Living & Working in Ishikawa, Japan
With the new JETs arriving in two months, now is the time to upload your favorite lesson plans, proposals, and notes to Entrepreneurial Teacher. Give your successor and the rest of the Ishikawa JETs the benefit of your knowledge and experience in a format they can access before they even get to Ishikawa!
For example, what recipes went over well at English Club or your international cooking lesson? What would you do differently at your next eikaiwa? What are the best games for elementary first graders? What tips do you have for writing an event proposal?
The content of ET is only as good as we make it. Get a head start on your departure preparation or your orientation material collection today!
More Information
Read more of this post
ALTs, ever get frustrated looking online for lesson plans, pictures, or activities for your classes? CIRs, ever wonder what to do for a school visit, a cooking lesson, or a speech? There’s a brand-new resource for Ishikawa JETs called Entrepreneurial Teacher.
You can upload your own favorite lesson plans/activities and follow-up reports on projects/events and view those of others. Furthermore, you can comment on these texts and go back and edit what you’ve uploaded–perfect for creating a community of constructive feedback and lesson and event plans that work!
This site was created by the ESL teachers at KIEX in Kanazawa. It uses Moodle as the platform. The site was founded and is run primarily by Ryan Layman and Dubghan Hinchey of KIEX; I act as the JET liaison.
What makes Entrepreneurial Teacher special?
• A glossary of tried and true projects that any confirmed “teachers” can add to and edit. The glossary also has a rating system and the ability to post comments, so users without the ability to edit can still participate in the glossary.
• Trusted users (full name, identity confirmed) will be giving the ability to admin courses or create their own courses. This will allow passionate teachers to share resources that are comparable with commercial ones and drive content creation on the site.
• The Site will be used as a hub to connect to the other social networking services that are all ready being used by teachers. 3rd party apps, modules, and plug-ins will be used to customize the site and make easier to navigate from The Site to other internet services.
Moodle is a very easy-to-use resource; there are tutorials on how to upload content for those new to the program.
Not an Ishikawa JET? Though the site is focused on our Ishikawa JET community, JET ALTs and CIRs from other prefectures are welcome and encouraged to join.
ALTs and Teaching CIRS
Upload and download pictures and worksheets to and from a site you can trust and share them with people you know! Unlike other ESL sites, this one is not only Japan-specific, but JET specific. Create and find ideas for games to play with Eigo Noto; discuss what works and what doesn’t with very young students; and write about your English Club activities.
CIRS
Don’t let the name fool you, this site is great for CIRs who plan events, too. Upload your cooking lesson recipes and notes; reports on your holiday parties, school visits, speeches, and more! We don’t really have a good resource other than the CIR guide for coming up with ideas and, more importantly, discussing what was successful or unsuccessful about our events. Read our follow-up reports before you plan your next event.
Registration is open from 8-29 Nov. 2010 at http://www.entrepreneurialteacher.com/. Registration will be closed after that to prevent spam but may be opened later.
Want to view the site before you register? Click on the (temporary) guest log-in to see the front page and forums! You’ll have to register to get access to the rest.
For the sake of security, the founders chose to use encrypted log-in page from a third-party source in California. You need to add the security certificate to your list of exceptions Firefox or ignore the warning in Explorer.*
Notes
*If this happens and the warning is in Japanese, click the arrow by “危険性を理解した上で接続するには,” (“I understand there may be a risk…”) then click “例外を追加” (add an exception). In the pop up, click the button with a G on it (証明書を取得) (certificate acquisition), then click the confirm button at the bottom of the pop-up.
Leah Zoller is a second-year CIR in Anamizu, the editor of this blog, and a founding member of Entrepreneurial Teacher. She hopes you’ll participate and help improve our JET community.
This week, I would like to kick off a mini-forum of lesson planning and worksheet-creating tips and resources. Every classroom and school situation is, indeed, different, but we can all learn from each others’ experiences. Similarly, we can all benefit from each others’ lesson planning related bookmarks!
Please comment with a quick breakdown of a lesson that worked particularly well for you, or, (for those of you who have done teaching or ESL before JET) any helpful tips from your past training/teaching. Also, if you have used any online resources, it would be awesome if you would post a link and describe how you modified what you found.
I’ll go first.
As a part of my job as a writing tutor, I attended an ESL/ELL teaching workshop meant for volunteer teachers for adult immigrants and refugees. Most of the content was very situation specific, but there was one thing I took from it and have tried to apply to every teaching moment I’ve had since. The instructor recommended structuring activities around a very simple pattern: I do it, we do it, you do it.
It’s par for the course to do an example of any given activity with your JTE before telling your students to pair up. A good example–a good “I do it”–can be the very best supplement to (or even substitute for) an explanation of an activity. However, the ESL instructor found that an interchange between the class or a group as a whole and the teacher made students less shy: if they made mistakes, they made them anonymously, and heard the correct answer among their peers’ replies. A “we do it,” even as simple as getting the class to say an answer or speak a sentence with you, helps to close the percieved gap between learner and native speaker. It is also a more active way of getting an example sentence or vocab word to stick. It’s easy to forget a new word you have just heard; it’s hard to forget a new word that you’ve just said twice with the class and the JTE.
I notice when I forget a “we do it” portion of an activity. The students are either silent in the first few minutes of their conversation groups/pairs, or they simply read off the page. Without a “we do it,” I often find that too much of my time is taken up with explanations or just by trying to get students speaking. What are the “we do it” parts of your activities, and how can you use them best?
—
And now some resource links!
The classic Englipedia. This site is a compendium of ALT-generated and textbook-supported activities and games. There are lots of book-based resources for Junior High, and increasing resources for elementary school. For High School, there are many games and activity ideas.
PB Works’ activity compendium. This is a huge lesson and activity wiki with lessons generated by ALTs everywhere. It includes links to worksheets. All levels, and a great source for ideas!
Discovery Education Teachers’ Resources. This is geared toward teachers of all levels for US school subjects, but has great information if you want to do a topic-based lesson. Also, clip art!
Please share your favorite lessons, tips, and links! Sharing is caring!
Posted by Lauren, who wants to read your replies. 
Today, in place of my usual Pop Culture post, I will be sharing a lesson plan that was a big hit.
In your time in Japan, it may have come to your attention that the English isn’t exactly, shall we say, correct. Consequently, it also may be teaching your students bad English while you’re away.
So, what I did was take the more blantantly obvious signs and discuss with my students what they think is wrong. It’s been my experience that when you explain the funnier signs, they also start to understand what is funny and then start to understand the nature of English grammar a little better. More importantly, it teaches them that they can’t speak English thinking like a Japanese person, and that directly translating never works.
However, be careful with the signs you use! You don’t want to discourage them into thinking that English is impossible for Japanese people!
This exercise is really for upper division English courses, and I have found it to work best on my third-years.
As always, a helpful site is Engrish. com. Try it out, and good luck!
So, here we go again. It’s the beginning of another school year and there are lots of lessons that need to be planned (insert sound of whip cracking here). But what if you’re feeling a little uninspired, completely uncreative, or just plain sick and tired of your old lessons? Well, that’s easy. You spend the better part of a day scouring the Internet for ideas. Save yourself a whole lot of time and aggravation. Just go to Lanternfish. Here, you’ll find all kinds of activities, worksheets, flashcards, puzzles, and games to dazzle your students with (insert jazz hands here). Then, the next time the Muse does hit you with a flash of brilliance you can pay it forward by posting it on the site and sharing your genius with other teachers.
-Dena
I walk into the classroom and meet the thirty 15 year olds that I would be teaching for the year. A few seem eager to listen to my introduction and learn a few English phrases. Most give indication that they are there because they have to be. And one or two actually go to sleep. I ask those students a question and receive a blank stare and an “eigo wakaran’”. I’m now a third year JET and I’d like to say that this has only happened once or twice. Unfortunately, it happens almost every time.
Increasing motivation in a low academic high school is often a very difficult task. The important thing to remember is that their less than enthusiastic attitude in the classroom is usually due to lack of motivation and not to disrespect.
Participation is extremely important. It keeps students focused and helps to improve oral skills. Many ALTs have heard of and probably have even tried using the “Hanko Point System”. It may work fine for some but, it may be time consuming and ineffective with students who could care less about stickers or bonus points. I use a participation point system.
The “Sanka Point System” will either positively or negatively affect students’ grades. It is pretty easy to keep up with once you get a hang of it and it helps you get to know your students names.
Here is a basic example of what I do:
Write all the students’ names in Romaji in your grade book. Then, get them to fill out a seating chart. The students will receive “Sanka Points” each class and that average grade will be a certain percentage of their final grade (20 or 30 percent).
0- (0%) Talking or sleeping the whole class
1- (25%) Talking or sleeping despite being reprimanded
2- (50%) Told to stop talking, sleeping, etc. Not partipating
3- (75%) Model student behavior minus the participation factor
4- (100%) Model student behavior including participating at least once.
5- (125%) Model student behavior including participating more than once*
*Offering a 125% a day max. for participation seems like a lot. But, my students need this option. Although they rarely receive it, it lets them even out the days that they receive 3’s.
How to keep track of participation during class:
When a student participates, I write a little line in the box next to their name. If they participate again, the line becomes part of a five. If the class ends then the line becomes a four. If a student misbehaves I write a two beside their name that can be changed if they continue (I’ve never actually given a 0 or 1). Then after class the empty boxes get 3’s.
Tell students the rules of the game, including the following:
-Students who don’t participate will be penalized. Good students who don’t participate will as well.
-Learning a language isn’t any good if you don’t use it.
-When a student participates, whether correct or not, they will receive credit.
-On days that are activity only, participation will be determined on their use of English during the game.
-They can receive points for asking questions or answering questions in Japanese, too.
-English is different than other subjects, they don’t have to be perfect. Communication is the objective. So, don’t be afraid to make mistakes. Making mistakes is part of learning a language.
Of course, you can and should alter the rules of the point system to better suit your students. You can usually get a good sense of their participation level during your introduction lesson. For students that aren’t motivated by the possibility of lowering their grade, try becoming their friend. Showing that you care and that you won’t give up on them helps motivate them a great deal. I will post more about this in a future blog.
When teaching anything, it is important to remain consistent. Decide the rules and consequences of your classroom and explain them to the students the first or second day of class (after your introduction). And ALWAYS enforce them. As a teacher, there has been no better feeling than seeing a previously unmotivated student raise their hand and participate willingly…a sign that they are learning. That is, after all, our objective. I’ve been surprised to find that my “problem students” have become my favorite over and over again.
Recently I have been teaching one of my sixth grade classes about family. The first lesson I did was all about vocabulary – mother, father, sister, brother, grandmother, grandfather, aunt, uncle, and cousin. I hate doing simple rote memorization with my kids because they turn comatose and stop paying attention. So, for this class I came up with the following game that was effective and enjoyable.
First, I made a big family tree using four pieces of construction paper. I made it as simple as can be (i.e. only one uncle and aunt, one brother and sister, etc.). Then I made two sets of cutouts of different family members from flashcards I got off of mes-english.com. On the blackboard I hung up the family tree and on either side of it I hung up the sets of cutouts.
The game was simply a race. The kids lined up into two teams at the back of the room and when I called out a vocabulary word, they had to race to the board, find the right cutout, and stick it to its appropriate spot on the family tree using a magnet.
The kids really enjoyed the game, and even better, by the end of it they all had a good handle on the vocabulary. I find that any kind of race game works well in elementary school and this was no different.
Tips: You should mark gender on your family tree with different shapes. For males I used blue squares and for females I used red circles.
Decorate your family tree. It will get a laugh from the kids, which might get them excited for the game. I gave each person I different hairstyle.
By: Matt
Greetings fellow junior high school ALTs! Need an end of year activity for your sannenseis before they leave their innocence behind and enter the big, bad world of high school? Here’s one that takes up at least a whole class period or more if they want to get really creative. My students had such a great time with this (You know how much our wild and crazy kids love to cut, paste, and color.) Oh by the way, you’re making paper ice cream cones. Kawaii!!!
The blue ribbon winner
Supplies needed:
- Ice cream cone template (I used this one): http://www.tsl.state.tx.us/ld/projects/trc/2007/manual/craftillos/icecream.jpg
- Construction paper of various colors to use as mounts.
- Supply of scissors, glue, and colored pencils (just in case students don’t bring their own)
-An example (your own and/or from other classes once you’ve done a few)
Optional:
- “Sprinkles” (use a three hole punch and construction paper of various colors)
- Decorative paper punchers (you can find these at craft and stationary stores)
What to do:
Introduce the activity (tell them graduation is soon, yadda yadda yadda), show them an example and place on blackboard. Then give each student an ice cream cone with 1 to as many scoops as you think they should have (I had to cut my students off at 4. They were getting a little greedy.) Students should write their favorite memories on each scoop. Some of them will write whatever they want, such as “I like tigers” (see this masterpiece below). Hey as long as it’s in English, right?
After they have written something, they can color, cut, and decorate their ice cream cones. Have a supply of colored construction paper (cut a little bigger than the ice cream cones) for students to use as mounts.
Beg, steal, or borrow a bulletin board (or two) to display all these works of art. If there’s one near the entrance hall, even better. That way, on graduation day all the parents can admire what their growing-up-too-fast babies made and maybe cry just a little more at the sweetness of it all.
-Dena
Note the bite marks. Nice.
School lunch memories
I like tigers
Upcoming Events
