Teaching Children

Our contributors for this topic are:
Brian Campbell
Chris Hunt
Joshua Myerson

Brian Cambell
The Scientific Approach

I try to approach discipline problems in class as I imagine a scientist might. As teachers, we have activities that we want our students to do, and we want them to do them in a certain way, interested, curious, motivated, focused, with confidence etc. In one way, our classes can be seen as an experiment. What do we do when we do not get the results we were hoping for? What do we do when our students are not interested in our activities?

The first thing I do after every class is to write down what happened in a lesson log. I write down the date of the lesson, the targets I had set, the activities I used, how each activity was received by the students, how effective it was, any other information gained I feel was important. This gets it out of my head and captured on paper and helps to facilitate recognition of patterns, generation of new hypotheses, some objectivity and emotional distance and a general increase in feelings of control.

When planning the next lesson, I look over the lesson log and make a point to avoid any activities that did not go over well in past lessons. I look at what worked and I build on that. I look through my teaching activities library (which should be as large as possible and getting larger every year) relying on my intuition to find good activities for the problem class. If you keep going with this process, your sense for what works and what does not will get stronger.

However, even though finding the right set of activities is essential it is not sufficient. I also make sure to write down where they are level-wise. If you try to push ahead too fast, even the brightest kid will start to get discouraged. Teachers have a huge responsibility for their students’ self-esteem. And self-esteem has a lot to do with how successful we feel we are. As teachers we need to keep careful track of the failure tolerance of each student. I think each student has an ideal ratio of success to failure that we need to pay extra-special attention to and we need to remember that ideal ratio will fluctuate. Some days a student may come in and be so down about something that happened earlier in the day that they may need to be up in the 95% success zone. In the middle of class, you need to trust your intuition on this, but the lesson log greatly enhances your intuitive powers.

One particular problem with being a teacher, and especially a new teacher, is that your own success/failure ratio for lesson plans might be lower than the ideal. This has very high potential for lowering the teacher’s self-esteem. Try to keep in mind that science is built on failure. And as long as you make sure to write your failures down and review them, you will not waste time going down the same dead-ends in the future. Besides, your failures are not really failures at all. Each time you fail, you enhance your sense for what does not work. Google Thomas Edison quotes. It could be said that the whole history of our species is founded on failures.

Keep in mind too that the students are also practicing science, although probably not as well as you are if you are writing everything down and reviewing it. Whatever they do is an experiment as well. They are also doing things to see what happens or doing things to try to make something happen. Our immediate goal might be to get our students to settle down and focus on the tasks we set for them, but do not lose sight of the bigger goal of helping them to become autonomous problem-solvers. We want them to develop the ability to aggressively and fearlessly engage with any problem they might be confronted with in the future. We want them to be interested in expanding their understanding in meaningful ways. We want them to become brilliant human beings.

With teaching, there is no line you cross one day where you have arrived and you do not have to think or experiment anymore. There is no limit to how good a teacher you can become. Recently I had the idea that I wanted to someday walk into the city office and demand that they give me a job at the worst junior high school in Osaka. I do not think I am ready for that experience right now, but maybe someday. Keep experimenting. Keep looking for new ideas. Keep growing. And do not let failure discourage you. This teaching stuff is too interesting to get sidetracked by self-doubt.

Brian did the JET program for three years and has been teaching privately in Osaka for the last six.  He has taught pre-school through adult.  He is most interested in enhancing motivation and personal meaning when it comes to learning. Brian can be reached at bricampsan2 (at mark) yahoo.co.jp

Chris Hunt

"Respect your efforts, respect yourself. Self-respect leads to self-discipline. When you have both firmly under your belt, that's real power."

Clint Eastwood

"When I use a word,' Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, 'it means just what I choose it to mean ó neither more nor less."

Lewis Carroll

I have a lot of trouble with discipline. Not that I mean the children I work with are like Siamese cats constantly running up the curtains and shredding the carpet. No, I mean with the concept itself. It makes me uneasy. It makes me nervous. Sometimes it makes me angry.

Usually when we teachers talk about about disciple, I feel that we mean control. We mean forcing children to obey our will and the typical approach is to use a system of punishment and rewards. The stick and the carrot. The amount of each may vary from one classroom to the next, or with the prevailing trends in education but they are always there, somewhere. A classroom without rules, learning without discipline - unthinkable, unacceptable, unworkable! But in the same way that unbirthday presents bring greater joy and surprise, so the concept of undiscipline can bring greater opportunities for genuine learning (well, what's good enough for Charles Dodgson is certainly good enough for me).

But just how can we bring undiscipline to the classroom? Here are a few ideas:

1. Give the children control over what activities are used.
2. Avoid using any kinds of punishments or rewards.
3. Avoid competition unless it is chosen by the children.
4. Don't give homework unless children ask for it.
5. Don't make assumptions
6. Be flexible
7. Focus on Focus

To deal with the last point first, by focus on focus I mean that the real yardship for learning is how much focus the children are bringing to what they are doing. When children are fully engaged in an activity their ability to learn is that much greater. The usual advice for managing the children's classroom is to use a lot of short activities and switch from one to another before they can get bored. But when children are engrossed with something the last thing they will want to do is switch activities. Forcing them to do so is an invasion of their autonomy, and counterproductive if we want them to become independent learners of English. Moreover, if children are really focused the notion of getting bored becomes moot.

Having said this, one problem that will arise is when children are interested in different things. They might not all want to focus on the same thing at once. But do they all need to be doing the same thing at the same time? Could it be possible to have a differentiated classroom? By this I don't mean children working at their own pace and level on the same thing (the typical definition), but on different things at the same time, things that hold their own individual interest. I envisage a situation where some children might be playing a board game while others are doing some worksheets and others reading books. As long as the children are focused in English they will be learning English.

This leads me to the importance of being flexible. I used to accept the NLP notion that the person with the most flexible behaviour is the one who controls the situation. But what I am suggesting here is that notions about control be cast aside. The reason to be flexible is not to control the children through pacing and leading (another NLP idea) but to find ways to keep the children's focus in and on English.

Don't make assumptions is one of the four agreements from the book of the same name by Don Miguel Ruez. The more assumptions we make the less flexible we are likely to be. Not making assumptions means looking for the positive in any situation. It means not typecasting children. It means not typecasting ourselves. It means a continual process of looking at what is actually happening and using our imagination to create new possibilities for what could happen.

I think it is a truism that adults encroach on the lives of children too much. I also know that children won't make as much progress in English if they do it once a week as they will if they do it every day. And I know that homework is a way of ensuring that children do English at least twice a week if we can get them to do it on a different day. But should we really push homework on them? I think a better model is to work at making English so interesting that they will be begging us for homework! Homework can be a benchmark for how interested children actually are in English.

Hopefully, it will be clear by now that the approach I am advocating is to abandon the idea of controlling children and concentrate on helping them to become self-directed English learners. My reasoning behind avoiding competition is that it detracts from focusing on English and in this sense, wastes time. The more children become obsessed with winning the less room there is for learning. Where there are winners there are losers. I think that such notions are best left outside the classroom if we want children to take their English learning into their own hands.

Avoiding punishments and rewards goes hand in hand with avoiding competition. What is a victory but a reward? What is a loss, if it is not some kind of punishment? This is certainly the case when children haven't chosen the competitive activity themselves but had it foisted on them.

G. K. Chesterton wrote, more than once, "If a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing badly". For me this means that one should do something because one is interested in it, not out of desire for reward. If we use stickers and gold stars and other assorted junk to buy children's interest we rob them of the chance to develop a real passion for English. This is not to say that we shouldn't celebrate passion and interest. I think in moderation, celebration can be very motiviating and uplifting, but only if it maintains an element of surprise. Celeberation without surprise is reward in disguise. And reward is form of poison.

Before I began writing this I asked my wife to give me a definition for discipline. She said that discipline is a positive attitude towards learning. I kind of like that. The challenge is to create the environment where such an attitude can flourish. The first step, I think, is to give control to the children and then allow them to realise that with control comes responsibility. I think it can be done. I'm in the process of creating a method to do it. And if there is a method that means anyone can use it, even you - and even me. I began with a Clint Eastwood quote. I'll close with another:

"It takes tremendous discipline to control the influence, the power you have over other people's lives."

Further reading:

Is Your Classroom Under Control? Discipline in the non-teacher's classroom
http://www.wisehat.com/resources/articles/isyourclassroomundercontrol.php

The Four Agreements
http://www.wisehat.com/resources/articles/fouragreements.php
http://www.miguelruiz.com/index.php?p=Books

Punished by Rewards. The Trouble with Gold Stars, Incentive Plans, A's, Praise, and Other Bribes
http://www.alfiekohn.org/books/pbr.htm

Chris has been working with children in Japan since 1994. Apart from his
interests in democratic and co-operative learning he enjoys making
games, music (using a pc) and juggling. He can be reached via his website at
http://www.wisehat.com/wisewhat/contactus.php

Joshua Myerson

Classroom Management not Discipline
(When can I stop babysitting and start teaching?)

There they go again, chatting while I’m trying to explain this point...” “Don’t tell me he is looking at his comic book again while I’m teaching...” “Is he drawing on his desk again?” “Aren’t they interested in getting a good grade in this class?” “How many times do I have to tell them?” “I didn’t take this job to babysit. I took this job because I wanted to teach!!”

When can I stop babysitting and start teaching?” If you have had students or even classes that make you ask this question, then go with your desire and start teaching, but do so understanding what your job is and who your students are. A change in perspective can change your world, and theirs.

We are not just hired to teach a subject. We are hired to teach our students a subject. Our students are learning how to do so many things for the first time. Among other things, they are learning how to make friends, keep friends, be accepted, and deal with all the people in their lives. They are learning how to control their feelings, become organized, and study. If that isn’t enough, they have to deal with school life where they get quizzed and tested on all the subjects they are studying, and this can have a huge effect on how they feel about themselves and the subject matter. On top of that, they all have different parents and personalities. It’s a wonder we don’t have to spend more time keeping them on task.

Let’s put ourselves in their shoes for a moment in hopes that understanding their situation may give us some insight that we will be able to use to our advantage. Teenagers like music. Teenagers have short attention spans. Teenagers like to move around. Teenagers like stories. Teenagers like to talk. We know all of this, yet students in typical junior high school and high school classrooms have to stay seated for 50 minutes at a time, 6 periods a day, while being lectured at. And, we shouldn’t forget that they are surrounded by their friends, who they are not supposed to talk to for the duration of each class. Tell me being in their shoes wouldn’t drive you stir crazy.

So, what’s the solution? I have found that a major part of the solution is to focus not on getting the students to change but on getting ourselves, the teachers, to change. I have found that changing my perspective and developing lesson plans that apply what I know about young students to be a very effective way to begin keeping my students not only on task but also looking forward to my classes.

My perspective on teaching is that these young students have various levels of English skills, as well as various levels of classroom/social skills. It is my job to help them develop both of these skill sets so that there are fewer rough spots and more bright spots for them during their tenure at school. In some cases, my students only need to be made aware of their behavior and how it is affecting themselves or others. Often times that is enough to get my relationship in the classroom with them moving in a more positive direction. In some cases, however, repeated reminders not only from me but from their homeroom teachers or coaches are necessary. My goal is to help change habits and build better ones. Replacing habits and building habits takes years in some cases. With some students this kind of concerted effort is necessary. A word from another teacher may be the miracle that ends an unproductive behavior. Although I always hope for great and sudden change, I understand that sometimes change can be a slow process. To get there, the essential ingredients are understanding, communication, firmness, fairness, and consistency.

When planning my lessons, I try to organize the activities around what I know about teenagers. Because teenagers like music and rhythm, we don’t just read vocabulary word lists. We sing or chant them. Because teenagers have short attention spans, I have a series of activities surrounding our lesson’s target and try to make sure each one is no longer than 10 minutes. Because teenagers like to move around and talk, my activities include class work and pair work, and sometimes group work. In some cases, the students are up and moving around the class either writing on the board or getting information from a partner of their choice. Because teenagers like to talk and hear stories, I often try to get out of the book and ask two or three students a question or two about their lives that are somehow related to the lesson’s target.

Students are always more fun to teach when the students are focused on and involved in the lessons. Structuring your lesson so that it takes into account your students’ needs will go a long way towards the smooth running of your classes. your job title may be ‘English Teacher’, the truth is we are teaching humans and that means we must teach English through a wonderful vehicle called a relationship – the one we have with the students.

When can I start teaching and stop babysitting?” The answer: You can never stop babysitting. However, how often you have to ‘babysit’ and the types of things you ‘babysit’ about will change as you help your students raise their awareness and maturity levels. We have to help the students mature. If we don’t, who will?

Joshua Myerson moved from America to Japan in 1994 and now resides in Nagoya, Aichi.  He currently holds positions as an English instructor at a university, a senior high school, a junior high school, and an English conversation school, which he also manages.  Additionally, he is the coordinator for ETJ-Aichi, a role he has had for the past 10 years. He can be reached at newleaf (at mark) japan.email.ne.jp

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This edition's panelists are:

Yuco Kikuchi
David Lisgo
Alan Meisch
Carla Wilson

Yuco Kikuchi
Bingo
This is a game I play with children for inputting vocabulary and phonics sounds at the same time. In my lesson I don't have any phonics section. I include phonics sounds when we practice vocabulary.

By playing Bingo game every time I introduce new vocabulary, children can learn initial sounds. After a few months most can guess the right word when they hear the initial sound.

It was possible for many children to read and write CVC (e.g. cat, hat, bat) and then later easy graded readers.

Being able to read and write gives children a lot of confidence and motivate them more than we can imagine. I hope you will enjoy this game with your students.

Level:     Any
Purpose:     Inputting new vocabulary and/or structures in a meaningful and fun way and practicing listening to phonics initial sounds.
Skills:        Listening
Time:        5-10 min.
Age:         5 years old and over
Group Size:    Any
Material:    Nine flash cards, Bingo makers, chips or ohajiki

How to play
Step 1:  Preparation
Draw a grid of 3 by 3 on the board. Have children do the same in their notebooks or provide a sheet of paper.  If your students are young, make the grid small and have them draw pictures in the boxes. If your students can copy words, have the 9 boxes big enough for them to write the words.

Call the word one by one and have children draw or write words in their Bingo grid. Tell children to draw or write in any space they want.  Show an example by filling the grid on the board yourself.

Provide bingo markers saying, "Take seven chips each."  and pass a bag or two filled with bingo markers.

Step 2: Play bingo game
Shuffle the flash cards well and take one card from the top. Call a word as if you are saying phonics sounds. e.g. /d/, /d/, /d/, dog.  /k/, /k/, /k/, cat.

Then after a short pause show the flash card to children to see.  (Never show the card before you call the word. If you show the card too soon, children might not listen to your English and won’t develop their listening skills.) Children put a Bingo marker on the word in their grids.

Continue with the rest of flash cards  in the same manner until you have two cards left.

Step 3:
Ask children how many bingos they have got. Children count and say the number in English. Write the numbers on the board and add up all the numbers together with children. Write the sum.

Step 4:
Repeat this and compare the numbers with the previous round.

Step 5:
For the next lesson, use the same Bingo sheet and play again. You can call the word the same way.  But if your students are ready, you can challenge your students by calling a word in a sentence you want to practice and see whether they can catch the word. e.g. I have a brown dog. or There is a brown dog in the yard.

Step 6:
After enough input, ask children to call the words taking turns. e.g. S1: Cat. S2: Hamster. S3: Dog.

Step 7:
Ask children to call the words as part of a sentence you want to practice. Write the target sentence on the board and practice together substituting the word before you start the game.  e.g. Is there a cat/dog/hamster in the yard?

Variation 1:
Use sixteen flash cards instead of nine.

Variation 2:
Use twelve cards and let your students decide which nine words to write/draw in their Bingo grids.

Variation 3:
Include two or three words in a sentence. e.g. I can see a black dog chasing a white cat in the yard.

Variation 4: Finger Bingo Game
Instead of using seven Bingo markers children use their fingers and point all the words they hear. Be sure that the grids are small enough for children's little hands.

It is hard for some children to put fingers on the words. So it is better to finish one round when someone calls "Bingo!"

Yuco teaches children and adults. She has assisted and collaborated in a distance education program in Chiba and Florida and has presented at Expos and conferences including the first TEFL China International Conferences in 2002. Currently she is giving on-site and on-line workshops. Has opened lab-schools for teacher development opportunities in Chiba and Tokyo. A columnist for a magazine for children's teachers in 2008 and 2009 and has been writing for the "What Can I Do on Monday?" column in Teachers Learning with Children, JALT Teaching Children Special Interest Group newsletter. Has been volunteering at an after-school English program in an elementary school in Chiba City. She is an ETJ Chiba coordinator and has been serving as a reading committee member for JALT.

David Lisgo
Mystery card
"Successfully"?  I seem to have varying degrees of success no matter which activity I use; I've learned that any activity can fall flat, usually due to some missing ingredient.  I use a lot of different activities with my classes, but I do have a number of favourites.  Activities which students enjoy using again and again, activities with many variations that can be used with different age groups, levels and class sizes, activities which take little time to set up.  These are the kinds of activities which are my favourites and today I'd like to tell you about one of them which I use in classes of up to nine children from the ages of 5-12. Let's call the game 'mystery card'.



1.  Mystery card: word building.

Materials: alphabet picture cards and some well-known CVC picture/word cards.
Procedure: scatter a number of your alphabet picture cards face-up on the table or floor, then play a little 'touch and stretch' by calling on individual children to touch single cards and vocalise the words, then ask "Two or three cards?" or “Three or four cards?” etc. to allow the students to decide the length of the chain, whilst indicating the meaning of your question with your fingers.  Then link a number of cards together to form a chain. Obviously the longer the chain the more challenging the task, so care should be taken not to make the task too difficult.  Let's choose the words "book, elephant, dog". Now hide the corresponding CVC picture (in this case, bed) behind a large question mark card and have the next child pick up the three cards and place them in a row on the board. Now try and elicit the dialogue:


"I know!"  

"What is it?"

"It's a bed."



If no one knows, then I don't know either, so I'll take a look and see that the mystery card is a picture of a "bed".  We can try again, someone has probably figured it out by now but if not, then Fred, my very large hippopotamus puppet will help us out.



At this stage most of the children won't have a clue as to what is going on, but don't explain just let them work it out in their heads.  Before long it will be a simple task and it's a great skill for them to learn.  Do a few cards this way, then give oral clues only for other cards, for example "apple, nut, tiger" (ant) or "book, umbrella, gorilla" (bug). This greatly simplifies the activity, speeds the process up and allows you to go for longer and more complex words.  I always use the same cards/words when giving clues as they act as a mnemonic for the children.



2.  Mystery card: vocabulary building.
Materials: a number of picture/word cards (preferably picture one side, word the other) both known and unknown, including today's target vocabulary.  All the words must be within the reading abilities of the children.

Procedure: start of by sorting the cards into 'known' and 'unknown' piles.  I like to do this quickly and with fun, so I often play the game "Speed of Light", which goes like this.  I hold a card in front of me and try to cover the picture with both hands before the children can see what it is. To be successful you have to move at the speed of light.  Children stand and shout out each known word and when they are unable to identify a picture, then it goes into a separate pile to be used in the following activity.  I usually select the vocabulary phonetically, choosing up to one card for each student and one for myself. 
 
One student volunteers her name and then I shuffle the cards (the students cannot see them) and she stops me.  I hide this card behind the question mark card and then write a personalized, humourous (to my mind) sentence, which includes the 'mystery' word on the board for her and the other students to read, after the sentence has been read, then the card is given to the student.  Let's say that the target sound is /oa/ as in 'boat' and /ow/ as in 'window' and the unknown words are bowl, crow, pillow, cockroach, goat and toad.  When writing sentences it's important to know what your students are capable of reading and understanding as a group and individually.  Here are some possible sentences.
 
bowl: “In the morning Sayuri eats a bowl of sweets.”  (Ideally you will have a picture of a bowl of sweets.  At this stage some children will struggle with the words "the" and "of", but now is a good time for them to start learning.)
crow: “A big black crow is in Ami's hand.”
pillow: “A soft yellow pillow is on Juzo's bed.”
cockroach: “A big brown cockroach is in Shuntaro's sandwich.”  (Shuntaro has a good sense of humour.)
goat: “A goat is eating Maya's homework.”
toad: “Ten big green toads are in David's kitchen sink.”  I'm prepared and have a picture of a kitchen sink as well as a picture of a toad.
 
That's just two variations of "mystery card".  I hope that you will give them a try and come up with some other ideas on how to use this activity.

David is a school owner of 24 years, part-time teacher at Kanoya Taiku Daigaku, Kagoshima ETJ coordinator, a columnist for ETLNews, author of Blending a Hand and creator of many teaching materials and games for children.

Alan Meisch "rhymes with quiche"
Textless Storybooks

I was recently reminded how important it is for our students to want to use English for genuine communication, not just to repeat what they hear, read a given text aloud, or produce the English needed to perform an exercise. When a child is bursting with a thought or feeling born in their own mind or heart, what a powerful language learning gift it is if we can enable them to express that thought or feeling in English. Textless storybooks are a tool that enables us to give our students this gift. 

Now, reading a storybook with your students might not sound like anything new or out of the ordinary, but if the story and the images are compelling, and if you keep a good handle on the pacing and the way the “text” is engaged, it can be one of the highlights of your lesson.

The salient point of such books is not that they lack text, but that they tell a compelling story that can be thoroughly understood and enjoyed without a single word of text. The pictures don’t just complement, reinforce, or support the story—they tell it. With this kind of book, even a six-year old pre-reader can feel on a par with even the teacher in terms of negotiating the story. This can be very empowering for students who might feel inadequate or inferior when negotiating a story with text. Here’s a peek at the super-simple approach to textless storybooks that has been such a success in my classroom. 

Let’s say we have just finished a page in a book in which a burglar is sneaking into a kitchen, at the same moment that the man of the house is sneaking downstairs to investigate a suspicious noise he has heard. We turn the page and see that there is a cat sleeping on the floor in the kitchen, and in the dark the burglar doesn’t realize (but we do) that he is about to step on the sleeping cat’s tail. At the same time, the man of the house is about to step on roller skate left at the bottom of the stairs by a careless child. There will be numerous other details on this page that are worth noticing as well. 

Students take turns pointing out one thing they see on the page. A very low-level student can simply point, and the teacher can supply the English. A high-level student can choose one element in the picture, and describe and comment on it in detail. They might also want to predict what might happen next. The teacher can assist as little or as much as each student needs, with vocabulary, grammar structures, and whatever else applies. In this way, it is very easy to spontaneously adjust the level of the task to each student. 

ADVANTAGES OF THE ACTIVITY:
— It is highly engaging (assuming an appropriate book has been chosen). Children and adults alike simply love, love, love it!
— It offers excellent recycling of language—both vocabulary and structure.
— The same activity—often the same book—can be used with all ages (six years and up), and all levels of student. 
— It requires minimal preparation time. (How long will it take you to pull the book off the shelf and open it?)

DISADVANTAGES OF THE ACTIVITY:
— It is probably only practical for small groups—perhaps up to six students. 
— It is not likely to fit snugly with other components of a structured curriculum. 

I think the power of this activity is that the students do not feel they are being fed English, and then asked to do something with it. They feel they are being given a story, and are pulled by the story, not pushed by the expectation of language learning. They are first given a reason to want to communicate, then they are assisted in doing so. 

In addition, although the teacher keeps control of the book (see below), each student gets to choose what they will point out in the picture (perhaps what is most fascinating to them, or perhaps what they feel most able to talk about in English) and gets to use as much or as little English as they feel ready to produce. 

TIPS:
— Take your time with each page. You don’t have to milk it for all it’s worth, but most of the significant (even if small) details should be noticed and commented on by someone. With some books I have taken ten, fifteen, or even twenty minutes to fully exploit everything a single page has to offer. 
— I stretch a book out over several lessons, as one of several activities in each lesson. I don’t advise using the whole class time for just the book reading. And don’t try to cram a whole book all in at one go!
— There must be a rule that no one can flip ahead to see what is going to happen, but anyone whose turn it is can always look back at previous pages to see things that might have been missed before. Any looking back should be initiated by the students, though you might try to pique their interest: “Was that cat there before?” Note that it is important, especially with younger, impulsive students, that the teacher maintain control of the book. Otherwise, students may flip ahead to satisfy their burning curiosity, and destroy the need for and value of spoken language in negotiating the story. Don’t sate the students’ curiosity—use it as fuel to feed the fire! 
— Attention among students awaiting their turns rarely wanders as long as the pictures are rich enough and the story engaging enough. (If they’re not rich and engaging enough, you’ve got the wrong book. See “Choosing the Right Book,” below.) 

CHOOSING THE RIGHT BOOK: 
— You want a book with a compelling story and lots of visual details, especially details that are significant to the plot. And, ideally, you want a book that can appeal to as wide a range of ages as possible. (As long as the story is interesting to the students, you won’t need to worry about level of language ability.) 
— Look for a story that will recycle language—both vocabulary and grammatical structures. 
— The more whimsical, bizarre, or unpredictable, the better. (Although a plot that invites predictions is a plus.) 
— Simple children’s books such as Mercer Mayer’s “A Boy, a Dog, and a Frog” are terrific, but they are quite limited in terms of the vocabulary and structure that would be likely to be used in sharing them. You will get a lot more mileage from books that are more complex and richer with detail, and that will appeal to all ages of readers. 

Books I have used with great success: 
* Flotsam: David Wiesner (Clarion) 
Whimsical, and great for trying to figure out the larger picture as the story unfolds. 
* The Flower Man: Mark Ludy (Green Pastures)
A sweet, gentle story with myriad peripheral stories.  
* Full Moon Soup: Alastair Graham (Dial) 
A bit spooky, but the all-time favorite in my classroom! 
* Spot the Differences: Steven Rosen (Scholastic) 
No plot, and little recycling of vocabulary, but it is a format that students are familiar and comfortable with.  
* Anno’s Spain and others by Mitsumasa Anno. 
I haven’t tried this one yet. It is not as compelling as most of those above, but it looks suitable, and I expect it would be readily available in Japan. 

I have been teaching for over ten years, but I am still rather new to teaching children. I still teach adults, but children comprise about two-thirds of my students. Both are a pleasure and a challenge, but in quite different ways. And it just keeps getting more interesting and more satisfying. As one song says, "The greatest adventure is what lies ahead."

Carla Wilson
Dice and concentration
Recently I have been doing some activities which consist of two games in one. One part of the activity is more game-ish although still with a language element, while the other one has more of a language element. One mixed activity I have been using combines concentration (shinkeisuijaku) and dice throwing.

Materials: 12 sided dice and level-appropriate concentration cards

How to play: Write 1-12 on the whiteboard. Next to each number, depending on the level of the class, write a letter, a word, the beginning, or ending, of a sentence, or a question. The student shakes the dice, reads the indicated letter or word, completes the sentence or answers the question. After that, they get to turn two concentration cards over. Again the concentration cards are level-appropriate but usually consist of pictures and letters/words, pictures of things with the same initial letter e.g. banana and bag, or questions and answers.

For beginner level students who are just learning to read and write, the whiteboard could look something like this,

h 7. t
a 8. e
j 9. u
c 10. l
y 11. k
m 12. n

For a class who are reading CVC words, it would look something like this,

hat 7. tip
hot 8. fat
jam 9. ant
pit 10. leg
can 11. keg
mop 12. mat

For a class who can read well, it may look something like this,

Dogs are bigger than .......... 7. Can you play the piano?
Cows are smaller than ........ 8. Do you have a pet?
What color is a banana? 9. How old are you?
How many students are there in this room? 10. What day is it today?
Mount Fuji is higher than .......... 11. Horses are faster than .........
What sport do you like? 12. Hiroshima is warmer than ............

-- I have only played this game in small classes but there is no reason why it couldn’t be played in a large class with groups of 4-6 each having a dice and a set of concentration cards.

-- It is adaptable to any level, as the 12 tasks can be adjusted easily, as can the concentration cards.

-- Having two simple games/activities incorporated into one activity seems to help keep more easily distracted children engaged. Their brains are having to switch between two things and this seems to keep them more focused. It also seems to help prevent the problem of the children memorising letters/words by their position in the game instead of reading them each time.

-- It can be played as a competitive game with children competing for the most pairs of cards, or it can be played as a co-operative game with students working together to get all the pairs within a time limit.

-- Students may start to memorise rather than read the letters/words/sentences even with the mental moving back and forth between activities. If this starts to happen, the teacher can start to change some of what is written on the board midway through the game.

-- The general principle of combining two activities into one can be applied widely to various activities.

Carla Wilson is director of children’s courses and a teacher trainer at David English House in Hiroshima. She also teaches classes at Hiroshima University Attached Elementary School.

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The panelists...
Mark Fennelly
Ann Mayeda and Steven Nishida
Tom Merner
Catherine Oki
Myron Wright

Mark Fennelly
Since the mid-90s I have been involved with pilot schools and was involved with many schools who were struggling to develop curricula and an understanding of English education at this level. Following the introduction of the period of integrated studies in 2002 most schools in the area began introducing English activities which were more often than not based around ALT visits. A focus on motivation and whether the students enjoyed the classes or not seemed to be the main concern of teachers involved and disparity in regularity and content was abundant. The annual surveys by MEXT relating to the regularity and content of English Activities certainly put pressure on schools to increase their classes. By 2008 99% of schools locally were conducting English activity classes and again in the majority of cases it was ALTs or local ‘guest teachers’ who were leading these classes at a rate of about once or twice a month.

Since 2008 great change has been occurring. With the government having outlined the new course of study, base institutions (kyotenko schools) were set up to experiment and research in weekly Foreign Language Activity classes based on the Eigo Note materials. During the first year many kyotenko schools relied heavily on ALTs and local experts, however a shift to homeroom teacher led classes was apparent in the second year of the project. Many teachers involved were anxious about their English ability and the burden of preparing for these new classes.

With compulsory English on the horizon the local prefectural and municipal boards of education began offering training sessions and workshops for teachers. This and the government requiring 30 hours of in-service training for teachers prior to the start of the new course of study in 2011, has lead to an increased demand for teacher training and teacher trainers. Now that teachers have been given the course of study and content on which to base their classes, training has begun to have more focus. However a recent survey suggests that the majority of teachers involved are not confident to be the ones to teach.

Over the last year I have seen a great move from teachers relying on someone else to teach these classes to teachers taking responsibility for classes themselves. A move from once a month classes to once a week classes has made it impossible for most schools, in less than affluent areas, to employ people to teach these classes. If the goal was English education and a skills based approach this would probably be a mistake. However, the goal of foreign language activities is not English education so to speak, it is not a subject (as that would require two hours a week and a textbook: Eigo note is not really a textbook but is a basic guide for teachers). Over two years the students will only have 70 hours of these classes through which it is hoped that the students will get used to some basic phrases and the sound of English, develop interest and knowledge in foreign cultures (and their own culture) and to develop a positive attitude towards communication. It is hoped that the students will develop interest and motivation and that this experiential learning experience will help develop a base in communicative competence. It was deemed that the homeroom teachers are the best fitted to develop the course as they can relate their classes to other subjects and they know how to get the best from their students. They can also act as a role learner for their students. The role of ALTs and local expert has changed to that of a supporting role and language model, though it should be said that some of these ‘guests’ are still reluctant to move to a supporting role.

Observing classes locally I have to say that some of the best classes I have observed have been homeroom teacher led with the students actively involved using English as a tool to communicate. However, some of the classes I have seen have also been terrible. The main reason being that a teacher with little confidence, training or experience returns to what they know best i.e. how they were taught in junior high 20 years ago.

It is obvious that teachers require more training and support. The role of universities is also vital in developing future teachers who can teach successfully under the new course of studies. It should be noted that local universities, including my own have introduced courses for future teachers related to English.

One worry at present is the number of people involved in supporting schools and teacher training who do not fully understand the goal of the course. As it is the responsibility of homeroom teachers to do the best for their students it is the responsibility of teacher trainers and those involved with schools to understand this communicative experience course and not treat it as a skill- based, output based English education course.

Though changes in the course of study outlines for the period of integrated studies is causing many schools to stop teaching English in the lower grades, present research schools are looking into starting in the third grade, first grade or teaching English as a subject, and it seems that English in elementary schools is here to stay. How this change is incorporated by junior high schools is an area which will receive a lot of attention over the next year or so.

Mark Fennelly taught English at the elementary and junior high school level for over 15 years in Egypt and Japan before joining the faculty of Shikoku University in 2004. For the past seven years he has been responsible for teacher training classes related to elementary and kindergarten English for English and education majors. He has been involved in teacher training for elementary school teachers for many years and supports prefectural and municipal training workshops locally. Believing in ‘hands on’ experience he has introduced real classroom experience into his classes and developed a network of voluntary opportunities in elementary schools for students. His research interests include teacher development, task-based approach and curriculum development.

Ann Mayeda and Steven Nishida
Teacher O has been teaching in public elementary schools for over 30 years. She is currently the chief teacher-trainer and foreign language activities coordinator at a MEXT-designated pilot school in southern Osaka. She speaks very little English but has been facilitating English activities in elementary schools since 2001. Currently Eigo Noto (EN) is being implemented in stages: beginning with 15 classroom hours in grades 5 and 6 in 2009, increasing to 25 hours in 2010, and finally reaching 35 hours in 2011 when compulsory English classes begin in all public elementary schools.

To ensure that her colleagues have a clear understanding of how ‘English activities classes’ will be conducted, Teacher O decided early on to involve the entire teaching staff in the planning process. In 2008 they were divided into two teams. Grade 1, 3, and 5 teachers made up the Grade 5 team, grade 2, 4, and 6 teachers made up the grade 6 team. Each team brainstormed possible teaching schemes and schedules for the 15 teaching hours in 2009 and came up with tentative lesson plans. Each group based their curriculum on the EN instructional materials (including the interactive whiteboard software) and modified the progression to take into account the number of teaching hours available with the assistant native English teachers (NTs).

Teacher O overcomes her limited English ability by collaborating with colleagues and other teachers in her area who help her to plan effective English activities for the classroom. Contributors to her cause range from proficient non-native teachers of English to native teachers of English to enthusiastic learners, including a number of her teaching colleagues. She endeavors to understand MEXT’s guidelines for foreign language activities and how they translate to actual classroom practice, and she attends teacher training seminars regularly. Teacher O empowers the teaching staff with a ‘can do’ attitude. She has worked subtly and persistently to bring everyone on board and they, collectively, make up for any limitations posed by their relatively weak English ability. This school is buzzing with positive energy from the principal on down to the individual students.

Contrast this with the situation of Teacher R. Teacher R has been teaching for over 25 years in northeastern Osaka. She teaches music to all grades and is also the foreign language activities coordinator. She communicates competently and confidently in English, and this is the main reason she was chosen to lead English activities at her school. Teacher R’s school also has a student body of roughly 800 students, and hers is also a pilot school for foreign language activities. English activities have been conducted in all grades since 2001 with between 1 and 10 classroom hours per year.

Teacher R designs and coordinates all of the classes by herself. She draws up all lesson plans, then creates all props and teaching materials. Next, she discusses the lesson plans with the NTs, reviews the content with the home room teacher (HRT) and, finally, hands each HRT their ‘package’ lesson. The amount of work she does is astounding, so the administrative staff view her as a savior. While the teaching staff certainly appreciate her willingness to lighten the load for all teachers, there is tepid enthusiasm at this school regarding English education as a whole. In fact, she cites passive resistance both from older teachers who disagree with English education in the primary years and from younger teachers who lack confidence in their ability to teach English, or even to speak it themselves. There is a systemic dependency on Teacher R to solve all issues related to English. Consequently, there is a general lack of interest in conducting English lessons and even teachers who excel as 5th and 6th grade teachers have given strong indication that they no longer want to teach these grades if they are required to conduct English activities. Given this environment, Teacher R feels great pressure to do everything herself; to package up the lessons and deliver them ready-to-go. She is aware that the current situation is not sustainable in the long term, but she sees the current workflow as the path of least resistance.

Teacher O and Teacher R are both dedicated professionals committed to implementing foreign language activities, but they have vastly different approaches to their duties. Teacher O lacks English ability but empowers her colleagues, resulting in collective enthusiasm, mutual support, and learning by all parties involved. Teacher R is a competent teacher of English but unintentionally enables her colleagues to rely solely on her skills, resulting in rampant over-dependence, low motivation, and general apathy.

These are two common scenarios we have heard from teachers working hard to implement national educational policy. In both scenarios, the coordinators are committed to engaging students in foreign language activities by exposing them to experiential learning situations, getting familiar with basic phrases and the sounds of English, developing interest and knowledge in their own and foreign cultures and cultivating a positive attitude towards communication. In both scenarios, the coordinator’s guiding objective is to provide students with a solid base upon which communicative competence can be developed.

The take-away point: In every public elementary school, one teacher is chosen to act as a ‘coordinator’ of English activities in that particular school. The attitude and approach exhibited by this ‘coordinator’ set the tone and direction of that school’s English activities, including the general English environment. If the ‘coordinator’ is a giver, or ‘enabler’, it is likely that most of the teaching staff will be resistant or apathetic, and students will ultimately receive lukewarm foreign language activities. If, on the other hand, the ‘coordinator’ works to empower her fellow teachers, they are likely to establish a positive support network that fosters a willingness to work by committee and even try things out for themselves. Our experience strongly suggests that process is the most reliable determiner of success.

Ann Mayeda and Steven Nishida developed and coordinated a three-year MEXT-funded elementary school teacher-training program which was hosted by Osaka Shoin Women’s University and delivered to over 350 in-service teachers between 2007 and 2010. Ann teaches at Konan Women’s University in Kobe. She has worked with young learners for as long as she had been in Japan, is a teacher-trainer and consultant for several public elementary schools in the Osaka and Nara area, and has also conducted workshops for the Osaka Education Center. She also has a keen interest in learner autonomy, motivation, and learner development as it applies to children and young adult learners. Steven teaches at Nara Institute of Science and Technology and is Co-Owner of English Masters - Communication Center. He has been organizing EFL events and communities in Japan for more than 10 years. He has also served as a teacher-trainer and consultant for Nara’s Prefectural Board of Education and a number of elementary schools in Nara. His current interests are in positive organizational psychology, learner autonomy, computer assisted language learning, and presentation design.

Tom Merner
A quick and simple answer to this question would be ... all schools that I know are struggling to fill up 35 class hours of lessons for the implementation of English Activities in 5th and 6th grades from the 2011 school year. How this effort is proceeding depends on each school and area. I will try to explain some of the issues such schools currently face based on my experience being involved in school program development and teacher training.

“English Activities” (EA) was first introduced into the elementary school curriculum in the year 2002, and over the years, it is reported that the number of schools conducting English Activities exceeded 90%. However, the reality is that the majority of these schools that started EA depended heavily on ALTs and other outside resources. In other words, very few schools had their own teachers conduct EA, and in most cases, lessons were prepared by such visiting teachers. Moreover, most schools lacked clear goals or a good understanding of what the aims of EA were. Under these circumstances, the majority of teachers kept an impression of the purpose of EA to be simply for teaching English to children, which is a misunderstanding shared by a large number of people across the country. Many elementary school teachers, who have this impression, still are not convinced why English must be implemented into the elementary school curriculum.

At the time EA was first implemented as an option in the current Course of Study (Shidouyouryou), the aim of EA was stated as not being mainly for language acquisition. The main goal was to nurture a willingness to communicate (not necessarily in English) through the experience children have in activities conducted in English. This was reflected in the name English “Activities” (NOT elementary school English education) and is maintained in the next Course of Study. Unfortunately, this was not explained clearly, and the majority of activities introduced by those who provided advice for the early development of EA were from the field of teaching English to children. Such activities became widespread and left the above mentioned impression, which also resulted in many elementary school teachers avoiding taking part.

Since the implementation of the renewed Elementary School Course of Study is set for the 2011 school year, elementary schools are now in a two year transition period called Ikoukikan. Schools use this period to prepare for the new Course of Studies, and prefectural and city boards of education provide various teacher training sessions for this purpose. At the prefectural level, a one year training course called Chukakukyouin Kenshu (Core Teacher Training) has been provided in the past two years. One teacher from each elementary school is required to attend this course and is asked to share the information with colleague teachers. From what I have heard, following an explanation of the outline of the upcoming implementation of EA, quite a lot of time is spent for workshops introducing the methods of using Eigo-note (a supplementary book prepared by the Ministry of Education). It is often the case that teachers attending these sessions still lack a good understanding of the purpose of EA and many state that they still lack self confidence to conduct EA on their own. What also frequently happens is that younger teachers are sent to these training sessions and since these teachers lack experience, both in teaching and dealing with such issues in school, they face difficulties sharing the information provided.

The first step I take when providing teacher training is to try to explain that EA is not simply for teaching English and the main aim is to develop a foundation for communication. Many schools seem to interpret this “foundation for communication” as “a basic knowledge and skills of English” and try especially to develop production skills (often in a rote manner). My own interpretation of the goal is nurturing a “foundation”, or what supports, children’s communicative competence not only in English but also in Japanese. What I mean here is a willingness to overcome difficulties when faced in a communicative situation where children have trouble understanding others or expressing themselves. My opinion is that the majority of teaching methods including what has been adopted in the Eigo-note fail to achieve this aim because there is an over emphasis in building speaking skills (mostly with rote practice). I personally think that more emphasis should be placed on listening, and activities should be meaningful with more attention given to the interests of 5th and 6th grade children. I also stress the need for schools to set up clear goals for their EA program based on their school educational goals, which are based on holistic or whole person education. There is a need to develop new approaches for EA that fit into the philosophy of elementary school education in general and can also play a role in achieving the educational goals. What we are trying to do is to educate children who are willing to take risks and overcome difficulties in communicative situations, children who actively cooperate with each other, and children who are inquisitive rather than being passive learners.

Many teachers have expressed a better understanding of EA, but I must admit developing activities and lessons and also building the teachers’ self confidence to conduct such lessons on their own is a time consuming process. This is a big issue I face myself along with the teachers I work with. However, I have also met many elementary school teachers who are very creative and challenging in the scope of trying to develop meaningful EA programs.

Tom Merner is a part time instructor at Showa Women's University attached elementary school and lecturer at Reitaku University and Tokyo International University. He is also a teacher trainer and adviser for various elementary schools and city boards of education.

Catherine Oki
I teach at a private Elementary School, where English is taught from first grade. I will explain about our program, the curriculum, what has worked and not worked, and what I have come to believe is important.

Each class has 40 students and is team-taught by teachers specifically hired to teach English. We do not teach with homeroom teachers. While the homeroom teachers' intimate knowledge of their students would be useful, we have found that communicating with them and building our own relationship with the students has helped to compensate.

Our curriculum is self-made. Currently we are revising the curriculum for the 2010 school year. To begin each teacher reflects on what worked with the students they taught this year. Next, we think of new ideas/language that we believe would fit in well to expand or replace parts of the current curriculum. Last, as a department we meet to give feedback and exchange ideas. This has been a positive process, allowing us the flexibility to choose what we think is best for the students and to share our collective experience.

This was not always the case, however. At one time we followed textbooks chosen from a publisher. While easier, teachers felt constrained by the content and therefore thought the classes weren’t student-centered enough. Hence, a new curriculum and original materials were made, sometimes supplemented with songs, pictures, etc from published textbooks. This change has allowed us to go at a pace that is comfortable. We don’t feel like we have to rush through to finish the book in one year, but instead can go at a rate that makes sense for the students’ progress.

Making our own songs, cards, stories, power point slides, etc to support our chosen themes and topics has definitely made more work for us. On the other hand, it has allowed the students to learn language selected with their current level, knowledge, and likes in mind. In the end, we teachers are enjoying teaching more, feeling satisfied with our choices, while also knowing that when we are unsatisfied we can change to different language or themes.

Officially we are not teaching literacy, but it has come naturally into our program as we read to students and we see their interest in text increase. Phonics is taught and students in the lower grades spend time blending sounds. The school has supported our efforts to introduce more books and we hope to develop better literacy skills as students age, while still working on communication.

Ultimately, our goal is to help students feel comfortable using English to talk about themselves and learn about others. We encourage them to do so by providing opportunities for them to use their English. Students can participate in a Discovery Trip overseas, and this year we began working with foreign students from our affiliate college who spend time talking with students in class. Scheduling was the biggest challenge, but we hope to try again and improve next year.

Also, the school has been supportive of different projects, for example we have been researching the effect of class size and achievement in English. While the project is in its nascence, we appreciate the support. Additionally, the school encourages our running an After School English program, which we want to expand.

In our After School English (ASE) program, 1st and 2nd graders can come for additional English classes once a week. Here we place more emphasis on phonics and have created a Graded Reader Library. Each child can borrow one book (with CD) each week. We also focus on functional language, getting students to ask for what they want, or tell us about something that they enjoyed or disliked. Even small phrases like, “Yummy” or “Yucky” fit with our ASE goals.

In sum, we believe that planning the curriculum with our students in mind, offering them opportunities to use what they have learned, and exposing them to books are important. We are still discovering how best to do this, but giving teachers more control to make decisions about content and direction, in my opinion, has given us more stake in the outcomes and I personally feel greater job satisfaction and motivation to do my best.

Catherine Oki has been teaching in Japan for over a decade. While currently teaching at a private elementary school in Kyoto, she enjoys teacher training and has trained teachers in Japan and Vietnam. Storybook reading, literacy, and Action Research are among her other interests. Catherine has her MA in Teaching English to Young Learners from the University of York in England.

Myron Wright
MEXT gave a directive for all teachers to have 30 hours of in-service training in English during the current school year and the upcoming one.  Many schools have used 5-minute one-point lessons once a week as part of the regular morning staff meeting to build up time towards this requirement.  I have also done several after school teacher training sessions.  I was talking with a principal after one of these sessions and he thought that it would take another year for the teachers to get ready.  I suggested that it will take at least another 5 years before most teachers have rotated through a year or two of actually running weekly classes since only a third of them will be doing it in any given year.

For the upcoming year, our BOE has "strongly suggested" that all schools schedule 30 hours of English class for the upper grades.  Obihiro has had 2 full-time ALTs exclusively for elementary schools since 2001.  But with 2 teachers divided among 26 schools, there was never enough time for an organized program as very few of them did English classes when the ALT wasn't there.  That has changed to some extent this year but most of the schools were scheduling 10 - 15 classes this year.

I think the largest stress factor for HRTs now is that they don't feel that they can run an English class in English - and they are right.  My usual advice to them is that they should take it slowly and do what they are able to in English.  Instead of cramming all that "classroom English" before the start of the program, learning 1 or 2 new phrases every week - and using them.  They should think of themselves as co-learners with their kids and emphasize that they are learning this together with them.  I also encourage them to take English out of the English class and into the rest of the day in little ways - saying days and dates in the morning meeting, page numbers, exercises in PE - in English.  Making it a normal function of everyday school life instead of a special case will help bring down the anxiety factor for both teachers and students.

Hailing from Iowa, USA, Myron Wright has been teaching English in Obihiro, Hokkaido since 1993.  He has been teaching in the City's elementary schools for 9 of his 12 years with the BOE in addition to running Wright English School.

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To be started very soon... The Teaching Children Discussion will feature a panel of guests who will each write a response to a given theme or question, similar in format the the Think Tank. The panel will vary depending on the topic but will feature people involved in children's English education from around Japan. The first theme to be discussed is English in Elementary Schools, and that will be online very soon.

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• Classroom Management (1)
• Classroom Resources
• Elementary School English (1)
• Games and Activities (1)
• Very Young Learners

• How do you maintain discipline in your classroom , and what advice would you give to teachers who are experiencing discipline problems?
• What activity have you been using successfully in class recently?
• What is happening now at the elementary school(s) you are involved with regarding the implementation of English Activities?
• Coming soon...

• How do you maintain discipline in your classroom , and what advice would you give to teachers who are experiencing discipline problems?
    - hussey
  
• What is happening now at the elementary school(s) you are involved with regarding the implementation of English Activities?
    - michael eckstein