Job Discussion Forums

[cafebleu]

And I just read the replies to nawlinsgirl and all I have to say is - Congratulations on missing the point. Two handclaps to you. This is mostly about TEACHING KINDY CHILDREN.

Have any of those who so smugly recommended ways to 'get used to the heat and humidity' realised that nawlinsgirl is trying to teach kindy kids. Kindy kids have very short attention spans at the best of times and you need to get them on their feet and engaged. You must have them learning through songs and physical activities.

For all your self-satisfied coping with the heat you forget one thing - the Japanese, especially Japanese littlies, cope very very badly. You cannot teach children who are distressed. Try telling kindy and older kids that the heat and humidity is nothing. What nonsense! It's all about quality of teaching and the teaching environment. That's the point.

Clearly few posters here have actually taught kindy kids under the conditions she is describing. And no, it doesn't hurt to have two or even just one effective fan in the classroom. Maybe all the heat and humidity has reduced some posters' abilities to think rationally about teaching environments for children.

[6810]

Ms Bleu,

Ever heard of the following countries with kindergartens and often no air con which have almost no release from summer at all?

Indonesia
Vietnam
Thailand
India
Laos
Cambodia

I wonder if they've managed to get used to it?

By the way, welcome back.

By the way, sincerity's a curse.

By the way - you're on the monster-web!

Oh, and when global warming really hits it's stride you may have no choice but to "get used to it", or else you might just die...

Or we could work on rebuilding cities, building codes etc... to create cooler cities and learning environments...

Or we could just keep consuming vast amounts of non-renewable energy to keep cool while the poor die.

Or we could just get used to it...

[cafebleu]

No wonder I didn't post for some time with people whose mission on this forum seems to be snide and miss the point of what the initial poster had to say.

So please tell me how relevant to Nawlinsgirl's experiences of the way in which her Japanese employers cannot understand the simple fact that little children cannot and will not learn in extreme discomfort and stress, is your recitation of humid and hot countries with kindergartens? Maybe you can find a link but I think reasonable people can't and won't.

The Japanese (and Cambodians and Thais etc if we really have to tolerate your silly analogies) can dump their little children in unbearably hot and humid environments and expect them to learn a foreign language in active, physically determined style. That is how you teach children of that age a foreign language. They do not sit at desks writing the alphabet.

Their expectation does not make their position rational or understanding of the human condition. Try teaching kindy children under those conditions and you might not be so confident in your ignorant replies. Then again I am sure you will come back with "Oh, but I have!". In the off chance you did it is clear how much your students learnt.

Yes, yes, you have lost credibility already, and I wouldn't push it further.

[anne_o]

Well, I didn't teach 'kindy' children in Thailand, but first and second grade, and there was no a.c. and it was hot and I certainly didn't have the kids sitting at their desks learning the alphabet!
I sweat, they sweat, yet we had fun, and they did actually learn something.
But, I will say, Japanese students seem to be much more apathetic than Thais or Cambodians when it comes to learning English, so the heat in the classroom must no help!

[cafebleu]

I have not taught in Thailand or Cambodia but clearly you did and congratulations on achieving your teaching goals including motivating the students.

I do think kindy children constitute a different case from primary school children. Their attention span is even shorter and while kindergarten in Japan is certainly regimented and less enjoyable than kindy in my country (the UK), nevertheless the age of the children does make a difference in the expectations of how much they will learn.

I also think that poor countries have different expectations. Countries like Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam even the Philippines where I taught for a while lack a lot of basic facilities and opportunities that are available in Japan or should be used in Japan except forbloody minded authorities' attitudes.

When a really good fan can cost less than 2,000 yen in Japan what is the excuse for having no fan in the classroom? No place I worked at in Japan could say they couldn't afford to spend at the very least money on two fans per classroom. The countries I mentioned and more do without being comfortable because being comfortable is not an option much of the time.

In Japan there is a deliberate and in some ways cruel pursuit of uncomfortable conditions because of a mixture of narrow, obsessional attitudes and the inability to change tunnel vision thinking.

And have you seen how the Japanes sweat? As a white Brit I looked cool as a cucumber in Japan compared to the almost non existent ability of the Japanese to tolerate heat and humidity in any real sense. Many of them
sweat far more profusely than anybody else I have ever seen.
While bubbles were forming on their noses and their faces were raining, I had a bit of a sweat going on.

The Japanese are not a race - they are a hybrid of Mongolian, Chinese, Polynesian etc. Many of cannot tolerate too much heat and humidity in Japan. That's why their children, especially kindy aged children, need at least fan cooling in their classrooms in summer.

[nawlinsgurl]

Today my boss brought fans in for every class. Big huge industrail--but silent--fans. One of the mothers told me that a few kids were crying to their parents and getting sick b/c they were so hot.
As for teaching kids in the heat, it is really difficult. My school has a pretty regimented style of teaching, which I can break up with a game usually. But it was near impossible with the heat trying to get the kids to do written/verbal work at their desks--and they weren't even trying to get up and move around for a game! The teachers always come around and straighten them up physically if they slouch or sleep or lay ther heads on the desks.
Also I don't know what they do in other Asian countries, but if they have some special tactics to get kindy kids to pay attention and participate in a 30-40 degree classroom, then I'd be happy to know!

[cafebleu]

Nawlinsgurl - when I was teaching kindy in Japan I was at least given the opportunity to use my own discretion. I decreed that there was to be no sitting at desks writing - it was totally an English immersion through visuals, actions and singing/speaking.

My usual classes (sometimes with exceptions) were this:
1) Greetings
2) Questions about the weather, what colour is this, what food is this, etc with big picture cards so the kids at the back could see. Class sizes were usually 30 to 33. The kids were sitting down on the floor.
3) Counting. Using claps and when the kids were faster using a song "10 Little Purple Sneakers".
3) Copy me actions with directions - stand up, sit down, touch your head, nose etc. Do some stretching if the temperature was too hot - jumping if the temperature was decent.
4) Finish with a song. I used ones from the series "Let's Go" - simple songs such as "How's the weather" and "The Family Song" although those were from elementary school books.
Each class was 20 to 25 minutes (the older students did 25 minutes).

At least that kindy's boss etc were enlightened enough to trust me to do this stuff. Sad that they were so determined that nobody would benefit from a bit of cool air. That's great about the fans.