Bonnie Yoneda & Jim Swan will offer us a walk down memory lane as they recount their experiences as English educators in Japan. So all those who know Bonnie and Jim and all those who are interested in acquiring some wisdom from these sages please come along.
Presenters: Bonnie Yoneda and James Swan
Date: Sunday 9th June
Time: 4:00pm – 5:30pm
Venue: Yumekaze hall (near Nara Park)
Cost: Free for JALT members, ¥500 for visitors
Presentation Details:
Bonnie Yoneda: originally from the Midwest United States, has been residing in the Kansai region for the past 40 years.
She has an M.A. in Applied Linguistics from the University of Kansas and has been teaching full-time at Osaka Shoin Women’s University for 38 years. She has also worked part-time at a number of universities in Osaka and Nara. Her field of interest is Fairy Tales and Storytelling.
40 Acres and a Mule
For those of you who know American history, perhaps you’ll recognise the above phrase and for those of you who don’t, why not join us in an afternoon journey into the story of one woman’s experiences teaching in Japan for the past 40 years. Learn about the changes that have taken place in the field and the role JALT played in her life.
Jim Swan: has lived in Japan for a bit shy of 40 years, too, and counts Bonnie as his very first friend when he and his family moved to the Kansai area. He will join Bonnie in encouraging the other JALT members to help us remember things. Jim’s active involvement with JALT began in 1981, back in the days when the only Kansai area chapter was Osaka. Fresh from grad school and having fallen into a teaching environment for which he was woefully unprepared, Jim high-tailed it into the big city for morale support at the first possible opportunity.
After six years in Tokyo as an exchange student and conversation school English teacher, Jim and family spent two years at the University of Hawaii, returning to Japan in 1981 with his MA in hand and a foot in the door at Osaka University of Economics and Law. Four years there were followed by seven years at Baika Womens College, and finally 20 years on the tenured faculty at Nara University, from which he retired in 2012.
So please come along for a day of reflection and insight and gain from the vast experience that these two veterans of the English teaching community in Japan can offer!
Nara JALT 