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Wrapping up the week
Apr. 22nd, 2005 06:37 amTuesday I had a full schedule of five classes in a row. It became clear that some of the students in the Listening class were already starting to zone out and just stare blankly at the textbook without even trying to listen whenever the CD came on. (Even so, there were still a lot of students actively volunteering.) The teacher came to discuss it with me, and I could just say that the best thing to do would probably be to include non-textbook activities for variation. In particular, I'd like to stress problem areas (words that sound similar, differences in stress, slurred pronunciation, that sort of thing).
Wednesday the students all went on field trips. Since this left me with no classes, I spent most of my day working on my laptop. I also spent about two hours sewing on the sleeves of my yukata and hemming them.
Yesterday, when I had the Listening class again, I started the class with a big brainstorming session. I asked the students "When is listening important?" and "What makes listening hard?" The students mostly stared at me blankly, not having a clue why I was asking them such things. (Teachers are supposed to lecture, right? They're not supposed to ask students for their ideas....) I finished up by pointing at the list of things on the board and saying that we are going to practice LOTS of those things to help them improve. Even if they can only catch one word today, they should be proud of that one word, and maybe next week they'll catch two or three.
I don't know how much of an effect it had, but I thought the students should at least know WHY they're doing the exercises they're given. What I want to do in future lessons is work in "coping strategies" for what to do when you just can't hear or understand what someone else is saying. Right now a lot of them just give up (often even before an exercise starts) and sit there letting the words go right over their heads. I want to give them tools to pick up at least some meaning from what's being said. The team teacher agreed that we could do a non-textbook activity about once every two weeks (that's every fourth lesson).
( Now a little rant about the grammar of Japanese politeness )
Wednesday the students all went on field trips. Since this left me with no classes, I spent most of my day working on my laptop. I also spent about two hours sewing on the sleeves of my yukata and hemming them.
Yesterday, when I had the Listening class again, I started the class with a big brainstorming session. I asked the students "When is listening important?" and "What makes listening hard?" The students mostly stared at me blankly, not having a clue why I was asking them such things. (Teachers are supposed to lecture, right? They're not supposed to ask students for their ideas....) I finished up by pointing at the list of things on the board and saying that we are going to practice LOTS of those things to help them improve. Even if they can only catch one word today, they should be proud of that one word, and maybe next week they'll catch two or three.
I don't know how much of an effect it had, but I thought the students should at least know WHY they're doing the exercises they're given. What I want to do in future lessons is work in "coping strategies" for what to do when you just can't hear or understand what someone else is saying. Right now a lot of them just give up (often even before an exercise starts) and sit there letting the words go right over their heads. I want to give them tools to pick up at least some meaning from what's being said. The team teacher agreed that we could do a non-textbook activity about once every two weeks (that's every fourth lesson).
( Now a little rant about the grammar of Japanese politeness )
