Use of Japanese in the classroom
Ok for this blog I hope to get some feedback from anyone who is reading this blog, not many I am sure at this point. Anyway, it is of course the use of Japanese in a classroom. It depends a lot on what classes you are teaching of course. For Elementary school students I admit I would rarely use English to explain anything about a game. I would use a little Japanese but then demonstrate the activity, some kids would get it and I would let them explain it in Japanese to the rest of the class. This worked almost 99% of the time and in some rare cases I would explain in Japanese. I also used a lot of Japanese games like fruit basket, karuta, and 神経衰弱(concentration) that required almost no explanation since they are popular and well-known in Japan. I also do this method with my private kids.
For Junior and Senior HS I use English at least 2 times with instructions, but after that I really just want to use Japanese or have the teacher translate. Most students at those ages will not even listen to you, even if you use Japanese, but most students get used to commands like "open your book to page <>".
My reasoning for doing this ( and I feel my way is the best, of course) is that what is important is the activity, not that they understand the English for the instructions. Setting up the activity for success is key, so it is most important that they understand the activity so they can use the English in the activity successfully.
I will post about Adult classes in a later post.
For Junior and Senior HS I use English at least 2 times with instructions, but after that I really just want to use Japanese or have the teacher translate. Most students at those ages will not even listen to you, even if you use Japanese, but most students get used to commands like "open your book to page <>".
My reasoning for doing this ( and I feel my way is the best, of course) is that what is important is the activity, not that they understand the English for the instructions. Setting up the activity for success is key, so it is most important that they understand the activity so they can use the English in the activity successfully.
I will post about Adult classes in a later post.
posted by Floyd at
4:04 AM
4 Comments:
Hi David,
Because time is limited in the class I think it is important to use a little Japanese to make sure that everyone is on the same page and you have enough time to finish everything that you have planned. I think that about 90% of the language should be in English. If the students are not exposed to English they will never learn it. The same is true though if they have no idea what is being said in the class. That is why using mostly English with occasional supplentary explanations in Japanese is important in my opinion.
Hey jh, thanks for commenting. I of course for JHS and HS, like I said, use English as much as possible but there comes a time where it seems pointless. Unfortunetly some students give up before even trying to hear the English. On the other side of my blog, I get upset with teacher who just immedietly translates everything to Japanese. I mean, things like "Open your textbook" and such. The students SHOULD have no trouble understanding that , especially if I use a gesture along with it.
But for Elementary, I often found I use less and less Japanese as the kids went along and got used to commands like stand up, sit down, make a circle, one more time, etc.
How about discipline? I almost never use English in this case. I will try to say "be quiet" but that is just so often ignored. Japanese seems to be very effective in that area, for me anyway. Any thoughts?
Floyd,
I am not much of a discipline guy. The reason why is that I have found that discipline might work in the short term but will not influence long term behavior. It also could just be that I am lousy at discipline (I am).
When students are being noisy, I find that just standing in the front of the class and staring at the students in silence with a stern look on my face will get them to be quiet.
Concerning what language to use, I think it depends of the level of the students and the complexity of what you want to say. A simple "be quiet" (although I do not say it any more) would probably have the same effect in either language.
wow really? I find I can whip bad students into shape. After 5-6 months at the same school, I usually turn bad students into good students. It doesn't always work, but I would say 99% of the time. I guess I have a knack for discipline. I scare the students when I get angry, although its harder for HS students(Some are bigger than me!). Actually just yesterday I was playing a game, the students continued cheating after repeated warnings (in both languages and even by the JTE, although they rarely listen to her). So I got quite angry with them and said I expected more them than and if they want to act like that they can go to the kindergarten across the street. After that , the students did the task without cheating and tried very hard which made me very happy.
I guess I make clear to them what I expect early, and it makes my job easier in the long run. Nothing irritates me more than disrespectful students. I think it is a pet peeve of mine actually.
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