NUFS MA TESOL Readings page
This summer (August 2018) I'm teaching an intensive course on "Positive Psychology in English Language Teaching in the MA TESOL program at the Nagoya University of Foreign Studies. This page is for students taking that course.
Three good things task
Download this tasksheet HERE. Follow the instructions. Please spend a few minutes on this each day starting Thursday, August 15. Each day for the week, please write down 3 good things that happened and why. "Why" can mean either why they were good or why they happened.
Reading #1: Happiness in ESL/EFL:
Bringing positive psychology to the classroom
Click HERE. This is a pre-final draft of an article I wrote for a book that will be published next year. As you read it, please write your questions, comments, challenges -- anything -- on small "post-it" type notes or similar small pieces of paper . About 5-7 notes will give us a workable number for the discussion. We will discuss Reading #1 on the first day of class, August 22.
Reading #2: Your 3-minute "take-away"
I hope from the very start of the course, we can focus on how positive psychology connects to your personal interests. Here are three websites with a lot of short, science-based articles, videos, etc. related to positive psychology. Please go to one of the sites, choose anything that is interesting and read it. Please be ready to share a very short "3-minute" summary of something you learned or found interesting. Of course, many of the articles are way too complex to summarize everything in 3-minutes. Don't try to include everything. Just one thing that you are "taking away" from the article. Here are the choices of sites:
Click HERE for the Greater Good Science Center. It is located at the University of California - Berkeley. You can find many sub-topics related to Positive Psychology. This is probably the most complete sites listed here.
GGSC (above) has a bi-weekly The Science of Happiness podcast,. Click HERE. The shows are about 20-25 minutes long. During the first half, someone talks about a "happiness exercise" they just learned/experienced. During the next part, a scientist talks about what was happening. New programs every Wednesday.
I hope from the very start of the course, we can focus on how positive psychology connects to your personal interests. Here are three websites with a lot of short, science-based articles, videos, etc. related to positive psychology. Please go to one of the sites, choose anything that is interesting and read it. Please be ready to share a very short "3-minute" summary of something you learned or found interesting. Of course, many of the articles are way too complex to summarize everything in 3-minutes. Don't try to include everything. Just one thing that you are "taking away" from the article. Here are the choices of sites:
Click HERE for the Greater Good Science Center. It is located at the University of California - Berkeley. You can find many sub-topics related to Positive Psychology. This is probably the most complete sites listed here.
GGSC (above) has a bi-weekly The Science of Happiness podcast,. Click HERE. The shows are about 20-25 minutes long. During the first half, someone talks about a "happiness exercise" they just learned/experienced. During the next part, a scientist talks about what was happening. New programs every Wednesday.
The Happiness Lab Podcast. Click HERE. Dr. Laurie Santos teaches Yale University's most popular class, Psychology and the Good Life. Last year she started this podcast. Each program is about 40 minutes. Under the audio feed (is that what you call that? I mean the box with a wavy line that you click to hear it) there are usually links to the research and resource she mentions.
Click HERE for Positive Psychology Daily News. They send out articles a couple times a week. Probably the easiest way to navigate this is to go to multi-colored line under the black line and choose the topic you are interested in: parenting & schools/ business / happiness exercises / health / relationship. If you want, you can join their mailing list (free). They'll send you articles by email regularly.
Positive Psychology News publishes PPN Bytes -- very short (1 or 1 1/2 minutes videos about positive psychology research). Most are too short to give many specifics (It would be hard to do a 3 minute summary of a 1 minute video) but it maybe a a source of useful, interesting ideas to explore in more depth.
Positive Psychology News publishes PPN Bytes -- very short (1 or 1 1/2 minutes videos about positive psychology research). Most are too short to give many specifics (It would be hard to do a 3 minute summary of a 1 minute video) but it maybe a a source of useful, interesting ideas to explore in more depth.
Click HERE for 10 Positive Psychology Studies to Change Your View of Happiness. Only 10 to choose from here (and a couple are longish) but interesting information. BTW, if anyone happens to watch Paul Zak's TED talk on Oxytocin ("The Hugging Hormone"), you'll probably want to watch Molly Crockett's talk "Neuro Bunk". It suggests that Zak's talk is cherry-picking the research. Crockett's is linked at the bottom of the TED page.
Click HERE for the Mindful.org website. Mindfulness and related activities (meditation, savoring, noticing, etc.) are one part of positivity, but it is an important one. And and area of growing interest. The website, part of a non-profit organization, offers short articles, video, guided meditations, etc. related to various aspects of mindfulness.
Remember, you only need to do one from any of these, NOT one from each.
Reading #3: Major research article
Please read the article mentioned in the pre-class email. You and another person will present the key ideas to the other students. We will discuss these on Wednesday, August 22, the second day of class.
Oishi, S. et al.The Optimum level of Well-being: Can People be Too Happy?
Seligman, M., et al.Positive education: Positive Psychology and Classroom Interventions.
Seligman, M., et al. Positive Psychology Progress: Empirical Validation of Interventions
Brooks, K. Job. Career, Calling: Key to Happiness and Meaning at Work Note: this is a very short Psychology Today article on the topic. Very easy to read and understand.
If you found this article interesting, have a listen to Amy Wrzesniewski'a interview on NPR HERE
Duckworth, A., et al. Positive predictors of teacher effectiveness
Berg, et al. What is Job Crafting and Why Does it Matter?
Oishi, S. et al.The Optimum level of Well-being: Can People be Too Happy?
Seligman, M., et al.Positive education: Positive Psychology and Classroom Interventions.
Seligman, M., et al. Positive Psychology Progress: Empirical Validation of Interventions
Brooks, K. Job. Career, Calling: Key to Happiness and Meaning at Work Note: this is a very short Psychology Today article on the topic. Very easy to read and understand.
If you found this article interesting, have a listen to Amy Wrzesniewski'a interview on NPR HERE
Duckworth, A., et al. Positive predictors of teacher effectiveness
Berg, et al. What is Job Crafting and Why Does it Matter?
Want to do more to learn about positive psychology before the course? Have a look around this website. Also, I linked to a short video and mention a couple useful books on the page we'll be using during the course. You can get there by clicking HERE.