OK, I am going to have a bit of a rant about the absolute BS that happens with Japanese students. Or actually, with the way that they are treated by the Japanese staff. In the west we have this concept that the kids are extremely well behaved and the rules are really harsh, but I find it to be quite the opposite and sometimes it drives me INSANE!
OK- on one hand Japanese kids are quite mature and are quite limited in their freedom. They have to wear uniforms and at my school that includes the shoes they wear. About the only thing they can choose is their socks and belts. They aren't allowed to wear jewelry (earrings are a definite no-no, but some kids do get away with necklaces and bracelets) and they can't wear bright hair clips, bows, etc They have to help clean the school, have to say excuse me when entering and exiting the staff room, they have to come to school on random Saturdays and don't really get much in the way of breaks between school years and at holidays.
BUT IN THE CLASSROOM they are treated like infants. If a kid is sleepy, he will feel free to just sleep. It is perfectly OK for them to never bring their book to class or to always forget their homework. They get ten minute breaks between every class and a longer break after lunch. If they don't want to answer, they don't have to. Because they are automatically passed on to the next grade (as in they don't hold anyone back) it is quite possible for them to NEVER come to class and still graduate (as proven by one of the 3rd year graduates last weekend).
All of that is pretty frustrating. But what really frustrates me is when the students are not pushed to try. A lot of students have amazing ability but they don't excel because no one is there to push them on. Not that we want to beat the students into learning, but a little push would help.
What set me off on this rant was last week when an elementary 6th grader was asked, "What's your name?" he replied in Japanese, "I don't know," and the teacher said, "I'm sorry, he can't speak English." I would have understood if he had been really young or if he had been special needs. I would have also understood if the question had been one of the more difficult ones like, "What do you want to be?" or "Do you have a cat?" BUT SERIOUSLY!! I ask "What's your name?" at the kindergarten and all of the kids jump up to tell me right away.
I also would have understood if this had been outside of the class. But this was in the class and about five other students had already answered the question. The teacher translated for him, and his friends did as well, but when I asked again, the kid continued to say he couldn't understand English, and the teacher continued to say sorry, he wasn't good at English. When I think about the teachers I know in the States, I know they would have told the kid to stop messing around and to answer the question.
Now, again, I don't want to bully the kids into speaking English, but in letting them get away with, "I don't know," you are basically letting them get away with not trying, and as a result, they miss out on the chance to really learn.
As a child I hated it when my dad tried to teach me to ride a bike. I, like all kids, fell down and was really frustrated with the whole thing. Because one doesn't need to learn how to ride a bike, my dad left it. Then three years down the rode at school when the police officer came to school to teach us bike safety, I was ashamed to be basically the only kid in the 4th grade who couldn't ride a bike.
With this elementary school kid, all I can think about is how, because he wasn't asked to practice in the lower grades, he is going to be really behind in Jr High and will eventually end up hating English and all English teachers. Like riding a bike, he doesn't really need to learn English in the grand scheme of things. BUT he does need it to get into a good high school. I would hate to have him look back in regret at all of the time he wasted.
Now I don't want to come off as too crazy. There is a chance that this kid will go to Jr high and be fine. But this whole practice of letting the kids pretend they don't understand can be found in all of the lessons, and it seriously limits what we can do. For example, when we were practicing, "Who is the ~est in the class?" I asked about who was the oldest. When the kids said they didn't know, I asked about who had an April birthday (sine the school year starts in April kids with April birthdays are the oldest). When no one answered, I moved on to May. The teacher then told me that, "The kids are too shy to answer about their birthdays so we can't discuss the question." What complete and total BS!!
To put a positive spin on this, at another school there is one student who is extremely special needs. Sorry I don't know the PC terms to describe him. I think he is autistic and for the most part, he is in his own world. He has a teaching aid with him and he comes to English class, but I don't really think he knows what is happening. In most classes I think he would be just left to the side as he doesn't understand even simple games like fruit basket or high card. But the teaching aid doesn't give up.
Every day in class she repeats the English over and over with him. When we do a writing exercise, she writes it out and has him trace her letters (and this is in elementary where I am told to not even do writing with the high level students- I am asked to wait until Jr high which is even more BS). When we are playing Rock Scissors Paper, she grabs him by the shoulders and has him face his opponents. She does let him bring story books for when we are doing long explanations or CD listening, but she also makes him do the English book. In all reality, this kid can barely speak Japanese so the idea of him speaking a foreign language is a STRETCH! And yet, no matter what, she does not allow him to not try, and because of that he has small victories. Two weeks ago at the elementary he said Good morning to me in the staff room. And when she told him it was time for English class one day, he picked up the English book. She pushes him because she cares enough to not give up on him- she knows he can be more then what he is now. In seeing his progress, it makes me sad and extremely annoyed when perfectly able children are allowed to settle for less.
America is not perfect in its education. And I am by no means a perfect teacher. But seriously Japan, why are you selling these children short of their futures???
Showing posts with label speaking English in Japan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label speaking English in Japan. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Monday, February 27, 2012
A New Friend
So now that I have been in Japan for awhile I have seen my fair share of other foreigners getting married and having kids. Definitely at that "age." I must say that I am not a baby person so I have kept my distance from the little cuties, but that I look forward to watching them grow up. I also am super curious as to how they will navigate their way through life being "half" (no offence intended) and worry about any struggles they might endure. Last Friday, though, I met a little girl who made me think that things are going to be ok.
I had actually met this girl before but it was back when she was about two years old. Her father was a casual acquaintance- someone I knew because we were both foreigners but not really someone I hung out with. This was due to the fact that, at the time, I was a young single girl going out every night and he was a father. But anyway, we got along well and had a good laugh when we did meet up. Sadly, like so many other good friends, he moved back to his home country and became just one of those people that we sometimes brought up in our "remember when so and so..." conversations.
Flash forward about five years to now. I went to visit my friends liquor shop (which I hadn't been to in years) on account that it was her birthday. She is actually a teacher and has phenomenal English, but spends her nights running the shop that used to be run by her mother-in-law (who is now quite old). When I was single and lived in the same town, I used to bike over there with some of the other guys in town to drink chu-hai's (like a wine cooler or a mikes hard lemonade) and chat up the old men in the shop. To give you an idea of how long it has been, one of the old guys said to me," Wow- you've changed! When you came to Japan 10 years ago you looked like Marilyn Monroe, but now you look...like a Japanese..." and he stretched his arms out to indicate that I was fat. (see my last post....)
Anyway, because it was the owners birthday, a few other people decided to pay a visit and I was excited to see the friend arrive with his now seven year old daughter. I had seen him about once or twice since he had moved back a year ago, but we hadn't had much of a chance to talk. And I hadn't seen his daughter since she was a baby. Her hair has darkened a lot but her eyes are still as big as they were when she was a toddler and you can definitely tell that she is half-non-Japanese. In other words, she is quite pretty.
Because I was the only woman in the shop (besides the owner, who was busy with customers) and because I wasn't drinking (I had to drive and the others were on bikes) I decided to talk to the girl. I started with the basics, "What year are you in school? When's your birthday?" etc Because the only kids I usually meet are my Japanese students, I couldn't help but talk in my slow, ESL teacher voice. And the little girl, being like any child anywhere, answered by nodding her head or saying "mm-hmm" while stuffing her face with the complimentary peanuts.
Her father stopped his conversation with one of the old guys to tell her, "Now, now! Speak up and use your words." and the girl started speaking in the cutest British accent. And,again because she lived in England for the past five years, she was speaking like any little girl you would meet back home.
I said before that I don't really like babies. But I do like and am generally good with kids. Since I do have a lot of experience (baby-sitting, camp counselor, teachers, etc) I have no problem making conversation and telling PG jokes. In no time at all we had become the best of friends. I told her all about Finn and my favorite 100yen store and she told me all about school and her playground in England.
The liquor shop was about to close and I got up to pay for my green tea when the idea of "dinner" was suggested by the little girls father to another "old foreign friend of mine" whom I see quite regularly. They invited me and, though I had told Motoaki I would be coming home, I decided to go along. To tell the truth, if it had just been the two guys I would have said no but the little girl had gotten really excited by the prospect of me tagging along that I couldn't say no.
Since I had never been to the restaurant the father told the girl to ride with me and for her to show me the way. I was quite impressed that she was able to give better directions than most adults. She didn't quite know left from right, but she could say, "We're gonna go this way," and curve her arm in the direction I should turn.
At the restaurant (a whole in the wall place that served okonomiyaki and yaki soba) we had even more fun coloring and reading hiragana/kanji. I taught her "Up high, on the side, down low, too slow," and she taught me the names of the characters in the coloring book (I think it was puricure). Seriously, had a grand time.
Finally it came time to go. The girl was going to ride on the back of her dad's bicycle but seeing as how he was a little drunk (not wasted but feeling it) and seeing as it was dark, I offered to give her a lift back while he followed us. It was only about a five minute drive and I was curious to see where they lived as I had heard they had a nice new house. The night ended with plans to meet up at Hinamatsuri (or Girl's day/the doll festival) since I will be working there with Motoaki, selling tea and sweets.
I was really glad to have met the little girl again and I am excited that she will be around. She is still young and she could change as she gets older, but hopefully she will keep her English up and her sweet nature. I would love to have her as a role model for my children. I am imagining it might be hard to win the "let's use English over Japanese" battle with my kids, but if they have a hip teenager speaking perfect English, it might inspire them to want to speak more. Plus her father is a riot to hang out with and it would be nice to have him as a friend. I am getting to that age where I need to look at long term here in Japan and sadly most of my good friends now are the type that will be around for another year or so before heading back home.
I had actually met this girl before but it was back when she was about two years old. Her father was a casual acquaintance- someone I knew because we were both foreigners but not really someone I hung out with. This was due to the fact that, at the time, I was a young single girl going out every night and he was a father. But anyway, we got along well and had a good laugh when we did meet up. Sadly, like so many other good friends, he moved back to his home country and became just one of those people that we sometimes brought up in our "remember when so and so..." conversations.
Flash forward about five years to now. I went to visit my friends liquor shop (which I hadn't been to in years) on account that it was her birthday. She is actually a teacher and has phenomenal English, but spends her nights running the shop that used to be run by her mother-in-law (who is now quite old). When I was single and lived in the same town, I used to bike over there with some of the other guys in town to drink chu-hai's (like a wine cooler or a mikes hard lemonade) and chat up the old men in the shop. To give you an idea of how long it has been, one of the old guys said to me," Wow- you've changed! When you came to Japan 10 years ago you looked like Marilyn Monroe, but now you look...like a Japanese..." and he stretched his arms out to indicate that I was fat. (see my last post....)
Anyway, because it was the owners birthday, a few other people decided to pay a visit and I was excited to see the friend arrive with his now seven year old daughter. I had seen him about once or twice since he had moved back a year ago, but we hadn't had much of a chance to talk. And I hadn't seen his daughter since she was a baby. Her hair has darkened a lot but her eyes are still as big as they were when she was a toddler and you can definitely tell that she is half-non-Japanese. In other words, she is quite pretty.
Because I was the only woman in the shop (besides the owner, who was busy with customers) and because I wasn't drinking (I had to drive and the others were on bikes) I decided to talk to the girl. I started with the basics, "What year are you in school? When's your birthday?" etc Because the only kids I usually meet are my Japanese students, I couldn't help but talk in my slow, ESL teacher voice. And the little girl, being like any child anywhere, answered by nodding her head or saying "mm-hmm" while stuffing her face with the complimentary peanuts.
Her father stopped his conversation with one of the old guys to tell her, "Now, now! Speak up and use your words." and the girl started speaking in the cutest British accent. And,again because she lived in England for the past five years, she was speaking like any little girl you would meet back home.
I said before that I don't really like babies. But I do like and am generally good with kids. Since I do have a lot of experience (baby-sitting, camp counselor, teachers, etc) I have no problem making conversation and telling PG jokes. In no time at all we had become the best of friends. I told her all about Finn and my favorite 100yen store and she told me all about school and her playground in England.
The liquor shop was about to close and I got up to pay for my green tea when the idea of "dinner" was suggested by the little girls father to another "old foreign friend of mine" whom I see quite regularly. They invited me and, though I had told Motoaki I would be coming home, I decided to go along. To tell the truth, if it had just been the two guys I would have said no but the little girl had gotten really excited by the prospect of me tagging along that I couldn't say no.
Since I had never been to the restaurant the father told the girl to ride with me and for her to show me the way. I was quite impressed that she was able to give better directions than most adults. She didn't quite know left from right, but she could say, "We're gonna go this way," and curve her arm in the direction I should turn.
At the restaurant (a whole in the wall place that served okonomiyaki and yaki soba) we had even more fun coloring and reading hiragana/kanji. I taught her "Up high, on the side, down low, too slow," and she taught me the names of the characters in the coloring book (I think it was puricure). Seriously, had a grand time.
Finally it came time to go. The girl was going to ride on the back of her dad's bicycle but seeing as how he was a little drunk (not wasted but feeling it) and seeing as it was dark, I offered to give her a lift back while he followed us. It was only about a five minute drive and I was curious to see where they lived as I had heard they had a nice new house. The night ended with plans to meet up at Hinamatsuri (or Girl's day/the doll festival) since I will be working there with Motoaki, selling tea and sweets.
I was really glad to have met the little girl again and I am excited that she will be around. She is still young and she could change as she gets older, but hopefully she will keep her English up and her sweet nature. I would love to have her as a role model for my children. I am imagining it might be hard to win the "let's use English over Japanese" battle with my kids, but if they have a hip teenager speaking perfect English, it might inspire them to want to speak more. Plus her father is a riot to hang out with and it would be nice to have him as a friend. I am getting to that age where I need to look at long term here in Japan and sadly most of my good friends now are the type that will be around for another year or so before heading back home.
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Random Teaching Moments
I have had a lot of "on the spot" questions from Japanese teachers about various things. Though they are not supposed to do this, it really can't be helped and sometimes I feel a bit like an idiot when I don't know the answers off the top of my head (like, What does am pm stand for? What day is Martin Luther King Jr.s birthday? What is the history of Friday the 13th being an unlucky number?). Luckily this week I was in my element when the teacher asked, Do you know about science fair in the US?
To back up, we are studying October Sky, or the story about some American teenagers who made rockets and later worked for NASA. In the story (or I guess in real life) the boys go to the National Science Fair. In Japan they might have such a thing, but it is not something done where I teach at. In fact, there is very little time spent towards projects/presentations of any kind. There is a shop/computer club that enters a robot competition, but only about 10 students in the whole school (we have about 400 kids I think) are involved and they are NERDY.
So when asked about science fair I was like, "Why yes, yes I do know science fair. In fact, you have asked exactly the right person." This is because not only did I do science fair, but so did my whole school. And not only that, my parents were science fair teachers. My mom was actually the teacher whose job it was to introduce the whole science fair idea to kids in 4th grade so that they could go on to do it on their own in Jr high and high school. In other words, every year in February/March I lived science fair.
For those of you non-Americans (or I guess I could say non-Iowans), science fair where I'm from is not like in the movies. You don't make a volcano or a model of the solar system. You start with a question and then find an answer which you then present to a judge/class. As in, "Does ice melt faster in regular or diet cola?" Or "Which window treatment works the best?" You do tests/experiments to get your answer.
Where I am from we do science fair from 4th grade up on into high school and while the project is important, the main point is to learn scientific reasoning. We learn words like, "question, hypothesis, procedure, results, conclusion" and have to work on presenting something scientifically. It's a way for us to realize that we can discover an answer on our own.
Anyway, in talking about this in class the first thing that came to mind are the year that a girl named Kim in my high school researched "Which feminine douche works the best?" She did this by growing bacteria in petri dishes and then using different douhces to kill the bacteria.
The second thing that came to mind was the kid who "supposedly" did his project on "Which is hotter, microwave popcorn or the devil?" His hypothesis was "I don't think Mr. Broman will like this project." I say, "supposedly" because I never saw the project. I stood next to Kim for judging, though, so I know that she in fact did do a project on douches.
Of course, I didn't tell the Japanese students about this. I merely told them about my lame projects...
*Will a banana stay freshest in a paper bag, a plastic bag, or a tupperware container?
*Does colored glass heat a room better than regular glass?
*Does bread mold grow faster on white or wheat bread?
I'm a little sad that my kids won't do science fair as it is something that builds character. As much as we dreaded it and laughed about it in school, it did give us some real world skills.
To back up, we are studying October Sky, or the story about some American teenagers who made rockets and later worked for NASA. In the story (or I guess in real life) the boys go to the National Science Fair. In Japan they might have such a thing, but it is not something done where I teach at. In fact, there is very little time spent towards projects/presentations of any kind. There is a shop/computer club that enters a robot competition, but only about 10 students in the whole school (we have about 400 kids I think) are involved and they are NERDY.
So when asked about science fair I was like, "Why yes, yes I do know science fair. In fact, you have asked exactly the right person." This is because not only did I do science fair, but so did my whole school. And not only that, my parents were science fair teachers. My mom was actually the teacher whose job it was to introduce the whole science fair idea to kids in 4th grade so that they could go on to do it on their own in Jr high and high school. In other words, every year in February/March I lived science fair.
For those of you non-Americans (or I guess I could say non-Iowans), science fair where I'm from is not like in the movies. You don't make a volcano or a model of the solar system. You start with a question and then find an answer which you then present to a judge/class. As in, "Does ice melt faster in regular or diet cola?" Or "Which window treatment works the best?" You do tests/experiments to get your answer.
Where I am from we do science fair from 4th grade up on into high school and while the project is important, the main point is to learn scientific reasoning. We learn words like, "question, hypothesis, procedure, results, conclusion" and have to work on presenting something scientifically. It's a way for us to realize that we can discover an answer on our own.
Anyway, in talking about this in class the first thing that came to mind are the year that a girl named Kim in my high school researched "Which feminine douche works the best?" She did this by growing bacteria in petri dishes and then using different douhces to kill the bacteria.
The second thing that came to mind was the kid who "supposedly" did his project on "Which is hotter, microwave popcorn or the devil?" His hypothesis was "I don't think Mr. Broman will like this project." I say, "supposedly" because I never saw the project. I stood next to Kim for judging, though, so I know that she in fact did do a project on douches.
Of course, I didn't tell the Japanese students about this. I merely told them about my lame projects...
*Will a banana stay freshest in a paper bag, a plastic bag, or a tupperware container?
*Does colored glass heat a room better than regular glass?
*Does bread mold grow faster on white or wheat bread?
I'm a little sad that my kids won't do science fair as it is something that builds character. As much as we dreaded it and laughed about it in school, it did give us some real world skills.
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Sendai/Nikka English Camp pt 3: Presentations
So as I said before the main focus of the English Camp (apart from speaking English) was to polish and present an 8 minute presentation about Japan that they will present to students in Singapore. The presentations were judged by the English teachers (hard to not be biased when judging your own group) and were open to Q&A from students.
Though I believe that they were given the option to do anything, the presentations fit into 3 categories: Life at Nikka School, The Tohoku Disaster (earthquake, tsunami, and Fukushima nuclear crisis), and Japanese food and culture. It was hard to judge them against each other since those topics have very different overtones. For example, the school one and food/culture ones had a lot of humor which the disaster ones didn't (obviously). But the disaster ones had a lot of "What we can do now..." while the other ones were purely informational.
The first three groups about school were fairly straightforward but interesting for the judges since we had met the kids but knew nothing about the school. Also, the school is a mix of Japanese and foreign curriculum so that was interesting in itself since I think a lot of us (non-Japanese teachers) feel torn between western and eastern ideas on schooling. One group did, A Day in the Life of Nikka, and did it like a classroom setting. The "teacher" asked kids to talk about each subject of the day and their was a lot of banter as there would be in a regular class. I think I liked this presentation because the kids acted the most natural and talked the most like regular teens from home.
Again, because the school presentations were straightforward, the Q&A was pretty tame, "What is your favorite part of school? Which teacher do you like? etc" The hardest question was, "I like P.E. Why didn't you discuss P.E. in your presentation?"
The second three groups were about the disaster and were obviously more sensitive and more open to criticism. I thought all were well done (I am literally not one to judge as I don't know about the disaster like the students do) and could only comment on the fact that one group had too much information and another had too much silence (they did some acting).
The first group had a detailed description of how a tsunami works, of how the Japan tsunami compared to other past tsunamis (as far as casualties, destruction, etc), what aid was given to Japan from what country, and what the students could do themselves to help rebuild Miyagi. First question was "Why did you not discuss the Fukushima nuclear crisis?" The judges were all a little shocked and a bit nervous about this because we had been avoiding the subject all week, but the team handled it well. They simply answered, "We didn't feel we had enough time to address all of the effects of the earthquake last year."
The second group had way too much detail and talked a mile-a-minute to finish under 8 minutes. They were hit right off the bat with, "What do you really think about the Fukushima disaster?" They answered, "It is scary but it is a man made problem and man needs to fix it." Again, these seem like average Q&A but considering all of this is being done in the students second language, it was quite good.
The third group ditched the fact route and went the drama route by showing us, "A Family on the Day of the Disaster." They showed where each person would have been and how the events of the day effected them. It started out great, but slowly lost focus and didn't have a clear point.
The final four groups were fun and probably interesting for more students as they dealt with Instant Ramen, Oshougatsu (New Year's similar to Christmas to westerners), Masamune (a historical figure from the area), and my group which did food from the area. Most of the questions were why they picked the topic, which food they liked, etc The Oshougatsu group did get asked why the title was in Japanese instead of English, and they answered brilliantly that they will be teaching Singapore students about Japanese culture so they should use a Japanese word.
My group's was pretty dry (they kind of just read a bunch of recipes) but they made it fun by starting out with a skit about aliens who attack a food festival and the "super food man" who saves the day by throwing food from the region. It didn't quite match with the main topic, but it was funny and earned them a second place for most original. The good thing about them was how well they worked together and how good they were at coming out of their shells to put on a good show. Like I said earlier, my nerd was the best actor as one of the aliens and my negative girl did all of her part with a big voice. Some of the other groups had their best speakers out front and center but my group had a fairly equal division of who said/did what. Event though they dissed each other during the day and at meals, when it came time to putting the presentation together they were really a team.
On that note, I was a little sad as it made me realize the lack of group work I see in my regular Japanese schools. I think that was something we did a lot more of in Iowa and something that really built character.
Again, all of the presentations were very good for Japanese ESL students and I know the people in Singapore will be impressed. It was only 3 days but the camp really touched all of the English teachers. Some were crying at the end (which I thought was a bit much, but then again I am used to Camp Adventure that lasts for 3 months) as were a lot of students. I hope that my company asks me to do a lot more of this kind of thing or, if given the chance, I can do this kind of thing in the area I live in.
Though I believe that they were given the option to do anything, the presentations fit into 3 categories: Life at Nikka School, The Tohoku Disaster (earthquake, tsunami, and Fukushima nuclear crisis), and Japanese food and culture. It was hard to judge them against each other since those topics have very different overtones. For example, the school one and food/culture ones had a lot of humor which the disaster ones didn't (obviously). But the disaster ones had a lot of "What we can do now..." while the other ones were purely informational.
The first three groups about school were fairly straightforward but interesting for the judges since we had met the kids but knew nothing about the school. Also, the school is a mix of Japanese and foreign curriculum so that was interesting in itself since I think a lot of us (non-Japanese teachers) feel torn between western and eastern ideas on schooling. One group did, A Day in the Life of Nikka, and did it like a classroom setting. The "teacher" asked kids to talk about each subject of the day and their was a lot of banter as there would be in a regular class. I think I liked this presentation because the kids acted the most natural and talked the most like regular teens from home.
Again, because the school presentations were straightforward, the Q&A was pretty tame, "What is your favorite part of school? Which teacher do you like? etc" The hardest question was, "I like P.E. Why didn't you discuss P.E. in your presentation?"
The second three groups were about the disaster and were obviously more sensitive and more open to criticism. I thought all were well done (I am literally not one to judge as I don't know about the disaster like the students do) and could only comment on the fact that one group had too much information and another had too much silence (they did some acting).
The first group had a detailed description of how a tsunami works, of how the Japan tsunami compared to other past tsunamis (as far as casualties, destruction, etc), what aid was given to Japan from what country, and what the students could do themselves to help rebuild Miyagi. First question was "Why did you not discuss the Fukushima nuclear crisis?" The judges were all a little shocked and a bit nervous about this because we had been avoiding the subject all week, but the team handled it well. They simply answered, "We didn't feel we had enough time to address all of the effects of the earthquake last year."
The second group had way too much detail and talked a mile-a-minute to finish under 8 minutes. They were hit right off the bat with, "What do you really think about the Fukushima disaster?" They answered, "It is scary but it is a man made problem and man needs to fix it." Again, these seem like average Q&A but considering all of this is being done in the students second language, it was quite good.
The third group ditched the fact route and went the drama route by showing us, "A Family on the Day of the Disaster." They showed where each person would have been and how the events of the day effected them. It started out great, but slowly lost focus and didn't have a clear point.
The final four groups were fun and probably interesting for more students as they dealt with Instant Ramen, Oshougatsu (New Year's similar to Christmas to westerners), Masamune (a historical figure from the area), and my group which did food from the area. Most of the questions were why they picked the topic, which food they liked, etc The Oshougatsu group did get asked why the title was in Japanese instead of English, and they answered brilliantly that they will be teaching Singapore students about Japanese culture so they should use a Japanese word.
My group's was pretty dry (they kind of just read a bunch of recipes) but they made it fun by starting out with a skit about aliens who attack a food festival and the "super food man" who saves the day by throwing food from the region. It didn't quite match with the main topic, but it was funny and earned them a second place for most original. The good thing about them was how well they worked together and how good they were at coming out of their shells to put on a good show. Like I said earlier, my nerd was the best actor as one of the aliens and my negative girl did all of her part with a big voice. Some of the other groups had their best speakers out front and center but my group had a fairly equal division of who said/did what. Event though they dissed each other during the day and at meals, when it came time to putting the presentation together they were really a team.
On that note, I was a little sad as it made me realize the lack of group work I see in my regular Japanese schools. I think that was something we did a lot more of in Iowa and something that really built character.
Again, all of the presentations were very good for Japanese ESL students and I know the people in Singapore will be impressed. It was only 3 days but the camp really touched all of the English teachers. Some were crying at the end (which I thought was a bit much, but then again I am used to Camp Adventure that lasts for 3 months) as were a lot of students. I hope that my company asks me to do a lot more of this kind of thing or, if given the chance, I can do this kind of thing in the area I live in.
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Sendai/Nikka English Camp pt 2: My Group
So the post below was an overview of the camp whereas this is more about my specific group. Group 10 had some really smart kids who could speak English but who didn't always want to. They were great about speaking to me but didn't really speak to each other in English unless I asked for no Japanese. I won't write their names here, but I will instead call them by their answers to, "What Anpanman Character are you?"
We had our group leader, Cheese, who also went by Boss. He should have been Anpanman. He fit the role of group leader perfectly and could probably lead a country some day. He was honest, to the point, and held the others accountable for their actions. He could be both polite and stern but also enjoyed himself. I will never forget though, his answer to why he liked the Japanese group AKB48 more than the Korean group Kara. He told me, "Japanese people need to support Japanese artists." He was 13.
Next we had our vice group leader (that wasn't actually his title but he acted like that was his job), Shoko Pan Man, who was one of the sweetest Japanese students I have ever met. He sincerely wanted everyone to do well and was always translating for me when the other students spoke Japanese (even though I understood). He is actually the vice-class president and though the other kids tease him for his fashion sense and his enthusiasm for pop singers, you could tell he is well liked. He was a life saver in that he always kept the conversation going. the first night at dinner, he asked question after question but finally ran out of things to say. He looked at the other group members and pleaded, "Please speak!" The boss replied, "We are busy eating."
After that came Curry Pan Man who, unlike the character, was really laid back and played the role of Mr Cool. He was a good balance between the group leader (who was sometimes too serious) and the vice group leader (who was sometimes too friendly). He had great English and was quite funny. He seemed to be friends with everyone in camp and was considered quite cool by a lot of the girls.
Opposite to him was Bakinman who was very much, er, a nerd. The type of kid who hates sports and would have rather been playing games. He was polite enough but often tuned out in conversation to no doubt replay video games in his head. However, in the presentation he had great comedic timing and was quite a great speaker.
The final boy was Jam Ojiisan who was, like the character, the old man in the group. He was the smallest but also came off as the wisest. He was also the quietest and seemed the shyest, though he spoke a lot to me. He wouldn't contribute to the conversation on his own, but when asked a question, his answers were well thought out.
The girls were lead by Dokinchan who was just your average sweet Jr High Girl. She didn't speak a lot but made up for that by always smiling. She had great English but was slow to talk, mostly because I think she didn't want to overstep the boys.
Dokinchan's sidekick was Kokinchan, who barely said a word and made it clear she didn't really like English. The group actually said at one point, We're sorry. She is negative. Still, I had to give her credit for overcoming her stage fright and really doing well during the group presentation.
Last but not least was Melonpanna. I think she fit her chosen character in that she was one of the girls but also fit in with the boys too. She had great English and was quiet, but spoke the most out of the girls. She also tried the hardest to speak to me and to correct her own English. She was a total sweetheart who got on well with others but could also be by herself.
The group fit me I think in that I didn't pressure them too much. They were at their best when I gave them a game in English, such as I Never or English Uno. I liked that they weren't rude or obnoxious, and that they were pretty independent.
We had our group leader, Cheese, who also went by Boss. He should have been Anpanman. He fit the role of group leader perfectly and could probably lead a country some day. He was honest, to the point, and held the others accountable for their actions. He could be both polite and stern but also enjoyed himself. I will never forget though, his answer to why he liked the Japanese group AKB48 more than the Korean group Kara. He told me, "Japanese people need to support Japanese artists." He was 13.
Next we had our vice group leader (that wasn't actually his title but he acted like that was his job), Shoko Pan Man, who was one of the sweetest Japanese students I have ever met. He sincerely wanted everyone to do well and was always translating for me when the other students spoke Japanese (even though I understood). He is actually the vice-class president and though the other kids tease him for his fashion sense and his enthusiasm for pop singers, you could tell he is well liked. He was a life saver in that he always kept the conversation going. the first night at dinner, he asked question after question but finally ran out of things to say. He looked at the other group members and pleaded, "Please speak!" The boss replied, "We are busy eating."
After that came Curry Pan Man who, unlike the character, was really laid back and played the role of Mr Cool. He was a good balance between the group leader (who was sometimes too serious) and the vice group leader (who was sometimes too friendly). He had great English and was quite funny. He seemed to be friends with everyone in camp and was considered quite cool by a lot of the girls.
Opposite to him was Bakinman who was very much, er, a nerd. The type of kid who hates sports and would have rather been playing games. He was polite enough but often tuned out in conversation to no doubt replay video games in his head. However, in the presentation he had great comedic timing and was quite a great speaker.
The final boy was Jam Ojiisan who was, like the character, the old man in the group. He was the smallest but also came off as the wisest. He was also the quietest and seemed the shyest, though he spoke a lot to me. He wouldn't contribute to the conversation on his own, but when asked a question, his answers were well thought out.
The girls were lead by Dokinchan who was just your average sweet Jr High Girl. She didn't speak a lot but made up for that by always smiling. She had great English but was slow to talk, mostly because I think she didn't want to overstep the boys.
Dokinchan's sidekick was Kokinchan, who barely said a word and made it clear she didn't really like English. The group actually said at one point, We're sorry. She is negative. Still, I had to give her credit for overcoming her stage fright and really doing well during the group presentation.
Last but not least was Melonpanna. I think she fit her chosen character in that she was one of the girls but also fit in with the boys too. She had great English and was quiet, but spoke the most out of the girls. She also tried the hardest to speak to me and to correct her own English. She was a total sweetheart who got on well with others but could also be by herself.
The group fit me I think in that I didn't pressure them too much. They were at their best when I gave them a game in English, such as I Never or English Uno. I liked that they weren't rude or obnoxious, and that they were pretty independent.
Sendai/Nikka English Camp pt 1: Camp Overview
Last week I got the huge privilage to join in on Nikka Jr High English Camp. This was a camp held at a resort in Sendai which is in the heart of Miyagi prefecture where the tsunami and earthquake happened. I will start by saying that the events of last year were LARGELY downplayed. The camp was to get the students ready for an upcoming trip to Singapore, and we focused on that, the future, rather than the past. If you didn't know any better, you wouldn't even have realized what some of these kids have been through over the past year.
Nikka Jr. High is a special school that you have to test to get into to. It has the regular subjects as well as some subjects usually found in western schools. There is an emphasis on the arts with things like a school wide choir contest and talent shows. There are also science fairs, field trips, etc I also got the impression that the school is not cheap and that the kids were kind of rich. Supposedly it is the second jr high school in the nation, although I find that a little hard to believe considering it is not in Tokyo. In other words, these weren't your average jr high school students.
The camp had a simple set up. The students were split up into groups of 8 students. Each foreign teacher got a group and then there were two extra foreign teachers in charge of running the camp. There were ten groups and I was with group number ten. The other teachers were actually all kind of big-wigs from my company. Quite a lot of interesting personalities and big egos, but entertaining people.
The three days consisted of working in groups to go over situations the students would encounter on their trip. We practiced what to do if you got lost, lost something, in customs, etc We had the students act out their own made-up situations and I had a wonderful pair do this dialogue.
a: Excuse me. I'm looking for my car. Have you seen it?
b: Maybe... Please tell me about it.
a: It's red. It's made in Italy.
b: Please tell me more.
a: It is about this size. It has leather seats. It is very cool.
b: Oh yes. I think I have seen it.
a: For real? Where?
b: It was stolen.... BY ME!
a: OH NO!!
For Japanese kids, this was pretty good for only five minutes of brainstorming.
Also during the three days we made a Nikka Book, a paper version of Facebook. The kids went around and interviewed each other and then made profiles for each other. We then displayed all of the pages for everyone to see.
We also had free choice activities where students could choose what they wanted to talk about. I led the music group and we discussed our favorite music groups/singers and what was more important, music or lyrics.
The main part of camp was for each group to polish a presentation they had been working on and then present it at the end of camp. I will talk more about that in another post.
Of course there was free time and meal time where the kids were just kids with the exception that they had to speak English. For some kids, this didn't really work. I had one girl in my group who would only speak if asked a direct question. For others, though, they absolutely made good use of the foreign teachers. Approaching us all the time to chat, ask questions, etc These kids really benefited from the camp and improved a lot in only 3 days. I really wish this opportunity was available to more students in Japan as it was such a natural, fun way to speak English. I wish the kids that didn't want to be there could have been replaced with kids at average schools who would have taken advantage of the situation.
Below are pictures of the hotel, but I am a horrible photographer. Not sure how much it cost, but if you are ever in Matsushima (about an hour from Sendai) I highly recommend the place.
Nikka Jr. High is a special school that you have to test to get into to. It has the regular subjects as well as some subjects usually found in western schools. There is an emphasis on the arts with things like a school wide choir contest and talent shows. There are also science fairs, field trips, etc I also got the impression that the school is not cheap and that the kids were kind of rich. Supposedly it is the second jr high school in the nation, although I find that a little hard to believe considering it is not in Tokyo. In other words, these weren't your average jr high school students.
The camp had a simple set up. The students were split up into groups of 8 students. Each foreign teacher got a group and then there were two extra foreign teachers in charge of running the camp. There were ten groups and I was with group number ten. The other teachers were actually all kind of big-wigs from my company. Quite a lot of interesting personalities and big egos, but entertaining people.
The three days consisted of working in groups to go over situations the students would encounter on their trip. We practiced what to do if you got lost, lost something, in customs, etc We had the students act out their own made-up situations and I had a wonderful pair do this dialogue.
a: Excuse me. I'm looking for my car. Have you seen it?
b: Maybe... Please tell me about it.
a: It's red. It's made in Italy.
b: Please tell me more.
a: It is about this size. It has leather seats. It is very cool.
b: Oh yes. I think I have seen it.
a: For real? Where?
b: It was stolen.... BY ME!
a: OH NO!!
For Japanese kids, this was pretty good for only five minutes of brainstorming.
Also during the three days we made a Nikka Book, a paper version of Facebook. The kids went around and interviewed each other and then made profiles for each other. We then displayed all of the pages for everyone to see.
We also had free choice activities where students could choose what they wanted to talk about. I led the music group and we discussed our favorite music groups/singers and what was more important, music or lyrics.
The main part of camp was for each group to polish a presentation they had been working on and then present it at the end of camp. I will talk more about that in another post.
Of course there was free time and meal time where the kids were just kids with the exception that they had to speak English. For some kids, this didn't really work. I had one girl in my group who would only speak if asked a direct question. For others, though, they absolutely made good use of the foreign teachers. Approaching us all the time to chat, ask questions, etc These kids really benefited from the camp and improved a lot in only 3 days. I really wish this opportunity was available to more students in Japan as it was such a natural, fun way to speak English. I wish the kids that didn't want to be there could have been replaced with kids at average schools who would have taken advantage of the situation.
Below are pictures of the hotel, but I am a horrible photographer. Not sure how much it cost, but if you are ever in Matsushima (about an hour from Sendai) I highly recommend the place.
Friday, December 9, 2011
Opinions of a Japanese Jr High School Student Pt 2:Anne Frank
This might have to become a running theme. Not that I mean to make fun of my students, but seriously this is hilarious. Over the past couple of weeks we have been studying excerpts from The Diary of Anne Frank. The excerpts are pretty edited down to make the language as simple as possible, but still it is a hard topic to cover. Mostly the excerpts are about the Anti-Jewish Laws put in place by the Nazis and then about how this effected the lives of the people. There is mention of yellow stars, families being taken away in the middle of the night, and parent-less children freezing and starving on the streets.
In keeping with the way that we have been studying the book all year the teacher has asked the students to write their "thoughts" on Anti-Jewish Laws and the suffering caused by them. There are too many "good lines" to choose from, but here are some highlights. Keep in mind that a lot of this is due to the students not knowing how to form sentences in English. They aren't really racist...I think.
1.The Jews were pitiful.
Talked to this student and it turned out that she meant to say that the situation for the Jewish people, not the actual people, was very sad or horrible.
2. I don't permit Anti-Jewish Laws.
Good for you! If only they would have had you around during the Holocaust.
3. I think wear yellow star is good idea.
Obviously has no clue what is going on in the book.
4. I like soccer. I don't like Hitora (Hitler).
Good to know. I like ice cream. I don't like terrorists.
5. I am sorry that I think.
Ummm... Don't be too hard on yourself. Thinking isn't a bad thing and can be quite good.
6. Why anti-Jewish laws begin? Did Jewish do something bad?
No, although at the time it was advertised that they were evil.
7. I like children.
Really? Me too!.
8. I can't eat old carrots.
Oh, well you are lucky you weren't born during the second world war when, "The children on the streets were so hungry that they even ate old carrots."
9. I feel sorry that there were many Jewish people.
Umm... Are you a Nazi?
10. I hope the war ends as soon as possible.
And are you also hoping that Japan wins? Hate to spoil the surprise, but it's over and the US won.
11. German is I'm afraid.
You should be.
Again, there were a lot more good ones in the bunch. To be serious, it makes me a little angry that we even have this in the textbooks in the first place. Not that I think we shouldn't study the Holocaust, but I don't see the point in teaching such a serious topic to 15 year old ESL students. Or the point of teaching only a small bit. As you can see in number 6, the students really don't know any of the history of this so it is really hard for them to understand why this would happen. They have history at school, but I am pretty sure they are still in the middle of learning Japanese history.
Two months ago we were discussing Martin Luther King Jr and I was asked on the spot to explain race relations in America. This would be hard for the students to respond to even if we were speaking in their own language, let alone having to work in English. I really don't know why the books don't just stick to "life at school" "life at home" "life as a home stay student." Especially when they are only in Jr High. It is no wonder they don't want to speak in English when the book is filled with phrases like Anti-Jewish Laws, Apartheid, "In 1968 Martin Luther King Jr was killed for working to end discrimination of non-whites." Surely the kids would open up if we were to say, "Today we are going to read about pop stars around the world. Who is your favorite pop star? Do you know any songs in English?" We do a bit of that, but a lot of the stuff is pretty heavy.
In keeping with the way that we have been studying the book all year the teacher has asked the students to write their "thoughts" on Anti-Jewish Laws and the suffering caused by them. There are too many "good lines" to choose from, but here are some highlights. Keep in mind that a lot of this is due to the students not knowing how to form sentences in English. They aren't really racist...I think.
1.The Jews were pitiful.
Talked to this student and it turned out that she meant to say that the situation for the Jewish people, not the actual people, was very sad or horrible.
2. I don't permit Anti-Jewish Laws.
Good for you! If only they would have had you around during the Holocaust.
3. I think wear yellow star is good idea.
Obviously has no clue what is going on in the book.
4. I like soccer. I don't like Hitora (Hitler).
Good to know. I like ice cream. I don't like terrorists.
5. I am sorry that I think.
Ummm... Don't be too hard on yourself. Thinking isn't a bad thing and can be quite good.
6. Why anti-Jewish laws begin? Did Jewish do something bad?
No, although at the time it was advertised that they were evil.
7. I like children.
Really? Me too!.
8. I can't eat old carrots.
Oh, well you are lucky you weren't born during the second world war when, "The children on the streets were so hungry that they even ate old carrots."
9. I feel sorry that there were many Jewish people.
Umm... Are you a Nazi?
10. I hope the war ends as soon as possible.
And are you also hoping that Japan wins? Hate to spoil the surprise, but it's over and the US won.
11. German is I'm afraid.
You should be.
Again, there were a lot more good ones in the bunch. To be serious, it makes me a little angry that we even have this in the textbooks in the first place. Not that I think we shouldn't study the Holocaust, but I don't see the point in teaching such a serious topic to 15 year old ESL students. Or the point of teaching only a small bit. As you can see in number 6, the students really don't know any of the history of this so it is really hard for them to understand why this would happen. They have history at school, but I am pretty sure they are still in the middle of learning Japanese history.
Two months ago we were discussing Martin Luther King Jr and I was asked on the spot to explain race relations in America. This would be hard for the students to respond to even if we were speaking in their own language, let alone having to work in English. I really don't know why the books don't just stick to "life at school" "life at home" "life as a home stay student." Especially when they are only in Jr High. It is no wonder they don't want to speak in English when the book is filled with phrases like Anti-Jewish Laws, Apartheid, "In 1968 Martin Luther King Jr was killed for working to end discrimination of non-whites." Surely the kids would open up if we were to say, "Today we are going to read about pop stars around the world. Who is your favorite pop star? Do you know any songs in English?" We do a bit of that, but a lot of the stuff is pretty heavy.
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Merry Christmas Maniwa!!!
Last night we had a teachers' "Step-Up Seminar." It is a night when Japanese teachers can meet with non-Japanese teachers to practice English. For the past year these meetings have been planned by the women who is in charge of English for the board of education. But, after hearing her tell me she has been very stressed this year I offered to plan and present the meeting. Rather than do what she usually does (a word puzzle game where you match the Japanese card to the English card in groups of two or three) I created a pub quiz featuring questions about Christmas, Japan, and Christmas music. Though the quiz was a little difficult for the non-English speakers, I think it went well overall. Here are some sample questions...
Christmas
In the song the 12 days of Christmas, what does he bring 9 of?
What country do Christmas trees come from?
What are the 4 ghosts in Charles Dicken's A Christmas Carol?
How many points does a snowflake have?
Japan
What year did Tokyo Disney open?
What does "nikko nikko" mean in English?
How many times has Japan hosted the Olympics?
What is shiragi-jo?
Christmas Songs (name the title of the song the lyric comes from)
And there won't be snow in Africa this Christmas.
Kiyoshi Kono yoru.
Well way up north where the air gets cold there's a tale about Christmas that you've all been told
Prospero ano y felicidad
For bonus rounds we played a game where they made a sentence using a gird. Vertically were the words, "I will, I won't, I might, I can't" and horizontally were the words, "eat cake, see santa, go to a shrine, get a present." They made a sentence and then got the mystery points that were in that grid spot. Then for the other bonus round we did the game where each team member gets a small whiteboard. They draw a category/topic such as "a yellow fruit" or "a convenience store." The team gets points if two people have the same answer and more points if three people have the same answer, etc
"The Grumpy Angels," came in first place followed by "The Blushing Snowmen," in 2nd and "The Cheeky Rerindeer," in third place. Its nice to be able to teach English and yet have fun at the same time. Although the trivia was a bit hard, overall everyone had fun and the BOE lady has asked me to plan the next event for Valentine's. Very excited! I really should have been a game show host...
Christmas
In the song the 12 days of Christmas, what does he bring 9 of?
What country do Christmas trees come from?
What are the 4 ghosts in Charles Dicken's A Christmas Carol?
How many points does a snowflake have?
Japan
What year did Tokyo Disney open?
What does "nikko nikko" mean in English?
How many times has Japan hosted the Olympics?
What is shiragi-jo?
Christmas Songs (name the title of the song the lyric comes from)
And there won't be snow in Africa this Christmas.
Kiyoshi Kono yoru.
Well way up north where the air gets cold there's a tale about Christmas that you've all been told
Prospero ano y felicidad
For bonus rounds we played a game where they made a sentence using a gird. Vertically were the words, "I will, I won't, I might, I can't" and horizontally were the words, "eat cake, see santa, go to a shrine, get a present." They made a sentence and then got the mystery points that were in that grid spot. Then for the other bonus round we did the game where each team member gets a small whiteboard. They draw a category/topic such as "a yellow fruit" or "a convenience store." The team gets points if two people have the same answer and more points if three people have the same answer, etc
"The Grumpy Angels," came in first place followed by "The Blushing Snowmen," in 2nd and "The Cheeky Rerindeer," in third place. Its nice to be able to teach English and yet have fun at the same time. Although the trivia was a bit hard, overall everyone had fun and the BOE lady has asked me to plan the next event for Valentine's. Very excited! I really should have been a game show host...
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Words for Wednesday: 100 Years of Solitude
(Written July 6th)
I finished Paper Daughter and though it kind of got off track, I enjoyed it. It did make me think about how lazy I was as a child, though.
On a side note... This is an article/blog entry from Roger Ebert about the dumbing down of some novels for today's reader. I feel he captures what I was trying to say about struggling through a book even if I don't understand all of the words. I always tell my students that I learned English by reading... and watching TV.
http://blogs.suntimes.com/
I finished Paper Daughter and though it kind of got off track, I enjoyed it. It did make me think about how lazy I was as a child, though.
Anyway, after finishing that I picked up 100 Years of Solitude, a story about the origins and life of a small town in South America (although it is largely a fantasy).
It is a book that I should have read in school but that I never did. To be fair, I think I read an excerpt of it somewhere. Anyway, I am only 66 pages in and have already lost my interest a bit. It is a captivating book but it is also a rather intense read and leaves one feeling a bit exhausted. There are easily three or four words in every chapter that I don't know and the descriptions never let up. Though the book is heralded as a masterpiece (it won a Nobel Prize among other awards), I have to agree with some reviews that also criticize it for being wordy.
HOWEVER, I have been leading a lazy life as of late and I think it is important for me to pick up these types of books (Faulkner, Dickens, Jane Austen, etc) off and on to keep my brain and language ability up to date. Though my job is to teach English, it is very basic English and I am surrounded by Japanese on all other fronts. Although everyone looses a bit of a dip in their ability after leaving school, I think I have to work twice as hard to maintain a rust/dust-free brain. So I am going to plunge ahead and hopefully hit my stride soon. Though I will admit to cheating last week by reading Vanity Fair on our car ride to Kurashiki and by reading David Sedaris during my break at the elementary school. Don't judge me- it was my birthday! I deserved to be stress free! Not to mention I had hose pesky bites fighting my every concentrated thought. Must say that there is nothing like, Me Talk Pretty One Day, to take your mind off of things.
On a side note... This is an article/blog entry from Roger Ebert about the dumbing down of some novels for today's reader. I feel he captures what I was trying to say about struggling through a book even if I don't understand all of the words. I always tell my students that I learned English by reading... and watching TV.
http://blogs.suntimes.com/
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