When you come to Japan as an ALT you are not only here to teach English but also to teach about the culture of your home country. For this reason, the JET Program will suggest you bring along some materials for this purpose. These small, inexpensive (maybe free) items aren’t too difficult to obtain at home and will greatly add to your classes. Visual aids in general are great to use with any group of students but I think they’re even more important to use with English Language Learners because it helps them better understand the words you are saying. Here’s a list of what I’ve brought, as well as some things I wish I would have brought from the USA.
Photos and Videos
I didn’t bring too many of these because I was never big on taking photos of everyday things, but now that I’m in Japan and I have to teach monthly visit classes on foreign culture I really wish I had taken a lot of photos while in America to teach my kids about American culture. You could have pictures of…
• All major holidays (Christmas, Thanksgiving, 4th of July, Halloween, Easter, Valentine’s Day, etc.)
• School related (prom, graduation, school festivals, pictures of students, classrooms, your school)
• Family and friends (birthdays, holidays, sleepovers, dinners)
• Interesting places around your hometown (historic buildings, social gathering places, parks, etc.)
• Famous places nearby (monuments, landmarks, national parks, State parks)
• Other places (your house, post office, bank, store, mall, movie theater, day care, nursing home, etc.)
USA Coins and Bills
I have a set of real coins and bills, big paper money coins and bills I got from a teacher store, all 50 USA Quarters that are displayed in one of those quarter books, and sets of the quarters (6 in each set) for students to look at in groups. One of my favorite lessons involves teaching students about America’s 50 State Quarter Program, showing them Missouri’s quarter and how you can learn about each State’s history and culture by looking at its quarter. I draw a big circle on the chalk board and ask them what Nagano’s coin would look like if Japan did such a program, which can be interesting for them. I then put them into groups of 5 or 6 and give them one of the sets and a worksheet asking…
1. Which State’s quarter do you have?
2. Where is that State? (circle it on the map below)
3. What images are on the quarter?
4. Looking at the quarter, what do you think the State is famous for?
After the groups are finished discussing I have a member of the group come up and present their coin. The best State quarters for this activity are: Tennessee, Maine, Florida, Alaska, Arizona, Wisconsin, Arkansas, and Hawaii because they know most of the names of the things on their quarter and if not, can easily look them up. Tennessee, for example, has pictures of a guitar, trumpet, violin and stars on it and the students can easily deduce that Tennessee is famous for music. I also have sets of Illinois, Colorado, and Alabama, but they don’t seem to work as well (Colorado’s is too simple, not all students know Helen Keller, and kids don’t get the Chicago/countryside backdrop on Illinois’ quarter). Missouri’s coin would also be good for students to use if I didn’t show it as an example.
Postcards
I grabbed some postcard booklets before leaving for Japan and use these to teach students about where I’m from. One activity I’ve done in the past is write descriptions of the postcards in English and have the students walk around the classroom and match the picture to the description. There are probably many more things I could do with these, like have students make a write on their own postcards or something. Let me know if you have any ideas.
Picture Book from your State
I brought a picture book of Missouri with me and brought a St. Louis Arch calendar for the office. Although I don’t use them as much, both have come in handy when I needed to show a picture of something cultural, like, well… the Arch. A picture book makes a good souvenir too.
License Plates
This might sound farfetched but I have some real Missouri license plates with me. (Authentic plates cost about $20 in Japan by the way) I found a license plate flashcard set at the Cracker Barrel; the front side has a picture of the State’s license plate and the backside is filled with information about the State that kids can use on road trips. Because of this I grabbed some old car plates before leaving for Japan. American States are much different than Japanese prefectures because of the amount of self-governing power our States have compared to prefectures. The fact that we can have our own plates and quarters is different. We focus not only being Americans but on what part of America we’re from and which State we’re from too. Just as you can learn about America by looking at coins, you can look at license plates. For my international studies students, I’m going to have each student become an expert on one State and present to the class. For the general students, I’m thinking about doing some type of matching activity similar to the postcard one.
On Monday I will use these flashcards for the first time for my elective English class. Two of the boys will go to America in August to be exchange students for a year but don’t know which State they’re going to yet, only that they’re going to the “Southeast.” After introducing them to the South, I’m going to give each student one license plate and coin from the South and ask them to become experts on that State and give a brief presentation to the class. Since we have 13 students and I’ll do Missouri as an example (though I only consider only the Southern portion of the State part of the South), we’re bound to talk about the State(s) the boys are heading to. I’ll ask them to tell the class…
1. The name of the State
2. The State’s nickname (on the back of the license plate flashcard)
3. What’s on the quarter
4. What’s on the license plate
5. What they think the State is famous for because of the coin and plate
6. One interesting fact they learned from the back of the license plate flashcard
Menus/receipts/price tags/ movie stubs/etc
I don’t have any of these but wish I did. Every Japanese text book has some chapter on how much something is and has activities where you role play buying stuff. There’s also some type of food chapter too where you pretend to order food. I wish I had some of these ‘artifacts’ with me to show students prices, how things are organized, the size of clothing over here, how English is important when you’re abroad, etc. I want to show the kids going to America how much cheaper stuff is too.
I’ll let you know more ideas when I think of them. I can imagine some nifty lesson plans where you could combine several of these materials together to make English class really interactive. Of course, family members, if you want to start saving up receipts and stuff, I won’t stop you. 
Filed under: Uncategorized
The days and weeks seem to fly by living in Japan. I’m not sure why it’s like this, it just is and it’s kind of nice. It’s already the middle of June. I got paid and already most of it’s gone to Ryan for his new college courses that will start next week. I’m into my 3rd week of summer classes with MU, taking two classes, one on using technology in the classroom and the other on teaching reading and writing in content areas. It took a while to get motivated to begin these classes but I’m getting into the swing of things now.
On the 14th I was invited to the first dinner/meet and greet for the MU students who will be studying abroad in Iida this summer. It was intersting to be joining the same dinner I went to two years ago only this time I was there not as a student nor a host family, but as an Iida resident and former member of the program. Most of the students on the program seem pretty cool and I hope they are getting along well despite all the rain and humidity. I saw a couple of them last weekend along with a couple of good friends from prior study abroad programs at my host family’s parents house. They treated us all to a Japanese cookout, which was a lot of fun. It was great to catch up with friends who are now working in Japan, about to start work in Japan, who have studied in Japan this past year, and who have just come back from America.
Thinking about the new MU students in Iida, while it’d be fun to able to spend a summer studying and exploring, I’m happy where I am right now in life. It’s nice to have a job, to be making my own money and for both Ryan and me to be working towards a good future together. Ryan and I, by the way, I get along just fine in Japan. Every morning I wake up and hug him, telling him I don’t want to go to school and would rather stay with him all day. I try to get home from school fairly quickly to spend time with him; right now we’re in the middle of watching Scrubs, and are also playing some video games together. We take turns cooking, cleaning and always go shopping together. Though our routine is alittle strange with me going to work and him staying home, it’s working out well. I
I like to keep up with US and World and was shocked to hear that John and Kate have gotten divorced. My mom and I used to watch their show together on TLC and enjoyed watching their kids grow and learn. That news came as more of a shock to me than news usually does, maybe because I’ve seen the show quite a bit, but maybe because I’m married now. It seems like something could have been done for them to keep their relationship strong, even if it meant canceling the show. I can’t ever imagine Ryan and me ever spliting and hope Americans begin taking a harder, longer look at marriage and what can be done to prevent 1 in 2 marriages from ending in divorce.
One of the things I do at school is try to always keep myself busy. It passes the time and makes me feel like I’m doing something useful. One of my recent projects was leading the students in our “Jiji Eigo” class, literally “Current Affairs in English” class, in creating a homeroom newsletter in English. Since only a portion of the 3rd year international studies students were in this class, we had them pair up with their classmates to create a classroom newsletter everyone could call their own. Everyone put a lot of hard work into this project so if you have time, follow this link and check our newsletter out. Through this newsletter you can learn a little about Japanese school life and about the international studies program.
Another nice thing about this project is that it gives the students something tangible to show their English proficiency. When they apply to universities and have interviews with the faculty, they can bring projects like this newsletter along with them. Applying to universities in Japan is difficult. Like the US, you have to take a test like the ACT/SAT that strictly determines which universities you can apply to. Then you have to decide which unversities to apply to and take their own entrance exam, and in the case of some special programs, such as the international studies programs, you have to have an interview in Japanese and/or English. Everything helps, I suppose, so I hope my students study hard, and dream big.
http://www.nagano-c.ed.jp/fuetsuhs/EngFutWeb/NewsLetter/Newsletter2009June3nen.pdf
Filed under: Happenings
The rainy season has come to Japan, the summer heat slowly being drenched by the soft pounding of rain. Along with this comes the realization that summer is upon us and that despite the cloudy skies and wet ground, there is much to prepare for. Summer is a happily busy time for high school students in Japan. With the school festival a little more than a month away, I see students doing different things to prepare their school for the biggest event of the year. At the same time, exams are coming up soon so there’s some apprehension in the air as well.
Possibly more exciting for me though is that the MU (university of Missouri) students have just arrived in Japan and will be coming to Iida on the 14th. During the next few weeks I’ll be able to meet up with old friends and make some new.
Also, my summer grad school classes start up on June 8th. I don’t feel motivated at all right now for summer classes, but with any luck I’ll get into gear by Monday.
