I realized this morning, as activity spiralled around me in my chugakko teacher`s room, that it had been 10 days since my last post. This is partly due to job-related stress, and partly (read: mostly) due to the fact that I forgot my camera at a fellow JET`s apartment, which had all kinds of awesome pics on it. Pics, as a matter of fact, of a bamboo-lantern matsuri, which may well be the coolest thing I`ve been to since coming here (although I guess it can`t beat out Kodo). It also contains pictures of a nifty taiko concert I went to up in Murakami proper (not as good as Kodo, but still very good). For these and other images stay tuned- I just need to get my mits on my camera again and I`ll put some picture posts up.
In the meantime, as I mentioned, this job can be stressful sometimes. Times like when you are informed that you are giving a mini-concert on the banjo at your shogakko`s bunkasai (culture festival), or just the overall energy drain of working with small children. So for the last week or so, I`ve been contemplating what exactly I want to do with the shogakko part of my career. Working at the chugakko, while the teachers are open to input, they generally prefer to create their own lesson plans and write me in as a part of them. Fair enough. At the shogakko, I am not provided with a curriculum, nor, I suspect, am I even expected to really have one.
This kind of free-and-easy atmosphere would probably be great for someone with some teaching experience under their belt, but I have trouble coming up with activities suited to small children (what do you mean they can`t form a line without adult supervision??). This then, is my challenge. That, and finding a way to make the subject interesting to 6th graders- whose stone-wall-like countanence often greets me at the beginning of English lessons with them. Sometimes I can break the ice, and sometimes the ice breaks me (I swear I can hear "nearer my God to thee" playing faintly somewhere nearby as the classroom decends into chaos).
Actually, the difficulty with 6th graders is as much cultural as age-related. Certainly adolescents can be difficult anywhere, but in Japan the standards for what is considered "childish" are markedly different from in America. To wit- 6th graders here unabashedly love upset the fruit basket. They`ll play English upset the fruit basket for an entire period, practically unsupervised. That`s the one that comes to mind immediately, but there are others. Suffice to say, children (and, I would argue, adults- more on that in a later post, methinks) in Japan enjoy more playful/squirrely activities than American children. The problem is, I don`t know what (in their minds) is the cut-off between activities that are goofy fun and activities that are patronizing (and after having to sing that blasted Noah and his arky-arky song in Junior high camp, I live in mortal terror that I would ever subject another human being to same experience-if I ever work with children in America, there will be frost on the flowers in Tartarus before I ever make 6th graders sing something like that...).
Alright- now everyone`s up to date on the psychological situation of an untrained English teacher. Whew. As I said, when I am able to retrieve my camera I`ll update on my other activities here, and have some more general "Japan interest" type posts. Until that time (probably after this weekend sometime), peace out.
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So I was reading your post, and trying to think back to sixth grade English classes.
Things that I remember enjoying: -Memorizing short pieces of literature
-Writing things in format. Like, list poems, or poems that start with their name, then give three adjectives, then give three verbs, then three nouns of things they love, and then end with their name.
That'd actually be a really good activity for language teaching, with parts of speech.
When I was taking language classes, in seventh and eighth grade and in high school, one thing that I loved and that really helped me was "story time." My teachers would bring a childrens' book, read through it, and have us translate each page as they went. Always playful, and it helps with parts of speech.
To make it so that things aren't patronizing, emphasize the fact that what you're doing is goofy. My french teacher would make us dance and sing kid songs when I was in high school. It would have felt patronizing had it not been obvious that it was just goofy and also helpful with teaching the language.
In addition to the poem thing I said earlier, having them write out a few lines of rhyming verse, or even just having them work on rhymes is an awesome way to teach multiple words, create work association, work on pronunciation, etc.
On top of that, have them write "situations" with their friends. Don't make them do it on any particular subject. Give them free reign and a vocabulary list. They have to integrate say, six of the new vocab words into each "situation." Then they get to act it out in front of the class with their friends, reading off of their own papers, of course. Always fun. Makes them practice the language and feel more comfortable about messing up and learning in front of the class, which always eases up the atmosphere.
Anyway, those are just some thoughts. I don't know if they'll help, but I want to ease your mind. If nothing else, these kids are going to remember you for your goofy blond-blue-eyed self for the rest of their lives. Yay for fond memories.
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