In Japan, dyslexia is not known well yet. The vast majority of the Japanese people had never heard of the word until very recently. Some say that dyslexia is underdiagnosed in Japan due to its transparent orthography. Some say that when Japanese children with dyslexia start learning a foregin language with opaque orthography such as English, they exhibit symptoms, but most often they are simply dismissed. On the other hand, in American schools, dyslexia is a well-recognized learning difficulty and various kinds of support are available.
The purpose of this project is to help newcomers from Japan to understand what dyslexia is and how to get/give support in American schools. Given that dyxlexia itself is not well-known and its support is not likely to be available in Japan, in addition to neither students nor parents speaking English well, it is difficult for them to find resources.The final product will be an educational video clip that will be uploaded on the web. Therefore, the messages on this video could reach beyond the local area. Learners will first show the video to the live audience, namely Japanese children and parents in the local Saturday Japanese school and receive feedback from them before uploading it on the web.
While we cannot prevent dyslexia, we can contribute to reduce misconceptions and prejudice against people with dyslexia. Diversity and inclusion is one of the primary educational goals today. Our college provides good support for students with learning difficulties, including dyslexia. Since our students have learned Japanese orthography as adults (with some difficulty), I expect them to be able to provide perspectives distinct from those of native speakers of Japanese adults who learned Japanese orthography as children without much difficulty.
During this project, learners will actively investigate the Education and Training career cluster's Teaching and Training pathway by pursuing the following knowledge and skills described for this pathway: ESS01.02.02 adapting language for audience, purpose, and situation; ESS02.07 Interpreting verbal and nonverbal cues/behaviors to enhance communication with client/participants; ESS 02.08 applying active listening skills to obtain and clarify information; HU3.1 providing services that are sensitive to cultural and disability issues.
Career Pathway Education Teaching Training
Learners will first engage in sustained inquiry about the Japanese orthography and how that compares with English orthography with respect to dyslexia as well as investigating social issues on dyslexia. They will, then, explore what kind of support for students with dyxlexia is available in local schools (Western Massachusetts), including their own college. Prior to creating a video, they will visit a local Japanese Saturday school to conduct interviews with students and/or parents from Japan to examine how much they know about dyslexia and what misconceptions they might possess.
This project will enhance learners' skills to use available technology such as Google translator, Rikaichan, and Reading Tutor, to supplement their reading and writing skills in Japanese.
Presentational language
Interview language
Formal e-mail writing
Different orthographies in the world
Introduction to the project
Experience simulated dyslexia world
Mechanism of reading
What is going on? Why do we care?
What style of language should be used for our video?
Japanese orthography experience (individual video)
Common symptoms of dyslexia
Orthographies and dyslexia
Preparation for interviews with the audience
Interview: Get to know the audience
Dyslexia support in American schools
Organize ideas and timelines for the video
Scripts of the video
Create a video clip
Screening of the video with the live audience
Finalize the project
Assessment 1 : Individual video
Assessment 2: Interview preparation
Assessment 3: Information conversion
Assessment 4: Video scripts
Assessment 5: Video creation and presentation
Assessment 6: The final product
Teamwork Assessment
Implementation information not specified.
Prior to this project, learners will practice how to make a formal presentation in Japanese.
In order to conduct interviews with the target audience, learners will learn how to conduct interviews in Japanese
How to record a conversation
In order to communicate with the principle of the Saturday Japanese School, learners will learn how to write formal e-mail.
Typing Japanese
Learners will learn different contemporary orthographies in the world and how they are categorized (logophraphic, syllabic, alphabetic).
Give the overview of the project and clarify what the learners are expected to do and what choices they have.
Using the dyslexia similation video clips in the link below, learners will experience what it is like to read with dyslexia. After that, they will hear what it is like to have dyxlexia from two students in the second video (beginning to 2:30). Learners will watch the videos with the worksheet below (scaffolding).
Dyslexia simulation video (Video A)
Student experience video (Video B)
Dyslexia simulation worksheet (Deliverable)
Prior to dealing with issues of dyslexia, learners will learn how "reading" happens in brain with focus on the relationship between letters and sounds.
Reading candidate 1: "Train your brain" by R. Kawashima (from a 6th Grade textbook)
Discuss what learners know about dyslexia.
Watch 3:15 - 8:53 of the following video. Using the knowledge from the reading (Mechanism of reading) and this video, discuss what can be the problems, what we want to know about dyslexia and whether there is anything we can do about it.
Video of a student with dyslexia (Video C)
Learners will discuss who (e.g. elementary school children? Adults?) should be the main target of the video that they will create (learners' choice) and what style of the language they should use for the video. Watch several video clips and hold group (project group) discussion on what language style is appropriate for educational/informational video clips.
Learners have already watched three different video clips (A,B,C) that are different in terms of the language style.
Career Pathway:
ESS01.02.02 adapting language for audience, purpose, and situation
Learners will test out some popular video creating soft and choose one that they want to use for this assignment "sharing Japanese learning experience." Learners will create (including editing) a short video clip (for the audience of their choice) to talk about his/her Japanese learning experience focusing on its writing system (in their choice of language style). The video should explain the similarities and differences among the orthographies of their native language, Japanese, and other language(s) that they have learned, using the knowledge from the previous readings and classes.
Deliverable: Video Clip (Assessment 1)
Learners will select what to read about dyslexia based on their reading level and share what they have found out by giving a short informal presentation. The candidates for readings include children's books, manga, informational website (e.g. the Dyslexia Association of Japan).
Learners will read a short article on how phonological dyslexia happens and analyze why it is more visible in English than Japanese.
Readings can be too difficult for some learners. Encourage learners to use the above web-based reading support software applications. I would like to have reading materials with a little more explanation than the above candidates. There are some books that I would like to examine.
Learners will consider what information from the audience helps them to create a video clip and prepare for the interviews with the audience. They will also decide how they will conduct interviews (e.g. individual, pair, group). The questions include what information the audience wants from a local expert whom the learners will meet before they start creating a video script. The representatives of the group will write to the principal of the Saturday Japanese school a week before the meeting and after the meeting.
SLO: Learners will be able to prepare for Japanese interviews about school-related issues, using the appropriate politeness level and school-related vocabulary.
Deliverable: Interview questions (Assessment 2)
Learners will practice "active listening" (Career pathway ESS 02.08).
Learners will be instructed to pay attention to non-verbal behavior of the interviewees (Career pathway ESS02.07)
Career Pathway:
ESS02.07 Interpreting verbal and nonverbal cues/behaviors to enhance communication with client/participants
ESS 02.08 applying active listening skills to obtain and clarify information
Interview students and/or parents of the Saturday Japanese school, using the prepared quesitons. They will find out what they know about dyslexia and its support system and whether they have any misconceptions or concerns regarding dyslexia. The purpose of this activity includes getting to know the audience for the final product. If allowed, learners will record (video) the interview for further analysis, including non-verbal behavior of native speakers.
After the interview, the learners will discuss who (e.g. children, parents) they want to be the main audience for their video.
SLO: Learners will be able to conduct Japanese interviews about school-related issues by applying active listening (e.g. confirming and clarifying important issues) and interpreting non-verbal behavior of the interviewees.
Deliverable: Live interview; What they found out from the interview (content and verbal and non-verbal behavior)
Discussion on self-assessment and reflection on interview to follow
Learners will meet a local expert and find out what types of support are available in American schools for students with dyslexia and what is the best way to start getting such support for the audience. It is likely that the local expert does not speak Japanese. Therefore, learners must convert the information they have got into Japanese.
Deliverable: Dyslexia support information in Japanese (Assessment 3)
The assessment of this activity is not only how well they can convert the information into Japanese but also whether they can utilize available resources and technology to conduct translation and check its accuracy.
Learners will hold group discussion on the contents and organization of the video. Learners will make a list of individual responsibilities and the project timelines (who do what by when) for the final product.
Deliverable: The project proposal and timelines
Learners will present the scripts of the video with the Power Point slides in class to get feedback for revision
SLO: Leaners will be able to plan a professional quaility video that promotes understanding of a social issue by critically analyzing and organizing the information that they gathered from many different sources.
Deliverable: Video scripts (Assessment 4)
Learners will create a video clip to promote the understanding of dyslexia and to advise how to get/give support for children with dyslexia.
SLO: Learners will be able to create a good quality video to promote understanding of a social issue by using appropriate technology and language.
Learners will visit the Saturday Japanese School to show their final product. They will get questions and feedback from the audience.
Deliverable: Presentation with a video clip that they created (Assessment 5)
Learners will reflect on their project by considering feedback from the audience. Make the final editing of the video, if necessary, for the web version.
SLO: Learners will be able to productively reflect on their own work to prepare for the future project.
Deliverable: Video clip to be uploaded on Web (Assessment 6)
At the end, learners will assess and reflect on the work of their teammates.
Teamwork Assessment
Each learner will receive assessment from the teacher and one of the classmate on his/her video that introduces how he/she learned Japanese orthography and what he/she thinks of dyslexia.
Learners get feedbacks on the prepared questions for the interviews before they meet the interviewees for their peer (on content relevancy and language use including politeness) and instructor (language accuracy). Learners will also get feedback from their peer regarding how they are doing as a group project member.
Learners will convert the important information that they acquire from the local expert in English into Japanese with help from native speakers of Japanese. This assessment is not only on the translated texts but also on how well learners could utilize resources (e.g. dictionaries, google translate, native speakers).
The scripts for the video will be assesed in terms of its effectiveness communication, and accuracy of the information and language by peer and instructor.
The video clip and the way that was presented to the live audience, including introduction, will be assessed by the target audience and self.
After the presentation of the video clip, learners may revise the video. The final version will be assessed by peer and instructor. The peer assessment includes the process of this project such as how cooperative this individual was for the project.
Learners will assess their project groupmates reflecting the project proposal and timelines that they submitted earlier.
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