Job Discussion Forums

[ssjup81]

Hi everyone. I decided to ask this here as opposed to the other forums since, you know, I'm in Japan and all that and know you all are familiar with this set up.

Anyway, last night before I left the school, the third-year teacher asked me at the last minute to plan a lesson for all three of his classes revolving around Halloween and would like a plan by either Monday or Tuesday and for me to do the classes on Friday. I'm not too bothered by that...my problem is coming up with an actual activity for them to do after the "Halloween lecture" outside of something like a word search or a crossword puzzle. I have a few ideas, and I'd been throwing ideas out at him for all of September, but it was always the same thing, "I don't have confidence they could do that" or "I don't believe they have any imagination", junk like that.

As for ideas I'd shared with him, two of them were writing assignments. Since they're third year JHS students, seems he likes to focus on the writing and all that. Anyway, I suggested that they write maybe a few sentences (I'd settle for two or three) using "Halloween vocabulary" that will be pre-taught, of course, and come up with a story with some guidelines. He said they probably wouldn't have the imagination for that. I then suggested that they do a Madlib (I'd written out a short story and showed him, it was about a paragraph long with blanks for them to fill with either a verb, a noun, or an adjective). He said it would be too difficult and that they wouldn't know what "adjectives" were in English. I thought there was a communication gap and actually used, "keiyoshi", and he still said the same thing (which shocked me since they actually use adjectives). I then told him that I could include a word bank for them. Same thing, "too difficult".

For those of you who are experienced with this, what type of activity would you recommend for third-year students based around this subject with all of these restrictions? I've been getting suggestions, but most are a no-go, especially anything involving arts or crafts. That was a "no" right from the start.

Thanks in advance for anything you all may suggest. Oh, and for the record, I did look up stuff on different websites for ESL activities, but I know my Japanese English Teacher too...and I could just imagine him going, "It's too difficult", as this isn't the first time he's said that about his students whenever I suggest something. He always wants ideas as to how the students could improve their writing, but everything I suggest is "too difficult". Geez...wish he was more like the first-year teacher. He'd at least give my ideas a try and then determine if it's difficult for his students to follow or not.

[bluefrog]

Maybe do the Madlib exercise with the vocabulary jumbled as a hint and a word bank at the top for extra measure. That should pass the "It's too hard" test

[Glenski]

You might want to shell out 500 yen for a pumpkin and bring it to class for effect.

Give them the abbreviated version of the origin of Halloween (see Wikipedia), and see what you can do to tie it together with Obon (something they are far more familiar with). Light a candle in the pumpkin and tell the origin of Halloween in very slow language with the lights out.

Perhaps just do something with things that scare them. Teach "scare", "scared of", "afraid of", etc. A nice survey job will do.
Q1. Yes/No. Are you afraid of ....?
Q2. What are you afraid of?
Compile the data to see what most kids are afraid of.

Practice "have you ever" with things like...
...seen a ghost?
...heard a strange noise in your house?
...watched a scary movie?
...screamed when you watched a movie?
...told scary stories on a camping trip?

Ask what their favorite scary movie or book or story is. Don't worry if they know only the Japanese name. They have to try describing the plot in a sentence or two. Maybe this is good for homework.

Hard to know more since we don't know your kids' level.

[ssjup81]

Ah yes, levels. I wish I could tell you, but even I'm unsure now. It seems to be a mix. Some that are just slackers anyway, then your average students, and a few above average ones. I guess to be on the safe side, it'd be good to do an activity where it can work with all three levels. Your "below average" your "average" and your "above average" as a safe point.

I liked that idea, though that you presented there and ironically, I already had something written out to share about the holiday. I just hadn't come up with a way to present it yet. I started planning that part back in early September...just in need of an activity. I also was thinking of Obon as a parallel, even though granted, Mexico's D�a de Muertos is closer to Japan's Obon than US Halloween is (imo).

That aside, thanks for the suggestions to both of you. Glenski, I really like your idea. It's very creative. I just hope that the third-year teacher is okay with anything like that. A survey should be fun.

[Glenski]

There's nothing stopping you from explaining all three of those holidays, even if they already understand Obon.

Put a condensed description of each on separate pages. Give them 2 minutes to read only one (3 students in a group). Post a group worksheet to fill in the blanks, but they have to collaborate (the hard part of the lesson) so that one person asks for the information and someone who DOESN'T have the answer writes it down. Dictation practice, writing practice, reading practice. Give them a time limit for a Halloween treat (but give something to everyone).

Alternately, do a running dictation with each of the pages on a wall, and the group has to go search for information.

[ssjup81]

[TokyoLiz]

You could still do the madlib. I suggest you structure the activity very carefully.

Elicit from the kids, "It's a thing." You can elicit this by demonstrating, pointing at things around the classroom. They're 3rd year junior high? They know the word meishi (noun). Elicit, "It's an action." Mime running, eating, picking up something, and you'll likely get responses where they tell you in English or Japanese, and you steer them to doshi (verb). Adjective is a little different. Ask them, "Are these words the same? blue, funny and small." The word commonly used to translate description is setsumei. You may find they know the word keyoushi.

Make sure your madlib paragraph only uses words and structures in the assigned textbook. This is a tight constraint, but there are so many reasons to do this. 1.) Those children whose only exposure to English is that classroom cannot be expected to know any other words. 2.) The students see the elements they learned in the English lessons in a complete, narrative text. You tell them you wrote it yourself, confirming that they can understand the text of a native speaker of English, and that they have learned a substantial amount of English that is actually viable for communication.

The students can make their own word bank, but you guide them. Dictate the points on the list. "1. Write three colours. 2. Write 2 sizes." "3.Write five action words." "4. How are you? I feel ____" etc. They can confirm spelling with you or the JTE.

When you've confirmed all spelling, hand out two A and B madlib papers. A has sentences 1, 3, 5 and B has sentences 2, 4, 6. They elicit from their partner words to fill in the blanks. Make sure your madlib has prompts that tell them what goes in the blanks, verb, noun or adjective. This can be negotiated in Japanese. A strong student can help a weak student with word choice and spelling. The only rule for the students is NO LOOKING until they are finished.

When they finish, they can put their A B papers side by side to see the complete paragraph/narrative, stand together and read aloud in turns. To increase the amount of interaction, you could then assemble the students in fours. One pair stands, reads aloud to the other pair, then sits and listens to the other pair stand and read. In a large class, this helps you identify when everyone is done - they're all sitting.

I figure this should take about one class period, no more.

[fluffyhamster]

The best thing to do (or at least try the once) with "too difficult" JTEs (I've known some who won't allow even one new word beyond the textbook's into a classroom!) is to assure them that you have an activity to cover the lesson time, but not be or get too specific about exact activities or content...and they already know the theme - Halloween! And you can always prep the Japanese necessary to get the students to do whatever - it's not like the JTE has to do and thus be put out by anything really! (Assuming of course that you are up to and keen on running an activity more or less by yourself).

So personally I'd be starting with or including certainly a ghost or creepy story or two, or talking about horror movie plots or urban legends (can be relayed in pretty much Simple present) or something similar. At least then the productive onus is more or just on you - all the students will have to do is listen (albeit a bit more actively than they usually are expected to!).
http://forums.eslcafe.com/teacher/viewtopic.php?t=9143
http://forums.eslcafe.com/teacher/viewtopic.php?t=2149
http://forums.eslcafe.com/teacher/viewtopic.php?t=9105
( http://forums.eslcafe.com/teacher/viewtopic.php?p=39261#39261 )
( http://forums.eslcafe.com/job/viewtopic.php?p=890673#890673 )

[ssjup81]

Thank you so much for all of these ideas and suggestions. I had a lot of free time this morning, so I came up with different scenarios to share with the third-year teacher. "Too difficult". I think what he's worried about is the possibility of this lasting more than one lesson so he just prefers something very easy.

Anyway, what I decided on (which was okay) was to approach Halloween from the whole "scared" angle. I'm going to go over the history of Halloween (which was a given), do the whole "what are you afraid of" scenario, go over scary things associated with Halloween (Vocab), maybe have them get into pairs and ask one another, "What are you afraid/scared of?" and then have them ask one another "Why are you scared of ~?" I'm trying to sneak that one in. lol

After that, we play a game of Halloween Bingo (my teacher was all for this and chose it). Whoever wins gets a Halloween sticker.