JSANZ is happy to announce that the call for paper and panel proposals is open for the 24th ​NZASIA Biennial International Conference 2021, on the theme ‘Asia: Change, disruptions and resilience’ (f2f, November 24-27 at Massey University, Manawatu). Please visit the website https://www.nzasia.org.nz/conferences.html for more information.

The deadline for submitting abstracts is 30 June.

Attached is a flier about the Asia New Zealand Foundation postgraduate workshop which will precede the conference proper – Please forward it to any students or postgraduate supervisors who may be interested.

JSANZ would like to recognize Japanese teachers and students who do a great job.

There are ten categories in the competition.

You can nominate yourself or another person.

The same application form will be used for both types of nomination.

You can only make one nomination for each category.

JSANZ Japanese Firsts — Competition Categories

• Most Innovative Lecturer
• Best Specialist Lecturer Kanji
• Best Specialist Lecturer Keigo
• Best Specialist Lecturer Grammar
• Best Specialist Lecturer Culture
• Most Caring Lecturer
• Most Memorable Japanese Lesson (Name Lecturer and give a short description)
• Best Effort from a First Year Student
• Most Engaged Second, or Third Year, Student
• Most Interesting Japanese Language Figurehead in New Zealand

JSANZ Japanese Firsts — Competition Dates

The competition begins 20 April

The competition ends 20 June

The winners will be announced 20 July

JSANZ Japanese Firsts — Application Process

Submit your nominations on the form below.

A current phone number and email address are required on the application form so that we can contact you if you are a winner.

Late or incomplete nominations will not be accepted.

A panel of JSANZ members will decide on the winners. If a JSANZ member has been nominated that person will not be eligible to join the decision-making panel.

Nomination forms cannot be changed once submitted.

You will receive an email confirming your nomination after it has been submitted.

JSANZ Japanese Firsts — Prizes

If you win one of the 10 categories in the JSANZ Japanese Firsts competition you will receive a glossy e-poster for your classroom, giving details about you and your award.

Photographs for the poster will be taken by your university or by a JSANZ member.

The winning posters will also be published on the JSANZ website and possibly in other publications relevant to Japanese language teaching.

The competition is open to all students and lecturers of Japanese language and Japanese Studies at New Zealand tertiary institutes.

IMPORTANT NOTES

•  If you nominate someone or if you make a self-nomination your name will not be made public for any reason. Your nominations will be completely confidential. 
•  You cannot nominate the same person more than once for the same category but you can nominate the same person for more than one category. 

Good luck with your choices.

The Asia New Zealand Foundation has established several new best paper prizes of $1000 each for undergraduate and postgraduate students.

YOUNG VOICES ON ASIA – Best Paper Prizes of $1000

The Asia New Zealand Foundation is launching the first round of its Young Voices on Asia competition – New Zealand undergraduate and post-graduate students are welcome to submit their max 2000 word entry for one of five Best Paper prizes of $1000.  The categories and deadlines are:

New Zealand, Asia and: 

1.            Regional environmental issues/climate change (due 31 July)

2.            Trade and economic policy (due 30 August)

3.            International relations and foreign policy (due 30 September)

4.            Humanities/social issues/media (due 28 Oct)

5.            Science, Technology and Innovation (due 1 Dec)

https://www.asianz.org.nz/research/young-voices-on-asia-best-paper-prizes/

Please see the link for more information. Any questions can be addressed to James To, Senior Adviser (Research and Engagement) jto@asianz.org.nz

Dear Japanese language academics, 

My name is Taeko Imura and I have been teaching Japanese language for 28 years at Griffith University in Australia. In the event of COVID-19, many of us were given no choice but to make a swift transition from traditional face-to-face classroom to remote teaching from home. Adapting to meet the needs of students and university standards, following the constant changes of local government and health authority guidelines, was a formidable challenge that we have never had before – we were in the same boat. This project aims to investigate experiences and perceptions on online/remote teaching that tertiary Japanese language academics had in a watershed event in education history and to provide insights into future Japanese education.  

We would like to invite many Japanese language academics to participate in a research project ‘Reflections on 2020 we are glad to be over but what’s next? – Capturing a historical moment of Japanese language education in Australia and New Zealand’ (Griffith University ethics reference no. 2020/907 and funded by the Queensland Program for Japanese Education) and share experiences and perceptions. There are two anonymous online surveys to the research project: one after semester 2, 2020 and another before semester 1, 2021. You may choose to participate both or one of them. This is the first survey and is open to all tertiary academics who have taught Japanese language in 2020 regardless of academic position/appointment in Australia or New Zealand. Therefore, we will appreciate if you can disseminate this email to casual/sessional academics and postgraduates who were involved in teaching Japanese language remotely at your institution to participate in the research. The second online survey focuses on changes that Japanese language academics have made for teaching in 2021 and will be distributed in February.  

We highly value your opinion and time as the information you provide will capture this unique period which has impacted on how we may teach Japanese after post COVID-19. All your responses are completely anonymous, cannot be identified at any stage and treated confidentially at all times. The responses will be retained in electronically-secured Griffith University staff server where only myself and a research assistant have access to for a period of five years before being destroyed. Findings of this research may be disseminated through conference presentation and published in professional journal. A summary report can be provided on request to those who respond to the survey/s after data have been analysed. The report will inform you what experiences and views academics had in regard to teaching Japanese language remotely and may assist you in preparing for 2021.  

The survey consists of mainly multiple-choice questions and some questions require short answers. It should take you no longer than 10 minutes to complete. Access from a computer is highly recommended since the display of the Likert-type question on mobile phones or tablets becomes a long list and takes more time to go through. The survey is now open and will close at 11:59 PM on 20 March 2021. There are no foreseeable risks associated with participation in this research. Your participation in this research is voluntary. You can withdraw from further participation at any stage and there are no consequences for withdrawal. If you would like further information regarding any aspect of this project, you are encouraged to contact me via email t.imura@griffith.edu.au  

This study has been granted ethical clearance by the Griffith University Human Research Ethics Committee (GU Ref no: 2020/907). Griffith University conducts research in accordance with the National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research. If you have any concerns or complaints about the ethical conduct of this research project, you are encouraged to contact the Manager, Research Ethics on 07 3735 4375 or research-ethics@griffith.edu.au 

If you decided to participate, please click here to access the survey. By submitting the survey electronically, you have given consent to participate in this research project.  

 
Thank you very much for your participation in this research project. 

Dr Taeko Imura  

Chief investigator 

School of Humanities, Languages and Social Science,  

Griffith University, Nathan campus, Australia  

Email: t.imura@griffith.edu.au 
 

The full results are free and downloadable, in English as well as Japanese this time.

In previous years only the summary has been available free.

https://www.jpf.go.jp/e/project/japanese/survey/result/survey18.html

As with many other events, the Auckland Area Secondary School Japanese Speech Competition was held using an online format this year. The participants recorded their speeches on video in front of an audience.

This year there were originally 41 participants across three categories. 23 participants submitted videos (6, 7, and 10 in Open, Year 11, and Years 12&13 Categories, respectively). The Q&A session with Top 3 from Years 12&13 Category was held, and the results for all three categories were finalised during the week.

List of Prizewinners