Professional learning schedule
There are many JTAN professional learning events planned for 2021. All of the scheduled 2021 events can be viewed here.
 
Kimi no Na wa teacher and student online Extension workshop
This workshop is an opportunity for teachers of the Extension course and their students to gain a deeper understanding of the prescribed text Kimi no Na wa and the text analysis component of the course. (A separate workshop focusing on monologue and writing skills will be held later in the year.)

This workshop will be held online on Saturday 27 March 2021.
Cost: $25 per attendee (teachers and students)

There are two options for registration.
1) Teachers register on behalf of their students (schools collect money and pay JTAN in one transaction for the whole group) – register here
2) Students register and pay directly through JTAN as individuals – register here
 
High potential and gifted education in languages workshop
From 27 January 2021, all NSW public schools must implement the High Potential and Gifted Education Policy. For language teachers, this means ensuring that high potential and gifted students can be supported to aspire to and achieve personal excellence in the language classroom.

This workshop, opening with a presentation by Melissa Gould-Drakely (NESA Curriculum Reform Lead 7–10), aims to give teachers practical strategies and advice for how to support and extend our high potential students in the languages classroom. Collaboration time is included to discuss and unpack ideas presented in the morning and discuss how they can be implemented effectively in the classroom/share your strategies for supporting high potential and gifted students.

This workshop will be held online on Saturday 13 March.

Cost: $65 members, $100 non-members

Please register via the JTAN Website
 
Senior skill building workshop series
Throughout 2021, JTAN will be running a series of free, after-school 90 minute workshops to share expertise around our teaching community and add value to membership. In 2021 these workshops will focus on unpacking the skills required for success in Stage 6 Beginners and Continuers courses. Each workshop will be facilitated by an experienced teacher who will unpack the requirements of the specific skill (reading, writing, speaking, listening) and provide a range of techniques, strategies and approaches to assist  in developing  students' skills in those areas.
 
Cost: Free for members
Time: 3:30pm-5:00pm

Please register via the links below
Thursday 18 March – Reading and responding B-style questions
Thursday 22 April – Developing senior speaking skills (Continuers)
Thursday 22 July – Developing writing skills (Beginners)
Thursday 11 November – Developing writing skills (Extension)

 
2021 JTAN examinations
2021 JTAN examinations are now available for purchase. Please note that the exam files will be made available from July, but orders must be made prior to the end of June to allow time for administrative checks to be completed.

Year 11 Beginners $115
Year 11 Continuers $115
HSC Trial Beginners $115
HSC Trial Continuers $115
HSC Trial Extension $70
​
All terms and conditions regarding the purchase and use of JTAN exams together with information on how to purchase the examinations can be found on the JTAN website.

JTAN Beginners and Continuers Preliminary and Trial exam writing workshop I – 6 December 2020 at MLC School Burwood.
Would you like to contribute to writing the JTAN 2021 Preliminary and Trial exam papers for Beginners and Continuers?
Members will be allocated a section and/or question from the mapping grid (provided) to develop in small groups and benefit from the opportunity to participate in peer discussion and review of what makes a suitable exam-style question for end of course examinations.
Workshop details can be found at the JTAN 2021 exam workshop website.
 
Steps to success I – Japanese Continuers (early career teachers) – 12 December 2020 on Zoom
This workshop aims to equip early career (up to 5 years experience) and preservice teachers with some of the essential knowledge and skills required to teach the Stage 6 Continuers course. Experienced teachers will lead sessions covering administration requirements, assessment (task ideas, marking), speaking skill development and how to prepare students for HSC-style oral examinations.
Note: Although this workshop primarily focuses on the Continuers course, teachers new to teaching Beginners may also find it useful.
This workshop will be held via Zoom – the link and course materials (digital) will be sent to participants prior to the workshop.
This workshop is dependent on participant numbers – if there are insufficient applicants then it will be rescheduled for a later date.
​For further information please visit the JTAN events website.

Are you new to teaching the Extension course?

​This collaborative workshop will enable teachers to better understand and explain the linguistic nuances in all 9 prescribed extracts of ‘Kimi No Na Wa’. A number of prompt questions for each extract will be provided for discussion and as examples for teachers to use in lessons when analysing the language in the extracts.

Teachers who wish to attend are expected to be familiar ALL extracts (have read through at least once) and be open to contributing their ideas and questions in groups on the day. 

Maximum of 25 participants. (No availability for preservice teachers.)

Note this is a REPEAT of a workshop held in April this year – at a reduced cost as printed materials will not be provided this time (available digitally.

This workshop will be held ONLINE via Zoom.

• 1 November 1 2020
  9:00am to 5:00pm
  
• ​
  For further information please visit the JTAN website.

This year's JTAN AGM and conference will be held online on Saturday 14 November in a shortened format and will be free for all members. The schedule for the day involves a workshop on 'Differentiation and Engagement' by Trish MacDonald, TeachMeet sessions on various topics by NSW teachers, and the JTAN AGM.
 
Completing this workshop will contribute 3 hours of NESA registered professional development addressing 6.2.2 and 7.4.2 in the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers towards maintaining proficient teacher accreditation in NSW.
 
Members who are unable to attend the AGM may still participate in the decision-makings by completing the proxy form (click here to download).
 
Several committee positions will become available at this year’s AGM, including:
• Vice President
• Accounts & Admin Manager
• Secretary
• Communications Manager
• Workshop Coordinator

To find out more information or to register for the AGM and conference, please visit the JTAN website.

If you would like to contact JTAN with a question or suggestion, please use JTAN's new website's contact form.​

JTAN examination kits were available from the end of last term. We thank JTAN members for their patience during the technical difficulties experienced in accessing the examinations. An errata has been provided below to help members track changes made to the papers.

Preliminary Beginners – missing audio track 10 (question 8). The file has now been uploaded and members should re-download the audio zip file via the JTAN website.

HSC Trial Continuers – reading part A texts typing errors. The kanji 部屋 now has furigana for へ and 人ずう is now correct with the ten-ten. Please access the amended file (v2 file name) via the JTAN website.

Please note, difficulty of vocabulary should be at the discretion of the individual teacher. Please check the suitability of the papers for your student context.

Late examination orders are still available but must be processed manually and will take 2-3 days to complete. Please order examinations via the JTAN website.

JTAN is offering an online Extension workshop focusing on preparing students for their HSC monologue on Saturday 25 July 9:00am-1:30pm.

Students will attend a one-hour presentation on monologue and essay writing skills. Students will then attend one of the sessions, in which they will be provided 4 sets of 10-minute HSC-style monologue practices  (7 minutes of preparation + 3 minutes of speaking), along with 5 minutes of feedback.

In order for this event to run smoothly, teachers of participating students must be available for the duration of the event (excluding the morning one-hour presentation). Due to the very limited capacity, each teacher may bring up to a maximum of 5 students. 

Teachers may register their students through the JTAN website. Students may also register and pay for themselves on the JTAN website here, however teachers must register themselves as well. Only credit card payments will be accepted, and places are strictly limited to 45 students.
Student ticket: $40.00
Password: Itomori
(Students should only be given the password once their teacher has registered so that their registration is not rejected.)

Year 12 winter holiday workshops
We are pleased to announce that due to the generous Sakura Grant from the Japan Foundation, student tickets for our winter holiday workshops have been reduced from $115.00 to $95.00. For payments that have already been made through our website, you will receive refunds for the cost difference.

Continuers holiday workshop (2 days)
Monday 6 July, Tuesday 7 July 2020
9:00am-2:30pm via Zoom
Student ticket $95.00
Please complete the application on the JTAN website.
 
Beginners holiday workshop (2 days)
Monday 6 July, Tuesday 7 July 2020
9:00am-2:30pm via Zoom
Tickets sold-out – a waiting list is available
Please complete the application on the JTAN website.
 
JTAN Extension speaking day
Due to the expressed interest from teachers and students, JTAN will be conducting an Extension speaking day on Saturday 25 July 2020. Students will participate for 2 hours via Zoom to work on their monologue preparation and delivery of set monologue questions covering all three prescribed issues. This event will require whole-day teacher support as it will run in a format similar to the Continuers speaking day. Students will likely be allocated to either a morning or afternoon session and complete 4 monologues with feedback (verbal) from teachers. Further event details will be posted shortly on the JTAN website and via JTAN News. Places are limited to 45 students, so please inform students of the workshop as soon as possible in order to register once applications open.

Year 12 winter holiday workshops
The JTAN winter holiday workshops for HSC students will go ahead via Zoom for both Japanese Continuers and Japanese Beginners.
 
Continuers holiday workshop (2 days)
Monday 6 July, Tuesday 7 July 2020
9:00am-2:30pm via Zoom
Student ticket $115.00
Please complete the application on the JTAN website.
 
Beginners holiday workshop (2 days)
Monday 6 July, Tuesday 7 July 2020
9:00am-2:30pm via Zoom
Student ticket $115.00
Please complete the application on the JTAN website.
 
Students who participate in these workshops will receive 8 hours of advice, as well as individual feedback on two writing tasks. The workshops will be led by experienced teachers in all areas. Listening, reading, writing and speaking sessions will be held. The format of the workshop has changed to accommodate for online delivery.

Applications are now open and will close on June 30. Places are strictly limited to 40 students per course, so please apply early to avoid disappointment.
 
Extension speaking day
JTAN would like to propose an Extension speaking day on the first weekend of Term 3 in lieu of the normal winter holiday workshop. This will be a full day workshop via Zoom for students to work on their monologue preparation and delivery skills. There will be a brief presentation followed by several rounds of preparation and delivery of set monologue questions covering all 3 prescribed issues. This event will require teacher support to run as it will run in a format similar to the Continuers speaking day. Students will likely be allocated to either a morning or afternoon session and complete 4 monologues with feedback (verbal) from assisting teachers. If you and your students are interested in participating in this workshop, please email by 15th June and JTAN will confirm whether the event can go ahead and provide registrations details.

Places will be strictly limited based on teacher participation. Teachers must participate in order for this event to be held for their students. 
 
Continuers online speaking days
All JTAN speaking days have reached full capacity. We still require a number of teachers to assist as examiners for part or all of each day.
 
Continuers day #2
20 June 2020 (9:00am-1:30pm)
If you are able to provide additional support on the day as an examiner, please register via email.
 
Postgraduate Conference on Multilingualism
The Postgraduate Conference on Multilingualism, co-hosted by Multilingualism Research Centre, Department of Linguistics and School of Education, Macquarie University and School of Education, University of New South Wales, will be held on 10 October 2020. The conference will be web-based and there is no cost for participation. Please read the attached flyer for further information.
 
Research streams include:
• Australian indigenous languages
• Geographies of multilingualism
• Language education policy
• Language learning and use in the community
• Language teacher education
• Learning and using English in a multilingual society
• Multilingualism in literature and translation
• Multilingualism in social and professional life
• Multilingualism, technologies and literacies in education
 
Japanese Government 2021 MEXT Scholarship
 
Research and undergraduate applications are now open for the Japanese Government 2021 MEXT Scholarships. Application forms and details (including the application timeline) are available on the Embassy of Japan website.The deadline for applications is Wednesday 8 July 2020. Complete, hard-copy applications must arrive at the Embassy of Japan by 5:00pm on this day. Any enquiries should be addressed to the MEXT Scholarship Advisor at the Embassy of Japan in Canberra via phone or email.

JTAN online speaking days
We would like to remind teachers that a second Continuers day has opened on June 20 for those who missed out on the first day.

Continuers day #2 (online)
20 June 2020 (9:00am-1:30pm) – applications open.
 
We are pleased to announce that this event will go ahead due to the high demand of student registrations. As above, if you are able to provide additional support on the day as an examiner, please email JTAN. 

JTAN examination papers
The following 2020 JTAN examination papers are available for purchase from now until the end of June via the JTAN website. Please read the terms and conditions carefully, as we enforce strict embargo dates in order to maintain the validity of the papers across the state.
 
Year 11 Beginners Preliminary Yearly 
Year 12 Beginners Trial HSC 
Year 11 Continuers  Preliminary Yearly 
Year 12 Continuers Trial HSC 
Year 12 Extension Trial HSC 

National Symposium on Japanese Language Education (NSJLE) 2021
The Monash Japanese Language Education Centre together with The Japan Foundation, Sydney is committed to supporting Japanese language educators across Australia. We are also committed to the well-being of our colleagues and with that at the forefront of our thinking we have decided to postpone the National Symposium on Japanese Language Education 2020.The NSJLE will now be held in November 2021 in Melbourne at The State Library of Victoria.

The call for papers facility remains open so please consider submitting a paper. We greatly appreciate those who have submitted a paper for consideration and we will contact you shortly. Those who have registered for the NSJLE 2020 will also be contacted in the coming weeks.

We are pleased to announce that our featured keynote speakers for the NSJLE 2020, have been secured for 2021. Their biographies, further details and important dates can be found on the NSJLE website.