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 3, Issue 1April 2013

Editor: John Finucane

Issue Editor: Alana Schramm

Translator: Brad Semans

Proofreading: Elisabeth Kress and Die Hu

Cover Design and Layout by: Carl Bloomfield and John Finucane

Cover Redesign by: kriszion

Find out more at: SaitamaCityEducators.org

About the Issue Editor

Alana Schramm has been living in Japan for four years and has enjoyed teaching at Wako International High School since 2009 where she teaches debate and English communication. Currently, she is the Membership Chair and JET liaison for Saitama City Educators. Alana holds a Bachelors Degree in French from the University of British Columbia (UBC). She also attended Shandong University in China for an intensive Mandarin immersion program. Alana is currently employed by the Saitama Board of Education and works at Wako International High School as an English assistant language teacher. On the weekend, she volunteers to teach English to elderly Japanese.

Alana collaborated with other professionals to write and edit a cultural understanding textbook for Sanshuusha Publishing co. ltd. She has also been employed by the Vancouver Board of Education where she worked as a French language assistant at Prince of Wales High School in Vancouver, Canada, as well as a grader for the Oral component of the Grade 12 French Provincial exam.

Published articles by Alana include:

• Animal Sounds: Cultural Elementary School Activity. The Journal of Saitama City Educators, Volume 1, Issue 4. Saitama City: Saitama City Educators (2011)

• Using Smells to Teach Vocabulary. The Journal of Saitama City Educators, Volume 2, Issue 2. Saitama City: Saitama City Educators (2012)

• CLIL Global Issues. Sanshuusha. Japan (2013)

Presentations made by Alana include:

• Planning Communicative Team-Teaching Lessons for High School, Saitama JET, Teacher Training: Saitama JET Event, Saitama Kaikan, August 2011

• Student Motivation, Saitama JET, JET Skills Development Conference, Saitama Kaikan, November 2011

• Using Sounds and Smells to Teach Vocabulary, My Share, Omiya JALT, March 2012

• Teacher Training: JET ALT Skills Development Conference, Saitama Kaikan, August 2012

• How to Motivate Students to Participate, Saitama JET, JET Skills Development Conference, Saitama Kaikan, November 2012

Alana is interested in planning English camps, using drama to teach English and languages.

Foreword

This issue of the JSCE collects five articles dealing with ideas from improving ice-breaking in your first class to preparing an intensive English event at the very end of the year. Submissions to this issue include:

Paul Arrowsmith – Efficient Learning, Test Preparation and the Pareto Principle: Paul analyzes the application of the Pareto Principle in vocabulary building, reading and standardized tests. John Finucane and Alana Schramm – Planning an Educational English Event for your Students: John proposes ideas for a successful event and Alana applies them to the English camp she planned at her school. Decha Hongthong – Creating Effective Homework. Rebecca Ros – Reading and the News: Rebecca discusses using the internet and newspapers to teach reading. Tara Willet – Word Game Ice Breakers.

Contents

Paul Arrowsmith: Efficient Learning, Test Preparation and the Pareto Principle ポール•アロスミス: 試験準備とパレトの主義Page 1

John Finucane and Alana Schramm: Planning an Educational English Event for your Studentsジョン・ファヌカン & アラーナ・シュラム: 英語のイベントの組み立てPage 5

Decha Hongthong: Creating Effective Homework デイサ•ホンソン: 効果的な宿題Page 11

Rebecca Ros: Reading and The News レベッカ•ロス: ニュースを読むPage 15

Tara Willett: Word Game Ice Breakers タラ•ウィレット: 言葉遊びのアイスブレイクPage 18

Appendices

I: Jiji Press, 2012, Japan strikes 1st gold at London Paralympics. The Daily Yomiuri, 3rd Sept.Page 23

From the EditorPage 24

Efficient Learning, Test Preparation and the Pareto Principle試験準備とパレトの主義

Paul Arrowsmithポール•アロスミス

About

Paul has been teaching for the past twelve years. He currently teaches in a number of colleges and universities in Tokyo and specializes in teaching communicative and academic English classes. In the past he has also taught international business and test preparation classes. He holds a Masters in Business Administration and a Cambridge CELTA qualification.

Abstract

Time, like all resources is limited. Modern day life and the speed of communication brought about by technological advances can put increased pressure on individuals to achieve their goals as quickly as possible. This environment creates the need to complete work in a more timely and efficient manner. Some of us are lucky enough to have naturally good organizational skills, while many of us struggle to achieve our goals despite spending just as much time on them. This paper will attempt to apply a tool, first coined in microeconomics and further espoused in business schools, to language learning and test preparation.

要約: 資源とする「時間」は限られてます。現代の通信加速とテクノロジーの進歩は人に目的を慌てて達成するような圧力かけます。すろと、頃合い見計って、効果的に仕事をする必要があります。時間整理の才能ある人もいますが、同じ時間をかけても目的を達成するまで苦労する人もいます。 始めにミクロ経済学で適用した、そこから経営学で採用したツールを本論文で受験準備に使います。

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The tool in question is the Pareto Principle, better known as the ‘80/20 rule’. This paper highlights how the tool can be used effectively in the fields of vocabulary building, reading and standardized tests such as TOEFL, GMAT and IELTS. The Pareto Principle is a theory that states for many phenomena, 80% of the effects stem from 20% of the causes (Dictionary.com, 2012). In other words, most of the success we achieve comes from a small minority of our actions. The remaining actions are either wasted or produce little value, despite the amount of time we may spend on them. Some everyday examples of this include: 80% of delays in schedules arise from 20% of the possible causes of the delays, companies have 80% of their revenues from just 20% of their products and on a micro level you may make 80% of your phone calls to just 20% of your acquaintances. Clearly this is not an exact science and the 80/20 rule is just a rule of thumb for the general principle at work. The value of the Pareto Principle is that it reminds us to focus on the 20 percent that matters most. This general concept can be applied to almost anything, not least language learning.

Most study involves vast amounts of reading, which can be very time consuming. Applying the Pareto Principle can help with this. For instance, rather than spending 3 hours to read 3 articles in detail (which may not be relevant), spend 5 minutes glancing through 12 articles (1 hour) and then spend an hour each on the two best ones (2 hours).

Likewise, in terms of language learning it makes sense to focus on the vocabulary or grammatical structures that are most frequently used - you do not need to know a grammar book or dictionary back-to-front to be an effective communicator. It is far more effective to focus on the most common words and grammatical uses. Time and time again Japanese students are restricted from achieving successful communication due to doubts about accuracy and lack of confidence (Harumi, 2001). It is the classical case of not being able to see the woods for the trees. This phenomenon can manifest in several ways; silent pauses that obstruct the flow of speech or the inability to read on in a text due to lack of understanding of one word. Evidence from the Oxford English Corpus (2012) has identified the 100 most common lemmas account for 50% of the corpus, and the 1,000 most common lemmas account for 75%. It would make sense for students to focus on these words first, rather than the more obscure lexis typically found in EFL texts. In this way, languages can be learnt in a more efficient manner. Another strategy is to learn word roots as opposed to individual words. This enables students to use their time more efficiently and develop their ability to use context clues and word roots to figure out the meaning of unknown words.

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The Pareto Principle can also be applied to test preparation, whether it be TOEIC, GMAT or IELTS, those question types that occur most often, or those strategies with the biggest impact, may also fall into the 20% category. Using this general idea to focus on key areas can help students manage their time more efficiently, while still achieving their goal. Although striving for 100% perfection is an honorable goal; in most situations most people have neither the time nor resources to achieve this. Focusing on the critical 20% is an effective strategy to optimize efficiency.

In the case of standardized tests, identifying the areas of the test that have the biggest impact on the overall score is crucial. In TOEFL, it could be argued that this area is the student’s listening skills, as these are required in three of the four sections. In terms of the writing sections on TOEFL and IELTS, structure is important. Therefore, practicing writing good essay plans and thesis statements is probably a more effective use of time than writing entire essays, since teachers can provide more feedback and students can progress more quickly.

On the GMAT, skills such as back solving, and picking numbers can work wonders on the quantitative section. Also, spending more time on the earlier questions is important. Due to the adaptive nature of the test, the earlier questions are more heavily weighted and consequently worth more points.

In general, the most important issue is to identify which activities generate the best results and give them the appropriate attention. Sometimes it can be difficult to recognize the most important areas to focus on, as everybody’s situation is different. Doing a little research, taking practice tests and identifying the most important areas and how they relate to the student’s strengths and weaknesses should help improve test scores. For example the final GMAT score does not distinguish between specific areas or mathematical and verbal ability since only one score is provided for each skill. Therefore a student with advanced algebra but weak geometry may not reach their potential score, as their weak geometry will hold them back. If a teacher identifies this from the outset, the student can make better use of their time and improve their score.

Although all this may seem equally time consuming, understanding and applying the Pareto Principle should pay off in the long run The key point is to recognize that most things in life are not distributed evenly. Therefore it is often a good idea to make decisions on allocating time, resources and effort based on this. Remember, if you have to miss out on something in your study plan, make sure it is not part of the 20 percent that matters most.

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References

Harumi, S. (2001). The use of silence by Japanese EFL learners. JALT Journal [online]. 18 (2), pp. 28-34. Available: http://jalt-publications.org/archive/proceedings/2001/027.pdf. Last accessed 29th October 2012.

Oxford University Press. (2012). Facts about the language. The OEC [online]. Available: http://oxforddictionaries.com/words/the-oec-facts-about-the-language. Last accessed 29th October 2012.

Dictionary.com. (2012). Pareto Principle. Dictionary.com's 21st Century Lexicon [online]. Available: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/pareto principle. Last accessed: October 29, 2012.

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Planning an Educational English Event for your Students英語のイベントの組み立て

John Finucane and Alana Schrammジョン・ファヌカン & アラーナ・シュラム

About

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 the Journal of Saitama City Educators (JSCE).  His interests are writing, teacher training, event planning, debate, critical thinking and LEGO. To find out more go to: John-Finucane.com.

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 include planning English camps, languages and using drama to teach English..

Abstract

Many schools, not just those that specialize in language education, hold educational English events. These events represent an opportunity for professional development and personal satisfaction for the teachers involved. This article gives some practical advice on how to plan an educational English event for your students.

要約: 外国語特長の学校だけではなく、多くの学校は英語のイベントを開きます。参加する先生方には、専門能力開発の機会となります。本論文は現実的なアドバイスを提供します。

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Many schools, not just those that specialize in language education, hold educational English events. Frequently these events rely on the participation of non-Japanese teachers, particularly ALTs. Often the burden of planning falls on junior teachers who may lack experience of planning, teaching in general, or knowledge of a particular institution or group of students. Increasingly teachers are passing on this burden to their ALTs. These events represent an opportunity for professional development and personal satisfaction for the teachers involved. This article gives some practical advice on how to plan an educational English event for your students.

In March 2012, Wako Kokusai High School (Wakoku) held a three-day English camp in Saitama involving 80 students and 10 ALTs, four of which were Wakoku ALTs. The examples from this article are based from the experience gained from this English camp. All activities as well as their time allotment, scheduling, organization of rooms and ALT recruitment were planned by these ALTs. Teachers were responsible for booking the location of the camp, buying materials and taking care of meals. Finally, all the information pertaining to the camp’s organization and activity lesson plans and handouts were compiled into an E-Camp booklet and sent out to all ALTs and teachers participating in the camp.

Resources

The first step in planning an event is to inventory your resources. Resources include: teachers; teaching materials, particularly familiar activities that have been successful in the past; equipment, such as whiteboards, CD-players, projectors and facilities. If an event is being planned from scratch then it is a good idea to begin with activities that you have used successfully in the past and are familiar with. If you are inheriting an event, an honest evaluation of your available time and enthusiasm is required before deciding what to change and what to keep.

For the Wakoku English camp, a team of teachers were delegated to take care of certain logistical aspects such as booking rooms for the activities, ordering meals, buying supplies and printing materials for activities requested by the ALTs. In addition to this human resource, a budget was set aside by the school to take care of necessary stationary supplies such as markers, paper, glue, etc. This was not the first English camp that Wakoku has had but since there have not been any significant updates since its origin ten years ago, it was necessary to reevaluate and improve many of the activities. New activities also had to be created to replace activities that were

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deemed uninteresting or uncommunicative. Once these activities had been created, material lists were compiled to outline the necessary materials for each activity. It is important to note that while the materials for most of the activities would be prepared by the school beforehand, some of the activities required ALTs to bring their own materials; therefore, emails needed to be sent prior to the camp to inform the ALTs of this.

Setting Goals

The second step is to set goals for your students, your colleagues, your event and yourself. It is much easier to plan a set of activities if there is a goal to work towards e.g. debate or impromptu performance. Activities should help students practice the skills and generate the ideas needed to achieve the overall goal you have set. For example if your goal is debate, activities should help students practice giving opinions, disagreeing with reasons and summarizing. Other activities can be used to introduce your debate proposition in a novel, interesting or unexpected way. Activities should also generate ideas and language that can be recycled in the final debate activity. Ideally students should suddenly realize that the activities have been incremental steps towards a goal they would have believed beyond their ability at the start of the event.

The goal for the English camp at Wakoku was expression in English and creativity. Teachers insisted on a concrete end product; and it was decided that this would be in the form of a skit or debate presentation on the last day of the camp. The activities were geared to lead up to this goal. Therefore, activities promoting English communication, short skit writing and acting, and negotiation were created. By the time students were told that they had to present a seven- to ten-minute presentation in front of all their peers, they had the basic skills to do this, and with some help from their ALT leader were able to successfully complete this task.

Planning

The next step is planning. Prefer the familiar to the new, the simple to the complicated and avoid reliance on technology. Producing detailed lesson plans is time-consuming. An honest appraisal of your time and enthusiasm is required before you plan on introducing anything new. Written plans should be as detailed as possible. They should contain step-by-step instructions, the rationale behind the activities, anticipated problems and their solutions and

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describe how each element of each activity contributes to your goals and ultimately the success of your event. You should test activities before the event. This can be done with small groups of students, either those attending the event or not, or a group of teachers.

For each of the activities, the ALTs from Wakoku created a detailed lesson plan outlining the nature and number of necessary materials, and detailed instructions on how to explain and lead the activities. Lesson plans also included variations for higher- or lower-level students and all necessary handouts. Before the camp, the activities that were more difficult were tested on students in other classes and also on the ALTs themselves during the meeting before the camp.

Delegation

Delegation is vital in order to efficiently and effectively plan and deliver an event. Planning hours of activities, which often entail creating materials, is a time-consuming business. One option is to allocate blocks of time, particularly at the start of an event, and ask participating teachers to share the planning. For example, consider a junior high school English camp with 10 ALTs and 80 students. The planning of ice-breakers could be delegated to participating teachers. Each teacher plans and submits beforehand a 20 minute activity. Groups of students could do multiple activities with multiple teachers allowing participating teachers to deliver the same activity several times. This cuts down on the amount of planning required.

The ALTs at Wakoku were receptive when I mentioned the idea of updating the stale English camp materials from previous years and so I took on the role of leader. Having a leader is crucial in organizing an event as it ensures delegation will be smooth and time and resources will be used efficiently. The leadership role included being in charge of putting together the handbook of all lesson plan materials and information related to the camp; coordinating room allocations; making lists of necessary materials to buy or make before the camp; scheduling; corresponding with ALTs from other schools; and delegating what each ALT at our school would need to do. These duties involved writing the detailed lesson plans and creating all corresponding handouts. ALTs from other schools were responsible for creating their own 50-minute self-introduction activity. This activity had to be submitted to the ALTs of Wakoku in advance to ensure it was suitable and interesting to the students.

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An alternative is to involve students in the planning process. Students with higher, or specialized, ability could be put in charge of planning or leading activities. In the same way, students from upper grades can be used. The sempai/kohai relationship is a great motivator for students. Delegation also allows participating teachers to personalize their participation which is a great motivator; a motivated teacher is more likely to build good rapport with her students.

For the Wakoku E-camp, student involvement happened by way of the student E-camp committee in charge of making the student handbook including rules, relaying the schedule that ALTs had decided and MCing the presentations. Some students were also asked on a volunteer-basis if they wanted to help with making images for handouts. This process made students feel like they were part of the planning process, which was motivating and gave them confidence.

Meetings

Formal face-to-face meetings are unnecessary and frequently counterproductive. If there are detailed lesson plans available meetings are unnecessary. Use of collaborative software such as Dropbox or Google Groups is an efficient way of planning. YouTube is another convenient way of delivering lesson plans—it is much easier to show than explain. Plans should also be made available well in advance for participants to study them carefully. If participants have a detailed plan to follow they will not require a meeting.

Any meetings that are held should be devoted to practicing not discussing activities. A meeting is a good opportunity to collaborate on composing concise instructions and anticipating problems. Meetings are only an efficient use of time if there is strong, competent leadership and a strict agenda.

There was only one meeting for all ALTs. All the information the ALTs needed to know before the camp was written in a handbook and sent to all the participating ALTs one week before the ALT meeting. The meeting itself was held one week before the camp. ALTs were asked to read through the booklet before the meeting. Therefore, the meeting was strictly to answer any questions ALTs had about activity procedures or the camp in general, and do model activities. This single meeting was more than sufficient.

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Recycling

Why reinvent the wheel every year? Most events are annual. In which case once a basic pattern has been established your effort should be spent on refining and improving. New additions should be limited to allow for careful planning and testing. To this end you will need information. Participating teachers and students should be asked to provide detailed feedback on all aspects of the event including activities, goals, facilities etc. Areas for improvement can be identified and prioritized in order of achievability. So too should you take the time to reflect on and evaluate your event and the success, or otherwise, of your goals. We recycle things for two reasons: they are valuable and they are finite. So too is your time.

The Wakoku E-camp had not been changed in ten years and so for the camp this year, a significant amount of time and energy was spent improving past activities. At the end of the camp, evaluations were sent out to all the participating ALTs asking them to evaluate and provide feedback on how to improve the camp for the next year. For the next time, certain activities will be tweaked according to evaluations submitted by these ALTs but these will be minor modifications that will not require another considerable time commitment.

Conclusion

Sometimes teachers view educational English events as being important primarily to ‘make memories’. Not so. Although this is also true, these events are a perfect opportunity to consolidate previously learned material. It also helps to justify to students why material has been taught—that it is useful. Finally, and most importantly, it gives students an opportunity to use English outside the context of assessments and examinations i.e. the real world. These events should seek to provide students with a forum to use what they have learned to do something new; ideally something slightly beyond their current ability. A sense of achievement is the best outcome.

Overall, using the steps outlined in this article, the camp proceeded smoothly and successfully, and the students were able to enjoy themselves while gaining skills and confidence in English communication. ALTs also felt that the effort spent on creating the camp was rewarding and motivating.

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Creating Effective Homework効果的な宿題

Decha Hongthongデイサ•ホンソン

About

Decha Hongthong is a lecturer at Saitama University and Seijo University. Since coming to Japan over ten years ago, he has worked in a variety of settings that have helped him better understand Japanese students and how to help them. He continues to be active in the educational community volunteering his time to help others in the field and learning from them at the same time. His interests include motivation and student empowerment.

Abstract

Many teachers see homework as simply a paper record of a student’s work to use for grading purposes, much like a test. Most students see it as a necessary evil. However, with a little thought and preparation, homework can prove to be a much more powerful tool for both teachers and students. Steps to creating effective homework are shown and discussed.

要約: テストのように、宿題は成績を記録するための目的を持っていると多くの教員は思っています。生徒は必要とする悪と思っています。けれども、考慮と準備を少しだけでも、生徒にも先生にも力のある道具とすることもできます。効果的な宿題の手段を本論文で提供します。

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The idea of homework is not a new concept for EFL/ESL teachers. However, what might be new for EFL/ESL teachers is the idea that we should perhaps analyze the kind of homework we give. Just as there are varying levels of effectiveness to teaching, it is safe to say that the same holds true when it comes to homework. Taking this into account, it is reasonable to believe that we as teachers need to take a look at not only improving our teaching skills, but also our skills in the effective use of homework.

The Purpose of Homework

Historically, the notion of homework and its purpose has changed over the years and usually reflected the idea of how people viewed the best way to acquire knowledge at their time (Cooper, 1989). Currently, the consensus on homework seems to be that it is effective in moderation (“Homework cut for youngest pupils,” 1998). These articles show the general view of homework, but in this paper we will take a look at homework as it applies to the field of ESL/EFL study.

Unfortunately, there seems to be very little in the study of homework in an EFL/ESL setting at this time so my evidence will be largely anecdotal and based on my own personal interactions with colleagues. Hopefully, this paper will encourage people in the field (myself not excluded) to do more research concerning homework.

The use of homework can be separated into two categories: those who use it and those who do not. In my personal interactions with colleagues, I noticed a pattern start to develop when I asked them about their use of homework. For those who did not give homework, they usually answered that they did not give homework because they noticed that students would rarely do it. For those who did give homework, I got the impression that many used it simply as a tangible item of work from the students that could be entered into their grade book. These answers may be surprising at first, but perhaps not so uncommon in a field where so much research focuses on how to increase the effectiveness of teachers inside the classroom and homework is rarely discussed. Given that teachers have so little time with students though, it seems perplexing that teachers do not take into account how homework can be utilized to enhance study inside, outside and beyond the classroom.

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Effective Homework & What to Consider When Creating Homework

Effective homework is the same as effective teaching. As teachers we must analyze our homework much in the same way we analyze our lessons.

What is effective homework? The idea of effective homework can vary largely depending on the class you are teaching, but there are some universals that we can apply when trying to create it.

One thing to consider when creating a homework assignment is its purpose. Its purpose should be clear to both you and your students. Moreover, the purpose should include a clear set of directions for the students to follow and your expectations of what you hope they will learn upon successful completion of the assignment. Explaining how students will be able to apply what they have learned in class or outside of class is also a strong motivator and should be included in your expectations. In other words, the assignment should be meaningful to the students. This is crucial for success. I, myself have found that when students do not understand the purpose of the homework or I give insufficient instructions, students usually do not do as well on the assignment or do not do it. This is perhaps why some teachers have given up giving homework all together.

Another thing to consider is the difficulty of the homework. If the assignment is too easy, students will find it boring or useless and put little or no effort into it. If it is too difficult, they will most likely give up. In either case, the homework can be seen as a failure as they do not achieve their goal(s). Thus, we must create homework that takes into account the level of the students and structure it so that it is beyond their current level, but still within arm’s grasp. Vygotsky (1978) would call it the “zone of proximal development”, Krashen (1982) would call it “i+1”. The important part is that students feel challenged and have the potential to learn something new in the course of doing their homework.

How we assess students’ homework should also be taken into consideration. Assessment can be either summative (giving the student a score) or formative (giving the student more qualitative feedback) (OECD/CERI, 2008). When possible, formative assessment should be used as it is the more useful of the two from a student standpoint. Students usually know where they stand compared to their classmates even when we do not explicitly tell them. What they need is feedback which will allow them to understand where and how they can make improvements. I personally believe feedback should be mainly positive, but also critical. In this way,

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students do not need to stress out so much about their assignments, but at the same time remain aware that there are still assessment guidelines that need to be met.

Finally, if possible, homework assignments should be enjoyable for the students.

I find that when students are asked to do something that pertains to their interest or allows them to show off their knowledge about a particular subject, they generally put much more effort into their work and are better prepared to do assignments associated with it.

When done correctly, homework can be a valuable tool for students and teachers. Students can get more out of the time they spend doing homework and teachers benefit by having students that are well prepared to take on in-class assignments. With limited classroom time and increasing class sizes, a well-planned homework assignment can do a lot to ensure a smooth classroom experience for all and a more effective use of time for activities that students cannot do at home.

References

Cooper, H. (1989). Synthesis of Research on Homework. Educational Leadership, v47 n3 p85-91.

Homework cut for youngest pupils. (1998). Retrieved August 29th, 2012, from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/211159.stm

Krashen, S. (1982). Principles and Practice in Second Language Acquisition. Retrieved August 29th, 2012, from http://www.sdkrashen.com/Principles_and_Practice/Principles_and_Practice.pdf

OECD/CERI (2008). Assessment for Learning Formative Assessment. Learning in the 21st Century: Research, Innovation and Policy. OECD, Paris. August 29th, 2012, from http://www.oecd.org/site/educeri21st/40600533.pdf

Vygotsky, L. (1978). Interactions between learning and development. Mind and Society (pp. 79-91). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

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Reading and The Newsニュースを読む

Rebecca Rosレベッカ•ロス

About

Since 2011, after studying Drama and Theatre Arts at Goldsmiths, University of London, Rebecca Ros has taught English Oral Communication classes at Koshigaya Nishi and Koshigaya Kita High Schools. Previous to this, she was a swimming teacher, and also worked closely with students with learning and social disabilities at Secondary school in the UK. Keen to keep up the skills learnt at university, she enjoys staying up to date with international theatre and music, especially singing.

Abstract

“This lesson, can you teach Reading?” is a phrase dreaded by many Assistant English Teachers, as there is very little guidance or material to support them. A potentially daunting task, ‘teaching Reading’ can be done in innumerable ways. One successful teaching method is to use current affairs by showing students news articles found either in newspapers or from the internet.

要約: 「今回は読む力を付けさせてくれる？」と言うのは多くのALTの恐る言葉です。教材や指導が足りないからです。けれども、読みの指導は複数の方法があります。一つは時事問題を使って新聞やネットからの記事を使うことです。

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Before embarking on any project, or planning a lesson around certain grammatical aims, it is crucial to find an appropriate source for the materials needed to teach the lesson. This begs the question, “which news articles are suitable, and where can I find them?” With huge thanks to the world of technology, and the high speed at which information is now distributed, we are incredibly lucky to have a whole array of potential materials at our disposal.

Naturally the internet is one of the first places to turn to, with websites such as the BBC, which often provides simplified versions of news articles ready to print. Many other news websites do the same thing. More directly, we have newspapers which have been translated into English for the international community living and working in Japan. The Japan Times and The Daily Yomiuri provide an excellent cross-section of both national and international news stories, along with articles focused on various cultural, health and scientific highlights. The latter often provides excerpts from Western broadsheets such as, The Washington Post and The Times. With a bounty of articles, blogs and opinions at our teacher finger tips, we are spoiled with resources.

Now the dilemma is whether or not the language used in the source materials is too difficult, and if so, does it need to be adjusted? This is a hot topic of debate amongst many EFL teachers. TEFL courses highlight the use of ‘created’ and ‘authentic’ materials, and discuss which are more effective. ‘Created’ materials, or in this case, news articles which have been re-written by the teacher, can prove to be incredibly useful. By re-writing the article, the information can be made much more palatable and focused upon the lesson’s objective. This method is often considered more efficient as this broadens the scope of potential lesson material, and students may feel a greater sense of achievement.

However, there are those who argue that using ‘authentic’ materials, i.e. the actual article, will garner a whole new set of reading skills that students who study from the created materials would not be able to master as quickly. By being exposed to ‘the real deal,’ they are forced to try and recognise patterns used by native English speaking cultures. This will help to develop skills such as skim reading, and hone their ability to summarise information more efficiently. This ‘exposure’ is another way to introduce the “cross-cultural exchange” that is part of the package of being an English teacher in Japan.

Cross-cultural exchange is one of the key topics of the day in the English teaching world, and can be one of the key aims when using news articles as

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the basis for teaching Reading. It seems incredibly simple minded to say that the news changes every day, but it is true, it does change, and by highlighting these rapid changes to students, perhaps their view of the rest of the world may change with it. Crucially, professors who compose the university entrance examinations use current affairs stories from the year before. So, by concentrating on the news of the day, then perhaps students will be, to some extent, more prepared for topics that are presented to them when it comes down to the big day. Of course, these exercises work wonders for general reading, pronunciation, and diction practice, all of which should constantly be reviewed.

How does one read the article? There are two obvious options: the first, to get students to read it independently and give them the opportunity to try and get relatively accustomed to the language used; the other would be to ask them to read the article out loud, introducing the challenge of having to pronounce new words and practise speech and oratory techniques. In terms of how to actually teach Reading using the articles, there are several options according to the level of ability. Starting with lower level students, and this is all based on Senior High Schools, the best approach would be to use simple exercises such as fill in the blanks, shadowing or basic comprehension questions. Moving up to middle and higher level schools, comprehension questions can be developed and adjusted to stimulate and facilitate discussions or debates, eventually leading into practice entrance examination tests. I recently used an article about a Japanese Paralympics athlete, taken from The Daily Yomiuri [see Appendix], which lead nicely into a discussion about the treatment and media coverage of athletes with disabilities and the Paralympics themselves.

No matter how well it seems students have understood and totally absorbed the information, it is highly likely that within one week they will have forgotten everything. All that hard work gone to nothing. So how can we change this? Reviewing and attempting to lessen the notorious ‘memory blank’ so often feigned is an important area to try and address. Simple techniques include taking five minutes during the lesson to deliver a ‘pop quiz’ style question and answer session about topics covered perhaps two weeks previously. Delayed discussions and homework that requires skills to tackle an issue or grammar topic using tools they learnt weeks previously, are also very effective and easy ways to jog their memory and keep them on their toes. With any luck, regularly surprising students with the aforementioned activities will force them to retain more, and be prepared for anything that may be thrown at them, whether that be in a lesson, or in the dreaded entrance examination.

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Word Game Ice Breakers言葉遊びのアイスブレイク

Tara Willettタラ•ウィレット

About

Tara Willett has been an ALT at Honjo High School since 2011. Before this, she was trained as a writing tutor at the University of Kansas, where she worked for nearly 3 years. Next, she worked as a volunteer with non-native speakers of English at University, and again in Eikaiwa in Japan. As a former exchange student and lifetime learner of Japanese, she enjoys languages very much.

Abstract

Many teachers work with ice-breaking games. These games can help students ease into the English lesson. However, some word games aren’t instructive in their original structures. Here are three word games to use with non-native speakers of English: the ‘Association Game,’ ‘What is it?’ and ‘Vocabulary Telephone.’

要約: アイスブレイクはよく使われています。英語の授業を円滑に生徒が入り込むような働きがあります。けれども、勉強にならないゲームもあります。 ここでは、３つのゲームを紹介します。

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Have you tried using word games in the classroom? Word games as they stand do not work quite the way they do with native speakers. Even children who speak English natively will play these games differently than ELL students. So, these are three Word Game warm-ups that I created to fit a style both JTEs and I were comfortable with.

Association Game: ゲーム: Vocabulary Impressions

This game is to loosen up students, and remind them of their English vocabulary. It is suitable for all levels of English speakers. You can use this game on days when your students are tired and might appreciate moving around. To play, you will need at least two bean bags (or two erasers you wouldn’t mind tossing gently) and a timer, or a watch. Split the class into two or more groups. Set your timer for 2 minutes.

The original game would work well for elementary or middle school students. The first person tosses the bean bag after calling out a color. The receiver catches it, and replies anything that comes to mind. Elementary or middle school students should be able to think of fruit or similar nouns. (Yellow→ banana, purple→ grapes, blue→ sky, etc. After they call a word, the same student calls out a new color and tosses to a new student (McCallum 19).

For your high school students, don’t stop at one fruit. After a student calls out, “Red,” the next student catches the bean bag and calls out, “strawberry.” Student 2 tosses the bean bag to student 3, who, after a moment of consideration and possibly panic, might say, “cute” or “heart” or anything else she thinks of. Student 3 tosses to Student 4. If Student 4 has no ideas, they can call a new color instead. (“red → heart→ love → I love XX!” versus “blue → sky → rain → umbrella → wet → water” etc.)

To turn it into a competitive exercise, you have two options. First, you can count any word (except colors) that students produce on their own for one point. Or, you can see who has the longest string of associated words. Whichever team has the most wins.

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“Catch Phrase” for classrooms, or “What is it?”:Making Questions and Answers

Teach your students to ask questions! This game is a good way for students to practice asking questions and for the “lead student” or students to understand and answer them. This activity is ideal for communicative speakers to practice spontaneous English, but it can also be used to review question words for lower level students.

In this game, students guess an object by narrowing generic statements to specific answers. While introducing this game to students, I recommend starting with concrete objects. Lower level learners (or Middle School students) can guess at erasers, pencils, books and such, and high school students can guess at animals, people, or school subjects (history, math, etc.), or types of sports. Students at an advanced level might even try guessing phrases like “out of the blue” or movie/book titles.

First have your students get in small groups of 5-6 people. Tell the groups to decide on an object within the category. Pick one or two representatives per group. (If your students are good at working by themselves, one student should be fine. If they are shy or need help to start speaking, a pair will work better.) Send the representative to the neighboring group. Have the group ask the representative questions until the group determines what “it” is.

Example: Pencil [Objects] Example: Soccer [Sports] Example: Banana [Food]

Is it big or small? Do you play in a group? Is it a fruit/vegtable?

Is it in your bag? Do you play in teams? Is it big/small?

Is it in/on your desk? Do you play? Is it sweet/spicy?

Can you read it? Is there a ball? Is it healthy/unhealthy?

Is it for class/ sports? Do you play inside/outside? Is it expensive/cheap?

Can you write with it? Do you use your hands/feet? Is it yellow?

Is it a pencil? Is it soccer? Is it a banana?

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After they have narrowed it down, they can guess what it is from their existing knowledge or a list of vocabulary if they are beginners. Once students have guessed the word, choose a new word. Then choose new representatives.

If you would like to skip the “conference” point where students pick the object, you may print out words or pictures of the object/ activity and have the representative select from a stack. You can also switch representatives this way. Note that you may need to rotate the category so the remaining students are not immediately sure which object/activity is coming up. Or, if you prefer, send the representatives to the teacher. Let the teacher show the representatives of all groups the same object at the same time. Allow them to return to their groups. Meanwhile, you switch the object for a new one, and wait for students to guess the object.

Vocabulary Telephone

For students with a mid to lower level of English, and whose goals may be to memorize lists of vocabulary, you can play a twist on “Telephone,” or ゲーム。 For example, one of my JTEs requested an activity to help students remember grammatical forms of a word (explain → explanation → explanatory), etc.

Type the list of words on a single line. Make the text big enough to read easily, and keep different sets on a new line. Cut the strips of words before class.

In class, have students select from the “lottery” of vocabulary words. If necessary, go over the pronunciation of the vocabulary words. The students will memorize the two or three words in order, and whisper the words to the student directly behind them. The game will function even if the student speaks loudly. Listening to the words conjugated is also good for remembering. Until it’s the student’s turn, they may choose to study the vocabulary list (if it has been distributed before the lesson), or they can wait quietly. At the end of each row, have the last student check their answer with the first student, or with the teacher.

As an alternation, you can have a relay. After students have memorized and practiced the lines (unexplored → explore → exploration → explorer), you can have students relay the words as quickly and accurately as they can.

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The first student can read the first term only, the second hears and recites only the second term, and so forth.

While the students may not beg for another round of this game, it is a useful way to go over vocabulary. It also can be used at the beginning or end of class to tie up a lesson.

To suit lower level students, you could modify this game to verbs (I love, he loves, she loves, we love) or tense (I love, I loved) or (I come, I came, I am coming, I will come), depending on the grammar your students are learning. It can even be used for plurals (Animal, animals) if you are working with elementary or lower level learners.

Lastly, you can encourage students by timing them. Calling out when the first group is done can make drilling more interesting.

As with any kind of classroom activity, it’s easiest to choose the warm-up by your lesson goals. Confer with your JTE to see what the students are supposed to be learning if you are unsure.

References

McCallum, George P. 101 Word Games: Resource Books for Teachers of Young Students. Oxford University Press, New York: 1980.

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Appendix I: Japan strikes 1st gold at London Paralympics. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.asiaone.com/News/Latest%2BNews/Sports/Story/A1Story20120903-369256.html

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From the Editor

A Chaidre,

Volume 3 of JSCE uses Issue Editors for the first time. Issue Editors are responsible for gathering submissions, proofreading and liaising between contributors and the JSCE Editor. Thanks to the hard work of Alana Schramm, Issue 1 provides a nice balance of first time and vetran authors.

Thanks to: Paul Arrowsmith, Decha Hongthong, Die Hu, Elisabeth Kress, Rebecca Ros, Brad Semans and Tara Willett.

JSCE wants your contribution. To find out more, or to get involved, contact the Editor at: contact@saitamacityeducators.org

Le Meás John

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