Download - Two Interactive Activities
„Two Interactive‟ Orals!
Colleen Lee
Pinetree Secondary
Coquitlam
Underlying Tenets…
Mirroring real life gives legitimacy to the
language for use in communication
Japanese is a resource by which a task
is to be accomplished
Language use is the means, not the
goal, of interacting and learned
vocabulary and grammar provide tools
for a „real life‟ situation.
In other words…
No matter what you choose as a text
(or not) create an „activity‟ that can
utilize the majority of the grammar
points being covered in the unit.
Ask yourself “When would I use this
kind of language and in “what
situation” that mirrors a „real life‟
activity”?
Basis for Activities
A way to deal with topic areas that may be new or already seen by students in previous grades.
Elements introduced separately prior to culminating activity.
All interaction is structured; students hear the same patterns and vocabulary.
Students have an “emergency sheet” at all times and know that わかりません (“I don‟t understand”) is an acceptable response.
TASTE-TESTS
Based on a Food Unit
Key elements
◦ Experience (〜ことがある)
◦ Food/Taste verbs/vocabulary
◦ Want to (〜たいです)
◦ Complex verbs that indicate
Try
Continue to do
Taste Test - Premise
School store is looking for „new‟ products or flavours of existing products for students
Students work in pairs to design the taste test but individually in administering it.
Taste Test Timeline
Day 1- 5:
◦ Grammar/Vocab needed (handouts/video)
◦ Assignment Flavours/food
◦ Preparation of Survey
Day 6: Taste Test Day
Day 7: Prep Day
Day 8: Report Write Up
What You Need
A Product – three different producers of a food or drink that is easily obtained and/or made ◦ Eg. choc. cookies – „no name‟ „dare‟ „president‟s choice‟
◦ Remember to canvas for any allergies
A Survey - designed to „blindly‟ test the products against each other◦ Administered orally - not read by the interviewee
Utensils/plates/cups (I provide)
Preparation for the Pairs Their focus is to…
◦ Choose a product made by three different
companies
◦ Ensure that they are comfortable with
grammatical concepts
They know that…
◦ They will have to provide enough for at
least 12-14 samplers
◦ They need to establish some
demographic information and „experience‟
information prior to tasting
Preparation for the Pairs
cont‟d.• They Know that….
◦ The taste test is „blind‟ ; the taster will not know
what company‟s product they are testing
◦ Some people have allergies so they must ask
about food allergies first
◦ They are to use the grammar forms/vocabulary
we have studied in the unit
They are allowed to…
◦ Have a survey sheet in English
◦ Record their answers in English
Preparation for the Teacher
◦ Get them to use the „prompt‟ questions to
set up their survey
◦ Ask the groups how many
cups/forks/spoons they will need and
purchase
◦ Set up any arrangements for
fridge/microwave etc.
◦ Alert the custodian for more garbage bags
etc.
On the Day - Preparation
Samples of food are purchased or prepared
Individual portions are set out
Desks in a circle - students move freely while they are tasting
Students decide who will taste first and who will administer the survey
Taste time determined by time available
Taste Test Begins!
「Doing an Interview.」
「Interviews」
「Your favorite was。。。」
Taste Test - Evaluation
Students: Students complete a self-evaluation on their interaction in the language
Teacher: Reads survey and marks for overall content and quality
After the Activity – The Next
Class ◦ Allow them to discuss their results and
any conclusions reached
◦ Review with them what they will need to
be able to write about the next day
◦ Allow them to prepare a
grammar/results/vocabulary card for use
the next class
◦ Collect the cards prior to the end of class
(they can‟t go home with the card (!) and
get help to „write out‟ a report)
For the final evaluation…
Students write a marketing report as the in-class test
They are allowed to use their note-card/results sheet to help them write
Report in two sections
Before/During the Test (why we chose what we did and what we thought would happen)
Results/Recommendations (what we learned doing the taste tests and what we recommend)
MURDER MYSTERY
Key elements
◦ Daily routine vocabulary/verbs
◦ Family/Relationship vocabulary
◦ Frequency of actions
◦ Hobbies/Pastimes
Murder Mystery Premise
Students have done a basic daily
routine in Grade 10.
Role playing is appealing to some in
the class and are comfortable with the
group.
They love a good crime!
Murder Timeline
Day 1&2: Daily Routine/Frequencies
Day 3&4: Text Readings and Oral Summary
Activity
Day 5&6: Preparation/Practice
Day 7: MURDER!
Murder! What you need…
Suspect/Deceased Information sheets
(background/activities)
Prompt question sheets for Detectives
Map of House/Garden
Autopsy Report
Doughnuts!
Preparation for the Detectives
Their focus is
◦ Finding out who was where and when
◦ Establishing possible motive
They know that…
◦ Suspects will answer questions truthfully
to convey information
◦ Suspects will not volunteer information if
not asked for it
◦ The answer from any suspect to “Did you
do it?” will be “no”
Preparation for the Detectives
They are allowed to…
◦ Have a question sheet in English
◦ Record their answers in English
They must…
◦ Have some kind of prop(s) to convey that
they are detectives (badges, hats etc)
Preparation for the Suspects &
Dead Guy
Their focus is..
◦ Establishing who they are
◦ Learning about their character
They know that…
◦ They must give correct information when
asked
◦ They may make up information if they
don‟t know (not on their bio sheet)
◦ They will answer „no‟ to “did you do it?”
Preparation for the Suspects & Dead
Guy
They are allowed to…
◦ Have their daily routine on a notecard in
English
◦ Say „I don‟t understand‘ if they don‟t
understand a question
They must…
◦ Have some kind of prop(s) to convey that
their character
Preparation for the Teacher
3-4 days before…
◦ Ask for volunteers. You need a minimum
of 6 volunteers
◦ Find an alternate class space for the
suspects to practice in◦ Construct profiles of the suspects and the dead guy.
Ensure that around 8pm everyone is either unaccounted
for – or was somewhere „alone‟
◦ Find a floor plan of a house and mock up an autopsy report
that includes a blow to the head, being stabbed and
(secretly) a diagnosis of a fatal illness
Preparation for the Teacher
During Preparation
◦ Take time to work with each group.
◦ Get the suspect group to do a lot of
talking – practicing out-loud with each
other
◦ Get the detective pairs to think about what
kind of questions to ask and how they are
going to record their answers
◦ Order some doughnuts for detective
snacks
Murder! On the Interview Day..
7-8 stations in circle on the outside of room(number of stations depends on number of detective pairs)
◦ Suspects/”Dead Guy”
◦ Doughnuts
Detectives move clockwise to stations every 5-6 minutes
Chief of Detectives monitors length of interviews
All interviews are in the target language.
At end – one 6 minute „open‟ timeframe to ask anyone anything
The Dead Guy
Detectives Detecting…
The son…
「The poker obsessed daughter」
The lover…
The detectives at work
May we ask you a question。。。
After the Interviews
Students hand in their „results sheets‟. Teacher holds onto them
On the written test the next day students are given the time of death and….
◦ Detectives submit a paragraph to the Chief outlining who had committed the murder and why.
◦ Suspects submit a paragraph either stating why they did not do it or confessing how they did it!
◦ (They can use their notes in English to prep)
Who did it? There is no one correct answer – but I do keep track and let them know what the consensus was!
What I Have Learned
Students like to be able to “use” what they learn to do something.
When the focus is off me and on them they will use more of the language.
It‟s a great way to get them to practice key language/vocabulary without them realizing it!
My best comments….and why I love
this approach…
“I actually feel like I can use the
language…”
“I didn‟t know I could speak for so long
in Japanese…”
“Doing this gave me confidence…”
“This is fun and I didn‟t realize I was
learning something too…”