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nightsintodreams
Joined: 18 May 2010
Posts: 558
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 Posted: Wed Nov 30, 2011 4:12 am Post subject: |
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| Pitarou wrote: |
| Osiyo wrote: |
| For example, how do I explain the difference between "want" and "like" without using the students' own language? |
It really isn't difficult, Osiyo. Eikaiwa teachers who barely speak a word of Japanese have to teach this kind of thing all the time. Try feeding cookies to the Cookie Monster until he can't eat another bite. (likes, but doesn't want) Then the Cookie Monster will get indigestion, so he needs to take foul-tasting medicine. (wants, but doesn't like) |
I can't believe this is a serious question, I argue FOR ALTs being allowed to speak Japanese when needed, but this certainly isn't one of those situations. How about doing a simple role play of a shop, restaurant or offering someone who comes to visit tea or coffee "Do you want tea or coffee?" "I want coffee". Or how about showing pictures of yourself in countries you've visited saying you like each country, then use want to describe your desire towards a country you haven't visited, while making a wishing/praying gesture. There are plenty of other examples, use your imagination a bit.
Letting the kids work it out for themselves is much more enjoyable, plus it only takes a few children to understand it, then they'll soon shout out the meaning to the rest of the class. |
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Jawful
Joined: 21 May 2006
Posts: 19
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| Posted: Wed Nov 30, 2011 8:19 am Post subject: Re: Using Japanese with young students, opinions? |
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| Inflames wrote: |
| Children of the age the OP is teaching probably have very little knowledge of Japanese culture (or even things outside of their daily life), much less a desire to learn about whatever else there is out there. |
I'm with natsume on this one. First, the difference between 3 years old and 5 years old is huge.
5 year olds know about the world and Japan and can probably find it on a map. They definitely know their culture and are interested in things that are different. These are usually very simple things that a JHS wouldn't find interesting at all, but there are enough things to talk about even at their level.
A 3 year old, on the other hand, barely speaks Japanese properly (ask them to explain about their house and you'll see the limits real fast. They are closer to what you mean--in that they can't really picture what Japan vs not-Japan is. But there is still many things that are different from their limited world, that even if the don't understand the cultural difference, they still get interested and ask questions. In my case, being a man is sometimes the biggest difference. Most of their time is with mom or teachers. The only other man they know is dad. So I can be quite scary at first and then very interesting after. |
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Jawful
Joined: 21 May 2006
Posts: 19
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| Posted: Wed Nov 30, 2011 8:31 am Post subject: |
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In the case of "like" vs "want", I'd agree teaching it so they have to figure it out is usually the most interesting and they are more likely to remember. But if after they seem to get it, if *someone* hasn't said the equivalent Japanese (even a student) then some will be left in the dark and others won't have confidence in their answer the have in their head. So in that case, L1 has a place to confirm the translation they've already attempted in their heads, but hopefully by that point, you, the teacher, don't need to say it.
And the ideas posted to teach it were good. I especially liked the shopping one. I haven't really had to teach sentence structures like that and the difference between them so it's cool to hear the methods.
This week I'm teaching my 5 year olds "What do you like?" to add on to the "I like ~" they already know. I did a few examples with the class teacher using food flashcards and then asked a few smart kids and they picked up on the "I like" as the answer quickly. But then I had the class teacher ask what it meant in Japanese. The answers were hilarious. One said you ask your "favorite person" what they want. Another said you ask someone and they make it for you. Another got close but translated it as "which" since we were using a set of food cards to practice. Finally someone got it and from then on they all remembered easily. So letting the kids use their language is helpful for everyone. And in this case we just needed the class teacher to ask a few key things in Japanese. The kids did the rest. |
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Jawful
Joined: 21 May 2006
Posts: 19
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| Posted: Wed Nov 30, 2011 8:44 am Post subject: |
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| Calico wrote: |
| something I've noticed with my coworkers is that the prevailing idea is to not even let their kids know they speak/understand Japanese at all. Even if I wanted to present that, I couldn't anyway, because all my JTEs have told my students and their parents that I speak and understand Japanese at near-conversational fluency anyway. It's actually made a lot of parents extremely happy because they knew they can talk to me about what's going on with their kids even if they don't know any English themselves. Since I work in a particular eikaiwa where I'm the only adult in the entire building usually, this makes a lot of parents feel easier about leaving their kids with me. |
And this is why it drives me nuts that they tell the kids and parents just that! That we can't speak Japanese. And then tell us to pretend we don't. It's frustrating some times. I would love to be able to talk to a parent about their child, or talk with my coworkers, or even talk with the kids. Outside of class I think this is fine. Especially with other adults. Not being able to talk normally with another person until the kids are gone can make for a long 6 hours. Thank goodness some days I'm with fellow native speakers. None of the Japanese staff speak English.
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| Usually I've noticed I'm more likely to use Japanese, if any, with younger classes, especially when it comes down to safety issues. |
This is where my hands being tied is even dangerous. I watched one kid accidentally kick another kid in the head trying to do a flip on a bar. I was the only adult who saw it. The one kid was bleeding from the mouth and being 4 years old and thinking they are in trouble, no one could explain it. I did in English but the teacher was confused. I took her by the hand and led her across the playground to a out of earshot place and finally explained in Japanese. But since Im no longer by the two , I cant point out where the hit happened or anything. It was silly. It was done and the information was eventually passed. But in that situation I should just be able to explain it quickly on the spot while next to the two in question. It's better for all involved.
And discipline too. "No" only goes so far. I need to be able to explain why it's wrong sometimes too. It's in my nature and the last 7 months I've just had to let stuff go. It's annoying. |
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Osiyo
Joined: 20 Mar 2010
Posts: 34
Location: NC
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| Posted: Wed Nov 30, 2011 9:35 am Post subject: |
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| nightsintodreams wrote: |
| Pitarou wrote: |
| Osiyo wrote: |
| For example, how do I explain the difference between "want" and "like" without using the students' own language? |
It really isn't difficult, Osiyo. Eikaiwa teachers who barely speak a word of Japanese have to teach this kind of thing all the time. Try feeding cookies to the Cookie Monster until he can't eat another bite. (likes, but doesn't want) Then the Cookie Monster will get indigestion, so he needs to take foul-tasting medicine. (wants, but doesn't like) |
I can't believe this is a serious question, I argue FOR ALTs being allowed to speak Japanese when needed, but this certainly isn't one of those situations. How about doing a simple role play of a shop, restaurant or offering someone who comes to visit tea or coffee "Do you want tea or coffee?" "I want coffee". Or how about showing pictures of yourself in countries you've visited saying you like each country, then use want to describe your desire towards a country you haven't visited, while making a wishing/praying gesture. There are plenty of other examples, use your imagination a bit.
Letting the kids work it out for themselves is much more enjoyable, plus it only takes a few children to understand it, then they'll soon shout out the meaning to the rest of the class. |
I'm not saying doing those sorts of activities is not a good idea, but sometimes there just isn't time or the materials to make it happen, and in that case I just use Japanese because I can. I know I wasn't a kid, but I didn't learn Japanese by playing games...at some point, especially with grammar, it becomes necessary to explain something in the learners' own language. That's how I learned Japanese, after all.
Maybe my example was bad, or rather I just didn't explain it well. In my class, want vs like wasnt taught at the same time. They learned like, and then a month later they learned want. My classes are only 50 minutes so yes I resort to speaking Japanese...but that doesn't mean I don't use games to drill/practice. |
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Inflames
Joined: 02 Apr 2006
Posts: 486
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| Posted: Wed Nov 30, 2011 4:21 pm Post subject: Re: Using Japanese with young students, opinions? |
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| Jawful wrote: |
| Inflames wrote: |
| Children of the age the OP is teaching probably have very little knowledge of Japanese culture (or even things outside of their daily life), much less a desire to learn about whatever else there is out there. |
I'm with natsume on this one. First, the difference between 3 years old and 5 years old is huge.
5 year olds know about the world and Japan and can probably find it on a map. They definitely know their culture and are interested in things that are different.
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I'm envisioning something closer to a young 5 year old. They might be curious about other places (depends on the kid and maturity level) but others won't. Moreover, the point I try to make, is that a lot of these kids might not be able to associate a lot of things with Japan (although, for example, the food pictures and the map could show them about this). They'll pick up on the fact that you're different (quite obviously) but then you're stuck with where to go from there. You eat pasta? The kids have seen tons of people eat pasta. People sit on the sofa and watch TV? I'm sure the kids love doing that. The end of the year isn't overly different between places. |
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