Job Discussion Forums

[JimDunlop2]

Well, it's that time again.... When I get weird requests from one of the elementary schools where I visit. I got some decent advice on previous occasions from this forum when I had to teach everything from "world peace" to "terorrism and September 11th".....

Here is the flavor of the month.... This one, like all the previous times, is quite weird.... Mostly because they're having ME (a foreigner) present this information... And this time I'll just quote verbatim from the letter they sent me:

11:35-12:20 Fifth grade (10 or 11 year olds) 88 pupils: Please tell them about good or marvelous point (s) of Japan. Place: Gymnasium


Well, I've visited a number of prefectures and taken many pictures... But a lot of it is pretty standard tourist fare. Most of these kids have also been to Tokyo and Kyoto, if not to some of the other places I've been to.

Can anyone give me some suggestions how I might turn this into an entertaining and interactive lesson that complies with their request? I would like to avoid a "chalk & talk" style lecture about THEIR OWN country being presented by a foreigner..... Hmmmmmm

Thanks in advance, everyone!

JD

[Glenski]

You've got less than an hour to show a travel slide show if you like to fifth graders. Make the most of it.

Give them a survey form. Include questions for each site such as...

Have you ever been here? When? How many times? What did you like? What didn't you like? Did you agree with the speaker? What did you find interesting/shocking/new/etc. from the speaker? Would you like to go there? Has the speaker changed your mind about this place? How/Why? What is the speaker's opinion of the place (use a 1-5 scale to give your impressions, or just list things like "loved it" vs. "liked it a little" vs. "hated it").

Get a HUGE map of Japan displayed on the wall. Use a laser pointer or overhead projector to mark locations that you talk about AFTER you have the kids try to find them. Use an unlabeled map, of course. Maybe ask questions like "How far is this place from Kyoto? Tokyo? Okinawa?" "Which city is closer to this site -- Osaka or Sapporo?" You can have fun with the time it takes to go there if you compare bullet train vs. car.

Vocabulary, vocabulary, vocabulary. Ex. How do you say temple in Japanese? (Or, how to you say o-tera in English?) Ex. Is this on the west side or east side of Japan?

Put some background music into your presentation, whether traditional koto stuff, or modern J-pop. Make this as fun as possible.

Point out things you want the kids to explain to you, even if you understand them yourself. Ask the kids to explain them...in English if possible. What does this sign mean? (toilet, post office, don't walk on the grass, shoes off here, etc.) Why do people ring a bell at a shrine? Can you climb Mt. Fuji in winter? When is the latest/earliest time you can? Why are these ladies diving, and what are they putting in those floating buckets? (pearls) Where do pearls come from? Why was the bank closed on this day? (national holiday)

[JimDunlop2]

Great, Glenski! That's fantastic stuff.... You just inspired me.. It's gonna be another awesome lesson.

(Maybe if I stopped making em' so good -- then they'd stop asking me to do these crazy lessons)......

If anyone else has any suggestions, please post 'em. This class doesn't happen till Jan 28th so I'm safe in the planning department....

Cheers,

JD

[homersimpson]

Hey Jim,
Sounds like the school wants to get your impression(s) of Japan. Basically, how's your life been in Japan? What is different from your home country, what surprised you, what was the first Japanese word you learned, where have you visited, etc. If you have pictures of the places you've been in Japan I would absolutely bring them to show the kids. And as Glenski pointed out, a map is a good idea. You can show the picture and point the location of that spot on the map; this is especially effective if you've been to areas far from your current location as many kids probably have not been there. Also I would contact the school ASAP and tell the teachers to have students prepare some questions to ask you about your experience in Japan (more than likely it will be done in Japanese unless one of the school's teachers has a high level of English). Of course you can't answer questions from 88 students because of time, but there will inevitably be repeat questions and many kids too shy to ask anyway. More importantly, this gets the kids involved in the lesson; even if they don't get a chance to ask they have at least given some thought to the class beforehand. Good luck.

[TokyoLiz]

Hi Jim,

Hey, here's a chance to ask us about our impressions. You could ask 2-3 questions about our first experiences of Japan, collect the data and present it to the kids.

You could put cartoon faces and flags on the board to represent the foreigners and their countries, write or say or translate the questions, get the kids to guess what the foreigner's responses are, and then tell them what foreign folks said. Backed up with some pictures, it would probably take 15-20 minutes, eh?