From Sage On Stage To Guide On The Side: My Journey As An Educator In Japan by Jason Wolfe

by Jason Wolfe

Bio: Designing a classroom experience centered around creativity and innovation is an exciting topic for this educator with a background in plant ecology and corpus linguistics. 

Jason Wolfe, a Canadian long term Tokyo resident, has taught eikaiwa, high school, and university, and now teaches design full-time and speaks about design thinking.

His volunteering keeps him active in the maker movement, JALT, and TEDxYouth@Tokyo. A collaborator with many groups seeking to provide a much-needed perspective on the future of learning, Jason’s insight into the benefits of tactile explorations inspires the creative problem-solving confidence that will challenge your perspective.

A Little History

I came to Japan in late 2005 and started doing the eikaiwa stuff, GABA mainly, and although I have some issues with the company and how they treat their “non-workers,” I had a positive experience because of all the connections I made there, both personal and professional. 

Over time I found my way into a national high school teaching higher-level English to returnees. This was a nice jump as I was tasked with creating and implementing my own curriculum for the first time.

This was more of teaching something ‘in’ English, instead of teaching English as a language or second language. 

I would later learn proper terms for this, PBL, CLIL, etc.

This was a major high point because previously I'd always had to teach a prepared curriculum and, being who I am, generally had issues with it. I taught what I was interested in, and at the time, it was environmental issues and philosophy.

That school was at the beginning of a transition from a 3 + 3 (junior and senior high school) to a 6-year school, and more importantly, a switch to an International Baccalaureate (IB) school. This is usually done by introducing a cohort on the new plan while the older grades are still in the old system. Every year you add a new cohort as another grade graduates and slowly the school is transitioned. I became part of both schools and there was some learning involved with the IB methodology.

Although the IB program we were teaching, the Middle Years Programme (MYP), was a methodology designed to be implemented with any national or regional curriculum, it was a very different approach. The biggest learning change was assessment. This included rubrics and very clear instructions on what is expected from students to receive a certain grade.

Grading was also organized into four or more criteria with very clear distinctions. In a nutshell, there was much less of “I think this is a 7/10, feels like a 7…” These and other IB related things really opened my eyes to education and what it means to be an educator.

From Sage on Stage to Guide on the Side

From then I started defining what kind of educator I was. I realized I was not really interested in what I thought education was ... students as empty glasses to be filled by the all-knowing teacher.

I wanted to challenge and motivate my students ... create life-long learners (some more IB jargon).

Currently ...

I currently teach Design to junior high school students at a private 6-year high school in downtown Tokyo called Kaichi Nihonbashi Gakuen. This is an IB MYP class and since we follow the national curriculum I had to align my course to the national standards of 技術 (Industrial Arts) and 家庭科 (Home Economics).

Yes, I teach sewing and cooking.

But, I do it in a design thinking sort of way, where I provide problems and challenges and they have to solve them by making something.

Here are a few examples of some problems and solutions:

• Design a locker shelf that will make the classroom a better learning environment for you and your peers (1st-year JHS wood processing project). Students use SketchUp to 3D design their shelf and planning models then make the real thing.
• Design a Japanese inspired healthy breakfast cookie (2nd-year JHS nutrition project). Many people skip breakfast and a cookie is a hand-held solution to that problem. But, a cookie is a little strange for breakfast...hence the Japanese culture addition.
• Design a product that will make elderly people healthier ... using only the parts from an old umbrella! (3rd-year JHS community/society project). There are too many elderly people in Japan (contentious!) and too many umbrellas. Let’s create something that solves both problems.

One thing I try to do as we go from 1st year to 3rd year is to try to make my projects less and less Googleable.

This is to force them to be creative. 

Kids are naturally creative, but in high school they are busy and the whole system seems to reinforce the idea that creativity is not as important as test scores and finals.

If I don't think about forcing creativity, they'll resort to using Google, not due to lack of creativity, but lack of time. The students will Google that project and see what comes up ... I think the idea of giving students something unGoogleable is a must for this generation.

Another task I strive for is radical creativity. As I tweak and update my lessons from year to year I look for areas where creativity can be maximized. This is how I ended up with the challenge to make the elderly healthier using only parts of an old umbrella. Recently I have found that the projects coming back to me are similar and following a trend. I will have to tweak them and possibly allow them to use any waste resource and might even add unGoogleability to the lesson requirements.

When I Google the students' ideas, I want to see nothing in the results.

How can I implement lessons that push for maximum creativity?

A lot of my personal inspiration for creativity comes from the D-School at Stanford. I started following a lot of their steps in my English classes and my science lessons and eventually, I ended up teaching Design. I am very happy with this transition.

Although I teach a little English on the side, my full-time work is as a design teacher - challenging and, hopefully, inspiring students to maximize creativity and prototype like crazy.

The goal is to make quick and dirty solutions to the problem and then iterate and expand.

The language of instruction is English. I teach two classes, the DLC and the GLC class, or the lower and higher English level, respectively. They will study Design for the three years of junior high school.

The goal of the 4-year MYP program at my school is to get their English proficiency up to a level where they can study in an IB Diploma Programme (DP) class in English.

This is a daunting challenge as DP classes are rigorous and challenging. The first year class comes in at a very low-level English and I often have to use some Japanese, provide some bilingual material, and/or have a Japanese teacher assist at times.

Navigating the material at their level is a challenge but the complex nuances of IB assessment is also very complicated (in Japanese too) for their young minds.

Here are some pictures of students working:

Other Responsibilities

The biggest responsibility I have outside of teaching is managing the English book library. The library is a little small and the English books were very few and of limited quality and interest. I have to choose, buy, and process most of the Englsih books.

I love books, but I am not a trained librarian, I had to learn/guess a lot of stuff, and it is a learning process.

There are a few different categories I try to build upon. I make sure to get English books that:

• Correspond to the taught curriculum in both Japanese and English
• Inspire a love of reading
• Should be part of all libraries (I don’t know if anyone will read War and Peace, Marcel Proust, or Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations...but they are there as an antilibrary)
• Facilitate academic research for the end of junior high and senior high school projects
• Progress students through the extensive reading program

Here is our (English) library

For the extensive reading program, I need to provide materials that will allow for a transition from a basic beginner escalating up to native, or near-native, high school level. We try to do this in 4 years, junior 1 to senior 2. The minimum they need to achieve is CEFR B2 in all 4 skills, but even at that level, the DP course will be quite a challenge.

Another thing my school does and I am directly involved with is native speaker homeroom teachers (HRTs).

I am currently a third-year HRT with the GLC class and have to deal with all the responsibilities that go with that. Parent/Teacher interviews, discipline, dealing with personal issues, fieldwork in another city for 3-4 days, classroom tidiness, and other things.

It is a lot of work but mostly, very enjoyable.

I am now in my 4th year at this school, happy and content, but wondering how to keep adding creativity to my life and where the next changes will happen. I have always found that my favorite age to teach is junior high, but it takes a lot of energy and I am not sure I can do that until retirement (although I could as this position is permanent). Change is approaching...but when, where and what...TBD.

-          A note from ALT training online’s David Hayter

If you have something 'ALT' to write about that hasn't been covered in these blogs, email me at alttoblog@gmail.com so we can work together and spread your story.

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How To Use Logic To Improve Your EFL Students' Writing by Liang Ye

by Liang Ye

Bio: Liang Ye is an accidental English teacher. Her previous professional experience was in public policy with the Singapore Government.

She holds a Bachelor of Social Science (double major in Sociology and Psychology), a Masters of Arts in Sociology, and also a Level 7 Diploma in TESOL.

She currently speaks four languages and is learning another two.

Now, she works as an English instructor in Kansai Soka High School in Osaka, Japan.

It all began with a Facebook post. Well, perhaps even before the Facebook post.

I have lived in Japan for a total of six years so far, and had only started teaching English in classrooms three years ago. Even before starting a formal career in teaching, I found myself correcting English essays from children of acquaintances and entertaining odd requests from time to time. Then, I started noticing something peculiar.

Occasionally, I would receive essays that were written in flawless English, but I had no idea what they were talking about.

How is that even possible? The grammar was perfect! But the sentences had no apparent logical link with each other, and the clauses were put together as if the author was talking in circles or even broken spirals. It reminded me of sample speech patterns of patients with schizophrenia or cognitive dissociation in psychology textbooks. How should I even begin to correct them?

Thus began my quest to help English learners straighten out their writing.

A couple of years ago, I joined a senior high school in Osaka as an ALT for the first time. Among my other classes, I was tasked with teaching 6 classes of about 25 students on how to write English essays, all by myself. I was anxious and excited at the prospect. The students had up to that point only learnt how to make sentences. The earlier encounters with “flawless but undecipherable” essays stood out in my mind.

How do I help students learn how to write clearly? Out of ideas and with no other recourse, I turned to Facebook.

One of my friends, upon reading my bewildered post, suggested that I give explicit instructions in the target logic (reason being that most students in Japan are not exposed to logic in their classes), and pointed me to some resources.

From there, I went on to build a 1-year writing course, through trial-and-error, with explicit instructions in logic built into the class. Inevitably, being a newly-minted ALT, I made mistakes and some activities fell flat on their faces. However, there were also elements that worked out very well. In fact, so well that towards the end of the academic year, I had students who reportedly passed Eiken level 2 as they got nearly full marks in the writing section, despite failing the Reading and Listening section. Back then, I had no idea that this hardly ever happens until I told my spouse (a JTE, or Japanese teacher of English, in another school). He had looked at me, his mouth agape, and said in wonder, “That has never happened before”.

Although I have only anecdotal evidence that incorporating logic into a writing course works, I suppose what I did is still worth sharing.

So for those who are interested, I have outlined four basic steps (with some sample activities thrown in as well) to help students learn how to build an argument in English writing.

Although there are many ways to build an argument, the most basic style of writing, when stripped down to its barest form, requires the writer to follow the “If A, then B. Therefore C.” pattern (also called Chain Reasoning).

The key aim here, therefore, is to use the concept of “cause and effect” as a foundation, and then use scaffolding activities to help students learn how to use chain reasoning to write coherently, while avoiding complicated meta-language or brain-twisting Aristotelian syllogisms.

These four steps can either be expanded into a full semester course with lots of practice and examples, or condensed into one lesson, depending on the level of the students and the aim of the writing course.

Teachers can also consider including higher-order thinking strategies such as inductive/deductive syllogisms, logical fallacies or introduce different types of evidence in advanced writing courses.

By teaching students how to build stronger arguments, we also teach students how to think more critically; and this, I believe, should be the cornerstone of a balanced curriculum.

---

Step 1: Start with the importance of time sequence in cause and effect.

Example activity:

• Introduce the following two clauses:
• (A) The window was broken.
• (B) The boy threw a ball.

• Draw a timeline on the board and ask students to indicate whether A or B happens first.

• Then, show the following sentences:
• Sentence 1: The window was broken because the boy threw a ball at it.
• Sentence 2: The boy threw a ball at the window because it was broken.

• Emphasize that sentence 2 is incorrect due to the wrong order of cause and effect.

You can reiterate the time-sensitivity of cause and effect with several other (obvious) examples, depending on the level of your students. You may also consider using games or create worksheets to emphasize this.

Suggested grammar: “A because B”, and “A, so B”.

Step 2: Introduce and go through the following logical errors related to cause & effect.

1. Circular reasoning*
2. No relationship in cause and effect
3. Cause and effect are reversed
4. Insufficient explanation

Example activity:

• Use obvious examples and ask students what is wrong with the sentences. Here are some examples of sentences with their corresponding logical errors:

1. Fast food is unhealthy because fast food is bad for your health.
• (Circular reasoning)
2. The sakura trees are blooming because it is raining.
• (No relationship in cause and effect)
3. The students passed their Eiken test because the teacher is happy.
• (Cause and effect are reversed)
4. I am poor because I eat fast food.
• (Insufficient explanation; this can also fall under error 2 or even 3, but I’ll be using this as an example to introduce chain reasoning later in Step 4).

* Among the four types of errors, circular reasoning is a very common writing pattern among Japanese students, in part due to a lack of control and vocabulary in English. I found the following example (adapted from a student’s essay, and modified for dramatic and comic effect) to be very helpful in driving home what circular reasoning is:

I agree that it is important to learn a foreign language. First, if I learn a foreign language, I can speak a foreign language. If I can speak a foreign language, I can speak to foreigners. If I do not learn a foreign language, I cannot speak to foreigners. For example, because I speak a foreign language, I can speak to foreigners.

To help students recognize and avoid circular reasoning, I find it useful to ask students to think in very concrete terms, by using specific situations, rather than thinking with abstract concepts.

Step 3: Introduce hypothetical scenarios.

Example activity:

• Introduce the following two clauses:
• (A) The window will be broken.
• (B) The boy throws a ball.

• Draw a timeline on the board, this time with a mark in the middle indicating “now”. Ask students to indicate where on the timeline should A or B happen in the future.

• Then, show the following sentences:
• Sentence 1: If the boy throws a ball, the window will be broken.
• Sentence 2: If the window is broken, the boy will throw a ball.

• Emphasize that sentence 2 is incorrect due to the wrong order of cause and effect. 

Suggested grammar: “If A, (s) will B”.

Since “If A, then B. Therefore C.” is the most basic pattern in building an argument, using the grammar “If…, (s) will…” is probably the easiest way for students to string ideas together in an argumentative essay.

Step 4: Introduce chain reasoning.

Example activity:

• Introduce the following sentence and ask students why does the author think this way:
• I am poor because I eat fast food.

• Then, show the following paragraph:

Fast food is more expensive than home-cooked food. If I eat fast food everyday, it will cost me a lot of money. Therefore, I will become poor if I eat fast food everyday.

Break down the paragraph in the following way:

• Pattern 1


• Fast food is more expensive than home-cooked food. (Link 1)

• If I eat fast food everyday, (Link 2)

• it will cost me a lot of money. (Link 3)

• Therefore, I will become poor if I eat fast food everyday. (Conclusion)

Teachers may consider using a variety of examples, or introduce different grammar that follow the same thought pattern. Another pattern is to move the conclusion up in the paragraph and make it the topic sentence:

• Pattern 2
• I will become poor if I eat fast food everyday. (Topic sentence)

• This is because fast food is more expensive than home-cooked food. (Link 1)

• If I eat fast food everyday, (Link 2)

• it will cost me a lot of money. (Link 3)

This second pattern is useful in writing courses where students are taught that topic sentences come at the top of paragraphs. Students can then practice building longer chains of supporting sentences into their paragraphs and work towards writing a full essay.

-          A note from ALT training online’s David Hayter

If you have something 'ALT' to write about that hasn't been covered in these blogs, email me at alttoblog@gmail.com so we can work together and spread your story.

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The Features Of Elementary Education by Mikayla Govern

by Mikayla Govern

Bio: Mikayla Govern is from Midwest America. She completed her bachelor's degree in International Studies and has been working in the international sector ever since. She worked at one of the largest banking corporations in the world before finding her passion for teaching. Now, she works in the Saitama and Tokyo area as a lead ALT and helps develop training for ALTs and Japanese Teachers of English.

This is the first part of a series. Be sure to check out part two!

As many veteran ALTs in the industry already know, the way lesson planning works in Japan is very paperwork heavy and full of bureaucracy. Without Japanese language skills it can be difficult to navigate for a beginner. This is a crash course for beginning teachers of elementary schools in how to navigate the new textbooks and maximize lesson plans based on Japan’s national MEXT plans and expectations.

By 2020, Japan’s planned lesson hours of English in schools across the country will be 70 hours for 5th and 6th grade and 35 hours for 3rd and 4th grade. Last year (H.30/2018) and this year (H.31/2019) are transitional years so the amount taught in schools will be decided by the local boards of education with a minimum of 15 hours for the lower grades and 50 hours for the upper grades. These numbers represent a few changes that affect ALTs in elementary schools across the country.

First, that the new textbooks are not expected to be finished in depth for any grade levels. Unless you are teaching in an English specialty zone, it is unlikely that your school will be aiming to complete the textbooks, as a general rule you might not have many teachers that know about the curriculum changes apart from knowing that they’re happening and the number of English classes will be increased over the next 2 year period.

Second, this push to have increased mandatory English from other grades means there will be an increased demand for elementary ALTs. This could be a good thing or a bad thing depending on how you look at it. The good includes a larger job market for experienced ALTs and a higher chance of working in just one school in the district and better job stability. The other side of the coin could mean increased workloads for ALTs as Elementary English is a new subject so it doesn’t have main English teachers that are working exclusively on English education.　※Elementary education differs from middle school education in how the lessons and workload are divided. In middle schools in Japan you will find that teachers specialize in a subject and then teaches that subject to different classes. However, in elementary education you will have one homeroom teacher who teaches multiple subjects to the same class. Depending on your school you might also have specialized teachers who are in charge of certain subjects but the first pattern is the most common.

With that in mind, some larger elementary schools might receive help from an English specialist (a middle school JTE) from the school district. This program is not yet planned to be carried out at every school in Japan and since it’s not mandated, it will be up to the local boards of education (BOEs) to decide whether to do it or not. Working with these specialists can present new challenges to ALTs who are used to more freedom in the elementary environment, but with good teamwork skills it should bring an overall benefit for the students and the homeroom teachers.

Finally, the amount of hours taught in elementary school means in a lot of cases by 2020, especially in the case of 5th and 6th grade classes, the homeroom teachers will be expected to teach English lessons on their own. Many BOEs are trying to get the teachers to be able to function completely without an ALT and some cities have already made the jump. However, with a lack of English training and ability in general, many teachers are unwilling or not ready for that change. To be honest, there is not a general plan to make this happen as it is up to local BOEs how they want their teachers to interact with the English language. All of this variation in city plans essentially means that the quality of English education will vary drastically from region to region, something to keep in mind when choosing to make a region change in the future.

So how will these teachers teach English? The current way Japanese teachers plan and think about English is that every class needs to cover certain aspects of language acquisition as mandated in the MEXT English subject guidebook. As many of you know there are actually 2 different types of English classes in elementary school gaikokugo-katsudou (外国語活動 - foreign language activities) and　gaikokugo-hen (外国語編 - foreign language education). Gaikokugo-katsudou is for grade 4 and below. Students are expected to have fun and gain exposure to the English language. (This is how the English language had been taught previously in elementary schools with the Hi Friends texts.) As such these students aren’t expected to read, write, or produce language without a lot of support from their teachers. The main point is having fun in these classes. Gaikokugo-hen, however, is a new subject within the elementary education system. The difference now is that it is, in fact, a subject. From this point on 5th and 6th grade students will need to learn to be comfortable with reading, writing, phonics, and language production on their own to have a basic mastery of English. This also means the students will start to be graded. For now, the grade is arbitrarily decided by the homeroom teacher but by 2020 there should be tests and homework for students. So far there is no mandatory testing or homework regiment or requirement so you will find that it varies from school to school.

Another new feature of gaikokugo-hen is the increased need for students to work on skills of deduction and reasoning. Previously, with the Hi-Friends texts, the subject matter was not accumulative. Students would focus on one main grammar structure and practice just that structure. Now, with We Can and Let’s Try, things are much more accumulative which will hopefully lead to more retention of the language. Students will also be exposed to language that they haven’t encountered before within the textbooks. This is to promote self-growth and deductive reasoning in students. With Hi Friends, the listening exercises were mostly based on what students already were taught in class. Now the listening exercises are designed to broaden students’ language boundaries while making them use new deductive reasoning skills learned through-out their new English language education. The problem with this, however, can be the desire for teachers (especially Japanese homeroom teachers) to translate the content into Japanese for their students rather than helping them develop productive, deductive skills that are essential to second language learning acquisition. ※For tips on how to avoid this pitfall, see the next part to this article about the features of the new textbooks.

So with these two main categories of English, how do the Japanese teachers plan for the new lessons? In Japan, previously and currently, there are three main points in English education. These are the same for both gaikokugo-katsudou as well as gaikokugo-hen. The objectives for English education are covered by kitzuku, (気づく - discovery), communication, and nareru (慣れる - acclimatization). These three points should be present in any given unit of your lesson plans. Let’s have some examples of each.

Discovery is very simple; it’s about students being exposed to non-Japanese ways of thinking. For example, in the Let’s Try 1 textbook unit for counting, the textbook exposes students to different languages’ way of counting and rock-paper-scissors. Another example would be if an ALT gave a presentation about a custom from another country (such as a Christmas presentation or a presentation about schools across the world). Discovery can also be a goal of an activity. For example, if you have students look for letters from the alphabet in the classroom, the goal of such an activity could be for students to discover the plethora of English in their surroundings. As an ALT, it is important not only to teach students English but also to broaden their world view. Exposing students to new ideas and customs is a great way to cultivate interest in learning English as well as provide context and motivation for second language acquisition.

Communication is pretty self-explanatory, but a necessary feature of language learning is the ability to convey one’s thoughts and receive information from ones speaking partner(s). Without a doubt this is one feature that Japanese tend to struggle with no matter the age grouping. Communication doesn’t have to be conversation. Any communication using the target language counts. So for example, using a listening practice exercise from the textbook and eliciting the target language and vocabulary from students counts as conversation. Obviously, it would be ideal to have students practice in a free-form way to use as much language as possible, but many students lack the confidence to do so. All communication has to accomplish is transferring an idea from one person to another so games tend to take on this feature most prominently. As the whole point of English education is communication of some sort, I wouldn’t worry too much as undoubtedly all of your lesson plans will include some aspect of communication.

Lastly, acclimatization is the process of becoming accustomed to another language. You might consider this the hardware of your classes. This would include vocabulary drilling and grammar points. This is the explanation point of any given lesson, deepening the understanding of English and allowing students the time to practice new words and phrases before the communication stage. Anytime you play a game with no grammar or conversational context it would fall under this category. The point of acclimatization is to help students build confidence and strength with the basic building blocks of English before they apply them to the communication feature. Some examples of this would be criss-cross game, Pictionary, bingo etc. In my experience a successful ALT incorporates both types of activities in their lessons so the students have the proper scaffolding to produce language and convey things they actually want to say to others.

Apart from the 3 main features of English lessons: discovery, communication, and acclimatization, the new English curriculum has expanded into focus on different skills sets of language performance. These skill sets are applied unequally across gaikokugo-katsudou and gaikokugo-hen. There are 5 skills that are thought to be necessary to develop in the new foreign language curriculum. These skills are listening, speaking (conversationally), presentation, reading, and, finally, writing. Only the first two skills are applied for gaikokugo-katsudou and all five skills must be worked on for the upper grades. Of course there is a little cross over to help kids make the transition between gaikokugo-katsudou and gaikokugo-hen but the main idea of how these classes are taught will follow these principles. ※For more information about these skills and how to develop them in your lesson plans see my article about lesson planning for the new curriculum

In conclusion, the increase in mandatory hours in elementary school means a number of challenges for the average school. However, with these challenges come new opportunities for English growth and the possibility for real change in the fluency for Japanese people. With the two different types of English in schools, there are better defined expectations of elementary school English as well as a better transition from elementary school to junior high school, reducing the stress of students. Using the three features of English education, discovery, communication, and acclimatization, Japanese students will develop a set of the 5 main skills of speaking, listening, reading, writing, and presentation. These skills and features will help students build confidence and knowledge in the English language and allow mastery on a new level. Of course this is just the first step of many changes to come but hopefully, this will mean true and meaningful language learning for the Japanese student.

-          A note from ALT training online’s David Hayter

If you have something 'ALT' to write about that hasn't been covered in these blogs, email me at alttoblog@gmail.com so we can work together and spread your story.

Don't have any ideas? We have a list of topics to write about that need a writer. Email in your interest to write and we can set you up. 

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Can ES Teachers In Japan REALLY Teach English ALONE? by David L. Hayter

by David L. Hayter

Bio: David L. Hayter works as a Lead Assistant Language Teacher (ALT) in Japan. Although he primarily teaches junior high school, he has taught all the grades from kindergarten through ninth grade.

Aside from teaching classes in junior high school, his other duties include training and managing new ALTs, designing and delivering teacher training workshops, and performing other duties for his local Board of Education.

When he’s not teaching, he actively volunteers in his community, enjoys playing video games, loves to cook, trains hard, practices martial arts, podcasts, helps run the ALT Training Online blog and writes for his blog, Yokkaichi Connections.

So it's time to ask the question: Can elementary school teachers in Japan REALLY teach English Alone? The quick answer is, “YES, THEY CAN!” With a little extra help that is.

The MEXT (Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology) in Japan has set the lofty, and some would dare say unrealistic, goal of having ES (elementary school) students study English from the 3rd grade in 2020. While this should definitely mean that future generations will have a better command of English, there is still a lot of work to be done to get the ES teachers ready for the task.

From my experience, different ES teachers have different levels of enthusiasm when it comes to teaching English.

They also have varying skill levels. Some love the subject and jump at the chance to have conversations with ALTs and other English speakers. Other teachers who are less enthusiastic about English may do the minimum amount of instruction required to satisfy the requirements of the curriculum.

Keeping this in mind, this post covers some things Japanese teachers can do to become better teachers of English elementary schools. A lot of the info applies to ALTs as well. Many of the following practices are being promoted by a local BoE (Board of Education) in my area and the good people who work there.

Practice using picture books

ES students, especially the younger crowd, love picture books. However, there is a lot more to using a picture book effectively than just reading the words on the page.

When reading a picture book, make sure all the students can see the book

(I’m a genius, I know).

If you can add in different voices for characters and sound effects, the students really get a kick out of it.

The students will be zoned in on you and your reactions to the story. If you have fun with it, they’ll have fun with it. Don’t be afraid to act really surprised, happy, sad, or scared. It really helps reinforce the meaning of the story!

Lastly, you can also use the book for comprehension questions. You can ask questions like:

• What’s this?
• How many ~ do you see?
• Do you like ~?
• What color is this?

There are a lot of creative ways to get the most out of your picture books. Give it a shot!

Use more digital resources

The world is becoming more digital day by day. The same is true for Japan (although at a much, much slower pace). Despite the slow adoption of new technology in Japan, Japanese children are growing up on tablets and smart-phones.

Using digital resources in the classroom do a lot more to retain the students' attention.

For example, I’ve done a Halloween presentation more than a few times over the years. I first had a presentation with a lot of pictures on the slides. It was interesting for the students, but there were still some who seemed a little checked out.

Later, I added in more animations and transitions. After a while, I put in more GIFs and links to YouTube videos. The content was the same, but it was more engaging for the students.

Even if the students don’t like English, they’ll at least dig the crazy stuff that pops up on the screen.

The new textbooks for ES, We Can and Let’s Try, have some digital materials that can be used with the book. If teachers can combine the digital materials for the book with their own, it’ll make the class more interesting and relevant for their digital-native students.

Make communicative, context based lessons

One idea I’ve picked up over the last year is CBL (Context Based Learning). It may sound like a fancy word off the bat, but it’s pretty simple when you think about it.

When teaching an English class, the students will get more out of the lesson if there is a “context,” or real-world situation, behind the lesson (what a concept!).

The days of drilling grammar and vocabulary in order to translate it and get the right answers for a test do little to produce students who can use English in real-world situations.

Games can be fun but if students don’t get some context with them, it’s kind of like just having fun for nothing.

Many teachers may be intimidated by CBL, but if they can see that it’s not too difficult and can be a lot of fun, I think more teachers will come around to it.

Here are some ways you can give lessons context:

Asking “Wh-” questions

• Write a letter to a student in another country asking about their life
• Interview a famous person
• Find a criminal by interviewing witnesses
• Ask about someone’s hometown

There are a lot of different ways to give lessons context. In the end, simple lessons that get the students up, moving around, and talking with each other tend to go over well.

Become a conversation partner for the students

As teachers in ES begin to teach more on their own (without ALTs), they will naturally have to speak more English in the class (genius - again, I know). That means that the ES teachers will be speaking a lot more with their students.

One of the best ways to do this is to have short, simple, and unscripted conversations with students. 

The goal isn’t to reproduce a passage from a book. Rather, the goal is to build skills and confidence in the students (and sometimes teachers).

The MEXT calls this “small talk,” I call it “just speaking English.”

Here’s an example:

Teacher: Yesterday, we learned about food. Now I have a question. What food do you like? Any volunteers? Yes!

Student 1: I like pizza.

Teacher: Oh, you like pizza? Me too! How about you? Do you like pizza?

Student 2: No. I like sushi.

Teacher: I see. You like sushi. I like sushi, but I don’t like wasabi. How about you? Do you like wasabi?

(And so on, and so forth - I think you get the idea)

From this example, we can see that the conversations aren’t too in depth and the content pretty easy to handle.

These phrases and expressions are the very basic building blocks of language.

There are some things to note from the above example:

1. The conversation is between the teacher and the students
• As the students become better, they should be able to do this with each other.
2. The questions are very simple.
3. There is no right answer (the students get to give their opinion).
4. The teacher repeats the student’s answer.
• This checks for understanding while stating the answer again for other students to hear.
5. “How about you?” is a magic question.
• It makes it more into a back and forth conversation.
• It’s not the usual type of interrogation.
6. The students practice social skills and thinking on their feet
• Some students struggle with this in Japanese, let alone English

Time will tell

The practices listed above are some of the new ideas that are being promoted by BoEs around Japan. We’ll have to see if these ideas end up being effective as time goes on.

I’m fairly hopeful that if teachers begin to incorporate these ideas into their classes, then the English speaking ability of Japanese students should increase over time (fingers crossed).

Although the ALT will remain a valuable resource for teachers and students, incorporating these ideas will move Japan away from an educational system where the ALT primarily has been seen as the model of an English speaker to one where the ES teacher also becomes a model of an English speaker with the ALT (team-teaching, anyone?).

So the answer to my first question again is "YES, THEY CAN!" But, the rest is up to them. Let’s do what we can to make it happen!

-          A note from ALT training online’s David Hayter

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