Special Issue of U.S.-Japan Women's Journal on Ito Hiromi

The latest issue of U.S.-Japan Women's Journal, No. 32 (2007) is a special issue on avant-garde author Into Hiromi, initiated and guest-edited by Jeffrey Angles. This volume marks the first collection of essays on Ito and includes translations of several of her most important works, including her novella House Plant. As Ueno Chizuko notes in her introduction to this special issue, Ito is a unique woman poet without compare or competition. Born in 1955, Ito wrote a series of dramatic anthologies that radically transformed the ways people were writing in Japan. Her "shamanistic" style and unabashed treatment of taboo topics—women's sexuality, motherhood, and infanticide—made her the most infamous writer of the so-called "women's poetry boom" in the 1980s and earned her significant notoriety in the popular press. Since the 1990s, she has resided in California and has drawn upon these experiences to write engaging and challenging works that explore some of the many facets of modern migrancy, including the linguistic isolation of recent emigrees and the implications of that isolation for self-expression and identity. For information on obtaining a copy of this issue, past issues, or a subscription to U.S.-Japan Women's Journal from outside Japan, please contact: Josai International Center for the Promotion of Art and Science, Josai University, 1-1 Keyaki-dai, Sakado-shi, Saitama-Ken, 350-0295 JAPAN. Fax: +81-49-271-7981. rev-jou@josai.ac.jp.

The Association of Departments of Foreign Languages (a part of the Modern Language Association) offers an online job counseling service to give job seekers year-round access to the advice that senior department chairs have provided annually at the MLA annual convention. The Web site currently includes more than 140 responses to common questions about career planning, applying, and interviewing from chairs, from other administrators and faculty members, and from Ph.D.s working in business, government, and nonprofits. Many of these responses have links to articles from the DFL Bulletin archives that provide more detailed discussion of job seekers’ concerns.

The eight categories of the site are: Planning a Career after Graduate School; Developing an Academic Career; Developing a Nonacademic Career; When and Where to Look for an Academic Job; CVs, Dossiers, Application Letters, Writing Samples, and Portfolios; Interviews, Campus Visits, Job Talks, and Teaching Demonstrations; Negotiating Special Situations; and Job Offers. The categories include questions ranging from "What would my job involve as a foreign language faculty member at an MA comprehensive university?" to "How should I handle a telephone interview?" and "How do I negotiate the terms of a job offer?" The site is designed to be flexible and to grow; anyone with suggestions for additional questions or responses should write to Steve Olsen at solsen@mla.org.

To access online job counseling, go to the Job information List through the MLA (www.mla.org) or ADFL (www.adfl.org) websites and click on "ADE and ADFL Online Job Counseling," or go directly to www.mla.org/resources/jil/job_counseling. The counseling site is a service of the ADE and the ADFL and does not require a password.

New School Matching System for Educational Trips to Japan

The Japan National Tourist Organization (JNTO), by establishing a direct link to the National Council for Promoting Educational Trips to Japan, has introduced a new system to help American schools (or companies/organizations working on their behalf) find a matching school in Japan for educational visits or exchange programs. In fiscal 2004, 6,385 American students made educational trips to Japan. It is hoped that this new system will alleviate the difficulties in finding counterpart Japanese schools and greatly increase the number of educational trips to Japan. For more details or to apply, please contact the JNTO office in Los Angeles or New York as far as possible in advance of departure with the following information: name of the applying school, company or organization (and contact information); number of participants (including students and their grade level), teachers, translators/ guides, and parents/ chaperones); school information (the American school’s profile and contact information); destinations the group would like to visit in Japan; land operator or travel agent in Japan if known (and contact information); requests regarding the school visit, including trip dates (more than one option), location (more than one option), type of school, desired activities, and other requests (home stay, home visit, etc.). Applying as far as possible in advance will greatly increase the chances of finding a counterpart Japanese school. Contact information: contact person, address, phone number, fax number, and email address.

JNTO Los Angeles Office, 515 S. Figueroa St., Suite 1470, Los Angeles, CA 90071. Tel.: 213/623-1952 Fax: 213/623-6301. info@jnto-lax.org.

JNTO New York Office, One Rockefeller Plaza, Suite 1250, New York, NY 10020. Tel.: 212/757-5640. Fax: 212/307-6754. visitjapan@jntonyc.org.

Assessment Listserv Launched by CARLA

CARLA (Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition) announces the establishment of FL-ASSESSMENTS, a new email listserv designed to provide a forum for practitioners to discuss current issues in developing assessments, to share information and resources among professionals in the field, and to encourage collaboration in the area of language assessments.

Subscriptions to this list are open to everyone who has an interest in foreign language assessments. Discussions are invited on assessments of all languages and levels, including K-12 and post secondary settings. The list is unmoderated. Subscribe at http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUB ED1=fl-assessments&A=1 or by sending the following message to listserv@lists.umn.edu: SUBSCRIBE FL-ASSESSMENTS <your names> (Note: remove the brackets and type in your first and last names). If you have trouble subscribing, please email Louis Janus (lctl@umn.edu).

FL-ASSESSMENTS was initiated by CARLA and is co-sponsored by CAL (Center for Applied Linguistics, Washington, DC, www.cal.org), CASLS (Center for Applied Second Language Studies–University of Oregon, http://casls.uoregon.edu), and CLEAR (Center for Language Education and Research, Michigan State University, http://clear.msu.edu). The list is co-managed by Louis Janus (lctl@umn.edu) and Ursula Lentz (lentz003@umn.edu), both at CARLA.

VICTORY (Video-based Interactive Language Lesson Authoring) at Purdue University

The TELL Center (Center for Technology-Enhanced Language Learning) at Purdue University has recently released the VICTORY System. Briefly, it is an authoring system that allows you to author video-based interactive language lessons with ease and speed. (A typical lesson can be authored within a half hour.) Five activity formats are provided per lesson. View the system at http://tell.fll.purdue.edu/info/products.html. Free demo versions with sample lessons are available so that you can see what the system can do. The web site has a discussion forum for posting comments or questions. Questions can also be sent to Atsushi Fukada (afukada@purdue.edu, Japanese OK).

Japanese Language and Culture Advanced Placement Program Update

Beginning in the 2006–07 academic year, Advanced Placement Japanese Language and Culture will be added to the menu of AP courses and examinations endorsed by the College Board. The exams will be offered by the Educational Testing Service along with other AP exams beginning in May of 2007. Students may take these exams without having taken a course designated "AP Japanese," and they may also take an AP Japanese course without taking the exam. Scores on the exams will range from 1 to 5, as with all AP subjects, and as with other Advanced Placement subjects, it is up to each college or university to decide whether to offer placement in upper division courses or college credit based on those scores. The Japanese Language and Culture examination is designed to assess whether students are at a level comparable to about 300 hours of university-level classroom instruction. The AP Japanese Language and Culture Course Description is available on the College Board website at apcentral.collegeboard.com.

Proficiency levels at the end of the course are Intermediate Low to Intermediate Mid in all skills. The course is based on the Standards for Foreign Language Learning in the 21st Century and incorporates instruction related to the 5Cs (Communication, Cultures, Connections, Comparison, and Communities), three modes of communication (Interpersonal, Interpretive, and Presentational), and a broad spectrum of Japanese culture, both "high" and "low." Teachers may register at the College Board website for regular email updates on AP Japanese, as well as for an Electronic Discussion Group devoted to AP Japanese. An AP Japanese Teacher’s Guide is available on the website, as well as a variety of other materials helpful to both teachers and students.

In 2005/06 a second task force of three secondary and three university teachers began working with the Educational Testing Service to finalize the AP Japanese Course Content and to set exam specifications. This group has recently completed a sample Japanese Language and Culture exam, which is also available on the College Board website. The exam consists of multiple choice questions designed to assess listening and reading comprehension (Interpretive skills) and free response questions designed to assess writing and speaking in the Interpersonal and Presentational modes. Each part of the exam contributes a specific portion of the final grade. Grouped by language modality, the exam measures 25% each listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Grouped by communicative mode, the various parts contribute as follows: Interpretive 50%, Interpersonal 25%, and Presentational 25%.

If your school is planning to offer AP Japanese, you should register on AP Central. Professional development opportunities are also posted there, ranging from one-day pre-AP workshops to three-day AP institutes. There is also information on AP Central about Professional Development Scholarships for teachers of Japanese for the AP Annual Conference and accompanying workshops to be held in July in Orlando, Florida.

AP Readers Needed!

AP Japanese Language and Culture represents a long-term commitment by the field of Japanese language and culture education. There will be an ongoing need for both Readers (AP exam assessors) and Exam Item Writers, and these will continue to be drawn from both secondary and university-level teachers. If you teach a course at the appropriate level, I strongly urge you to consider applying to participate in either or both capacities. It is important to the field that we maintain a strong cohort of teachers available to undertake these tasks. I speak from experience when I say that such participation is both educational and enjoyable.

To find the application form for Japanese AP Readers:

—Start at www.ets.org. Click on "Scoring Opportunities." Click on "Online Scoring Opportunities." Click on "Information and how to apply for prospective raters"under "Advanced Placement Program (AP)—Chinese and Japanese." The direct link is

www.ets.org/portal/site/ets/menuitem.c988ba0e5dd572bada 20bc47c3921509/?vgnextoid=63b016b884f69010VgnVCM10000022 f95190RCRD&vgnextchannel= 88067f95494f4010VgnVCM10000022 f95190RCRD.

If you have trouble locating the application form, please email me at laurel.rodd@colorado.edu and I’ll email you the link. Please feel free to contact me with any questions.

Book Mail Club from Japanese Publishers

A group of Japanese publishers who publish books on linguistics and language have launched a new web site called "Book Mail Club" at www.bookmailclub.com/. By registering at the website, teachers can receive email magazines ("Oshirase Mail") announcing forthcoming books from participating publishers, which include Taishukan Shoten, Sanseido, Kenkyusha, Hituzi Shobo, and others. The website also provides information on newly-issued books on linguistics and language, and literature, and other fields.

Elementary Functional Japanese Again Available

ALC Press in Tokyo is pleased to announce that copies of Elementary Functional Japanese, Vols. 1-3 (1998-2000) from the first printing are completely sold out. The authors, who wish to thank teachers of Japanese throughout the U.S. for their strong support, have arranged for all three volumes to be made available from Cal Copy in San Diego, with two CDs included each in volume, at a lower price and with faster delivery. The suggested retail price for each volume is $47.00. For all three volumes, please contact Cal Copy at: Cal Copy, Inc., 5131 College Avenue, Suite E, San Diego, CA 92115. Tel: 619/582-9949. Fax: 619/229-9949. sdsu@calcopy.com. Copies will also be available at major Japanese bookstores (e.g., JP Trading, miyuri@jptrading.com; Kinokuniya Bookstores of America, seino@kinokuniya.com; and Sasuga Japanese Bookstore, www.sasugabooks.com).

Assessment of Listening Proficiency (ALP) Second Pilot

The Center for Applied Second Language Studies (CASLS) at the University of Oregon invites participation in the second pilot of the Assessment of Listening Proficiency (ALP). Based on the information collected from the first pilot in 2005, the test items have been revised, and those items are ready to be piloted. Teachers and their students are invited to try out this online assessment. CASLS is looking for students between Novice-high and Intermediate-mid levels. The pilot window will be kept open until sufficient data are collected, but the target date for completing the piloting is the end of summer 2007. Interested teachers should contact Sachiko Kamioka, Japanese ALP Pilot Coordinator, Center for Applied Second Language Studies (CASLS), 5290 University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403. 541-346-5995. jppilot @uoregon.edu.

CALPER Digital Video Archive of Interactions Available

The Center for Advanced Language Proficiency Education and Research (CALPER) is happy to announce that the web site for its Japanese Project, "Learning Through Listening Towards Advanced Japanese Language Proficiency," now offers a selection of digital video clips of naturalistic interactions along with their transcripts and ideas for classroom activities. Please visit http://calper.la.psu.edu/learningthroughlistening/ to find out more about this project.

This project aims at providing digital video clips of speech samples, which can be incorporated into intermediate or advanced level Japanese language courses. These video clips have been developed from unscripted, spontaneous interview and conversations with various Japanese speakers. These clips can be used not only for improving learners’ listening comprehension skills, but also for encouraging learners to explore features of spontaneous speech, which have not been introduced systematically in the classroom. By doing so, we believe, we can increase the learners’ awareness towards sociolinguistic, pragmatic, and strategic factors as well as the significance of nonverbal means of communication. We also believe that these clips, which present Japanese speakers’ voices on topics frequently discussed in Japanese language classrooms, can provide strong motivation for the learners to increase their proficiency in Japanese.

The Instructors’ Manual provides the background and goal of the current project and some guidelines for incorporating these video clips into your classroom. In the Sample Materials section, you can review portions of selected video clips and accompanying transcripts and ideas for their use in the classroom. The access to the entire collection of currently available video clips in the Material Bank is restricted to registered Japanese instructors by the password protection system. Upon reviewing the manual and samples, if you are interested in reviewing the entire collection and using some of these video clips for your instruction, please fill out the online application form to receive a username and password. If you have any questions, suggestions, or comments on the contents of this project, please send an email to Junko Mori at jmori@wisc.edu. We hope to incorporate as much feedback as possible in the future development of the CALPER Japanese project.

Books on Haiku for Japanese Learners

Rise, Ye Sea Slugs! (480pp./$25) and Fly-ku! (240pp./$15), by Robin D. Gill, contain nearly a thousand haiku about sea cucumber (namako) and flies, respectively. While not written for the express purpose of teaching the reader to read Japanese, the books contain the original Japanese for each haiku (most are from the Edo era), a romanized version, and a transliteration, or gloss, as well as multiple translations and explanations of the translation as needed, making the books ideal for the intellectual student who wishes to improve his or her skills or teachers who wish to test themselves. Teachers might want to read inside the books at Amazon.com or Google Print to determine their suitability for their students. The author notes that he wishes he had had books like these when he tried to take his reading skills beyond the read-by-dictionary stage. Reviews for both books may be found at http://paraverse.org.

Listening Assessment Pilot Sites Sought

Language program directors around the country have identified assessment and placement as key issues in managing language programs. Most teachers would like to measure their students’ proficiency and real-world language ability, but existing tests are expensive and time-consuming. The Center for Applied Second Language Studies (CASLS) has developed an online assessment of reading, writing, and speaking proficiency in Japanese. The final installment of the four proficiency skills—listening—is currently being piloted. This pilot test is known as the Japanese Assessment of Listening Proficiency (ALP) pilot.

Participating in the Japanese ALP pilot allows teachers and students to experience a state-of-the-art assessment tool at no charge. Real-life tasks, delivered in FLASH audio and video to students’ computers, are keyed to the National Standards. Results from the test are immediately available to teachers on a password-protected website.

CASLS is looking for teachers who are willing to pilot the online Japanese ALP. If you are interested, please visit the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) Web site at www.languageassessment.net/language/japanesealp. This site answers questions regarding computer compatibility, the benefits of participating, test length, and more.

After reviewing the FAQ, you may use the teacher registration page on the same site to register for the pilot. Logistical questions that the FAQ page does not cover can be directed to jppilot@darkwing.uoregon.edu.

Textbook Available

ALC Press in Tokyo is pleased to announce that copies of Elementary Functional Japanese, Volume Three (Yoshiko Higurashi, 2000, 410pp.) from the first printing are completely sold out. Second and subsequent printings are published by Cal Copy and available at a lower price and with a faster delivery. The suggested retail price is $38.00. Volume One is still available at major Japanese bookstores: JP Trading (miyuri@jptrading.com), Kinokuniya Bookstores of America (seino@kino kuniya.com), and Sasuga Japanese Bookstore (info@sasugabooks.com). JP Trading is still the designated distributor of Elementary Functional Japanese in North America. For Volumes Two and Three, please contact Cal Copy at: Cal Copy, Inc., 5131 College Avenue, Suite E, San Diego, California 92115. 619/582-9949. Fax: 619/229-9949. sdsu@calcopy.com.

National Language Activities and Policies

This summary of legislative and other government actions that affect foreign language education was prepared by J. David Edwards, Executive Director of JNCL-NCLIS (Joint National Committee for Languages–National Council for Language and International Studies), an organization based in Washington, DC, that lobbies on behalf of foreign language education.

• The Omnibus Spending bill which finally passed the 108th Congress increased spending for the Foreign Language Assistance Program (FLAP) by $1.3 million to $17.8 million; International Education and Foreign Language Studies in Higher Education to $106.8 million; and Civic Education to $29.4 million. Other federal programs of importance to languages were either level-funded or decreased slightly.
• The 108^th Congress considered eighteen bills that dealt with languages and international studies, but only enacted two: the Intelligence Reauthorization and Intelligence Reform bills, which require the defense and intelligence communities to improve and increase their knowledge and use of languages.
• The National Security Education Program (NSEP) was funded at its usual $8 million with $6 million more added for the National Flagship Language Initiative and $2 million to work with Heritage Languages.
• The Administration’s FY 2006 Budget Request again eliminates funding for FLAP, Star Schools, Civic Education, Javits, and a dozen other small federal programs that provide assistance to languages and international studies.
• Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ) has introduced H.R. 115, the National Security Language Act, which will improve America’s foreign language capabilities through the following initiatives: 1) Loan Forgiveness for Undergraduate Students in Foreign Languages Who Become Teachers or Federal Employees; 2) Science and Technology Advanced Foreign Language Grants; 3) International Flagship Language Initiative; and 4) Encouraging Early Foreign Language Study.
• Senators Christopher Dodd and Thad Cochran will soon introduce the International and Foreign Language Studies Act of 2005, which reauthorizes Title VI of the Higher Education Act to include increased funding, greater outreach to the schools, increased study abroad opportunities, and greater use of technology.
• On March 8, the House passed H. Res. 122 expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regarding the study of languages and supporting the designation of a Year of Languages. Earlier this year, the Senate passed S. Res. 28 designating the year 2005 as the "Year of Foreign Language Study".
• The National Security Education Program has issued a request for proposals and will hold meetings regarding the creation of a K-16 Chinese Language Project.
• The Commission on the Abraham Lincoln Study Abroad Program has begun to hold meetings and seek input on this program, the vision of the late Senator Paul Simon, which would provide fellowships of up to $7,000 for 500,000 students to study abroad for a summer or school year.
• Recently, the Department of Defense has released a momentous new "plan to overhaul military policy, doctrine, and organizations to I’mprove the diversity of foreign languages spoken in the armed forces; enhance the proficiency of linguists; and create new sources of foreign language expertise outside the Defense Department"; it is entitled Defense Language Transformation Roadmap.

Detailed information on any and all of these developments can be obtained from the Joint National Committee for Languages and National Council for Languages and International Studies at www.languagepolicy.org.

Organization Enables More Colleges and High Schools to Offer High Quality Japanese Language Programs

The Alliance for Language Learning and Education Exchange (ALLEX)’s flagship program, the Intercultural Exchange Program (IEP), enables institutions to begin or maintain a high-quality Japanese language program by providing them with professionally trained, native Japanese instructors who teach in exchange for financial support to pursue a master's, associate’s, or second bachelor’s degree. Both four- and two-year institutions may partner with ALLEX; high schools are encouraged to partner with neighboring colleges and universities that can provide for an instructor’s pursuit of a degree while teaching at the high school.

As preparation for their teaching assignments, all instructors enroll in a specially designed eight-week summer teacher training program taught by experts in Japanese pedagogy and master university instructors. Four of these experts also serve on the training program’s academic board: Dr. Eleanor H. Jorden, Mary Donlon Alger Professor of Linguistics, Emerita, Cornell University; Ginger Marcus, Senior Lecturer of Japanese at Washington University in St. Louis; Robert J. Sukle, Director of Japanese FALCON and Senior Lecturer of Japanese at Cornell University; and Patricia Wetzel, Director of the Institute for Asian Studies and Professor of Japanese at Portland State University.

The organization was founded by Thomas Mason, Jr. and Kazunori Ueno to increase the number of professionally trained Japanese language teachers and to offer Japanese nationals a cost-effective means of pursuing a second degree abroad. More information on the program is available on ALLEX’s webpage at www.EastAsia.org.

Japan Foundation Publishes Advocacy Kit

The Japan Foundation’s Los Angeles office has published an Advocacy Kit for K-12 Japanese Language Programs. The boxed set of materials, which includes teachers’ and parents’ guides, a videotaped visit to three model programs, and a start-up and maintenance guide for language programs, is free and available upon request. Many of the materials are also on-line, in downloadable form. For an overview of the kit, and to order copies, visit the Foundation’s web site: www.jflalc.org.

Free J-POP Sampler CDs

Antinos Inc., an America’s subsidiary of Sony Music Japan ("Antinos" literally means "anti+sony" in reverse order) has established a new label, "Tofu Records," to launch J-POP music in the American market. The company is giving away free sampler CDs to teachers of Japanese and students learning Japanese. Two disks are available: "Tofu Tracks 01" contains 8 songs of different artists including TM Revolution, Toshi Kubota, and X-Japan. "Neo Soul" has 13 songs by artists including Toshi Kubota, Chemistry, and Ken Hirai. Tofu Records CDs include liner notes in romaji. To request CDs, please contact Ms. Ai Kennedy at 310/396-9333 or Ai@tofurecords.com. The company is also willing to help with speech contest prizes by donating a variety of Tofu Records CDs for sale. CDs can also be purchased online at www.tofurecords.com