"They're clumsy"

Hello all!

How are you going? I hope you're well! (If you're in Aus- I hope the heat dies down soon! If you're in Oita- I hope you're keeping warm and snug! If you're from somewhere else- I hope you are basking in a perfect climate- which it seems would be a mix of Sydney and Oita weather!)

I'd like to share another recent experience I had at school which has been playing on my mind since it happened...

The other day, I had to teach a lesson with one of my JTEs (Japanese Teacher of English) who we'll call Mr Ao. In anticipation of the lesson I went up to Mr Ao and mentioned that we would have our lesson soon. I was met with- "I have no plans". This is his usual response. Now, it of course wouldn't be so bad if he then said, "so let's work on something now". It's that when I ask where they are up to in the textbook, he has no idea, and frankly, doesn't care.

            Mr Ao: "So this class is clumsy. Very clumsy. They like games. Let's play Hangman and then the Criss Cross game. Then, maybe a worksheet. OK?".

            Me (In my head): "Ah no. Let's actually teach them some proper content, so they don't ask questions such as "Which do you like fruit"."

            Me (In reality): "Oh, I'm sure they're fine. How about we play one warm up game, and then if you want I can make up an activity for the focus grammar point".

            Mr Ao: "Ahhh, only one game?" (clearly perplexed)

            Me: "I think two games will take too long, as we won't have enough time for the students to learn new content" (this has been demonstrated on a number of occasions with this teacher).

            Mr Ao: Ok- then one game, and you come up with an activity for this part of the textbook and I'll make (i.e. photocopy) a worksheet" .

The time of the class comes and we do the warm up game fine, albeit he wanted me to conduct the game by myself. I'm used to this with a lot of my teachers, so OK.

The class is quite lively, and it takes a little bit to settle them down. But I like this kind of class. A class with personality, a class who gets involved and is -shock horror- somewhat excited to be in an English class.

However, to this teacher, this makes them clumsy.

Next, I taught my activity on the grammar point of- (Noun) is the most (adjective) (Noun 2). So instead of focusing on the textbook example of "What subject do you find most interesting?" I made a simple activity in which students had to vote on which food they thought was the most delicious (If you know me, this is a "very Monica" question).

So, I got the class to suggest five of their favourite foods, to write out the question followed by a sentence stating which food they thought was most delicious out of the five, and then the class voted, and read out the finished sentences.

The choices were: Curry rice, sweet potato, sushi, takoyaki, toriten (my regions speciality of tempura fried chicken. Seriously good stuff!). Surprisingly, sweet potato came out on top.

The students seemed to really quite enjoy the activity. We had a couple of funny moments, and the content was presented in such a way which was easily digestible. I fully admit it wasn't the most stimulating lesson- I had 5 minutes to come up with an idea- but in a small way it had many of the components of a good lesson:

-Speaking, talking, listening, writing.
-The opportunity for the students' ideas to be presented
-Content related to their own lives and useful
-An environment in which students were encouraged to contribute and to have fun

AND

That I, as the main teacher in this situation, believed they could learn.

Even though clearly the students were engaged (as noted with the smiles, "Ahhhs" and "I understand now" many students exclaimed), and that they had just begun their learning on this grammar point, Mr Aso walked to the front of the class to tell me:

             "OK- so Face Game now?"

I was pretty dumbfounded. We had only been learning this content for 15 or so minutes, and that was considered sufficient?? I decided to stand my ground.

           "I think they're actually learning a lot from this. I think it would be a really good idea if we worked on another sentence together".

Fortunately he let me do this- and the students seemed to enjoy this and get something out of it.

(By the way- the question was "What is the most interesting music to you?"- VERY surprisingly out of Justin Beiber, Carly Rae Jepsen, AKB48 (a super chirpy J-pop group with more than 48 members), Mr Children and Michael Jackson, MJ came out on top as the clear winner- who would have thought!)

This all begs the question- Why do I care so much?

Throughout my studies to become a primary school teacher and my teaching experiences both here and in Australia, I have formed quite a solid conception of the type of teacher I want to be. Without boring you with a bunch of adjectives like "caring, fun, exciting, knowledgeable" that every (good) teacher would strive to be, I'd like to focus on just one- to believe in your students.

Ok, sorry! This is beginning to sound like one of those Hollywood films where a teacher is presented with a bunch of apparently delinquent and "no hope" kids, and through the teacher's sheer determination and belief in the children, they all end up in Hardvard and become best friends with Angelina Jolie.

Basically, I think a fundamental part of teaching is holding high expectations of your students, and helping  enable students to work towards given goals through encouragement and supportive structures. "You can do it!... and I'll be there right by you" might sum it up succinctly.

I have taken this attitude across the seas to my role as an ALT. But it's often damn hard to put into practice, as I don't have nearly the same level of autonomy to choose the content, and to deliver my lessons in a way which I think would optimally support the students' learning of English. I've largely accepted that is the nature of my role (although, it's taken nearly 6 months). I'm an Assistant Language Teacher, and there's only so much I can do without overstepping my assigned position.

Therefore, on this occasion, I'd like to consider I had a bit of a "win". Let's hope there's more of them in store for the coming year!