Here's a great activity for Second Grade when the kids are studying the Speaking Plus 3 on page 56. I wish I could take credit for it but the JTE came up with this one.
After the kids have practiced the Speaking Plus conversation pass out copies of the first sheet which is basically the same conversation. The JTE writes the questions What's wrong? and How do you feel? on the blackboard along with the answers that will be used in the activity.
What's wrong? I have a headache.
a stomachache
a fever
How do you feel? Not so bad
Bad.
Terrible
After the kids have practiced this vocabulary for a while the teachers pass out the slips of paper that are on the third sheet. These are the answers to questions that the teachers will ask the students.
When they are ready to go the teachers explain that they are doctors. The kids make two lines. One with the JTE and one with the ALT who then ask the kids questions about their symptoms and how long they have had them. Based on the answers the "doctors" make a diagnosis. The Medical Chart, which is the second sheet, tells the doctor what the student's problem is. The JTE who made this activity included cold, flu, eat too much, and cancer. I realize that last one might be a downer especially if someone in the class has had a relative with that problem but things worked out okay. If you want to, go ahead and change it. Maybe it could be AIDS. No just kidding. Anyway feel free to make it any illness you feel comfortable talking about.
Oh. The last line of the dialogue is I'll give you some medicine. The medicine is a sticker. It's surprising how such a small item can motivate even students who ordinarily don't talk much. After the kids have got their medicine have them trade answer sheets with someone else and they can go again and see how may stickers they can get.
Friday, October 30, 2009
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Grade 2 Unit 5 "When..."
In this Unit the kids are learning how to express opinions and how to make sentences with if and when clauses. So I was asked to come up with something to practice this grammar. It wasn't so easy. All my ideas looked like worksheets which is something I kind of want to get away from. So I came up with this idea. I'm not completey happy with it because it doesn't require any speaking beyond reading what the teacher has written on the board. On the plus side it looks like it might be fun and lead to a gut level understanding of the causation implied in sentences like:
When the teacher says, "Open your books." you must cry like a baby.
At the begining of class the JTE and I pretended to be upset over the class's behavior. Talking, not listening and what have you. Now the class we tried it in is actually a pretty good class so they knew right away that there was something fishy going on. Still we pretended to be angry and told them that there were going to to be some new rules put into practice. Then we started writing them on the board:
When the teacher is speaking you must be quiet
We wrote this on the board and had the kids practice it backwards and forwards. (We showed them how the clauses could be interposed while retaining the same meaning) As we continued writing the new rules became increasingly strange, as in the first example and the stranger the rules became the more the kids enjoyed reading aloud. After all the rules were on the board we continued class as we usually do but the kids still had to obey the new rules. When I scratched my nose the kids clapped. When the JTE wrote on the board the kids had to call out, "Tooth!"( I don't know what this means but it's some kind of gag that appears on TV) when I put my hands in my pockets everyone had to stand up, turn around and sit back down.
It made for an interesting forty-five minutes.
When the teacher says, "Open your books." you must cry like a baby.
At the begining of class the JTE and I pretended to be upset over the class's behavior. Talking, not listening and what have you. Now the class we tried it in is actually a pretty good class so they knew right away that there was something fishy going on. Still we pretended to be angry and told them that there were going to to be some new rules put into practice. Then we started writing them on the board:
When the teacher is speaking you must be quiet
We wrote this on the board and had the kids practice it backwards and forwards. (We showed them how the clauses could be interposed while retaining the same meaning) As we continued writing the new rules became increasingly strange, as in the first example and the stranger the rules became the more the kids enjoyed reading aloud. After all the rules were on the board we continued class as we usually do but the kids still had to obey the new rules. When I scratched my nose the kids clapped. When the JTE wrote on the board the kids had to call out, "Tooth!"( I don't know what this means but it's some kind of gag that appears on TV) when I put my hands in my pockets everyone had to stand up, turn around and sit back down.
It made for an interesting forty-five minutes.
Grade 2 Unit 5 "If..."
In unit 5 the kids get their first look at conditioinal sentences like:
If you can go, please call me.
Please call me if you can go.
Here's a game that allows the kids to practice/review the grammar. One of the things I like about it is that it requires nothing more than a blackboard. It went quite well when I tried it with 2-3. Divide the class into groups and then write on the board half of a conditional sentence.
If you are hungry....
The first group to come up with a well constructed logical second half of the sentence wins a point. Write the complete sentences on the blackboard and then have the kids practice them chorally. Some of the responses that we got in 2-3 weren't always logical although they might have been syntactically correct in the way that Hungry green ideas sleep furiously is syntactically correct.
If you are hungry run.
The words fit together in the right place but it doesn't make any sense. In this event the JTE was given the task of being the judge.
If you are hungry eat.
gets a point.
After a number of sentences have been put together, written down and practiced erase the board and present the kids with the sentences inverted.
Eat...
They should be able to remember the sentences they have just seen and practiced and should be able to come up with the correct response. Then you can add some that they haven't practiced and work in some with negative expressions. As I said it went well. It's probably best to divide the room into lunch groups so they can be encouraged to work together.
If you can go, please call me.
Please call me if you can go.
Here's a game that allows the kids to practice/review the grammar. One of the things I like about it is that it requires nothing more than a blackboard. It went quite well when I tried it with 2-3. Divide the class into groups and then write on the board half of a conditional sentence.
If you are hungry....
The first group to come up with a well constructed logical second half of the sentence wins a point. Write the complete sentences on the blackboard and then have the kids practice them chorally. Some of the responses that we got in 2-3 weren't always logical although they might have been syntactically correct in the way that Hungry green ideas sleep furiously is syntactically correct.
If you are hungry run.
The words fit together in the right place but it doesn't make any sense. In this event the JTE was given the task of being the judge.
If you are hungry eat.
gets a point.
After a number of sentences have been put together, written down and practiced erase the board and present the kids with the sentences inverted.
Eat...
They should be able to remember the sentences they have just seen and practiced and should be able to come up with the correct response. Then you can add some that they haven't practiced and work in some with negative expressions. As I said it went well. It's probably best to divide the room into lunch groups so they can be encouraged to work together.
Monday, September 28, 2009
Grade 1 Unit 6
Here is Classroom Bingo for the first grade. First the teachers pass out the questionaires and have the students fill them out and hand them back in. If you don't want to do it all on the same day the questionaire bit can be done beforehand during a previous class. You can even give it as homework if you have a class you can trust to do its homework.
Next the teachers explain that it is a bingo game and that the kids have to write the names of their friends into the squares. Most classes are larger than sixteen so not everyone will have the same names.
Using the information from the questinaires the teachers read three hints. If the kids think that the classmate, or teacher being described with third person singular grammar is represented on their bingo sheet they circle that person. You won't be giving the name of the classmate but the kids being spoken of will probably identify themselves to the class. The ALT square in the middle, which you may need to edit, is a freebie and is an example to show the kids how to play the game.
One drawback I can think of is that the game is all listening. So how to get around that? Maybe have the first kid to get a bingo can, with the teacher's help, read the next clues. I'm open to suggestions.
Next the teachers explain that it is a bingo game and that the kids have to write the names of their friends into the squares. Most classes are larger than sixteen so not everyone will have the same names.
Using the information from the questinaires the teachers read three hints. If the kids think that the classmate, or teacher being described with third person singular grammar is represented on their bingo sheet they circle that person. You won't be giving the name of the classmate but the kids being spoken of will probably identify themselves to the class. The ALT square in the middle, which you may need to edit, is a freebie and is an example to show the kids how to play the game.
One drawback I can think of is that the game is all listening. So how to get around that? Maybe have the first kid to get a bingo can, with the teacher's help, read the next clues. I'm open to suggestions.
Friday, September 25, 2009
Grade 1 Unit 5
After a long time away from the blog I finally do a post. (The Flying Fish is back too). Here is an activity sheet (I'm going to stop calling them worksheets. To me the the worksheet is something the kids can do sitting down by themselves and not the kind of thing an ALT should be doing. I realize the distinction might be a slight one but I want to make Activity Sheets ( and we could all use a little activity in our sheets couldn't we?) that have the kids getting information from other kids and the teachers.) for Grade 1 that allows them to ask the how many question with their classmates.
Okay so the teachers pass out the sheet and explain that the kids will be asking this question of one another. The question and response on the activity sheet is modeled along with the short answer that Mike gives Emi on page 45. That is to say that the kids can answer the question with only a single word, a number, or no if they don't have any of the items in question. This will give the kids who are a little behind an out so they won't be embarassed.
Here's an idea. Make two copies of the sheet. On the second round really encourage the kids to answer just and the dialogue is modeled. Also have them collect the signatures of classmates they haven't talked to yet.
Okay so the teachers pass out the sheet and explain that the kids will be asking this question of one another. The question and response on the activity sheet is modeled along with the short answer that Mike gives Emi on page 45. That is to say that the kids can answer the question with only a single word, a number, or no if they don't have any of the items in question. This will give the kids who are a little behind an out so they won't be embarassed.
Here's an idea. Make two copies of the sheet. On the second round really encourage the kids to answer just and the dialogue is modeled. Also have them collect the signatures of classmates they haven't talked to yet.
Friday, July 10, 2009
Grade 2 Unit 3 How to Make a Wish
Here is a supplement to the Let's Read section of Unit 3. The kids are given the story of A Magic Box to read so I thought it might be interesting for them to learn about wishing customs of Western countries. Of course if you're not from a Western country this might not be so useful.
There's actually quite a lot of different customs concerning wishing. I did a little research and was surprised at how many there were. But keeping in mind that the kids are only in Grade 2 and the fact that there is a lot of grammar they haven't been taught yet I did my best to keep it real simple. It's actually quite hard to make things so simple. At the bottom of the page you'll see a box labelled Useful Words. All of the translations for the English phrases came from the new gadget on the blog the Google Translate. If you don't know a pretty fair amount of Japanese already don't trust the translations of multi-word phrases without checking the meaning with a JTE. As with all language translation software that I've seen so far sometimes the magic works and sometimes it doesn't.
I don't think of this so much as a worksheet as a reading; something to get them talking about wishes and a way to introduce the grammar used for making wishes in English. If the JTE is willing I want to kids to go beyond just saying, I want a new basketball to I wish I had a new basketball.
I can dream can't I ?
There's actually quite a lot of different customs concerning wishing. I did a little research and was surprised at how many there were. But keeping in mind that the kids are only in Grade 2 and the fact that there is a lot of grammar they haven't been taught yet I did my best to keep it real simple. It's actually quite hard to make things so simple. At the bottom of the page you'll see a box labelled Useful Words. All of the translations for the English phrases came from the new gadget on the blog the Google Translate. If you don't know a pretty fair amount of Japanese already don't trust the translations of multi-word phrases without checking the meaning with a JTE. As with all language translation software that I've seen so far sometimes the magic works and sometimes it doesn't.
I don't think of this so much as a worksheet as a reading; something to get them talking about wishes and a way to introduce the grammar used for making wishes in English. If the JTE is willing I want to kids to go beyond just saying, I want a new basketball to I wish I had a new basketball.
I can dream can't I ?
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Warm ups
Someone was asking about warm-ups for junior high school classes so here are some ideas.
Fast Feedback Listening Quiz
So called because the kids get to see immediately if their choice is correct or not.
The ALT prepares three flash cards (or writes on the blackboard) that stand for the pronunciation of either the past tense or plural inflections.
past tense: [t] [d] [id]
plural: [s] [z] [iz]
The ALT uses these cards to divide the classroom into three sections. (Try to think of a fun way to do it )
The ALT then pronounces a word; cats, dogs, horses, or; played, passed, wanted. The students have to judge which inflection they heard. If they think they heard the inflection represented by the [d] flashcard they move to the section of the room that was partitioned off for that flashcard. After all the students have made their choices the ALT tells them the correct answer. That's the fast feedback.
Speedy Delivery
The ALT lines has the students form two equal lines. If you can't form two equal teams have the JTE join one of the teams to make it equal. The students at the head of the line race to respond appropriately and quickly to whatever the ALT says. If the ALT says, hello the students respond in the most natural way with a hello of their own. If the ALT says, good-bye the students have to respond with good-bye. If the ALT asks a question the kids have to answer it. The student who answers the quickest(and of course correctly) gets to sit down. The other one has to go to the end of the line and start over. The first team that has all members in their seats is the winner.
Tate/Yoko Game
The name comes from the Japanese words for vertical and horizontal. The ALT has all the kids stand-up and asks them a question. The children get a chance to answer it and the child who is chosen to answer (If he is correct) gets to sit down. He also gets to choose whether the tate line (vertical column) he sits in, or the yoko line (the horizontal row) gets to sit down too. None of the kids wants to be among the last children standing so there will be plenty of people raising hands. One of the teachers I work with has the last kids left standing answer a predetermined question. What food do you like or something on that order. That makes it a kind of batsu game which the kids usually like.
Another way to do this that might make it more fun is to have two sets of cards prepared in advance. One set has easy questions and the other set has harder questions. Shuffle the cards before the game begins and that way the kids who are answering won't know if they are going to get a hard one or an easy one. A little suspense is nice.
Hurricane
The ALT draws a four by four grid on the blackboard. The squares of the board are labelled with numbers and letters so that a certain square is A1 another is B3 and so on. On a seperate piece of paper is a score for each square. (If a question is answered correctly that score is awarded) The scores vary from 0 to whatever number you like. The kids are divided into their lunch groups and in their group they can work together to answer the questions the ALT gives them.
The ALT gives a question to the first lunch group. If they can't answer it the question goes to the next group in line. If they can answer it then the next thing they do is choose one of the squares by saying its name. A1 or D3. The ALT then tells them the score they have won by anwering the question correctly. This is recorded on the blackboard by drawing houses.
Oh. I forgot to mention that instead of being given scores some of the squares have been given an H which stands for hurricane. (There had to be a reason this game was called hurricane) If a teams answers a question correctly and the square they choose is an H square they get to blow away some of the houses of whichever team they like. As many houses as they like. This results in much amusing pleading and subsequent threats of reataliation.
To make the game a little more interesting visually you can have the scores and Hs written on laminated sheets and attached to the blackboard with magnets in such a way that you can't see what's written on the other side until you turn it over (naturally). And if the house/points were little cartoon houses that attached to the board that would also make it look a little more
interesting.
Fast Feedback Listening Quiz
So called because the kids get to see immediately if their choice is correct or not.
The ALT prepares three flash cards (or writes on the blackboard) that stand for the pronunciation of either the past tense or plural inflections.
past tense: [t] [d] [id]
plural: [s] [z] [iz]
The ALT uses these cards to divide the classroom into three sections. (Try to think of a fun way to do it )
The ALT then pronounces a word; cats, dogs, horses, or; played, passed, wanted. The students have to judge which inflection they heard. If they think they heard the inflection represented by the [d] flashcard they move to the section of the room that was partitioned off for that flashcard. After all the students have made their choices the ALT tells them the correct answer. That's the fast feedback.
Speedy Delivery
The ALT lines has the students form two equal lines. If you can't form two equal teams have the JTE join one of the teams to make it equal. The students at the head of the line race to respond appropriately and quickly to whatever the ALT says. If the ALT says, hello the students respond in the most natural way with a hello of their own. If the ALT says, good-bye the students have to respond with good-bye. If the ALT asks a question the kids have to answer it. The student who answers the quickest(and of course correctly) gets to sit down. The other one has to go to the end of the line and start over. The first team that has all members in their seats is the winner.
Tate/Yoko Game
The name comes from the Japanese words for vertical and horizontal. The ALT has all the kids stand-up and asks them a question. The children get a chance to answer it and the child who is chosen to answer (If he is correct) gets to sit down. He also gets to choose whether the tate line (vertical column) he sits in, or the yoko line (the horizontal row) gets to sit down too. None of the kids wants to be among the last children standing so there will be plenty of people raising hands. One of the teachers I work with has the last kids left standing answer a predetermined question. What food do you like or something on that order. That makes it a kind of batsu game which the kids usually like.
Another way to do this that might make it more fun is to have two sets of cards prepared in advance. One set has easy questions and the other set has harder questions. Shuffle the cards before the game begins and that way the kids who are answering won't know if they are going to get a hard one or an easy one. A little suspense is nice.
Hurricane
The ALT draws a four by four grid on the blackboard. The squares of the board are labelled with numbers and letters so that a certain square is A1 another is B3 and so on. On a seperate piece of paper is a score for each square. (If a question is answered correctly that score is awarded) The scores vary from 0 to whatever number you like. The kids are divided into their lunch groups and in their group they can work together to answer the questions the ALT gives them.
The ALT gives a question to the first lunch group. If they can't answer it the question goes to the next group in line. If they can answer it then the next thing they do is choose one of the squares by saying its name. A1 or D3. The ALT then tells them the score they have won by anwering the question correctly. This is recorded on the blackboard by drawing houses.
Oh. I forgot to mention that instead of being given scores some of the squares have been given an H which stands for hurricane. (There had to be a reason this game was called hurricane) If a teams answers a question correctly and the square they choose is an H square they get to blow away some of the houses of whichever team they like. As many houses as they like. This results in much amusing pleading and subsequent threats of reataliation.
To make the game a little more interesting visually you can have the scores and Hs written on laminated sheets and attached to the blackboard with magnets in such a way that you can't see what's written on the other side until you turn it over (naturally). And if the house/points were little cartoon houses that attached to the board that would also make it look a little more
interesting.
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