Job Discussion Forums

[TokyoLiz]

Like many of you jr high teachers, I teach OC to all three years.

Our English teachers have asked us native English speaker teachers to reflect the content of the regular English class in our OC classes.

My questions for you folks are -

Are there any curricula out there for OC? I'd hate to reinvent the wheel here. Our regular English classes use Total English as their text.

What, if any, could you folks recommend for jr high OC? Right now, we use Get Together for JR 1, Fifty Fifty Intro for JR2 , and Fifty Fifty Book One for JR3.

I personally don't like Get Together because it presupposes that the students are literate, which, for the most part, they aren't.

Fifty Fifty is a great series, but many of the topics are more appropriate for adults than jr high schoolers. Any suggestions there?

[Brooks]

the Talk a Lot series works well at junior high school.

The problem is that there are not many books for junior high. You have to avoid the books that are for shogaku, and sometimes the books for high school are at little hard for chugakusei.
When I worked at a junior high school, I found that as teachers we had to spend a lot of time adapting materials. At my high school I find it easier to plan, but motivating students is the big challenge.
I think it is better to focus on listening than speaking. And it is good to combine listening and speaking practice with grammar they have covered, but it is good to review things they have learned before. You need to find new ways of teaching the same old stuff.
I think some Japanese English teachers want us to give speaking practice on the grammar that they cover in class, but by the time students are in 8th grade, they start to fall behind, like when they have to learn the present perfect.

For the bunkasei, I had many of my students performing their own plays that they had written. It went well. Students can get sick of doing speeches.

[buffy]

I have been using the English Firsthand series for Jr. high and I like it a lot.
Chu 1- Firsthand Access (start it the second term. First term is spent on teaching phonics and writing and other basics.)
Chu-2. Finish Access and go on to Success.
Chu-3 Firsthand Gold 1.
It is difficult to find a text that is appropriate for chu 1. They come in basically knowing nothing but then after about the first half of the first term they have advanced quite a lot because of their lessons with the Japanese teachers of English.

[TokyoLiz]

Buffy, What do you do with the J1s for the first few weeks? Are you team teaching or solo teaching the classes?

My colleagues and I will be teaching Oral Communication to junior 1 students starting in the first week of the new school year. I'm thinking doing activities such as alphabet bingo, romaji name sheets, that kind of thing. We won't be using a textbook at all for the first term.

Can you recommend any phonics books, either student books or teacher resource books?

[buffy]

Liz,
I solo teach.
For the first few weeks we use the flash cards from the Finding Out series and make worksheets based on them.
I introduce oral targets as well, but don't expect them to be able to read or write them at that point. Eg. name, age, how are you...etc. There are lots of games you can use with the cards. I'd take a look at the series. Maybe buy the teacher's books for it as there are many good game ideas in them as well.
Games, games, games....I found that if their initial experience to oral communication is a positive one it will carry on throughout their time at the school. I found out the hard way one year and that gakunen has been a tough one since they were chu 1. (we have the same students for 6 years)

[harumaki]

Have any of you tried Passport from OUP? It can be a challenge for weaker students but has valuable practical material for, let's say, 2nd and 3rd year JHS kids. It does have to be supplemented with other activities but is worth a look and has a follow-on, Passport Plus, for higher grades.
I'm also on the look out for new materials- would welcome recommendations!