Job Discussion Forums

[flyingkiwi]

Hi there,
I have been teaching high school for just over two years, and now, with my new contract, I have to visit an elementary school for one week every six weeks or so.

My first day will naturally be a self-introduction. Now, having had no experience with elementary school kids, I have NO idea of what I am going to do, and how to present, i.e. what english to use.

I think I will be teaching grades 3,4, and 5

The only ideas I have are to make it as visual as possible, lots of photos of my country, etc.

And to have the kids introduce themselves, thus making the lesson more student-centred.

If anyone has taught at elementary school, can you give me some ideas or thoughts on what you would do for a self-intro, and also what did you do for self-intros?

Many thanks in advance,

fk.

[Quibby84]

I substituted for elementry a few times and had to do my self introduction each time. I had flash cards about simple thing such as my favorite color, favorite food, favorite animal, where I am from, etc. So I would show the flashcard and tell them what it said then I would randomly ask kids what their favorite ==== was (if there was time I would ask everyone, they loved being asked). Then after I would ask everone I would go around the room, point to certain students and say "whats his favorite ====?" I would this for a while with each question. They seemed to enjoy interacting and they seem interested to know what each others favorite things were. Dont forget to ask the teachers what their favorite things are, the kids like this the best.
YOu will be amazed at how well these kids remember what each others favorite thing was...it was Crazy!!

[flyingkiwi]

Thanks Quibby.

Can anyone direct me to any lesson plans?

[GambateBingBangBOOM]

For grade 3, think "Stuffed toys are my best friend"! Make silly faces andn little skits using stuffed toys, or puppets etc. Hand out some stickers if possible (but don't overdo it, or EFL day will become sticker day and it's all they'll care about).

Grade 3 is really very little still- you may not even be allowed to tell them where you are from, just that you are from far away (sort of like the alien that they think we are!)

If you're male, beware the kancho!

Grade 5 is pretty old actually. Stuffed toys may be appreciated by the girls, but the boys probably won't like it. Pictures would be good. Especially of popular sports and sports stars. Even better if you can bring an actual sports item that is different than what they're used to.

Grade 4 is partway between. It is either this grade or the next when the massive split between the genders begins, and it wouldn't be a agood idea to try to put htem together after this.

Bring extra deodorant- and lots of it!

[Squire22]

I would say, try not to overestimate their abilities. Keep it as simple as you can, otherwise you can end up with some really frustrated kids who can sometimes become a problem. English isn't a required suject at most elementary schools, so the important thing is to make as many of the kids as possible feel as though they can do it, and that they can all be involved in come way or other.

When I do my self introduction at elementary school, I usually write my name in huge letters on the board, then do "My name is ....." and then go out into the class and ask some students their names, occassionally i'll go to every student and shake their hand too - they enjoy this because you'll seem huge to them - then I'll write my age in huge letters and do the same with age "How old are you?" but won't ask all the students. Then i'll choose a sport I like and a food I like and do the same again with both of those. Then I'll put flash cards of various different countries up on the board and take a vote on where the students think I'm from. The 5th graders should be able to manage most of this. After I've done this I'll play a game of cross-fire where the students have to answer those questions about me and themselves. I usually do some kind of janken interview dialogue with point cards afterwards, again something very simple that they can all do. Depending on the year group and how the lesson goes, this can take the whole lesson, if I have time at the end I teach janken in English and play against the whole class - the kids go nuts with this.

With lower grades I tend not to make the whole lesson a self introduction because it's too much for the kids, so I make it really short and then teach a mini lesson for 20-25 minutes or so. I would highly recommend being prepared for one or two more activities than you think you need, classes very often don't go to the schedule you think they will.

Also if you have kids moving around or moving desks to make groups, have patience, it can take the kids longer than you'd think to return to their seats and move their desks back.

If you can have a short meeting with the home room teacher before hand so that they know what to expect more or less, this helps a lot when you want the kids to do an activity but they're not quite doing it right or they don't quite understand, the HRT can usually jump in with some organisation and a Japanese explanation - if you can express yourself well enough in Japanese then great, but I think it's important that the HRT feels part of the lesson. Use the HRT with short dialogues, they can almost all do it, write it down on paper for them too if you think they need it. It gives the kids some confidence if they can see their HRT speaking English, also gives the HRT a boost of reasssurance - some are terrified of the English lesson, try to make it as easy for them as it is for the students so that they can join in too.

Another point to bear in mind is that although they learn romaji, of sorts, in the fourth grade, they basically can't read English, so if you're thinking about using work sheets that require reading, you've been warned.

If you can, try to make sure you know everything you're teaching in Japanese too, so that when the kids try to guess what you've just said or asked you know whether or they understand it in Japanese at least and can praise them for that too.

Er, that's quite enough I think, hope that's of some help, if any.

Best of luck

[JimDunlop2]

Visit http://www.genkienglish.net for all your Elementary School lesson planning needs. Our BoE uses G.E. materials exclusively...

Anyway, self-intro... I agree with the flashcard bit. The only thing that I'd ADD to that -- is that to make it more fun, I always turn it into a quiz. I show the kids 4 flashcards for each factoid about me.

E.g. Mr. Dunlop's favorite food is:

a) natto
b) pizza
c) okonomiyaki
d) hamburgers

Then you can play with the kids... You can poll them to see who THINKS it's (a) who THINKS it's (B) etc.... Then you can turn it around and ask the kids which one THEY like the most. It makes self-intros so much more interactive... And it will fill up a standard 45 min. lesson easily.

If you need any specific advise, feel free to PM me. I've been teaching nothing but elementary schools for the board of ed. for just about 3 years running now. I teach at 12 different schools, 3 days a week at each, grades 1 to 6.

Good luck. It's not a hard thing to do -- just takes a lot of energy and some getting used to. Always remember that for most of these kids, you will be the only contact with a foreign teacher they have ever had (or will have for a long time to come). Most kids do NOT go to eikaiwa or juku -- so don't expect them to know any English but the very, very, bare basics... And even then you can't take anything for granted. I have certainly seen grade 6 kids who can't understand "How are you?" properly for instance.

[flyingkiwi]

Thanks a lot guys. This really helps.

I made a mistake though: I am actually teaching 1st years tomorrow

But I think the idea of writing your name with big letters on the board will work and maybe getting one volunteer to write it in katakana, then getting the students to guess what country I am from.

[easyasabc]

Eek!

Don't use that genkienglish site. It looked like rubbish a few years ago when I first looked at it and it still looks as bad now. The fact that a BoE is using it certainly doesn't mean it is any good.

Teaching elementary school children properly is a special skill and if you really have no idea of what to do, then please leave it to someone who can do the right thing for the kids.

[JimDunlop2]

[Quibby84]

My school goes nuts over that site....but I am not a fan either, the graphics are pretty bad which means that most of the time the flash cards dont make sense. My husband says that it looks like a kid made the cards in paint.
I have never been able to do their activities word for word, they are sort of goofy...But I have been able to take ideas from their and build on them..

[ripslyme]

If you've got absolutely nothing (no time/materials/ideas), then use genkienglish. But if you have a clue, materials, and some time to make your own stuff, you'd be a lot better off doing that instead.

[JimDunlop2]

Yeah, I guess you guys are right. Anyone who teaches not only English vocabulary but puts it into context with useful English phrases and then reinforces concepts with relevant songs/games must be complete crap! And the games -- all crap too!

Why don't you provide me with a link to your website where you've created a better system -- because I REALLY want to see it! Until then, badmouth G.E. all you like, but there's good reasons why it's as successful as it is. I'd say a lot of the negativity and hostility against Richard or GenkiEnglish is just sheer jealousy. Why can't I be making wads of cash from some dumb picture I threw together in MS Paint, right?

As for the quality of the materials -- well, yeah -- to us they may look primitive, but the kids really do love them! Don't knock it till you've tried it. When I show them the picture of "I'm cold" from the "How are you?" lesson, the kids go nuts! I get MUCH more of a reaction from the G.E. flashcards than I EVER get from (much more realistic or artistic) pictures I've gotten from other sources. Even if the kids thought they were dumb, the sheer salience provided by that stimulus will help the kids in remembering the word associated with it. The more preposterous, the better, in fact.

The songs are great too! Many of them are catchy enough that even many of my 6th graders who can be "too cool for anything" find themselves singing along with the CD. It may not be what you'd choose to sing in front of your friends on karaoke night, but that's not the point, either. The point is that the songs repeat the target English many times over in a rhythmic way. It helps consolidate concepts.

Results may vary, but I've had nothing but great successes using these materials... I also don't have the time to sit re-inventing the wheel. That would be like bashing my skull against a wall, saying, "I refuse to cop out and buy a car from a dealership! I'm gonna build my own from scratch, dammit!"

I think that the most vocal critics (barring jealousy) are the ones who have never seen G.E. used properly or by someone who knows how to execute a good lesson. But if you're a crappy teacher, you can have the best materials in the world and still have a crappy lesson.

Yes, a lot of the G.E. stuff seems a little strange at first, but it really isn't. My kids always love their English lessons and often I have them yelling out for more and they keep playing the games/singing the songs even during recess and lunch. Having said that, however, there are certainly topics, games, songs, etc that I don't care for. I just don't use those portions that I don't think will work out very well in my situation. The key is, like what Quibby indicated, to adapt things to your own method/style. No one says you should do everything word-for-word as printed.... But to criticize and say: "it's no good because I can't use it word-for-word" doesn't say much about your skills as a teacher if you can't get past that obstacle.

[Quibby84]

Just because it is not my favorite doesnt meant that I dont use it. I have about 10 websites where I get different things from.
When I do the activites from Genki English, the kids do love it (actually they love anything that lets them get out of their chairs); I just have a hard time using all of their materials word for word. When I worked at Convo School I spent hours making lessons from here and there, I guess it is easier for me to get a small idea and make the rest up myself...
I have never heard the music...do you have to pay to get it?
I also watch laugh when I see those little videos..I guess they are dancing to the music, maybe it wouldnt be so weird to see them skipping around if there was music to go with it...lol.
So in the end it has helped me out a decent amount, I just cant bring myself to use their flashcards...haha. (I used to make my own flashcards by cutting construction paper and making little animals to show emotions or weather or instruments....it literally took me hours...thank God those days are gone...)

[GambateBingBangBOOM]

[flyer]