Job Discussion Forums

[rich45]

Hi all,

I am an ALT based in a JH school for the mostpart, but every Friday I go to an elementary school that doesn't have a JTE. So basically I teach grades 1 -6 with no help whatsoever, which is ok with me but I am running out of ideas. Any suggestions?

I really don't like the Eigo Noto book so I use that sparingly, as the kids don't like it either. In the past, lessons that have worked the best have involved small group work using card games, board games, etc, so if anybody can point me in the direction of some good websites I would really appreciate it.

Thanks again,

Rich

[pnksweater]

Englipedia is great for the lackluster Eigo Note. There are multipurpose materials and games, too. http://jhsenglipediaproject.com/default.aspx

How often do your students see you? I teach all elementary grades, too. Most of my schedule is based around 5th and 6th grade. Students usually see me once a month for one or two periods. 1st and 2nd graders are only three times a year, 3rd and 4th graders have four lessons or so a year. Obviously if you�re in the classroom every week, you�ll need more ideas.

Does your school have a basic curriculum, or at least an idea of what they want you to cover for each year? For basic things like colors, animals, and numbers there are lots of kindergarten and other low level ideas online. I like to base lessons for the lowest levels around story books: days of the week and food with The Very Hungry Caterpillar, colors and animals with Brown Bear, Brown Bear. For higher levels we work on numbers, greetings and feelings, favorite sports and foods� really basic stuff. We don�t have many lessons together though, so 2-4 topics a year is plenty.

HTH

[rich45]

[Glenski]

[rich45]

[TokyoLiz]

I'm teaching elementary this year, too. I suggest you look at www.genkienglish.com

You've already started the year without a syllabus? This is only May, and you're probably only four or five lessons in. Consider the first four lessons as diagnostic, I guess

Genki English has suggested syllabus. Have a look.

FWIW, I am using English Note 1 and 2 as a guide for my own syllabus and I derive some materials from the two volumes and teachers manuals. I deviate from the lesson plans and modify the activities to give them a more communicative and cooperative orientation.

The students seem to respond positively to the CD ROM on a projector or big screen TV. We do not use the textbooks. We photocopy only those pages that require pencil and paper. Supplementary materials include Power Point presentations, flashcards and sets of cards used in group activities (sequencing, slap games, role plays, etc.).

I guess I'm a fan of Eigo Note....It's quite well designed, save a few odd bits. The Eigo Note Blog, while not brilliant, does present some good ideas that are not dependent on the use of the books.

[fluffyhamster]

The beginnings of an elementary syllabus I created and had a lot of fun teaching (skip to the third paragraph of the post):
http://forums.eslcafe.com/job/viewtopic.php?p=646217#646217

[rich45]

Thanks for your replies.

The Genki English website looks good, although 200 dollars is a little steep. Has anybody actually bought the download pack? Was it worth the money?

[fluffyhamster]

I just had a look at the Genki English syllabus. Good luck with that, if you do choose to pay two hundred dollars for a download pack (for that amount of money you could buy more permanent markers, paper etc from the 100-yen shop than you could use in an entire lifetime).

Maybe I go a bit too far the other way, but to me the GE syllabus looks like quite a hodgepodge arrangement of phrases, some easy, some not so easy, with probably far too much faith placed in the powers of holistic learning (i.e. input in the form of essentially "unanalyzed" holophrases).

Now I'm sure that accounts for a lot of how first languages are learned, but an hour or two a week for perhaps a couple of terms in total throughout a kid's elementary schooling isn't going to produce similar results in a second language (nor, I suspect, will my approach either, but even so...).

The end result (especially when it is coupled with the rather stiff and functionally arid nature of the high school syllabuses that constitute most people's only, and even halfway-formal, learning of English) is that students simply do not understand the functional import of all the "little" bits (e.g. articles, -s endings, prepositions).

But hey, that's just my opinion, and it may be more trouble than it is worth for other teachers to try to strike a better balance between "analysis" (obviously I don't ask elementary kids to consciously analyze or discuss grammar) and sing-song "mindless" holophrase.

By the way, I'm also basing my opinion on discussions from years ago where GE materials and/or methods (as used by one teacher) were implicated in quite unsuccessful elementary lessons (which led to quite a breakdown of classroom behaviour/"discipline").

All that being said, GE is doubtless better than most of the useless syllabuses that the schools or BOEs themselves may try to press onto you.

[TokyoLiz]

[gwynnie86]

I don't think ANYBODY teaches with a JTE in elementary school. Homeroom teachers' English level varies greatly - you might find some who will be willing to get involved, so try to let them join in, too!
I don't teach that much at elementary school, but try teaching some songs... use Karuta, key word game, "collect as many cards as you can by using some craftily inserted English" games , races ("Dengon game") or fruit basket. I'm sure it's OK to recycle ideas as long as you're using new words, so if you've done "fruit basket" for fruits, why not adapt it to "alphabet basket", "numbers basket", "sports basket" etc? Younger kids might start looking forward to their favourite game, also once they know the name of the game you can just say it and save yourself too much of an explanation.

As for websites, though, there are loads... eslbase, lesson stream, even Eigo Note blog! Sometimes it's good to think about popular board games, TV quiz shows/games, playground games or even drama warm-ups and party ice-breakers and think about how you can adapt them to the classroom.

How about an on-going project for the older kids? You could get a massive map (Toys R Us have awesome fabric maps with stick-on pictures for 500円) and make every lesson's theme a different country..

[TokyoLiz]

I'm blogging about teaching in elementary gaikokugo. From April, I'lll cover junior high English, too.
http://kaltitude.wordpress.com/

[TokyoLiz]

I'm still blogging. If you're keen, leave me some messages on the blog - www.kaltitude.wordpress.com
Sorry the name is weird. It's a combination of K for the town's first initial, ALT for Assistant Language Teacher. And some altitude. Attitude, too, perhaps.

[fluffyhamster]

Well, you've posted your blog link twice now, TokyoLiz, so maybe some sort of reply is in order. I guess (after taking a quick browse) that I for one am not that keen, and here's why: quite apart from the fact that most blogs (and yours is no exception) feel a bit too far from the mainstream to make it all that worthwhile posting comments on them, there's also the matter of your not IMHO having quite "set out your stall" for the casual reader here on Dave's. It seems you're an ALT in Kashiwa (and what a cheapskate city that was, certainly when I was looking at jobs there!), with some sort of training duties for HRTs if not ALTs - right? Noble as all that may be, it hardly makes for riveting reading at the best of times, but hey, if there are any sure-fire issues lurking in your blog, why not extract and/or condense them and post them here on Dave's (whilst linking back to your blog if need be for supporting context, larger pieces etc).

To help generate some interest though, here very briefly are the main thoughts that occured to me in relation to (was it just the) one piece:

Mike Guest is surely teaching many to suck eggs with that "directions are usually given by landmarks" stuff, and I question the need to teach directions at all, unless the kids are off to an English-speaking country and might therefore need that bit of survival English. But your (or whoever's) "Giving directions to the taxi driver" activity seems a bit dodgy, for a number of reasons (Why would Japanese children be giving directions in English to a Japanese taxi driver? And most taxi drivers the world over can find their own way from just a place name or written address, leaving the foreigner free to sit back and enjoy the scenic route and doubtless slightly increased bill LOL).

[TokyoLiz]

Fluffyhamster, hate mail's better than no mail! Thanks