Dialogues for Kids?
Posted: Mon May 31, 2004 8:08 am
Scenario: I've been teaching English for 9 months in Japan. The past two I've been living just outside of Tokyo teaching English in an elementary school. I teach grades 1-6.
Quandry: The other night I was having pizza with a fellow teacher and when I told her I usually play 2 games per 45 minute class, she expressed some disbelief. She said she prefers using dialogue situations (eg. A: Can you play baseball? B: Yes, I can. A: Okay, see you!) to games. She said she her students perform these dialogues in pairs or one on one with her, every lesson.
Our students have little experience speaking English. For some, these past two months have been the first opportunity they've had to learn another language.
The Japanese Ministry of Education has said it wants "kids to have fun while learning English." Are role play/ dialogue scenarios fun for kids? If so, how do you keep control of the class while said dialogues go down (& how can you monitor students as they practice)? Finally, how long should the dialogues last & for what grades?
I know the importance of using the language being acquired in a "real-life" situation, but as a previous poster has noted, anytime you enter a classroom anything you do is "classroom" and not necessarily "real-life" learning.
Quandry: The other night I was having pizza with a fellow teacher and when I told her I usually play 2 games per 45 minute class, she expressed some disbelief. She said she prefers using dialogue situations (eg. A: Can you play baseball? B: Yes, I can. A: Okay, see you!) to games. She said she her students perform these dialogues in pairs or one on one with her, every lesson.
Our students have little experience speaking English. For some, these past two months have been the first opportunity they've had to learn another language.
The Japanese Ministry of Education has said it wants "kids to have fun while learning English." Are role play/ dialogue scenarios fun for kids? If so, how do you keep control of the class while said dialogues go down (& how can you monitor students as they practice)? Finally, how long should the dialogues last & for what grades?
I know the importance of using the language being acquired in a "real-life" situation, but as a previous poster has noted, anytime you enter a classroom anything you do is "classroom" and not necessarily "real-life" learning.