Job Discussion Forums

[azarashi sushi]

How do you greet your class at the beginning of a lesson, if at all?

I'm particularly interested in those working in public schools and teaching larger classes.

I teach mainly elementary school kids at the moment. The children in the returnee classes are very talkative and eager to share their stories at the beginning of class. So the greetings are very friendly and "chatty"...

But with the regular classes, it's strict J-style text book stuff... "How are you?" ... "I'm fine thank-you, and you?" and then on with the lesson.

Do you talk about the weather or make any kind of small talk?

Thanks in advance.
A.S

[Glenski]

I don't do much really.

Hi. Good morning/afternoon. (wait for some response, make fun of them being deaf if there is nothing, then try again)

Ask generally how their weekend or break was, maybe pick out a rare person who responds and ask a follow-up.

Then, it's on to the lesson. I only have 45 minutes, so I can't afford to waste time.

[Celeste]

In my elementary school classes, we do the greeting (I encourage students to give real responses - they love to tell me that they are hungry, sleepy, sick, GREAT, etc.) and then I review a few things that they have learned in past classes. (How's the weather? What time is it? What day is it today? What's the date today?)
At one of my schools, this is done as circle time. Each class has a homeroom teacher, 2 PTA volunteers, and me, so we split the class into 4 groups and take 5 minutes to really chat with them. This is my favorite school. (It's in a really nice neighborhood where a lot of the moms have lived abroad before and love to help out during English classes)
If you have afew kids who really want to chat with you, make time for them when the other kids are involved they game/communication activity portion of your lesson - the part that the returnee kids blow through in about 5 seconds!

[homersimpson]

I teach at a JHS and a lot depends on the class I'm teaching. It seems the greeting is often based upon the one given to their homeroom teacher (which I am not). Some classes use the standard Japanese greeting (kiritsu, sei-rei, onegaishimasu, etc.). For those classes I follow that by having them greet in English -- not the robotic, "I'm fine thank you and you?" but have each student answer his/her true "state" which is usually "so-so" or "sleepy." I'll also do what Glenski does and "randomly" (not really as I know who the strong students are) choose a couple of students and ask them some questions. For the classes that don't start with the typical Japanese greeting, we do the whole thing in English.