Hello from Robert S. Murphy

Hello!    (EDIT* Find me on Facebook "Robert S. Murphy" and LinkedIn "Robert S. Murphy" )

Welcome to the FAB5 conference forum!
In this section, please take a moment to tell us about you! After your 'standard bio' tell us thee "fun (wow)!" things about you.

FOR EXAMPLE:
Hello! I'm Robert, one of the co-founders of the FAB conferences.

I have been working closely with professors, staff, and graduates of the Harvard Graduate School of Education with the goal of connecting Harvard's research in Mind, Brain, and Education to TEFL in Japan. This work has given birth to neuroELT and the FAB conferences.

I'm also a doctoral student in Applied Linguistics at the University of Nottingham, under the supervision of Zoltan Dornyei.

I've been teaching in Japan for over 20 years... a full-time lecturer at the University of Kitakyushu and tutor for University of Birmingham: Applied Linguistics and TESL/TEFL MA program.


I love jazz music, driving, and martial arts!

Robert's three "fun (wow!) things!"

-I've been doing martial arts my whole life. I got my first black belt when I was 15. I've studied pretty much every major martial art in Japan: Judo, Karate, Shorinji Kempo, Aikido.... also boxing, wrestling..., pretty much everything but kendo! (When I was in LA, I studied at Steven Segal's Aikido dojo for a while too.... and yes, your suspicions are correct, that is a toupee on Steven Segal's head...)
-I was a radio and TV personality for 10 years, also owned a 'bar and live house' within my language school. What a combo, huh!? I stopped doing radio/TV and going "live" when I returned to academics (about the time I started my MA at Birmingham).
-I have congenital anosmia. That means that I cannot smell! I was born that way. Don't feel sorry for me though! Seriously, I don't know what I'm missing! Plus, that's what got me interested in neuroscience!!  

Hi:

My name is Karlene and I teach Elementary school in South Korea.

Welcome to the forum Karlene! Glad to see an elementary school teacher in the group. How long have you been in South Korea?
Robert

Hi everyone! You can upload pictures to the forum with the message tools. Try them out. It’s a two step process. (Click "Host Image" - to unload and copy the URL, then "Insert an Image" - paste the URL.)

Email me if you have any questions!




Judo in NYC (1976), Shorinji Kempo (1986).

I have been living in South Korea a little over 4 years now.

Hello, any and all. My name is Jeff Gawne. My wife, Emi, and I own and operate a small English school in Nagasaki. We teach classes ranging in ages from 2 through they-won't-say. We are looking forward to the conference and hope to be able to apply what we learn in our classroom environment. See you all soon!

How would it be if I gave you FIVE "fun (wow!) things", with two of them being false? It will be up to you to determine what is true and what is not. I promise to only use enough prevarication to keep things interesting.

1. I was working checkpoint control for allied travelers in Berlin on the day the Wall came down: November 9th, 1989.

2. I have published three books: two picture books and an ESL workbook through amazon.com.

3. I was a radio DJ in the Arlington, Virginia area, working on a "morning drive" program for almost four years before moving to Japan.

4. I once attempted to imitate Paul Newman in "Cool Hand Luke" by consuming 50 hard boiled eggs in one hour. My attempt was cut short on egg 27, when I threw up.

5. I went to the Gulf War as a military policeman and conducted enemy prisoner of war operations at a place known as West Camp.

Good luck! Again, two of these are falsehoods.

Welcome Jeff!!   

I love your approach to the intros! -turning it into a game. Fantastic idea.
I'll stay quiet while the others chime in... and cast their votes.

Robert

Hello!

I'm Jeff. I am currently a doctoral student as well studying learning technologies at Pepperdine University. My final defence is scheduled for December 5th. My dissertation topic is the lived experiences of Japanese university EFL students using the flipped classroom method. Tim Murphey is on my committee and has been a great help and inspiration!

I became interested in how the brain learns back in 2009 when I read Ron Ritchhart's book Intellectual Character. From there I found Dr. David Sousa, Dr. Judy Willis, Dr. Howard-Jones, and Dr. Hernandez to name a few. I am pretty much self taught and my interest is in how the brain learns language/languages (bilingualism). I was a participant at the very first FAB conference and presented last year at FAB4. I am looking forward to learning and presenting again this year at FAB5.

I enjoy reading, exploring new things, playing with new technologies, and spending time with my family.

My wow things:

In 1995 I moved from Japan to Hawaii and opened my own business for 14 years. During this time I returned to school for my masters (also how I met Tim Murphey) flying between the islands for classes. In 2009 I decided to get out of the business field and back into teaching, returning to Japan.

I have lived in Sevilla, Spain, Jerusalem, Israel, and now Japan.

Besides studying Spanish and Japanese, I have tried to learn Hebrew, Arabic, French, Russian, and Korean. I haven't given up on these languages, just taking an extend break.  

Here are two pictures of me, one I use with most correspondence/social media and the other is for more formal occasions.

Welcome to the board, Jeff!

It looks like we have two Jeffs. How shall we differentiate?

Thanks for sharing. I didn't realize you had such a long relationship with Tim. Fantastic !

Which language has been the most challenging?

Robert

Thanks Robert! Looking forward to the conference and learning. Feel free to label me as NagoyaJeff (my twitter name) if you like.

I would say Russian was the most challenging, mainly because it was through correspondence and back in the days when we actually mailed things through the United States Postal system. Listening to tapes and waiting for feedback made it very challenging. I think it would be much different now with technology!

Jeff

Jsensei, my guess is numbers 2, 3, and 4 are true. Numbers 1 and 5 are incorrect.

Nice to "meet" you. Only one point out of five for the guessing game, I'm afraid. You did keep the receipt for that deck of tarot cards, didn't you? We could have used your linguistic skills in Berlin when dealing with the Russians at Checkpoint Bravo and Charlie.

Hi! I'm Harumi, a very slow starter, but I'm looking forward to the conference. I'm a bit overwhelmed, though.

You're not alone in the "overwhelmed" department. I'm a simple English teacher always trying to improve my lessons and help my students learn more effectively. Most of this terminology and discussion I've heard in the videos and read in the pre-reading material is way over my head. I'll be the silent guy at the back of the class, rubbing my chin and looking thoughtful while saying, "Hmmm...yes...very interesting."

Harumi and Jsensei, we have all been there and the one thing I've learned about people in this field is that they go over the top to help. I have emailed numerous neuroscientists to ask what I think is a simple question and they have been very helpful. Not only answering my question, but answering follow-up questions, carrying on short discussions, and pointing me in various directions to better educate myself. My advice, if you don't understand or are confused......ASK! We are all learning and willing to help!

Hi everyone,
I hope you are all well and looking forward to the conference. I really wish I could be there with you all!!

Three 'interesting' things about me..hmmm..that's a difficult one....let me think...ok, here goes...

1. Living in Hayama, Kanagawa-ken, it is not unusual to see members of the Imperial Family making their way to their holiday home. I have greeted both the Emperor and Empress on their way to and from their holidays on several occasions!
2. President Obama drove past our house on his way to Kamakura in 2010. We were standing on the footpath outside our house as he drove past...I got a wave from him (unfortunately I screamed like a Justin Beiber fan...most embarrassing!!).
3. The World Cup years are special for my family...2002: met husband,
2006: got engaged, 2010: first daughter born, and 2014: I will be 40 and my husband graduated as a Judo therapist (massage therapist)!!

Talk soon!!!

Hey everyone, I’m Graham.

My three interesting things are as follows:

(1) I have a degree in astrophysics

(2) However, I’m not very good at mathematics.

Jsensei, I think it’s 4 and 5 that are incorrect on your list. I think you managed to eat all 50 eggs! (There, that’s how much faith I have in my FAB colleagues!)

Btw, Jsensei, if number 1 is true, that’s pretty cool!

NagoyaJeff, I love your comment “one thing I've learned about people in this field is that they go over the top to help”. That’s so true! :-)

I honestly do feel overwhelmed. Especially since I'm working on two camps at two different levels and now I've been suffering with heat exhaustion for the past two days because my classroom was so hot. So, two days down the drain and my face looks like I was playing with a cheese grater and my eye looks half way patriotic. I'm a mess.

Hello everyone - I'm Joseph and I'm very much looking forward to FAB - I love the FAB community. I have been interested in cognition and its relationship with culture and language learning for a number of years. I was inspired by Edward Hall years ago when I was doing my Master's. His fundamental premise is that culture affects us at the unconscious level of self. In the last 20 years, cognitive neuroscience has finally started catching up to his foundational insight. 

Because my interest has primarily been cognition (cognitive processes of the brain) rather than the brain itself, I am still very weak in terms of my knowledge of the brain. I am looking forward to making tiny bits of progress. Looking forward to all of the wonderful conversations to come.

Hi Karlene!
  

It may seem a bit daunting now, but don't worry! As you can see, everyone is very supportive, here.
Things will naturally fall into place --we have many great presenters in the lineup this year. I'm sure they will help you make sense of it all!

of course, don't hesitate if you have any questions. We are all here to help each other.  
Robert

Thanks. I did manage to get some reading done and it made me realize how antiquated some of the other teachers comments were to me last week. That's why it's my mission to finish my MA and always continue with my professional development.

Robert:

I had a wonderful time at the conference. I've learned so much and it changed the way I see things in the classroom. It has even given me some interesting things to think about for my thesis as well, especially since I've been having a hard time with that. I'm still excited about using this knowledge next semester at both of my schools. 

My question is: I want to share what I have learned with my co-teachers, but I have learned so much. Where would be a good starting point for a mini boot camp session with my teachers? I want to make it flow so they can understand. 

Again, thanks for everything. I hope to be more involved with the next FAB6!...BTW, when and where will the next one be :-)

Hi there!

Typically we have our fab events during the same week of the year. So mid July 2015. We are also seriously considering Tokyo.

Did you receive my emails regarding the August session with Curtis? If not let me know and go to the Fab5 certificate site for instructions.

Now about the boot camp, I'm not sure I understand your question. Can you rephrase it?
Thank you!
Robert