Presentation for 2007 JALT CUE Conference in Nagoya

1. Informal Writing for Critical Thinking Mary E. Hillis Kansai Gaidai University

2. “ Writing is both a process of doing critical thinking and a product communicating the results of critical thinking.” Bean (2001)

15. Lessons using Informal Writing Assignments and Student Examples

16. The Little Prince Book by St.-Exupery A Literature-based lesson

17. Students read assigned pages Students prepare summaries Students write discussion questions

18. Summary … The seventh planet is the Earth. At first, the Little Prince thought the Earth is peculiar. He met a fox and he started to think about his rose. The Fox made the Little Prince aware of his important things. He said, “Anything essential is invisible to the eyes.”… (by Mina IES-F)

20. The Environment A News-based lesson

21. Students read a newspaper article Students do a quick write Students discuss Students write response to group discussion

23. Responses to Small Group Discussion We talked about what we can do for the environment. We can reduce using electricity. Japan is wasting trees for making waribashi, I think. Governments have to take steps. The Japanese government is leading the Kyoto Protocol and their idea is being taken. I’m proud of that. (by Eri ESL1)

24. School Violence A Listening-based lesson Adapted from Face the Issues

25. Students listen to part 1 of an interview about school violence Students prepare a dialogue between a teacher and student Students listen to part 2 of the interview Students complete a role play activity Students write a letter based on the role play

28. Second, we want to have after school sports activities. What about having “Midnight Basket-ball? It avoids students to spend the entire night on the streets. It’s also good opportunity for the entire community to know each other. We can protect ourselves by ourselves! Then, it is also cheap and good for health, especially over-weight people. Thank you. Sincerely, Teacher, Student, Parent, and Community Member (by Ayaka, Saya, Miho, Syujiro, and Minami IES-F)

30. Adaptations using Technology

36. Lesson Materials Anderson, N. (2007). Active Skills for Reading, Book 1. (2 nd ed.) Boston: Thomson. De Saint-Exupery, A. (1971) The Little Prince (R. Howard, Trans.) San Diego: Harvest. (Original work published 1943). “ Developing countries say rich countries must take responsibility for climate change.” (2007). International Herald Tribune . Retreived June 10, 2007 from http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/02/27/europe/EU -GEN-UN-Climate-Change.php Numrich, C. (1997). Face the Issues: Intermediate Listening and Critical Thinking Skills . (2 nd ed.) White Plains: Longman.