“Learning for Change and Action, Making a Difference for the Future” was the theme of the academic conference I attended this weekend (https://ld30.edzil.la/). The idea of learning and teaching to change the world is a grandiose notion, and I was worried whether the presenters and participants could live up to it, but I was pleased by the positivity and enthusiasm that permeated the conference, and I was inspired by all the projects that people (i.e. mostly ordinary university professors) are already engaged in.
The first plenary presentation by Taichi Ichikawa set the tone. He is a social activist, and he narrated his personal journey of finding his mission to turn the world into one big school, and he set up his organization called World Road Inc. His most recent book “We Have A Dream” (or from amazon.com) is a collection of aspirations by young people around the world, and he intends this as a textbook on SDG to be used by students around the world (More information on this book can be found in this article from J-Stories). He told us about a global youth movement called One Young World, through which many young people today are trying to make meaningful changes for a better future.
Many presenters talked about how to empower students so that they can go about in the world and start participating in meaningful social issues. Ivan Lombardi and Christopher Hennessy, for example, described their successive efforts at making students try more of the messier aspects of project-based learning. Their experience suggests that students learn more practical skills and gain more confidence if they are allowed to choose their own projects and have to make the arrangements on their own with their clients. Students themselves added their voices through their presentation and poster sessions. One poster session by Chiho Takeda, for example, described her upbringing in Hiroshima with a simplistic belief that war is bad, period. However, her discussion with a Ukrainian friend compelled her to recognize the complexity of what it might mean to build and maintain peace.
My contribution to the conference was a discussion session on how to make our teaching matter more, not just in terms of our students’ language development but also in terms of making a positive contribution to the world. Peter Chin and Jennie Roloff Rothman started a lively conversation on fair trade, and we discussed how we might teach a class using that theme. The idea of “changing the world” can be overwhelming, but I argue that a meaningful contribution needs not happen at such a grand scale. It can happen at the classroom level or individual assignment level. At any time in our teaching, we can make one little decision to make our teaching benefit the world. For example, a simple lesson on giving directions can be turned into a lesson in kindness by assigning a task to actually help someone who looks visibly lost on the street. I know there are a lot of people who are lost and looking for directions in the streets of Tokyo. I know this not only because I see them all the time but also because I am one of them. Think about the times in which you wished someone had offered you a hand. Could you make an assignment out of that?
The post-conference publication is now available: https://ld-sig.org/spring-2024-volume-31-no-1/
My article is at: https://ld-sig.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Tachino.pdf
Your reflections on the conference are inspiring, especially in how you connect the grand theme of “Learning for Change and Action” to practical, everyday teaching. I enjoyed reading about Taichi Ichikawa’s effort to mobilize the power of youth in global change and I also liked the idea of empowering students to engage with real-world issues, and I would have liked to have heard the presentation by Ivan Lombardi and Christopher Hennessy that highlighted the importance of experiential learning. I think your point about integrating meaningful change into everyday lessons, such as turning a simple task into an act of kindness, is a practical and impactful takeaway. It’s a reminder that educators have the power to make a difference, even in small, thoughtful ways, within their classrooms. Thanks!