to make mistakes. Mistakes are when we learn the most! And we want to encourage people to write about it! Writing is a great tool for the reflection it occasions in both writer and reader. Finally, we want to be the newsletter that isn't afraid to abuse the exclamation point (!). We're excited about learning and teaching, and we want to share that excitement! For more information see Q and A about Languaging! from issue No. 8.
	Call for Contributions Share your good ideas! We consider teaching a form of perpetual learning. This is an “exploratory” newsletter, and we want to hear from people who are exploring, trying new things, and seeing how they work. Learning and teaching involve a lot of exploration, and we hope to encourage this as much as possible. Furthermore, when we take risks, we often make mistakes. That’s part of learning, too. Feel free to write about the mistakes you’ve made and the lessons you’ve learnt so we can all learn from them. Languaging! is a place to experiment, not just write about experiments. Think about your favorite ways of teaching and learning ? fun ways to learn that could help others. Think about the data you might collect: keeping a journal, recording your changing feelings and ideas, having friends observe your classes, visiting friends classes, quizzing yourself, recording yourself, getting feedback from students on your classes, your materials, or the whole education system! If you read a good book, write about it. If you have a good idea, write about it. If you have a good conversation, write about it! Writing style: First person narratives are fine! Student writing is great! You should write a few drafts and give it to some friends for comments. Revise it a few times, and then send it by “file attached email” to the editors (by October 30th for the fall issue or by May 15th for the spring). Editors may ask for some adjustments or give suggestions for fine-tuning before publishing. Length: We hope you will contribute short pieces for consideration. Teachers and students are busy people (or at least they look busy!), and they are more likely to read short pieces than long ones (4 pages or 2000 words maximum, although we also like paragraphs, comments, short anecdotes, etc.) Format: Please send your contributions as simple Word or Text files (.doc or .txt). Word files should use normal margin parameters and a common font (New Times Roman, Arial, etc.) in 12 pt. pica, single-spaced. Use only simple highlighting devices (bold, italic, and underlining). You may include tables and illustrations embedded in your document, but illustrations should also be sent as separate jpeg files. Get your ideas out in Languaging! Ask your students to submit their ideas, too! Send submissions to the editors at languaging@yahoo.com Languaging!Reader's Forum react \| read Sign our Guestbook! return to top webmaster: Christopher For formatting guidelines, please visit our guidelines page.