Today was a rather amusing day for me. I was teaching a group of first grade junior high school students who had just taken their first really strict vocabulary test. They had to be mindful of capital letters and periods. They had practiced this already, but I was shocked to see just how many of them were missing periods and capital letters.
After they got their tests back, there was quite a bit of grumbling. The person I co-teach with in this class explained that English had some rather strict rules that needed to be followed, and this was the only way they would learn. I agree witht his sentiment. One student couldn’t believe it, and vocalized his anger. He uttered out what I thought to be the equivalent of “This is Madness!” to the teacher. I immediately tuned in, and could hold myself back. I just let it slip out:
“This is ENGLISHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!”
The class went silent. I went silent. I doubt they had any idea of what I was talking about, but I hope I didn’t freak em out too much.
First of all, I would like to apologize for the two week absence. Last week was Golden Week and I was traveling all over the place. I also had writer’s block. Now you know. And knowing is half the battle.
Today I came across an interesting idea that might make English Education even more awesome for those desperately trying to learn it. I’m looking for a few good definitions for the following words. This way, no matter how a student mispronounces a word, it will always mean something else. Here is the list:
Hanb - Why is there no meaning for this word?
Cip - Perhaps a new kind of fish?
Flox - Not a real word.
Fush - Like flush without the l.
Sot - I like the sound of this. Now it needs meaning!
There you have it. Now you have until May 26th to get me a winning definition. If you win I’ll invent a word for you.
You might remember me writing last year about a debacle at one school where they forgot to make me a school lunch, even though I was scheduled to eat there and had paid for said lunch. Well, now that I work for another Board of Education, my situation is quite different, and I am pleased as punch about my lunch time circumstances. You see, I am now required to eat my lunch with the students, and this could not make me happier.
Continue reading ‘Lunch With the Students’
It’s that time again. Thanks to Earth’s crazy tilt of 23.5 degrees, the northern hemisphere is at the part of Earth’s orbit where we are tilted away from the Sun. This means that the Sun doesn’t get very high in the sky at noon. Scientists call this the Winter Solstice, but most people just call it winter.
This week at Tayama Junior high, I did a small presentation on the seasons before we started to play some Christmas games. I asked the students when Christmas was and what the importance of December 21(22nd in Japan) was. They knew that Christmas was on the 25th, but had no clue about the 22nd. I then explained to them about the solstice and how Earth’s tilt causes the seasons. They seemed flabbergasted. I’m glad I got the chance to explain this, because I feel it’s important to show that many holidays like Christmas are based around the solstice, and that our very concepts of time are based around this important astronomical information.
I’m not really sure if they got everything I was talking about, but some of them seemed interested. I also got them to learn the word solstice. And to me, that was worth it. If you are stuck thinking up a good Christmas lesson, you may wish to try this in your Junior high or High School classes. From here on in, the days can only get longer. Happy solstice.
I got much of the info for this article from this Space.com article. However, I actually planned the lesson a week before they published it. . Oh, I forgot to mention that the Japanese use the word 冬至(touji) when they refer to the winter solstice. It means “winter” “arrive”.
Today I think I’ll talk a little about some of successful activities I’ve used in the Japanese classroom. I’ll state now that I didn’t come up with all of them, however I did add some of my own touches to them. If you are a teacher in Japan(or elsewhere) and want to use them, please feel free to. However, please leave me a comment and let me know how it went. I’m always curious to see how some of these activities work with other teachers. Here is today’s activity.
Continue reading ‘ESL Warm up/review activites - Blackboard Dash’
I just spent the first three days of this week at a conference for people that are finishing their time on the JET program. I am typing this at an Internet Cafe in Ikebokuro and I am exhausted. I’ve been told that things will be okay after JET, as long as I can spin my time on JET in a positive fashion and have a masters degree and am somehow the king of the universe. I am looking forward to my future as a homeless man.
Over the weekend I was racking my brain over what I could teach this week. I decided that I should teach my high school kids about the New Horizons probe to Pluto. I thought this would be a great lesson and get them excited about science at the same time. I downloaded the launch video and prepared an activity sheet with all the information I wanted them to pay attention to. I also planned to show where the probe would go. I wanted to start with the Earth, then expand my talk out to Jupiter and then finish with Pluto and beyond.
Obviously, since this was an ELT situation, I didn’t want to hit the kids with any complicated science jargon. So I took some time and edited my talk to make it as simple as I could. I looked it over and decided it was a killer lesson plan. I went into class ready for a knockout. How did it turn out?
Well, the first year students thought it was good enough. They seemed to enjoy learning the English names for the planets and most had no clue this mission even existed. The teacher for this class also enjoyed the talk, and everyone got a kick out of the launch video. This was not the case, however, for my second year students. During the talk(somewhere around Jupiter) , the class starts giggling. I can’t really figure out why, and continue with my diagram. Then at about the half way point, my teacher comes up to me and indicates that I have a dried up piece of rice stuck to my crotch. It seems that crotch rice is far more fun than a science based lesson.
What have I learned from this experience? It seems it is better to act like a buffoon than it is to actually teach about something that is important to you. It would be so easy to just show up with a grape juice stain down my shirt or my fly wide open. I know I am over reacting, but I am having a less than amicable week with my second grade students. It seems there is nothing that interests them. Either that or I am not trying hard enough.
What does the future bring? In just six short months, my time on the JET programme with be over. What will I do after that? I’m currently looking at staying in Japan and working here for another two years. However, I will eventually be back in Canada. At that point I will have to determine two things; Where I will live, and what I will do. Questions, quesions.
I have many skills, but ther is nothing I can say I really excel at. Perhaps my ability not to lose it during stressful times, but that is something many people can do. The only things that wouldn’t bore me to tears would be performing music, translating Japanese and photography. I guess I’m going to have to choose one fairly soon. I’m also looking at education, but that will require yet more school. I’m not against more school, but it is time consuming and costs a ton of cash. I like cash. I want to keep it.
I think eight years of University was quite enough. I’m not excluding a Master’s Degree, but it’s not something I want to consider at this time. I’d actually like to start doing something productive with my time.
I’ve now officially entered my last year on the JET programme. It time to think about what I want to do after my stay here is finished. Will I stay in Japan? Will I seek out further education? Will I do something different altogether? Will I juggle 10 flaming babies while reciting Beowulf in Old English ? We’ll have to see.
Summer is now here in full blast. I love it when it’s 33 and 80% humidity. It really makes a person glow. Glow like a stick of plutonium. The weird thing about all this is that my supervisor is always worried about me in the winter when I am walking around with shorts and a tshirt on, but never seems to be be concerned when I walk into the office drenched in sweat, pleading for my life during a sweltering August afternoon. I think Robert Frost had it wrong. I’d prefer to perish in Ice. At least I’d go numb before I died. He said he’d take Ice as he second option. I think he’s a tool.
I’ve got quite the August planned. On the weekend of August 12th, I’m heading down to Tokyo to climb Mt.Fuji, go see a Star Wars art exhibit, and watch a Duran Duran concert. Yes, they have finally rescheduled. Many bothans died to bring me that concert information.
Finally, I am writing the 7th level Kanji exam on August 22nd. There are 8 levels and I passed level 8 last year. My goal is level 1; however, a vast knowledge of over 6000 kanji will take a while to memorize. So if you planned to use me as a walking, talking Kanji dictionary, you’re SOL for a little while.
Japan! How do I love thee? Let me count the ways
Way #2
Today during class, we were talking about careers. I was giving my 2nd year students a listening comprehension exercise when I came across a few interesting career options. The first question was:
“I put out fires. Who am I?” The Answer was a firefighter. One of my students says fireman instead. I mention that fireman was correct, however we say Firefighters because these days there are many women in the profession as well.
So what’s the next question to come up? “I catch fish all day. Who am I?” No one knew the answer. So I tell them that a fisherman was the term we usually use. Then, one of my more lively student corrects me. “fishfighter”, he says. At which point I play out a scene where a man is beating a fish with his fists. The class erupts in laughter. Oh fishfighter, where have you gone?
