Children's speech acquisition in Vietnamese and Cantonese

Today Ben Pham presented a paper titled "Acquisition of consonants, vowels and tones by children in Northern Viet Nam" at the 10th Asia Pacific Conference of Speech, Language, and Hearing (APCSLH) in Narita, Japan.

Sharynne, Ben Pham and A/Prof Kathy Lee from Chinese University of Hong Kong

Ben's work has been informed by a paper by A/Prof Carol To from the University of Hong Kong published in Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research in 2013. Ben and Carol have had a number of opportunities to discuss their work while in Japan. Such collaboration and sharing strengthens research quality.

A/Prof Carol To (University of Hong Kong) and Ben Pham discussing
Cantonese and Vietnamese children's speech acquisition

Asia Pacific Conference of Speech, Language, and Hearing

The 10th Asia Pacific Conference of Speech, Language, and Hearing (APCSLH) is being held in Narita, Japan on 17-19 September.  There are 450+ attendees from 18 countries and 82 papers and 174 posters are being presented. I am presenting an invited paper and Ben Phạm is presenting two papers:

• McLeod, S. - Identifying children with speech sound disorders across languages (invited)
• Phạm, B., McLeod, S. & Harrison, L. J. - Validation of the Intelligibility in Context Scale with preschool children in Ha Noi, Viet Nam 
• Phạm, B. & McLeod, S. - Acquisition of consonants, vowels and tones by children in Northern Viet Nam 

Keynote speakers include Dr Lilly Cheng,  Dr Loraine Ramig (LSVT),
and Dr Patty Prelock from USA

We are having a wonderful time networking with people from across the Asia Pacific region.

Vietnamese colleagues: Dr Sally Hewat, Sharynne, Mrs Loan, Ms Thanh,
Ben Pham, Sarah Day, Dr Cuong

Hong Kong colleagues: A/Prof Carol To, A/Prof Kathy Lee (with her new
Cantonese Spoken Word Recognition Test), Sharynne and Ben Pham

Taiwan/USA colleague: Sharynne, Prof. Lilly Cheng, Ben Pham

Thai colleagues: A/Prof Sumalai Maroonroge and Prof. Benjamas Prathanee

Ben Pham and I had fun at the Japanese cultural centre organised by the conference

Enjoying traditional Japanese culture

Ben Pham and I are in Japan to attend the conference for the Asia Pacific Society for the Study of Speech, Language and Hearing. Today we enjoyed the culture of Japan before the conference began and we were fortunate that the Narita Traditional Performing Arts Festival was on. What a spectacle of colour and sound, with people of all ages celebrating Japanese culture.

Time out with my family

Over the past few weeks I have taken long-service leave to spend time with my family. Most of the time time I did not have internet access, and I decided not to take my computer (!) It was great to take time out from work, and I am very thankful to my students and colleagues for enabling me to take a break.

My daughter has been learning Japanese at school, so I went on a high school trip to Japan for 13 days. We had a fantastic time visiting schools and significant sites across Japan, practicing Japanese, and most importantly learning about Japan and Japanese culture from local students, teachers, and many others. The photo below is of our welcome from the Ōkuma community who have been relocated to Aizu since the earthquakes, tsumani and nuclear disaster in 2011. You can read about our links with the Ōkuma community on previous blog postings here, here, and here.

 After my trip to Japan we drove across Australia to hear my son performing at a national jazz festival that also featured Gordon Goodwin and the Big Phat Band from LA. Many  posts on my blog show that I am proud of my students, but I thought this blog may show readers I am very proud of my family as well.

Visitors from Japan

This week a delegation from Ohkuma, Japan visited my hometown of Bathurst. Bathurst has had an ongoing sister city relationship with Ohkuma for over 20 years. Last year, we were devastated to hear of the earthquake and tsunami that meant that residents of Ohkuma had to leave their homes, and establish a new city in a different location. Many residents of Ohkuma worked in the Fukushima Number 1 nuclear power plant that was damaged by the disaster.

In March last year, I was honoured to lead a service to remember the people of Japan, and Ohkuma (see blog posting: http://speakingmylanguages.blogspot.com.au/2011/03/memorial-service-for-people-of-ohkuma.html)

On Sunday morning (5 August, 2012), the following people from Ohkuma visited Bathurst Uniting Church to meet with the organizers of the memorial service:

Mr Toshihide Takeuchi - Superintendent of Education
Mr Hideatsu Matsunaga - Ohkuma Town Councillor
Mr Jun Yoshida - Chief of the Board of Education Section
Mr Yutaka Hatanaka - English Teacher, Ohkuma Junior High School
Councillor Monica Morse - Bathurst City Council
and other members of the Bathurst Sister City Committee.

Mr Toshihide Takeuchi (Superintendent of Education Ohkuma), Professor Sharynne McLeod, Councillor Monica Morse (Bathurst City Council), Rev. 'Oto Faiva (Bathurst Uniting Church)

The delegation from Ohkuma, Japan visiting the location of last years' memorial service

On Monday evening (6 August, 2012), the Mayor of Bathurst hosted a reception to welcome the Ohkuma delegation.
The Western Advocate wrote about the visit here: "Sister city's delegates bring heartfelt thanks"

Memorial service for the people of Ōkuma and Japan

Over 140 members of the Bathurst community came together at Bathurst City Uniting Church on Wednesday 23 March for a memorial service for the people of Ōkuma and Japan following the earthquake and tsunami. The service was attended by the Mayor and Bathurst Regional Council members, the Sister City Working Party, clergy and members of the churches of Bathurst, staff and students from Denison College (Bathurst and Kelso High Campuses), Charles Sturt University, MacKillop College, St Stanislaus College, All Saints School, and citizens of Bathurst who have visited and hosted visitors from Ōkuma and Japan. It has been estimated that over the past 20 years around 1000 Bathurst residents have either visited Ōkuma or hosted visitors from Ōkuma. Father Yoshihiro Okawa from Japan also was involved in the service. As a result of the service $1088.90 was donated to the Bathurst-Ōkuma Appeal. School students made hundreds of paper cranes, that will be sent to the residents of Ōkuma.
We also remembered the people of Christchurch in New Zealand, who also are rebuilding their city and their lives after recent earthquakes.

Western Advocate stories (22 March 2011; 24 March 2011)
Insights story (April, 2011)

Mrs. Fudeko Reekie, Father Okawa, Cr. Monica Morse,
Prof. Sharynne McLeod, Rev. 'Oto Faiva

Earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear crisis in Japan

This week the world has been shocked by the news of the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis in Japan. The city of Ōkuma is where the Fukushima Daiichi (No.1) nuclear power plant is located. Ōkuma is the sister city of my own city, Bathurst.

The school that my children attend was to host 11 students from Ōkuma this week (arriving 20th March). Of the 11 students, 7 have fathers who work at the Fukushima Daiichi (No.1) nuclear power plant. This news story from the Sydney Morning Herald is likely to be about some of these children.

My son has previously visited Ōkuma as part of learning Japanese at his local high school. Here is a photo of him near the Fukushima Daiichi (No.1) nuclear power plant in 2009 (source: Facebook).

In April this year I was to visit Ōkuma with my husband, children, and 41 others from their high school. I had taken leave to do this, but knew that it would assist me with my Future Fellowship, to give me great insights into: the lives of Japanese children, how Australian and Japanese children learn languages, and the Japanese language. The trip has been cancelled and our thoughts are with our sister city in Japan. This is a news story from our local paper, the Western Advocate and another story.

In response to the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis I have been on the team to organise a memorial service to be held at Bathurst City Uniting Church on 23rd March, 2011. This service will be attended by the Mayor and Bathurst City councillors, students and teachers from local high schools, university staff and students, and people from across Bathurst who have visited Japan, hosted visitors from Japan, and who are thinking of the people of Japan at this sad time.
The service will also remember the people of Christchurch, in New Zealand, where 182 people died as a result of the earthquake in February. I was in Christchurch only a few weeks before the devastating earthquake. My colleagues and friends are all safe, but all have been affected by these events.