Job Discussion Forums

[JimDunlop2]

Hi everyone.... Here's another quasi-academic discussion for whoever is interested.

This being the start of a new school year I've been doing some PD to improve myself (hopefully) and my teaching methods.

I came accross this article on ERIC (ED 437 851 FL 026 127) by Tetsuro, Inoue. It was published in 1999 and is entitled, "Implementation of Buzz Learning to English Language Education in a Junior High School."

A link to it here:
EDIT: Removed link as it was TOO long and screwed up the horizontal scrolling of my post....

Please go to http://www.eric.ed.gov/ and do an author search for: Tetsuro, Inoue -- there is only 1 result. Click on the "View full text" to get the PDF file... It's 11 pages long.

Anyway, for those who are interested, please read the article and tell me what you think.... (Yes, I know this is, in fact an old method from 1962).

- Does the author accurately describe the learning environment? Is it similar in the school where you work? What's different?

- Do you agree with the author's proposed methodology? Do you do something similar in your own classes?

- Does the author go far enough in describing an adequate teaching method? What should be added/changed?

Finally, what do you think about the final "practical" application during a school excursion? This actually interests me the most as I am hoping to attend this year's Grade 9 school trip and would like to implement some kind of English communication activity(ies). Has anyone had a chance to do something similar? Was it successful? Any suggestions?

Here are my own reflections/answers to the above questions:

The author describes my Jr. High school classes to a "T". Indeed, I agree with the statistics he shows that 40% cannot write the alphabet properly at the beginning of the second year. Students that have "no basics" and no confidence is endemic (but I think that's true everywhere).

In terms of group and pair work, I've had some successes but the biggest problem that I always have to overcome is the perpetual goof-off factor. Friends will pair-up with friends, unpopular kids get left out, and I just don't have the time/methods to assign groups or pairs myself... Plus, I don't know how successful I would be if I tried to do that...

In my classes we do limited rapid reading or refined translation, so it's a bit difficult for me to relate too much with those sections of the article. It's been made clear to me that my job is primarily to teach speaking/listening whereas the reading/writing/comprehension/translation work is supposed to be done when the JTE teaches alone...

I was most intrigued by the "practical" example.... I would really like to do something like that.. But I wouldn't want to cheeze-off people visiting Kyoto by singling them out as "foreigners" and using them so my kids can do an English assignment. On the flip side of the coin, that's probably the only time they will ever get to meet non-Japanese speakers in a natural, realistic (non-classroom) environment unless they study abroad at some point in the future... Perhaps I can come up with a non-obtrusive way to do a similar exercise.

Anyway, that's enough stream-of-consciousness writing for today... Any reflections on this topic are always (as usual) appreciated.

[Glenski]

I have some problems with the article. Even though my JHS/SHS goes through many of these very techniques, it is written like so many things I see here. That is, it tends to serve as a minute by minute script for what should happen in class, and that is just not always (or usually) possible.

Another fault is that the author holds an overly positive outlook for this technique, mostly because he assumes the students will actually pay attention to each other in order to reinforce their own learning. This does not happen.

"Point out the students' weak points and correct them." Perhaps this can be done as a whole, but if you are dealing with junior high students, there will be so many weak points that you could sink a battleship with them. Plus, I'm rather surprised that a Japanese teacher would even advocate doing this because of the problem students have in general with self-confidence.

"Pair the students according to students' relationships and reading abilities."
Japanese schools tend to know a lot of details about their students, to be sure, but to know these on the first day of class is impossible. What does he mean by "relationships", anyway? Besides, trying to set up such pairs is just not practical; if you do so, you either have to disrupt the class when pair work begins (simply because the kids will scatter around the room to find their partners), or you disrupt the normal seating chart by having them sit next to their partners originally.

I have not read all of the article, but these are my initial observations.

[Lover]

I agree with the top post! All though I am new to teaching! I did study Japanese here in Japan. I remember getting so frustrated when someone's reply was not in accord to the script.

The top post hit the nail on the head by saying pair your students up to ability.

Thanks for the website. The information on it looks to be interesting! Specially since, I am a new teacher here in Japan.

[johanne]

Jim,

When I was visiting Seoul a few years ago, during Golden Week, I was approached twice by Korean high school students with questionaires who were obviously on assignment to look out for foreigners and ask questions. I didn't mind and in fact quite enjoyed it. They asked follow up questions and really seemed to enjoy the interaction. Another day I also met up with two Korean university students who offered to show me the city in exchange for chatting in English the whole afternoon. It was great and I think I got to see a side of Seoul that I wouldn't have had I been left to my own devices. We had lunch at a great noodle shop off some little alley, for example. Their English was quite good - intermediate to upper intermediate so it was a pleasure to talk to them and hear about their universty life in comparision to what mine had been in Canada. So, if you wanted to experiment and have you students talk to foreigners in Kyoto, for example, it could work out, especially, I think, if you instuct them to approach people who seem to be travelling on their own and who would probably enjoy a chat. Just my two cents.