ETM 3 Announcements and Assignments (No longer being updated)

For our Last Class

2006-07-20T13:13:00.000+09:00

This semester we have practiced teaching in class, studied various methods of teaching English, heard Mr. M's lecture, and observed junior high school English classes. It is time to use what we have learned!
For our last class I would like each of you to design a lesson plan for either page 50 or page 51 of the New Horizon e English textbook. (If you would like you can design a lesson based on another page).

Remember that it will probably not be possible for you to teach one page in one class so you will have to decide what to focus on.
When designing the lesson plan please consider the following:
1. What is the goal of your class and what will you focus on?
2. What will you do for warm-up?
3. How will you introduce the new material?
4. What kind of activities will you do to accomplish your goal?
5. How will you consolidate the class?

You do not have to write the lesson plan in your blog (Although it would be nice). In the last class we will present our lesson plans to each other and comment on them. In your final blogging assignment, I will ask you to write about what you now think your strengths and weaknesses are as English teachers.

Thinking about group work

2006-07-13T14:07:00.000+09:00

Please do one of the following by Wednesday, July 20:

Please describe an experience you had either as a student or a teacher where you tried a groupwork or pairwork activitiy and it did not go well. What went wrong with the activity and how could it have been changed to make it work?

or

Do part 6 of your handout: look through the New Horizon textbook and find a page which would be suitable for pairwork or groupwork. Plan the part of the lesson where you will do groupwork.

Decide how to divide the class into pairs or groups. What kind of classroom English would you use to give these instructions?
Plan an introduction or demonstration to make it clear to the class what they have to do.
Plan what you would do after the students finish the activity.

Blogging Task 10: Class Observance, Teaching Grammar, or talking with an ALT

2006-07-06T14:08:00.000+09:00

Please do one of the following by Tuesday, July 11 of next week.
Please comment on someone else's post by Wednesday, July 12.

1. If you are going to Mr. M's junior high school to watch a demonstration lesson, please write about your observations. Were the prinicipals for teaching English that Mr. M mentioned apparent in the demonstration lessons? If so, how?

2. Please go here to view all the grammatical items that are taught in Japanese junior high schools. Which grammatical item was most difficult for you to learn as a student? How would you attempt to teach it now? For example, you can talk about what kind of sample sentences you would you use to demonstrate how to use it and its meaning. You can also talk about the kind of mechanical and communicative practice you would conduct to help students understand it.

When writing about the grammar, please be sure to use the grammatical terms in English. For example, instead of writing "助動詞 can" you should write "auxiliary verb can".

Optional:
3. Anne, a very dedicated ALT in Iwate, wrote in this post, that she was having difficulty promoting "internationalization" in the English class. I commented on her post and asked her to elaborate and she did so. Please react to Anne's comment by writing a comment on her post.

Blogging Task 9: Giving Advice Based On Mr. M's Lecture

2006-06-23T11:26:00.000+09:00

In your blogs, please write a post for people who do not know Japanese schools but will be working in a Junior High School. The people who you are writing to can either be a teacher trainee (kyouiku jisshuusei), an ALT or another group you can think of!
In your post, based on MNr. M's lecture and your own experience as a student or teacher, give your readers information you think they will need to be a successful teacher in a Japanese Junior High School.
In my own blog, I wrote a message to ALTs based on Mr. M's lecture and my own experience. You can read the post here.

Topics you wrote about last week

2006-06-15T00:32:00.000+09:00

I really enjoyed reading what you wrote in your blogs last week. I realized that instead of me giving you a topic, it is best for me to let you blog about what you want to!
The themes of your posts were:

My future:
Anxieties about teaching practice
Good Experiences
English

I have written about some of the posts in the Issues in EFL in Japan Blog. Please check it out!

Blogging Task 8: Practice Lesson

2006-06-14T23:19:00.000+09:00

Teachers on June 15th:
Please write a post in your blog reflecting on your lesson. Please do this by Tuesday, June 20.

To everyone including the teachers:
Please write a comment on one teacher's blog from each lesson by Wednesday, June 21. If you taught a class, you should comment on the blog of the other teachers' lessons. If you would also like to comment on the blog of a colleague, please do! After you have commented on a blog, please leave a comment on this post telling me whose blog you commented on.

Below is a list of the teachers:
Teachers who taught a class focused on Mrs. Y and Mrs. A
John
Eringo
Cheesecake
74Napotchi
Pinch Hitter

Teachers who taught a class focused on Mr. N
Mame
Lion
On-Chan
Head Banger
Yoshiehb

Blogging Task 7: Free writing

2006-06-11T22:42:00.000+09:00

Read my post titled Problems with Teacher Education and ETM3 on the Issues in EFL in Japan blog and then write a post on any topic that you want. It would be great if you could also comment on a classmate's blog.

JH's Comments on the May 25 Classes

2006-06-02T10:27:00.000+09:00

To Both Groups: I thought that each group did a good job and I think that we all learned a lot from watching your lessons today. I was very happy with your efforts and I think that your students really enjoyed your classes. Excellent work!

Here are some comments I had on your classes:

Group 1: “Is this/that a ~?”

Warm up:
When practicing “How are you”, ask a student who you think can answer the question easily before asking Naim-san. It will make it easier for him to answer the question and take some of the tension off him.
Review:
I thought that the review of "this" and "that" was clear.

Introduction of New Material:
- The transition from This is a ____ to Is this a ________ was smooth.
- Sometimes confirming the meaning of a sentence in Japanese is a good idea. Especially if the class size is large and you have students of mixed abilities.

Practice
- Some more objects besides a ball and ganchan would have been nice.
- Bear or Toshi, when organizing the pair practice you should demonstrate and not explain.
- Could you have made the practice more realistic? For example, a student closes his eyes and is handed an object by his partner. He has to guess what the object it without opening his eyes. “He asks is this is a~?” For “Is that ?” A partner can hand the object to the student, then take the object back and put it behind his textbook. The student who felt the object can then ask “Is that a ~”.

New Words
- For pronunciation practice it is a good idea to have the students say the words as a group and then have individual students say the words. If a students knows that she might be called on it will make her more motivated to do the group work.
- I like how you used the key sentences along with the new words.

Consolidation
Perhaps some kind of writing activity at the end would have been nice. I think that it is important to test students knowledge by giving them a simple dictation. For example, you can say, "Please write the following sentence: 'Is that a park?' ".

Group 2: “What do you have for breakfast?”

Warm up:
I thought the idea of brainstorming was good. However, I think you should have written the food that people said on the board because it would have helped them answer the “What do you have for breakfast?” question a little easier. Also, you should say a few foods first yourself and write them on the board before asking the other students. You can also draw pictures next to the words. It will help learners who do not know the names of very much food in the”Do you have ~ for breakfast ?/ What do you have for breakfast?” practice.

Review
Do you have ~ for breakfast? – What do you have for breakfast transition was smooth.

Introduction of the New Material
- I think that learners needed to practice the “What do you have for breakfast?” phrase a little more.
- I think the pace should have been faster, there were some periods of silence.
- You can write what do you have for breakfast lunch and dinner on the board like this:
What do you have for breakfast? (7:00 AM)
lunch? (12:00 PM)
dinner? (6:00 PM)
- One fun way to get students to practice the phrase instead of calling on individual students is “criss-cross”.
- Another interesting way is bizz-buzz
- Demonstrate “What do you have for breakfast. I have ______. How about you?” with each other before asking a student to ask the question.
- As with the first group, I think it is ok to briefly confirm the meaning in Japanese. In a junior high school classroom there are a lot of students and a little time to study English. You need to be as efficient as possible and the use of the first language at appropriate times can make the class more efficient. Overuse of the first language, however, is counterproductive.

Practice
- I thought that RIP and Leo did a good job demonstrating how to do the activity. Remember in foreign language teacher it is best to “show” how to do something rather than “tell” how to do something. Long explanations can confuse the learners.
- Also, maybe some kind of writing practice such as filling in the blanks would have been good to help learners remember the spelling of the words.

Reading
I think perhaps reading the text from the textbook once all together would have been nice for a review and to practice the pronunciation.

Consolidation
- I thought your recap and what you learned for the day was good.

Blogging Etiquitte: What do I do when someone else comments on my blog?

2006-05-24T21:58:00.000+09:00

If someone has left a comment on your blog and you would like them to continue reading your blog, it is a good idea to respond to their comment. If you do not respond to a comment, there is a high likelihood that the person who left the comment will not read your blog again. One of the reasons why blogs are popular is because the readers and writers can interact with each other. If the reader cannot interact with the writer, then the reader will probably stop reading the blog.

Here are your options for responding to a comment:
1) Write a comment under the post that you received a comment on.
2) Write a comment under the post that you received a comment on and e-mail your it to the person whom you are replying to.
3) Write a comment under the post you received a comment on and write a comment on the blog of the person to whom you are replying to.

I recommend option 2 or 3 because it shows the reader that you appreciate them reading your blog and want to continue the exchange. When you click on the blogging name of the person who left a comment, usually there are links to either the persons blog or e-mail address.

Blogging Task 6: Teaching Observation

2006-05-24T21:48:00.000+09:00

On Friday, June 2 from 1:00 PM, please attend the "Diamond" Junior High School "Research Classes" and observe two English classes.
Please answer the following questions you learned about the classes by Tuesday, June 5 and comment on a classmate's blog by Wednesday June 6. After commenting on a classmate's blog please tell me whose blog you commented on by commenting to this post. To protect the privacy of the school, please do not use the teacher's name nor the name of the school.

In your post about the class at Diamond Junior High School please answer the following:
1) What was the goal of the class?
2) What activities did the students do to accomplish the goal?
3) What was the role of the teacher in this class?
4) From watching the teacher and students, did you receive any hints or clues as to how to have a successful English class?

Please be prepared to discuss what you wrote in class on June 8.

Blogging Task 5: Practice Teaching

2006-05-24T21:24:00.000+09:00

Today, we have observed two classes:

The teachers who taught "Is this ~?" "Is that ~ " were
Happy days
Bear or Toshi?
Fantasista
Chocolate-ice-cream
Gakusei

The teachers in the class that taught "What do you have for breakfast?" were
Patapata
The Leo
Mibora
RIP
Elle
Mihotch

To the teachers:
I would like each of the teachers today to write a reflection on their blogs and answer the following questions in their reflections:
What did you set out to teach?
What activities did you plan?
What were the most successful parts of the lesson?
What were the least successful parts?
Would you teach the lesson differently if you taught it again?
Please write your reflection by Tuesday, May 30.

To everyone including the teachers:
Please write a comment on one teacher's blogs from each lesson by Wednesday, May 31. If you taught a class, you should comment on the blog of the other teachers' lessons. If you would also like to comment on the blog of a colleague, please do! Please do this by Wednesday, May 31. Lastly, after you have commented on a blog, please leave a comment on this post telling me whose blog you commented on.

If you would like to see some photos from this event, please go to the following post on Issues in EFL in Japan.

Blogging Task 4: Translating Programs and More Vocabulary

2006-05-18T21:33:00.000+09:00

Please do one or both of the following by Wednesday, May 24:

I wrote a post about a problem I have had with students using translating programs on the Issues in EFL in Japan blog. Please go to the post, read it, and write a response.

I summarized our discussion about what we learned from reading the blogs of teachers from Tamkang University. If you have anything to add please write a comment on the post.

Blogging Task 3: Vocabulary Teaching and Learning in Taiwan

2006-05-11T13:01:00.000+09:00

A couple of weeks ago I discovered a class blogging project in Taiwan. The class is an English Teaching Methodologies class at Tamkang University in Taipei. The teacher's name is Alice Chui (Please click on her name to see her class blog). Last March, Ms. Chui asked her class to think about how they were taught vocabulary when they were in junior and senior high school and also to write about what they think it the best way to teach vocabulary.

Last week and this week in Japan, we have reviewed and experienced various ways of teaching vocabulary, from presenting the words and meanings to teaching vocabulary through comprehenisible input.

I would like you to read at least two of the students' posts and comment on at least one. Please tell me which posts you left a comment leaving a comment on this post. For example if you read Shirly and Gabriel's blog and commented on Garbiel's blog, you would leave a comment on this post saying "I read Shirley's and Iris's blogs and commented on Shirley's blog.
Below are the links to various posts about vocabulary learning from students in Ms. Chui's class. I am sure that I have left out some interesting posts, so if you would like to read more you can go to Ms. Chui's home page and look at the blogs of students who have been left off the list. Also, if you would like to comment on a post not related to vocabulary teaching but something else, please do. There is a lot of interesting information, thoughts, and perspectives on these blogs! Reading these blogs will help enlighten you about different apporaches to foreign language teaching.
Posts about Vocabulary Teaching
Cathy
Estela
Gillian
Iris
Miranda
Nancy
Shirley
Wings of Angel

Posts Related to Vocabulary Teaching
Gabriel (Explains the origin of the phrase "It's raining cats and dogs")
Olivia (Presents vocabulary and grammar learning websites)

Announcement 1: the Discussion Blog and Writing Comments

2006-04-28T18:10:00.000+09:00

Hi guys,
I have three things I want to say:

Remember this blog is just for making announcements and assigments. Every week on the Discussion Blog titled "Issues in EFL in Japan" I will summarize some of the posts on blogs of ETM members. Please see the discussion blog to read about some of the hot topics. The discussion blog is also designed for people outside of ETM3 to follow in what we are doing and participate in our discussions.
If you have a question about an assignment please write a comment on the post. To write a comment just click on the comment link at the bottom of the post.
Don't forget to comment on your classmates' blogs. What makes blogging interesting is that other people read what you wrote and comment on it. In my experience, to get comments it is important to GIVE comments.

Blogging Task 2: An Analysis of my English Learning

2006-04-27T14:02:00.000+09:00

They say that foreign language teachers' language learning experiences have a profound influence on how they teach the foreign language. So, while ETM3 is starting to begin, I would like to take some time to examine our own language learning experiences.

Please go to the following link and save the file (it is an excel file) onto your computer. The file is a questionnaire asking you about the kind of language learning activities you did when you were a student. Answer the questions in the chart and then send me the file as an attached file.
After you have sent me the file, please make a blog entry titled "an analysis of my language learning experience". Please answer the following questions:

My most enjoyable language learning experience has been….
My least enjoyable language learning activity has been …
My most valuable language learning activity has been …
My least valuable language learning activity has been ....
In general my language learning experience has been ....
What kind of influence do you think your language learning experience will have on your teaching?

Please do the above by (let's negotiate a date)
Please comment on a classmate's blog by (let's negotiate a date) and e-mail JH to say whose blog you commented on.
(Optional) Edit your previous post, "My language learning esperience" and fix any spelling mistakes or change or add some content if you wish.

Blogging Task 1: How I learned English

2006-04-20T17:56:00.000+09:00

Dear members of ETM 3,

Welcome to the wonderful world of blogging and all aboard! Good work today in the computer room. It seems that all of you who were present today are ready to start writing in your blogs! I asked you to do the following tasks for next week. Please have them done by 6PM on Tuesday, April 25. The reason why I would like you to finish your tasks early is so we all have time to read eachother's entries by Thursday's class.

Here are the assignments I would like you to do:

Please write a simple self introduction where you will introduce yourself to your readers.
Please write a second post that has the following theme: "The Story of how I Learned English." You do not have to write an epic story, just give us the important parts. I have written my own story and put it on my personal blog. Your story does not have to be as long as mine, I have been studying Japanese for a long time and had a lot to write!
Write a comment on someone else's blog. The beauty of blogs is that writers can have a dialogue with the readers.