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[Celeste]

Hello all-

I work as an ALT (Yes, I know some of you think my salary would be better spent on other things )at the education centre in my city, and we have a new Mombusho mandated seminar for high school and junior high school English teachers this summer. I am responsible for designing 28.5 hours of curriculum on the theme"Using English in the English Classroom". I have designed other seminars in the past, but none with such a specific topic, and never one for quite so many hours of instruction.

I am rolling right along, and I thought it would be nice to get some opinions form others in the field. So here are some questions for you foreign instructors working in Japanese high schools and junior high schools:

What would you include if you were in my position?

Are there any areas in which you think your Japanese co-workers need extra help?

Are there any areas in which you think your Japanese collegues are already profficient?

Are there any methods that you feel your Japanese colleagues would be particularly resisitant to?

I have been reading various EFL teacher trainer guides, and I have gotten some very good ideas so far, but I like to bounce ideas off people who are currently "in the trenches".

Here is a rough idea of the direction in which I'm heading:


Day 1- Introduction/ Classroom English Goals/ Openers

Day 2- English Pronunciation/ Slang/ Pop Culture for the classroom/Starting an Activity in English

Day 3- English Pronunciation/ Teaching Vocabulary in English/ Spelling/ Appropriate level of politeness for the English classroom/Finishing an Activity in English

Day 4- English pronunciation/ Teaching Grammar in English/ Ways to make grammar FUN/Checking comprehension in English

Day 5- English Stories and questions/ Discipline in English.

Day 6- Music in the classroom/ Finding materials to supplement the curriculum

Day 7- Teaching writing in English/ Relationship to speaking/ How to reward students for speaking English.

Day 8- English pronunciation/ Natural speech/ Appropriate slang quiz.

Day 9- Applying English Instruction to Sunshine English Course Book

Day 10- Applying English Instruction to Sunshine English Course Book

Don't hold back... give me some input!

[Sherri]

Celeste
It looks like an interesting project. While I don't teach in public schools, I do have a lot of experience with designing seminars like this.

I have a couple of questions:

1. It is good that you are polling other ALTs on this forum about what they think is needed, but are you also going to send out a questionnaire to the ALTs in your area? How about the Japanese teachers who are going to attend the seminar? Have you already asked them what they would like to cover (in the form of a questionnaire)? I think you will get a lot of useful information from them.

2. Why is there such a heavy emphasis on pronunciation and what exactly do you mean by it? I mean how will it be treated in the seminar? Do you mean helping Japanese teachers to teach pronunciation in their classes or teaching the Japanese teachers better pronunciation?

3. Is the point of the seminar to give the Japanese teachers more confidence in using English as the language of instruction in their classroom? I can't really tell--sorry!

Hope you can find something useful in my comments.
S

[Celeste]

Funny you should mention the emphasis on pronunciation. THe centre just spent an obscene amount of money on a new CALL lab, but they don't really want me to teach grammar with it, but they do want me to use it. So far, pronunciation workshops for the Japanese teachers is the only idea that I have come up with that my boss thinks is a good idea also.

I am going to poll the other ALT's in my city this week. I just got here first. As to polling the Japanese teachers who will attend the seminar, I would like to do that, but I keep getting the inhaled hiss response from my supervisor when I mention it.

The point of the seminar is to give the Japanese teachers more confidence in using English as the language of instruction in the classroom. When this seminar was first ordered, I was under the impression that I was to help the Japanese teachers improve their TOEFL and TOEIC scores. I did an outline for a general multi-skills curriculum that would serve as a jumping off point for further study. Then, a few weeks ago, my boss's boss decided that he wanted the seminar to be "Using English in the English Classroom". (However, the participants will still have to take a TOEFL test at the end of it.)

I am only one part of this seminar. The other half is going to be Japanese lecturers from prestigious universities around Japan lecturing on various topics having to do with English education.

[Sherri]

It's a shame that you can't poll the people the seminar is meant for! Still I am not surprised. I hope you can find a way around it. AND it seems a bit mean to make them take the TOEFL test afterward! Ours is not to wonder why--I guess.

We have a very basic language lab where I work. We use it mostly for intensive listening practice and recording students' voices. I have found it to be very useful. For example, based on a 2-3 min report taken from CNN or BBC , we will have the students record themselves giving summaries, reaction speeches, or the like. The teachers focus on whatever aspect of language they are interested in working on like pronunciation, content, organization, grammar, vocab usage, fluency. We also like to get the students to transcribe their tapes (or their peer's tape) to look at their use of language in more depth. Maybe you can adapt this to make the pronunication sessions more varied--I don't know if it is appropriate.

Personally I am not a big fan of teaching pronunciation in isolation to adults since I think their pronunciation is pretty much fossilized but that is not to say that it can't be made meaningful--it's just my own problem. In any case I guess your model of how you teach pronunciation can be copied by the Japanese teachers in their own classroom. Or perhaps they can take turns leading the class and sharing their own techniques. Maybe you can have a brainstorming session with the Japanese teachers on how to use the CALL equipment creatively.

I guess the best thing you can do in such a short amount of time is to give the J teachers plenty of time to speak and interact in English through the use of role plays, classroom simulations--followed by plenty of praise and encouragement from you. I would spend plenty of time letting them know that it is OK that they don't sound like native speakers or that they sometimes make mistakes.

Sorry if this is stuff you already know. Good luck with the seminar!

[guest of Japan]

I agree with Sherri in that you should have a lot of role playing activities portraying classroom sitiuations. This should help keep the seminar fun and entertaining for the teachers as well as give them a lot of English practice time, which will help improve their TOEFL. Most education seminars in the states utilize role playing quite a lot.

I'd try to be gentle with the pronunciation part. Many Japanese teachers are very sensitive about their pronunciation. Good luck. It sounds challenging. Mark

[Mike L.]

Some good advice above. Especially about keeping the seminar interactive with roles plays.

I also recccomend trying to relate it to the material, Monbusho approved texts etc, that they have to teach.

I know that's not always easy but what you need to do is show them how to apply Communucative Langauage Teaching tasks to their situation.

Steer clear of deep methodological disscussions. They may be difficult for everyone to follow.

Handouts, flashcards, game (I mean activites) with clear instructions that can be copied and don't require a great deal of prep. Will be appreciated and most importantly used.

Most importantly though them you can bring CLT type activies into the classroom.

Many, not all, JTEs don't have much in the way of experience or training when in comes to CLT. The system doesn't really do much to encourage it either. They also don't have heaps of free time to make stuff.

I was an ALT in Chiba Ken for 3 years and did a few of these type presentations, with ALTs present though. This is what I base my opinions on.

Good luck! Keep us informed