the journal of saitama city educators

40

Upload: journal-of-saitama-city-educators

Post on 14-Feb-2016

226 views

Category:

Documents


2 download

DESCRIPTION

さいたま市教育家会ジャーナル (JSCE), Volume 2, Issue 2.

TRANSCRIPT

Page 1: The Journal of Saitama City Educators
Page 2: The Journal of Saitama City Educators

さいたま市教育家会ジャーナル

TheJournal of Saitama City Educators (JSCE)A さいたま市教育家会 (SCE) Publication

ISSN: 2185-7822

Volume 2, Issue 2May 2012

EditorJohn Finucane

Co-editorsBrad Semans

TranslatorsBrad Semans and Alexander Procter

Cover Design and Layout byJohn Finucane

ProofreadingDavid Erickson and Alexander Procter

JSCE and JSCE submission guidelines can be found online at:http://www.saitamacityeducators.org

Copyright and License

JSCE is an open access journal is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License

2

Page 3: The Journal of Saitama City Educators

Foreword

Hello JSCE readers! JSCE and JALT Omiya are happy to be working together again to bring you this issue of JSCE. Included in this issue are wonderfully written follow-up articles by those who presented at JALT Omiya’s MyShare event on March 11th, 2012.

The idea behind MyShare is to give all people an opportunity to present their ideas. MyShares generally have a more relaxed atmosphere and presentation times are usually around twenty minutes, so they’re really good for first-time presenters. Another great thing about MyShares is, because they are relatively short presentations, they are usually more practical. That means you can take these ideas and use them almost immediately. Myshares are open to everyone and we have been lucky to have presenters from other organizations around Saitama such as SCE, ETJ, FETJ as well as from those who do not belong to any organization. MyShares are held by not only JALT Omiya, but JALT chapters all over Japan. If you cannot join us, I’m sure you can find one near you!

We hope you will be able to utilize and/or build upon some of the ideas presented and modify them as needed for your particular classroom needs. Most of all, we hope you will enjoy reading the articles and share them with others.

A little bit about JALT Omiya.

JALT Omiya is the Saitama branch of the Japan Association for Language Teaching (JALT). We work with other JALT chapters and organizations around us in hopes of creating a positive community that benefits everyone. We are always looking for people who want to share their ideas and help us grow as an organization and as people. Why not join us if you can?

Events are held on the second Sunday of each month (except August) at the Sakuragi Kominkan located a brisk 5 minute walk from Omiya Station. For more information on upcoming events around the Saitama area, please visit our website at jaltomiya.org We look forward to seeing you soon!

Decha Hongthong, President Omiya JALT

3

Page 4: The Journal of Saitama City Educators

Contents

Matthew Shannon and Emery Premeaux: Daiso Classroomマシュー•シャノン エメリー•プリモー: ダイソ教室Page 5

Alexander Procter: Effective Task Based Learning Through Jigsaw Activitiesアレックサンダー •プロクター: ジグソーメソッドの紹介Page 18

John Finucane: How to Create an Effective ‘Cloze’ Listening Activityジョン・ファヌカン: 効果的な「クローズ」活動の組み立てPage 22

Lawrence Cisar: Making Ebooks for Language Educationローレンス•シサー: 言語教育のためのE-bookPage 30

Alana Schramm: Using Smells to Teach Vocabularyアラナ•シュラム: 単語を教えるためににおいを使うPage 36

4

Page 5: The Journal of Saitama City Educators

Daiso Classroomダイソ教室

Matthew Shannon and Emery Premeaux: マシュー•シャノン エメリー•プリモー

About the Authors

Matthew Shannon and Emery Premeaux are colleagues working for the Saitama City Board of Education, where they contribute to the development of the City’s English Communication Ability Development program (ECAD); currently in its 8th year. Between then they have considerable teaching experience and varied interests.

Abstract

Good lesson ideas often meet their doom at the hands of the most petty of practicalities. This article gives some practical advice on how to overcome them.

要約

小さいな実情でよいな授業計画がはずれるのはよくあることです。あそこを乗り越える助言をこの記事で提案します。

5

Page 6: The Journal of Saitama City Educators

Good lesson ideas often meet their doom at the hands of the most petty of practicalities. Printing and cutting and laminating and re-cutting and trimming allows you to enjoy an activity several times, but takes forever. The construction of your clever passport is too complicated to do with just a regular stapler. Lesson plans, materials, and notes exist in a constellation around your desk - these are all common problems for the authors. We hope a review of some alternative uses of school supplies and the introduction of lesser-known tools will close the gap between idea and execution that so often exists.

Problems with Paper

Anyone who has had to create a class set of reference materials or heaven forbid a game that involves individual pieces knows that conventional copy paper, even the nice bleached stuff, just completely misses the mark for the following reasons:

1. Conventional copy paper is just too thin to hold up for repeated use2. Printing individual copies for each class may simply be wasteful 3. Elements from one group’s activity may be accidentally mixed with or

mistaken for another group’s activity 4. It has absolutely no inherent appeal (or reverence) over all the other paper

handouts a student may receive

So what are the usual alternatives?

“Put everything in a binder.” - Great, now I have a bunch of binders to worry about.“Laminate everything!” - See also things teachers would do if they had time and money.“Use tagboard” - It’s expensive, doesn’t print, and makes storage a pain.

6

Page 7: The Journal of Saitama City Educators

“Dump the idea or go about it in some really unsatisfying manner” - Bingo!

We suggest colored construction paper as the closet thing to a panacea we can suggest:

1. When cut to the dimensions of an A4 sheet, it can be printed on like any other paper, and does not jam or degrade laser, inkjet, or toner-based mass printers

2. It’s opaque, so that items in a quiz are not accidentally revealed, nor does one side of printing affect the other

3. It stands out in a crowd, allowing it to be located and returned easily4. This is especially true when all the elements of an activity are color-coded

to individual groups. You can dump all the papers in a pile and organize them more quickly than you ever could with white, white, and white

5. It’s generally strong enough to make it through ten hours of classroom abuse without any real degradation. This is fantastic

6. It may be written upon, taped, cut, glued, or otherwise manipulated as easily as regular paper is

7. Standard-sized construction paper is a little larger all around than A4 paper, and can be used as an instant frame to draw attention to a regular piece of paper. And as stated before, it’s strong enough that you can probably use this same paper again

The authors are often able to meet their classroom needs with scraps from other classes use of colored construction paper, as the larger yotsu-giri and hachi-giri paper sizes are common. Durability is a key point— our bulletin boards employ construction paper “frames” to highlight examples of classroom handout and student work. Despite heavy traffic, most often shoulders rubbing against the paper as they bustle through the hall, we rarely have to replace sheets like we did with regular copier paper. What’s more, the inherent visibility (and tactile) qualities of colored construction paper, mean that we waste less class time organizing and re-organizing the materials before and after student use. For reasons of availability, durability, visibility,

7

Page 8: The Journal of Saitama City Educators

and applicability, colored construction paper is one of the best solutions to a common suite of problems.

8

Page 9: The Journal of Saitama City Educators

Examples of framing and bulletin boards. The glue is used to apply pictures easily, although we do use push tacks just because students physically rub up against them. “It’s a good idea to reinforce the bond with pushpins in the case the paper will be in a heavy traffic area”

Restickable Glue

Restickable glue, also known as Peel-and-stick glue or hatte-hagaseru nori is a glue that turns paper into an instant sticky note. Surprisingly, it generally only sticks to the surface on which it was applied, so that if you may imagine a paper chessboard to which restickable glue has been applied, other paper pieces may be placed and replaced without leaving a sticky residue, so that the pieces may be organized later without sticking to each other much if at all.

9

Page 10: The Journal of Saitama City Educators

hatte-hagaseru nori

So why is this useful? Let me explain:

Restickable glue is extremely helpful when laying out worksheets, class papers, or any other item where a number of smaller sheets of paper must be held in place and copied. Anyone knows that there’s a measure of doubt involved when closing the top of a copier on a veritable collage of papers - you may disturb them just ever so slightly with the lid, a gust of wind might have blown past in the second it took to close the door, or you simply were off in your estimate of what was in frame of the copier. Rather than mess around, piece by piece, re-assembling the draft, just go ahead and use the restickable glue once and adjust as needed.

In group work or game situations, it may be very important to keep the order of game elements safe - which is difficult as humans are prone to

10

Page 11: The Journal of Saitama City Educators

moving about, bumping desks and sliding things into one another. The glue is great for avoiding those sorts of disruptions.

Once students have completed an activity at their desks how can they present their work to the class? This is how we discovered restickable glue in the first place - a wonderful city-planning game had been developed (see below), but it simply wasn’t feasible for everyone to gather around a group of desks and look upon the sheet - we had to find a way to present the set from the blackboard, and we found that ability in this inexpensive glue from the 100 yen shop.

While the glue does eventually dry up and needs to be partially re-applied from time to time, it can be applied more thickly for an easier hold, or it may be applied to both surfaces so that two layers stick strongly. It’s in this double-layer that my school arranges elements of a school bulletin board (see pictures above), and sometimes just leaves them there without further fastening by thumbtack or tape.

Above and below: Some completed ‘build a town’ game sheets.

11

Page 12: The Journal of Saitama City Educators

Above: Close up of the board. This specific board has been used in class upwards of 30 times. That’s pretty good.

Above: As it gets older, the board really develops a wonderfully tacky surface which easily holds or releases the construction paper.

12

Page 13: The Journal of Saitama City Educators

Above: Despite having been used so many times, very little (if any) residue is transferred to the game pieces. The result of this is that the game pieces can be stored easily and do not stick to each other.

Variable-Axis Staplers

This one is sort of a one-trick pony, but it does its trick very well - if you were to try and fold any usefully sized piece of paper - even down to a half sheet of an A4 (which would be an A5) - and then apply a staple in the crease of that fold, such like you’d if you were making a booklet or passport, you’ll run into the problem of the length of the paper being greater than the length of your stapler.

Below: These pictures show a step by step attempt to ‘book’ staple with a traditional stapler.

13

Page 14: The Journal of Saitama City Educators

Above and Below: The length of the stapler is simply insufficient.

Above: The finished passport is unsatisfying and unappealing to students.

14

Page 15: The Journal of Saitama City Educators

Below: The preferred binding method. Collecting the folded body papers underneath the cover, so that gravity naturally aligns them across all folds, staple from the “top” of the cover, so that the teeth are hidden inside the document. This prevent them getting caught on anything.

15

Page 16: The Journal of Saitama City Educators

While there are long-arm staplers at most schools, they are not fit for the classroom, are often unwieldily when dealing with only a few sheets of paper, and are not nearly as easy to for students to use in class. The variable-axis stapler, which is occasionally found at 100 yen shops but generally lists for about 500 yen in school catalogs, solves this problem elegantly.

Build a Town

“Build a Town” was developed to provide students with easy to compare information for a debate. Initially, comparisons of real cities were used to provide information for simple reasons (ex. “Kyoto is more traditional than Tokyo”), but in many circumstances the knowledge of such cities was insufficient for classroom use. Build a Town solves this problem by asking

16

Page 17: The Journal of Saitama City Educators

students to build a town from a large set of building tiles. As there are far more tiles than space available, a large variety of towns can be created.

   The nature of the game provides two or three areas for discussion. First, students may discuss what is important for a city, or alternately may be asked to choose a theme for their city. Second, during the building phase, student must make choices among the tiles and may be asked to give a reason for their choice or resulting agreement/disagreement with that choice. Finally, towns are compared against one another. 

   The final product had to be inexpensive, durable, resistant to bumps and accidents, quickly cleaned and collected, and able to be presented vertically. It is in meeting these requirements that many of the lessons of the this paper were learned.

17

Page 18: The Journal of Saitama City Educators

Effective Task Based Learning Through Jigsaw Activitiesジグソーメソッドの紹介

Alexander Procter: アレックサンダー プロクター

About the Author

Alexander Procter has over 11 years of EFL teaching experience in Japan. He holds a Postgraduate Certificate in Education and is therefore qualified to teach in schools in England and Wales. He currently teaches at Kasukabe Kyoei Junior High School. His interests include collaborative learning and CALL.

Abstract

Jigsaw Method is a style of collaborative learning: an effective student centered approach that encourages students to take responsibility for their learning, improves their confidence, and gives them more opportunities to speak. This article will give you a general introduction to Jigsaw and how it creates a comfortable learning environment.

要約

ジグソーメソッドは共同学習のスタイルを取っ ている。 効果的な生徒中心のアプローチで、生徒自身が 学習に責任を持つ事、自信を持つ事、より発話 する機会を持つ事、などを促していく。この記 事は、ジグソーに関する一般的な内容とどう やって快適な環境を創り出すかについて、紹介。

18

Page 19: The Journal of Saitama City Educators

How do you transform a class that seems unable to work together, unwilling listen to each other, or just uninterested in the subject? I’d like to tell you how, with careful planning and a bit of creativity, jigsaw activities could help you do this. Jigsaw activities encourage students to work toward a common goal, build self-esteem, and create a comfortable learning environment.

Since Jigsaw was first described in the 1970’s, a few variations on the original format created by Elliot Aronson have developed. There is certainly more than one way of implementing Jigsaw, and I’m sure you’ll find a format that suits you and your students. In this introduction I’m going to focus on the four stage method originally proposed by Aronson.

In Jigsaw Phase One, students are put into heterogeneous groups of 4 or 5 and given a task which they will present to their group later. You’re building new relationships that will improve the atmosphere in the class, so you really want to mix the students up. These are the jigsaw groups that students they’ll be presenting to later. Every group is given the same topic, but individual students are assigned different tasks. Students should have time to read through their materials in this phase so they know what they are being asked to do. Make sure everyone understands they are important to the group, and participation is essential for a successful activity. Knowing that others are relying on you is a great motivator (Kohn, 1986). The first phase sets the tone for the rest of the activity, and prepares students to become ‘experts’ in the next phase.

The second stage is the Expert Phase in which students assigned the same task collaborate to complete it. Group learning like this “ promotes student achievement, improves critical thinking, and promotes greater transfer of learning” (McWhaw 2003, 69). Experts will present to their jigsaw groups, so it’s important that they ask questions to clarify anything they aren’t sure

19

Page 20: The Journal of Saitama City Educators

about, and agree on the best way to complete the task. You must make sure that everyone contributes and prevent overachievers dominating. The Expert Phase prepares them for the next stage in which they present their new knowledge to their jigsaw groups.

In Jigsaw Phase 2, students rejoin their jigsaw group and tell their teammates what they have learned. Practice in their expert group will make it much easier to succeed in this part of the lesson. The other students must make their own notes, questioning the expert if necessary. This peer teaching style, which is also present in the Expert Phase, has been shown to be helpful to both teacher and learner (Scharle and Szabo, 2000). Everyone should now be familiar with all the tasks, and be ready to demonstrate what they have learned.

The final Evaluation Phase is often as simple as a quiz done individually by members of the jigsaw groups. The Evaluation Phase is important as it brings together the work of all the ‘pieces’ in the jigsaw. The inclusion of an evaluation shows students that the activity has worth, making them accountable for their actions. The positive interdependence mentioned in the first phase underpins the whole activity.

Jigsaw activities can be great for encouraging cooperation and learner autonomy, but you should keep in mind certain things that make Jigsaw a challenge. Being well prepared is obviously of utmost importance; Jigsaw can be a time consuming method when you are starting from scratch. Think about how comfortable your students are with group work, potential personality clashes, as well as timing. Teachers who team teach will be able to monitor and give guidance when needed. Be sure to think carefully about how you’re going to implement this method in your classroom before diving in.

20

Page 21: The Journal of Saitama City Educators

Jigsaw was specifically designed to break down barriers between students and help them communicate with each other. I think this makes them ideal for classes of unmotivated or dependent students for whom only the teacher is worthy of attention. A good jigsaw activity will encourage your students to work together for the good of their group and for their own sense of pride in a job well done. Well implemented, they will have students looking forward to, enjoying, and eager to come back to your lessons.

References

Kohn, A. (1986). No contest: The case against competition. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

McWhaw, K., Schnackerberg, H., Sclater, J. & Abrami, P.C.(2003), “From Cooperation to Collaboration: Helping students become collaborative learners”, R.M. Gilles(Ed), Co-operative Learning: The Social andintellectual outcomes of learning in groups. London: Routledge Falmer.

Scharle, A., & Szabó, A. (2000). Learner autonomy. A guide to developing learner responsibility. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

21

Page 22: The Journal of Saitama City Educators

How to Create an Effective ‘Cloze’ Listening Activity効果的な「クローズ」活動の組み立て

John Finucane: ジョン・ファヌカン

About the Author

John Finucane is an EFL Professional. He is the President and co-founder of さいたま市教育家会 (SCE). He edits さいたま市教育家会ジャーナル (JSCE). His interests are writing, teacher training, event planning, debate and critical thinking. Find out more at: john-finucane.com

Abstract

A cloze activity is one in which learners listen for words omitted from a passage which they are given. Creating an effective cloze is tricky. The key is to anticipate the problems that learners will have with the language in the activity. This article gives some practical advice on how to create an effective music cloze.

要約

「クローズ」活動と言うのは、文や引き用部で諸略された単語や文を聞き取る活動です。効果的なクローズをつくるのは難しいです。ポイントは生徒が引っ掛かるところを予想することです。歌のクローズを作る助言を提案します。

22

Page 23: The Journal of Saitama City Educators

Introduction

A cloze activity is one in which learners listen for words omitted from a passage which they are given. Some practical advice on how to create an effective music cloze activity will be given. An example activity based on ‘Trash’ by Suede is included. Effective cloze activities are those which learners can successfully complete, learn something from and enjoy.

Song Criteria

Songs should... Trash’ by Suede...

...be reasonably enjoyable. ...is a pop song.

...be easily obtainable (preferably through iTunes.)

...is available on iTunes and recently re-released (2010) on CD.

...play at a reasonable speed. ...is up tempo but not fast.

...be reasonably clear. ...is reasonably clear.

...be fairly short (no more than 2 minutes of listening.)

...has just under 2 minutes of listening (for the activity.)

...not have long periods of music with no lyrics. ...has very short gaps between verses.

...not be too repetitive. ...has three verses and a chorus. The chorus is repeated once.

...have some interesting language, grammar patterns etc.

...uses a pattern: adjective + ness = noun.

...not date easily, or be dated. ...is guitar based pop.

...not be obscure, ambiguous or esoteric. ...has a straightforward theme.

...not contain:

1. Drug references2. Overtly sexual references3. Racist or misogynistic views4. Slang (idioms are desirable)

...has idioms for expressing negative opinions of people.

23

Page 24: The Journal of Saitama City Educators

Before Listening

Creating an effective music cloze is tricky. The key is to anticipate the problems that learners will have with the language in the activity. Once you have identified the problem areas you can design activities to ensure learners understand the language they will be listening for and, importantly, the language they are given. Preparing learners specifically for an activity is the best way to ensure it is effective. In the example cloze there are several potential problem areas:

1. Several unusual words e.g. ‘kookiness’2. An unusual grammar pattern: adjective + ness = noun 3. Several words, used in a sense that is unusual e.g. ‘cheap’4. Nuance e.g. ‘crazes’ vs. ‘fads’5. Mixed British and American English i.e. ‘litter’/‘trash’

Activity 1 (see below) was designed to solve the first two; activity 2 (see below) was designed to address the final three. When you choose a song, first identify the problem areas and design short activities to address them. If your song requires more than two activities or those activities are very long, complicated or involve a lot of teacher talking time, then your song may be unsuitable.

While Listening

Although a music cloze activity is enjoyable, there should also be some added value for the learner. In the example cloze, learners are introduced to some unusual vocabulary and an unusual grammar pattern. They were also encouraged to think about nuance in meaning i.e. the difference between crazes and fads. If your song lacks a compelling reason, other than entertainment, for studying it then it may be unsuitable.

24

Page 25: The Journal of Saitama City Educators

After Listening

Once the cloze activity is over learners should record and reflect upon the target language. Consideration should be given to which words are omitted for the cloze. These words should either be familiar words or words that have been pre-taught and practiced during the activities. The activity should be achievable, ideally at the upper limit of the learner’s ability.

After listening, in the example activity, the target language is recorded in the context of the song. Therefore it is likely that alternative meanings will not be retained as efficiently. If you want to address this then a further after listening activity will be required. If your song doesn't contain useful language it may not be suitable.

The final in-class activity of our example is to write a short description of what the song was about. The goal is to demonstrate to the learners that they can listen to and understand real L2 material. If your song is too obscure or esoteric learners will have difficulty understanding and feel demotivated. Either because they feel they lacked ability or because they’ve lost confidence in their teacher to pick appropriate material.

Homework

In the example cloze there is a homework assignment. Your music cloze should also include a short, simple homework assignment. It should not involve too much work for either the teacher or the learner. Homework helps to avoid learners regarding the activity, and by extension the target language, as less important or valuable than more formally taught material.

25

Page 26: The Journal of Saitama City Educators

Copyright Issues

There is a concept in copyright law called Fair Use. The basic idea is that if you quote a small fraction of a work for example, as a part of a scholarly research paper, it may be OK to do so without seeking the copyright holder’s permission. But reprinting all of a song's lyrics is not a small fraction of the work, it does not fall under fair use. You should bear this in mind when making, and especially when disseminating, cloze activities.

Example Activity

Pre-listening Activity 1

26

Page 27: The Journal of Saitama City Educators

Pre-listening Activity 2A: crazes, lazy days, fads - B: cellophane, trash, litter

Cloze Handout

27

Page 28: The Journal of Saitama City Educators

Cloze activity teaching procedure [this version uses a music video of the song]

Conclusion

Learners are more likely to successfully complete a cloze activity if they say and listen to the target language many times before they listen for it in the activity. It is not easy, even for native speakers, to follow the lyrics of many songs. Carefully considered pre-listening activities help learners get value from a music cloze.

In activity 2 the learners spend some time working with the language they will be listening for in the cloze. Simple tasks like peer-to-peer teaching and choosing the odd one out give learners an opportunity to say and hear the target language many times. Taking the time to work with and think about these words, helps learners to listen for them later in context. Practicing listening for target language, especially with low level learners, is the key to successful listening activities.

28

Page 29: The Journal of Saitama City Educators

References

Wikipedia contributors. "Fair Use." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 1 Dec. 2007. Web. 5 Jan. 2012.

Suede. Trash. Universal UK, 2010. CD.

29

Page 30: The Journal of Saitama City Educators

Making Ebooks for Language Education言語教育のためのE-book

Lawrence Cisar, PhD, CP, RP: ローレンス•シサー

About the Author

Larry Cisar is a retired English teacher who loves his computer. He has found that e-books open up a whole new world to people.

Abstract

E-books are a virtually untapped resource for language teaching and learning. This article describes how to develop language teaching e-books using free software.

要約

言語指導•勉強ではE-bookが未開発的な教材であります。無料ソフトウェアを使ってE-bookの作り方を説明します。

30

Page 31: The Journal of Saitama City Educators

Ebooks (or e-books) are a resource that is hardly touched in the educational word. Remarkably, they are not hard to make if you just have a little confidence in yourself. Self-confidence is the biggest limitation that you have in making ebooks; not technical ability.

To start, the website www.parliamentariancorner.com/Saidai/Monday/Reading has the information you need to make an educational ebook. Take a good look at it. Primarily, I will talk about Kindle content although other ebook styles can also be made.

The first thing you want to do is load up your computer with the software. MobiPocketCreator, HML Kit, and Calibre – E-book Management along with Kindle are the most important ones. Get the versions that are appropriate for your system.

Eight Steps to Success

Yes, this is an eight step program. The least amount of time is spent on HTML and compiling the book. The major work is the same as if you were going to hand out papers to your students.

Step 1: PlanningYes, you need a plan. This is very basic planning: what material will you

use in the reading? What style are you going to use? (Forward, backward, complete, sections, etc.) What type of questions are you going to use? Write down your plan so that you can stop work and come back to it easily.

Step 2: Put your material into a fileIt is time to power up your favourite word processor and go for it. If there

is more than one section to the reading, I find it best to write completely each section – the reading, the questions, the answers. Make sure to put a blank line between each subsection of the section as this makes it easier when we have to do some simple coding.

31

Page 32: The Journal of Saitama City Educators

At this point, you may want to put a Table of Contents at the top. If you do, keep it very simple. I only refer to the sections when I do this:" " Part 1" " Part 2" " Part 3I don't overly rely on this as I may have to erase it – sometimes it creates problems when I create the HTML.

Format the text the way you normally would so it looks exactly like you want. Make sure that you only hit ENTER at the end of each paragraph and not at the end of each line of the text. This makes a huge difference on how the text will look on your students' machines.

Step 3: Make your HTML fileThis is not as daunting as it first seems. You save your document as a

normal text document – just like you would save that letter to Aunt Maude. Then go to the Save As command in your word processor. Find the listing for HTML (or HTM) and save the document in that format. You will have a file with the name you gave it plus .html or .htm. It is that simple.

Step 4: Look at the HTML Start up HTML-Kit (it is one of the softwares you installed earlier). Open

your HTML file in it. At the top, you will see code such as:

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2//EN"> <html> <head> <meta http-equiv="CONTENT-TYPE" content="text/html; charset=windows-1252"> <title></title> <meta name="GENERATOR" content="LibreOffice 3.4 (Win32)"> <meta name="AUTHOR" content="Larry Cisar"> <meta name="CREATED" content="20120520;10332170"> <meta name="CHANGEDBY" content="Larry Cisar"> <meta name="CHANGED" content="20120520;11094920"> <meta name="CHANGEDBY" content="Larry Cisar"> </head> <body style="direction: ltr;" lang="en-US">

32

Page 33: The Journal of Saitama City Educators

IGNORE IT!!! You do not need to know what it means. Do not erase it, just ignore it. Use the Preview function to see how your page actually looks.

Next, look at your Table of Contents. If it displays right, go on. Most likely it will. If it does not, go back to the document and eliminate it and remake your HTML file.

Step 5: Adding the Three CodesThis step is probably the most scary for those new at doing this. Once you

see how it works, you will find it very simple. There are several sub-steps in the process.

Sub-step 1 has you designing your reference code. This is the series of labels used to identify different locations. I use the following set:

P=PartS=Sentence 1,2,3=Numbers as referencesQ=Question A=Answer

This means that Part 1, Question 1 has the code P1Q1. I will use this for any pointers going to question 1. P1Q would lead to the entire set of questions. This will make more sense in a little bit."

Sub-step 2 has you look at the three codes you will need to add. They are:

<a href="#I">XXX</a><a name="I"></a><mbp:pagebreak />

The first one points to a location, the second is the location and the third puts a page break in your Kindle document. Example:

<dl> <dt>Reading Exercise based on Aesop's Fables</dt> <dt> <a href="#P1">Part 1</a></dt> <dt> <a href="#P2">Part 2</a></dt> <dt> <a href="#P3">Part 3</a></dt> <dt> </dt></dl><mbp:pagebreak><a name="P1"></a>Part 1:

33

Page 34: The Journal of Saitama City Educators

The code above is the beginning of the story. You see the Table of Contents which has the three parts of the story. The code <a href="#P1">Part 1</a> is the link to the beginning of the story. The next line with #P2 links to the second part of the story. It only points there. The #P1 points to <a name="P1"></a>Part 1: . That second code is important in that it shows where to go to when a person clicks on the first part. The third code, <mbp:pagebreak>, tells the program that everything above is on one page and everything below is on a different page. It limits what is shown.

Step 6: Insert ReferencesUse this code when you don't want the student/reader to not see any more

at that particular point. By deciding what you want seen at any one time, you are creating a reading experience.

Where you use these codes are up to you as only you know what your plan for the exercise is.

Step 7: Create the E-BookSave your file and close your editor. You are now ready to create the e-

book. Open MobiPocketCreator and import your html file into it. Hit the button to Build your e-book and then follow the on screen instructions. Ignore the Warning that you don't have a cover as you don't need one. Run the book in the Kindle program you have installed – double clicking on the .PRC file is all you need to do. Take a look and see if it behaves the way you want it to. If not, go back to Step 5 and adjust your code. Fine tuning can take some time.

Step 8: UsingPut the book where your students can download it. You can also put it on

some medium such as a Thumb Drive and copy it on to the student's computer. Have the students use the program. And remember to pat yourself on the back for providing a new experience for your students.

34

Page 35: The Journal of Saitama City Educators

What are those other programs for?Run them and find out. You don't need them for creating your e-book

directly, but they can add a lot to your experience as you get practice. Good luck!

35

Page 36: The Journal of Saitama City Educators

Using Sounds and Smells to Teach Vocabulary単語を教えるためににおいを使う

Alanna Schramm: アラナ•シュラム

About the Author

Alana Schramm has been teaching at Wako International High School since 2009 where she teaches debate and English communication. Prior to that she was a French language assistant at Prince of Wales High School in Vancouver, Canada. Currently, she is the membership chair and JET liaison for Saitama City Educators. Her interests are debate, semantics, theatre and creative writing.

Abstract

This activity teaches vocabulary in an active, enjoyable way. It aims to help retention of vocabulary while motivating students though a more active learning environment.

要約

この活動は活発的に、楽しく単語を教えるです。生徒の積極性を引き出すような環境で記憶力づけが目的です。

36

Page 37: The Journal of Saitama City Educators

Introduction

Teaching vocabulary in a fun and exciting way can be a challenge in language classes. Teachers may choose to read the target words or phrases to the class and have students repeat after them. Although this method is time-effective, it does not help students retain vocabulary, let alone enjoy the learning process. This activity will present an active, enjoyable way to retain adjectives describing food. Students will guess what hidden products are using only their sense of smell, and will find adjectives to describe these smells. In addition to the game aspect of this activity and using a new sense to perceive real world products, students can also benefit from the strong link that exists between smell and memory to aid vocabulary retention. This activity is aimed at first year junior high school but could be adjusted for high school.

Procedure

Note: This activity can be used as a supplement for the junior high school textbook Passport 1, Unit 12, “I’m Hungry”.

1. Students are separated into groups. Each group is given numbered paper cups in which products with strong smells are placed. A tissue is used to hide the product (refer to the Materials section)

2. The groups guess what the products are and use their dictionaries to find adjectives for the smell of each product

3. The teacher writes the group answers on the board4. Students are given a worksheet with the adjective (refer to the Suggestions

for Food-Adjective Pairings section)5. Students write a food they like and a food they dislike for each of the

adjectives6. Students work in pairs to practice a dialogue"

A: Do you like [food]?B: Yes, I like [food] because I like [adjective] foods. / No, I don’t like [food] because I don’t like [adjective] foods.

Students demonstrate their dialogue to the class.37

Page 38: The Journal of Saitama City Educators

Materials

Each group should have a set of cups corresponding to the target adjectives. Enough sets for all the groups should be prepared. Alternatively, a few sets of cups could be prepared and placed at the front of the class, and the students could take turns smelling the contents of the cups.

How to Prepare the Cups

1. Use a tissue to hide the product but still allow the smell to filter " through2. Choose products with strong smells (refer to the Suggestions for Food-

Adjective Pairings section)3. Paper cups should be used instead of plastic cups as they are opaque and

hide the product. If possible, a plastic lining would be beneficial in case liquids are used

4. Number the cups to keep track of what number corresponds to what product

38

Page 39: The Journal of Saitama City Educators

Suggestions for Food-Adjective Pairings

Adjective Products

Sweet Chocolate, hot chocolate, vanilla essence, cinnamon, fruity perfumes

Spicy Curry powder, ginger, crushed garlic

Hot Tabasco Sauce, chili powder, chopped chilies

Bitter Coffee grounds

Fresh Laundry soap, torn-up mint leaves, mint candies, shampoo

Sour Lemon candies

Salty Soy sauce, ramen soup, cheese

Tips for Choosing Materials

A potential problem is that the products do not smell strongly enough. In order to avoid this situation:

1. Products should be tested well before the class2. Products should be left in the cups for as long as possible as smells become

stronger the longer they sit3. If possible, foods should be crushed, torn-up or hot4. If liquids are used, students should be warned not to spill5. One or two products with “bad smells” (such as Tabasco Sauce) should be

chosen as they offer some entertainment when their offensive smell surprises students. They will therefore be more memorable.

Real-world Value

1. Students are motivated when they see that the vocabulary they use being directly applied for real-life situations.

2. Additionally, many students go on homestays to English-speaking countries. This activity teaches them how to communicate ideas in specific

39

Page 40: The Journal of Saitama City Educators

ways. Often, students will use “good” or “bad” as descriptors. This activity will teach them the importance of describing things specifically

Other Ideas

1. The same activity could be used for sounds, taste or touch; products will be shaken, tasted or touched

2. For a more difficult level, students could practice a more complicated dialogue with reasons for their guess, or use reasons to refute their partner’s guess.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _40