Job Discussion Forums

[homersimpson]

Because I accidentally almost destroyed someone else's post (sorry) I thought I'd post a new topic. For those teaching in public/private JHSs, please talk about your experiences regarding what your students are actually learning. I believe there is a misconception that JHS ss are exposed to 3 years of conversational English practice. This naturally results in HS teachers being baffled by the fact that their students can't "speak" English. At my JHS students have very little opportunity to speak English in a natural way (ala conversation) in the classroom. The reasons are numerous: class size (avg. 36 students, lack of vocabulary, boy/girl shyness issues, fear of mistakes, etc.). In addition, the classes taught by a Japanese English teacher often tend to be more focused on reading, translation, and grammar, not for some test students won't be taking, but specifically for HS entrance exams. In defense of the Japanese teachers, there is a great deal of pressure on them (especially those teaching 3rd grade) to ensure a high degree of passage. Currently, I think there are two schools of thought at the JHS level; you have the old guard and the new guard. The old guard (usually over 30) who believe in the "teach English to pass the test method" and the new guard, far more focused on listening and speaking abilities (and spending many sleepless nights fretting over how to fit that in with the ultimate goal of passing exams). It's quite a vicious circle at this point.

[Glenski]

My high school is connected to a junior high school. One fourth of the SHS population comes from the affiliated JHS; the remaining 3/4 come from other JHS's. There is a marked difference in the quality of students -- those from the outside have lesser ability in English.

At my JHS, students get team teaching with NET/JTE a lot, plus the usual JTE grammar lessons. With team teaching, the focus is on choral repetition of key sentences to emphasize / teach the grammar point. Pair work follows, so kids get quite a bit of speaking practice, although the freedom for creative conversation is fairly stifled. There are also some writing lessons, plus an English speech contest and an overseas trip to Australia for a couple of weeks.

JHS kids are very "genki" because all of this is new to them. Seeing and working with a NET has them in awe. When they move to the SHS, they have tons more homework and club activities to tie up their time, and they are bored with the choral repetitions (which continue!!), so motivation hits rock bottom. JHS kids that migrate to us from the outside face major shock because of the higher level we expect of them, and teachers struggle to bring their abilities up. They are not taught with the graduates from our own JHS.