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ssjup81 · Posted: Mon Apr 15, 2013 2:09 am Post subject: Tips needed

Hi everyone. For the new job, I have to visit a high school twice a week. I'm not very experienced with high school classes. I finally did my first set of lessons with them on Friday. They were so quiet. I'm so used of ES and JHS kids. So how do you get them to talk or volunteer information they definitely already know?

marley'sghost · Joined: 04 Oct 2010 Posts: 255

hagiwaramai · Joined: 24 May 2010 Posts: 119 Location: Marines Stadium

What exactly is it you're trying to get them to do?

In my experience you can't ask High School students generalized questions and will hardly ever volunteer information but if you tell them clearly and directly what you want them to do they will do it readily. You have to choose specific students and ask them an answer directly, or tell them all to stand up and take part in activities. They actually like being told what to do.

OneJoelFifty · Joined: 06 Oct 2009 Posts: 463

Yeah, just tell them what to do. Have them practice talking a lot in pairs. Model the activity with a student standing at the back of the class to make sure everyone can hear.

You can also start easy. Reel off a bunch of information about yourself and then ask them questions about what you just said. Give them stickers (a lot of high school students like stickers too!) for answering. Invite them to ask questions about you, tell them anything is okay.

Are they first grade classes? If it is, remember that they hardly know each other. A Japanese teacher would likely face the same challenge.

ssjup81 · Posted: Tue Apr 16, 2013 12:37 am Post subject:

hagiwaramai · Joined: 24 May 2010 Posts: 119 Location: Marines Stadium

No no, what are you doing exactly, grammar/Oral conversation/what kind of exercises/what kind of "talking"?. Are you using a textbook or is just a free-for-all? We need to know what your lesson aims are to offer the best advice. Like I said you have to be much clearer and tell students what to do in High School. The Japanese teacher or ALT can't just say "Who's got some questions for me/ssjup81?" and hope for the best. You can try it, and in a good/genki class it might be ok and you'll have fun but you can't expect a response. Japanese High School kids are usually taught in a passive way, having right or wrong answers and little talking or interraction, so they're not going to become talk and debate kings in English lessons, which obviously have even more difficulties accompanying them because they're not in their native language. Plus it's a "lesson", not a general chat among friends which eikaiwa often effectively becomes. A lot of people would probaby be pretty reticent too in a group of 30 or so people, even if they knew each other.

If you do it in their normal style they should do pretty well though. In this case for example explicitly tell them "I'll give you 2 minutes to think of and write down one question for me", go round and help them, and then choose about 5 students to ask you their question. Group work and pair-work are especially useful. It has to be much more structured and organized than eikaiwa, but if you do that they can talk a lot.

Another minor point, 3rd years are usually focused on exams and what they're going to do after HS, so if something in a lesson is not going to help them in that regard they can sometimes tune out completely.