Tag: high school

  • Upcoming – February 22, 2015 – Jason Hill – Using Popular Culture to Create Interesting English Classes

    Location: AIINA, ROOM 602
    Date February, 22 2015
    Time: From 1:30pm – 4:30pm(13:30-16:30)
    Cost: Free for JALT members. ¥1000 for non-members. ¥500 for full-time students.
    Contact: iwatejalt@hotmail.com or jasohill@gmail.com phone/fax: 019-663-3132

    Creating motivation in the English classroom is a challenging proposition in Japanese schools. This is especially true with junior high and high school English curricula. The textbooks try to be stimulating, but usually the content is out of date or is of little interest to students. To get enthusiasm for English back in my classrooms, I have been injecting more popular culture(TV, film, music, sports etc.) into my classes and finding success. I find there is a fine balance in what you can talk about, and this depends on the students’ interests and the amount of time the schedule allows. I would like to talk about my conclusions and then have a small workshop to discuss how we can spice up our English classrooms and make learning more enjoyable and productive.

    Bio

    Jason Hill is Instructor of English at elementary and junior high schools, and currently works for the board of education in Hachimantai City, Iwate. Over the past eleven years, he has taught at every level of primary and secondary education as well as teaching classes for hospitality workers in the tourism industry. He was a participant the JET programme from 2003-2006 and continues to strive to make learning English an enjoyable and worthwhile endeavour.

  • April 20 meeting with Peter J.Collins from the Foreign Language Center at Tokai University.

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    Iwate JALT met on April 20 to discuss “Supplemental Reading Material for Secondary Textbook Lessons.” Our guest speaker was Peter J. Collins, and he had plenty to say about using and making supplemental reading material to complement high school and junior high school textbooks.  He has an extensive background in developing readings for high school students as well as working with textbook makers.

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    His talk focused on ways English teachers in Japan can move away from the traditional ‘translate and memorize’ method  of doing reading assignments, and introduced a new process for which students get a richer background on optional reading assignments through additional readings that are created by JTEs and give more meaning and context to the material the students are trying to learn. Instead of simple grammar and pattern practice, this method challenges the students to comprehend the passages without the weight of previous ‘yakudoku’ learning to hold them back. Additional supplemental readings can be adjusted for the skill level of each classroom.

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    While the talk was designed for teachers and ALTs who work with high school and junior high school students, the information could also be useful for those who teach college and private lessons as well. The meeting had participants from all walks of English education, from private teachers to university lecturers.

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    We want to thank Peter for taking the time out of his busy schedule and sharing his research with us.

     

    Reported by Jason Hill

    All photography ©2014 Jason Hill