Overview of the Summer Intensive Programs
1. Intensive English Program
- Small class size
- Interactive classes
- Individualized instruction and feedback
- An active extracurricular schedule
- Computer and Internet facilities
- International and multi-cultural environment, with more than half of the students from outside Japan
- Residential campus
- Scenic mountainous surroundings in a rural setting
- Develop English language skills for academic needs
- Develop oral communication skills in and outside of the classroom
- Develop cross-cultural awareness inside and outside the classes
- Make use of self-access learning materials
- Develop leadership and organizational skills
- Participate in an “English only environment”
- INTENSITY: 22 hours of instruction a week, plus individual tutorials
- PROFICIENCY LEVEL: Intermediate or upwards (mostly in the TOEFL 500-600 or iBT 61-100 range)
- PROGRAM LENGTH: An eight-week session, from mid-July to mid- September
- CLASS SIZE: 9-12
- ENROLLMENT: 60-90
2. Intensive English Program Courses
OCSALS (Oral Communication Skills & Academic Listening Skills)
Oral Communication Skills [OCS]
This component focuses on two major activities: oral presentations and small group discussions. Students will develop skills for making individual and group oral presentations, participating in group discussion activities on selected academic topics, and effectively handling group dynamics in group project work.
- language needed for general classroom interactions
- language needed for oral presentations and group discussions
- effective strategies for making individual and group presentations
- effective strategies for discussing a topic at an academic level
- effective communication skills in a group
- pronunciation, stress, rhythm, and articulation of sounds, words, and sentences
Throughout the course, an emphasis will be placed on self-expression and the development of fluency.
Academic Listening Skills [ALS]
This component focuses on the development of comprehension skills in academic contexts and note-taking skills that aid such comprehension. Students will listen to short audio- or video-based academic lectures, take notes, and answer questions or participate in follow-up discussions.
In comprehending academic lectures, students will be able to:
- Identify the overall focus and parts of a lecture
- Distinguish between main points and supporting details
- Identify points of transition and linking words and phrases
- Distinguish repetitions and re-phrasing of ideas from new content
Some news reports and documentaries may also be included as listening materials.
Students will practice efficient note-taking skills and develop familiarity with the use of abbreviations, symbols, and outlining in listening to academic lectures.
Aural comprehension materials will be carefully sequenced in length, complexity, and authenticity, which will help to familiarize students with speech delivered at a speed considered natural for a native speaker of English.
TS (Text Skills )
The Text Skills course focuses on basic academic reading and writing needs common to students in GSIR and GSIM.
In writing, students will:
- understand the principles of organization and development
- write paragraphs and short essays on familiar topics
- practice editing and revising their written drafts
- practice paraphrasing and summarizing source material
In reading, they will:
- understand the structure and organization of academic texts
- identify main points and locate specific information
- distinguish between facts and opinions
- summarize essential information
The course will also deal with basic grammar and vocabulary in the context of academic writing and reading. Students will make use of reference materials and dictionaries to develop vocabulary. The course will introduce authentic readings from selected IR and IM content courses to expose students to graduate-level reading materials used at IUJ.
IMF Text Skills
During Weeks 1-4 of the IEP, IMF Students will join the other IEP students in Period 3 everyday for general academic writing skills. In Period 4, they will attend a customized IMF Text Skills course that focuses on academic writing for economics. During Weeks 5-8 of the IEP, the IMF students will not attend IEP classes since their focus will switch to math, computing, Japanese language, and economics classes, but they will continue their academic writing studies by attending individual tutorials that are focused on the early stages of thesis preparation. See also Section 3 below.
Business Communication Skills
Summer-only professional students will attend Text Skills classes during Weeks 1-4 of the IEP. During Weeks 5-8 of the IEP, they will attend a customized Business Communication Skills course that focuses on spoken and written English for international business purposes.
Text Skills 2015 Schedule:
- Weeks 1-4
- Period 3
Regular Text Skills all students
- Period 4
Regular Text Skills
IMF Text Skills (for IMF students)
- Weeks 5-8
- Period 3
Regular Text Skills (for IUJ-bound students)
Business Communication Skills for Summer-only professional students
- Period 4
Regular Text Skills (for IUJ-bound students)
Business Communication Skills for Summer-only professional students
3. IMF Orientation Program Courses
The International Monetary Fund sponsors the “Orientation Program Courses” (IMF-OP), which comprise four weeks of regular IEP classes and several weeks of math, computing, Japanese language, and economics classes that are taught by full-time faculty in the Graduate School of International Relations. Many IMF students will begin their graduate studies at other universities in Japan after completing their summer program at IUJ.
4. Teacher Education Program
This summer program is offered for six or four weeks to junior and senior high school English teachers to develop their communication skills in English, as well as, conceptual understanding of and practical skills for English language teaching. The participants, sponsored by Niigata-ken, take both OCSALS and Text Skills courses during Weeks 3-4. During Weeks 5 & 6, they take a customized English Language Teaching course and attend workshop sessions in place of the Text Skills course. The ELT course and the workshop sessions are offered by specialist visiting faculty. The participants continue with the OCSALS course until the end of Week 6. Post-TEP reflections activities provide opportunities for follow-up professional self-development.
5. IEP Activities
The IEP provides excellent opportunities for social and group activities, mostly organized by students with support from faculty and staff. Members of the IEP Student Committee, formed by student volunteers from the IEP, IMF-OP, & TEP, take initiative in organizing the activities. Membership in the Student Committee provides opportunities for showing initiative and developing leadership and organizational skills. The surrounding areas are ideal for outdoor activities.
The activities include:
- Parties and picnics
- Sports (tennis, volleyball, badminton, basketball, baseball, etc.)
- Jogging & biking
- Driving around the mountainous countryside
- Hiking up the mountains
- Beach trips
- Visits to restaurants and hot springs
Students come from various professional backgrounds, such as business companies government departments, and banks. Most of them are financially sponsored by their companies and by international and government agencies to study at IUJ.
The international and cross-cultural composition of the student body is a vital feature of the program every year.
For the IEP of 2015, about 85-90 students are expected to attend. They come from Japan and from several different countries in East and Central Asia. Students from Japan will represent about 50% of the members of this international group.
Four main groups of students will attend the IEP of 2014:
- Students who will enter the graduate degree programs at IUJ after the IEP
- IMF students sponsored by the International Monetary Fund (see below)
- Summer-only professional students who will return to their corporate or government offices after the IEP
- TEP students in the Teachers Education Program (see above)
About 30-35 students are sponsored by the IMF (International Monetary Fund).
The TEP group of students comprises English teachers at high schools and middle schools in Niigata Prefecture. This Teachers Education Program is sponsored by the Niigata Prefectural Government. For the first four weeks, the TEP group members will attend the regular IEP English classes, after which they will join a customized afternoon two-week teacher education course that is taught by a specially invited expert in second language English education. They will continue to attend the morning IEP English classes during this two-week period.
7. Faculty & Staff (IEP & TEP)
The IEP is currently conducted by three full-time IUJ English language faculty members and an administrative coordinator. In addition, experienced instructors are hired every year as summer visiting faculty to teach in different courses.
The three full-time members work together in planning and developing the various aspects of the IEP. Each member according to needs assumes specific responsibilities. There is a program director for program-level policy, academic, extracurricular, and so forth. There is an administrative coordinator for program-level administrative matters, and there are course coordinators for specific courses.
IEP Program Director: Richard Smith
IEP OCSALS (Oral Communication and Academic Listening Skills) Coordinator: Mohammed Ahmed
IEP OCSALS (Oral Communication and Academic Listening Skills) Assistant Coordinator: Michael Mondejar
IEP TS (Text Skills) Coordinator Anthony Crooks
IEP TS (Text Skills) Assistant Coordinator (Visiting): Gretchen Jude
Business Communication Skills Coordinator: Anthony Crooks
IMF Text Skills Coordinator (Visiting): Robert MacIntyre
IEP Administrative coordinator: Takahashi, Noriko
TEP Coordinator: Mohammed Ahmed
Mohammed Ahmed comes from Bangladesh. After receiving his M.A. (linguistics/EFL) and Ph.D. (concentration in applied linguistics) degrees in the U.S.A., he joined the International University of Japan in 1988. He has been teaching at IUJ since then. He has also taught ESL/EFL courses in the U.S., Bangladesh, and Sweden. His research interests include Vygotskian psycholinguictics, task-based course design, and non-native varieties of English. At IUJ, he also conducts teacher-training workshops for high school English language teachers. In his spare time, he likes listening to music, gardening, driving around the countryside, and hiking.
Anthony (Tony) Crooks was born in Melbourne, Australia. He holds a B.Ed., Grad. Dip. TESOL, MA TESOL, and is currently pursuing his doctorate in Education through Deakin University in Australia, in which he is exploring the professional identity of native speaker teachers of English in Japan. He has taught ESL in his home country at institutions including Swinburne University of Technology, and has also been involved in EFL in Thailand, South Korea, and, for the past ten years, Japan. He has recently joined IUJ, previously having worked in Sendai in the Sendai Board of Education and then later Miyagi University of Education. In his spare time, he enjoys computing, music and movies, and traveling.
Michael Mondejar is from the state of Michigan in the United States. He has been living in Japan since 2002, first as a researcher at a Japanese pharmaceutical firm and then as an EFL instructor at private language schools, corporations, and universities. He completed his MA in TESOL at Teachers College Columbia University in February 2012 and joined IUJ in April 2012. His research interests include computer-assisted language learning (CALL), cooperative learning, foreign language policy, second language assessment, and second language immersion. In his spare time, he likes to go hiking and jogging, read, and be a social butterfly.
Richard Smith grew up in London but left the UK twenty years ago in search of a career as a language teacher. He obtained an MA in Social and Political Science from Cambridge University and worked for a period in London as a sociological field researcher before changing his career track. He joined IUJ in 1990 after spending several years teaching company courses in Tokyo. His current research interests are productive vocabulary knowledge development and the impact of World Englishes on international English instruction. In his spare time, he would like to walk in the mountains, watch movies, and go cycling, and during the IEP he actually does some of these things.
2015 IEP Visiting Faculty
- Ronald Fuentes
- Colin Hueston
- Gretchen Jude
- Kristina Kellermann
- Amy Loewen
- Robert MacIntyre
- Carla Mortensen
- Corey Muench
- Jeremy Sanders
- Rachel Sardell
- Yvert de Souza
- Tristinn Williams
Ronald Fuentes was born in Toronto, Canada, and received his Ph.D. in English Language & Rhetoric from the University of Washington. He is Assistant Professor of TESL and Linguistics at the University of Memphis. His research interests include language policy in education, bilingual education, and language and identity. Ronald is particularly interested in how different social, political, and educational decisions position individuals in multilingual and multicultural learning environments. In his spare time, Ronald enjoys cooking, running, cycling, and spending time in the outdoors.
Colin Hueston was born in New York City and spent most of his life in the New York City metropolitan area. He went to Rutgers University in New Jersey for his undergraduate degree (a double major in business and Japanese), and he received his M. Ed. in Language Education from the same university. He has been living in Colorado for the past four years, and he is currently pursuing his Ph.D. with a focus in language acquisition and bilingual education at the University of Colorado in Denver. Colin has taught in severaluniversity English programs in the US and taught as a licensed teacher in an elementary and junior high school in the Japanese public school system. He enjoys kung fu, all types of Asian food, singing karaoke, and watching movies. He is fluent in Japanese and knows Chinese.
Gretchen Jude was born and raised in Boise, Idaho, USA. At 17, she moved to Philadelphia to attend BrynMawr College, then returned to her hometown to study TESOL at Boise State University. Soon after receiving her M.A., Gretchen moved to Tokyo, where she lived for eight years, teaching at Asia University, Tokyo Metropolitan University and Tsuda College. In 2005, she returned to Boise to teach ESL, write for the local weekly newspaper, and pursue her interests in music and theater. Gretchen currently lives in the beautiful San Francisco Bay Area. She loves to hike, swim, cook and watch classic Japanese films.
Kristina Kellermann was born in Germany, raised in the Washington DC area, and now lives in Seattle, Washington. She has a B.A. in English and received her M.A. TESOL from California State University, Sacramento in 2010. She studied as an international student at Boğazici University in Istanbul, Turkey while working on her Masters, and counts French, German, and Turkish as her second languages (she is currently working on conversational Japanese). She has taught in the IEP at the University of California, Davis, University of Washington, and is now part of the faculty at Cascadia College. Her linguistic interests include speaking and listening skills, intercultural communication, and the history of the English language. In her free time, Kristina loves reading, traveling, swimming, embroidery, motorcycling, and naturally, studying languages.
Amy Loewen was born and raised in Toronto, Canada and now lives in San Francisco. She started her teaching career in Japan, where she spent 2 years teaching over 12,000 junior high students across Kanazawa, as well as studying judo and performing in an all-female taiko troupe. After returning to North America, Amy designed and managed museum exhibits in Honolulu and San Francisco and coordinated educational tours to Asia before following her passion for teaching and receiving her Masters in TESOL. Amy now teaches ESL at Laney College, City College of San Francisco, and UC Berkeley Extension. She loves to share her enthusiasm for travel, culture, and education, and is particularly interested in the interplay between language, thought, and behavior. When she’s not teaching, she enjoys cooking, biking the hills of San Francisco, delivering lectures on cruise ships in Japan, and learning about the natural world.
Robert MacIntyre grew up near Manchester in the UK but has been living in Japan since 1997. He started working in language schools teaching English but since 2003 has been teaching a variety of academic subjects in universities in the Kanto area. His research interests are focussed on academic writing, in particular, how writers express their identities and stance in their L2. In his spare time, he likes to read, cook, and support a football team from the Manchester area.
Carla Mortensen was born in San Francisco and received her undergraduate degree from Occidental College in Los Angeles, CA. She also holds a theology degree from the Harvard Divinity School, an MBA from the Simmons School of Management and an MA-TESOL from Portland State University in Portland, Oregon, although she now resides in Portland, Maine. Her career has spanned the US diplomatic service, career services at various universities, leadership development for emerging nations and ten years teaching English at Portland State as well as the country of Georgia. Her research interests are in teaching writing and adopting classroom practice based on cultural norms. Currently she is researching two books for eventual publication. She loves to read, travel, and work logic puzzles.
Corey Muench is originally from Missouri and grew up in a small town on the Mississippi River. He completed a BA in French and was a student at the University of Savoie in Chambéry, France. He received a dual MA in French linguistics and TESOL from Indiana University. After teaching French, ESL, and applied linguistics for nearly a decade at Indiana University and briefly in Paris, France, he immigrated to Vancouver, Canada. He is currently a Coordinator and instructor in the English for Academic Purposes Department at Capilano University. Corey’s specializations include English pronunciation instruction and academic writing instruction. Corey enjoys reading anything, but he is especially interested in science fiction and the fields of architecture, geography, and of course, languages. Oh, and let’s not forget funny cat videos on YouTube!.
Jeremy Sanders comes from the village of Castle Combe in the west of England. He started his academic career as a research chemist and has a PhD in inorganic chemistry. When suitable jobs in this field proved scarce, he decided to develop his language interests by training as an English-language teacher, and went on to gain a Cambridge University DELTA and an MA in linguistics from Durham University. He taught a variety of general English and EAP courses for over 7 years at the Northern University of Malaysia, and more recently has been teaching and developing ESAP and linguistics courses at the University of Bath, UK. His linguistic interests evolve around teaching EAP to business and science students, as well as various aspects of syntax, SLA, and language change. He is a keen naturalist, and in his spare time his pursuits encompass bird-watching, hiking, and the cultivation of orchids and insectivorous plants. He also enjoys swimming and cycling, and learning about Oriental culture.
Rachel Sardell was born and raised in the state of Oregon in the United States. She studied Spanish as an undergraduate and completed her M.Ed. in Education with emphases in teaching ESL and Spanish, earning both degrees from the University of Oregon. For eight years, she has been teaching ESL at the University of Oregon, primarily in the intensive and matriculated English programs, and her EFL teaching experience comes from Japan. Her professional interest areas include educational technology as it applies to TESOL, ESL/EFL teacher training, and materials development. In her free time, Rachel enjoys practicing AshtangaVinyasa yoga, running, dancing, studying languages, traveling, and enjoying the outdoors.
Yvert de Souza
Yvert de Souza is from a mixed background. Born in Uganda of Goan-Indian parentage, he was raised in London. He has taught in Portugal, the Czech Republic, and the United Kingdom and has taught ESOL, EFL, and EAP. He currently works in a further education college in London, where he has been involved in teacher training for almost ten years. In addition to the DELTA, Yvert has obtained an MA in English Language Teaching. His main interests are language testing and materials design. He is a test writer, examiner for different examining boards, and writes and revises materials for several UK publishers. He enjoys travelling, watching films, and football.
Tristinn Williams was born in the sunny state of Arizona but now lives in rainy Seattle, Washington. She received her undergraduate degrees in Business Administration and Spanish from Walla Walla University, and her Masters in TESOL from the University of Washington. During her college years, she enjoyed learning Spanish while studying in Spain and volunteer teaching in Costa Rica. Since then, she has added Portuguese to her language repertoire. Tristinn has taught in the IEP and Intensive Business English Program at the University of Washington and is currently an Associate faculty member at Cascadia College in Bothell, WA. Tristinn’s current professional interests include the utilization of corpora and technology in the ELP classroom. Outside of work, she enjoys trying new foods, Couchsurfing while traveling, jogging, playing music, and socializing.