CORE-NE Japanese (Contact Person: Tsuda, Kazuo)

System Requirements: World Wide Web access; modem; System 7.0 or above; 2.5 MB free RAM; Japanese Language Kit req.
Price: Free for those willing to commit to piloting during 1996-1997
Announcement by Kazuo Tsuda, United Nations International School (NYC, NY)

CORE-NE Japanese is a series of Hypercard software and lesson plans that will be made available through a soon-to-be-announced World Wide Web site as early as February, 1996. The program is being written and sponsored by the Northeast Association of Secondary Teachers of Japanese(NEASTJ) and a National Council of Secondary Teachers of Japanese (NCSTJ) task force committee which includes Geraldine Cater, Masako Kahata, Cyrus Rolbin, Masatoshi Shimano, and Kazuo Tsuda.

CORE-NE Japanese is a beginning based call program with weekly lesson plan. Each program consists of one theme units which related to CORE-NE ACTIVITY (ACTIVITY AND GAME SECTION) interests of today's students of Japanese. The themes include an exchange party and youth culture. There are several main characters in the story, namely, Japanese exchange students and American students in a northeast region school. Learners can listen to personal information of these students in the beginning level.

CORE-NE Japanese is related to the Stage 2 or Stage 3 of the weekly lesson plan. Each program is related to one weekly lesson.

Stage 1: INTRODUCTION (Setting communicative outcome-based objectives) - Presents new material while involving learners actively in a situation or context likely to be encountered - Uses learners' ability to guess
Stage 2: ORIENTATION (Providing a variety of examples) - Shows meaning visually - Gives abundant opportunities to listen and speak - Develops learners' ability to guess - Confirms learners' recognition of the material to be learned in the unit
Stage 3: PRACTICE - Uses variety of activities: drills, structured Q&A, games, pair/group work - Corrects learners' errors when necessary - Confirms learners' comprehension of new material
Stage 4: FLUENCY a) Involve learners actively in a situation or context likely to be encountered - Encourage learners to interact actively in communication - Make sure there is an information gap between/among speakers - Keep the conversation flow (more than one Q&A) b) Minimize teacher control - Minimize teacher talk during live interaction - Do not correct errors during interaction; give appropriate feedback afterward

(This list was adapted from a similar one presented at the Japan Foundation Language Center 1995 Summer Workshop in Santa Monica): Participants will: 1) Familiarize themselves with the use of computers and modems 2) Learn and practice with the JP-high Net ( core-ne ) as a means of planning lessons and sharing ideas and materials with teachers at other schools, and 3)discuss the lesson plan and contact participants using JP-high Net (core-ne )from their homes or schools.