If you are early

If you are early to school and the classroom is still locked then go to the administrator in the office and ask for the key. Say something like:

"oh, good morning, um, could I please have the key for L11?

The administrator might say comments to you like:

Admin: oh, it's cold this morning isn't it?

You: oh, yes, it is, I need to try to keep warm.

Admin: here it is.

You: oh, thanks very much, I'll return it soon.

Admin: thanks, have a nice day.

You: oh, thanks, you too.

If you are waiting outside for the administrator to open the main door then you can knock on the window. The administrator will then open the door for you. In this situation you should say:

You: oh, thanks very much

or

You: oh, thanks, I really appreciate you opening the door because it's very cold (ha ha).

Safety Strategies

Today in class we will go over some "safety" strategies.

These are used if you think that somebody has misunderstood what you have said.

For example:

1. I'm sorry; I don't think that I have expressed myself very well. um, could I talk to you later about this?

2. Oh, sorry, um, yeah, I can't really say what I want to say in English. Um, could I get back to you on this one?

Now, you try making up an expression like the two above. Make a comment on this post and I will check it with you later.

I hope that you had a good time playing at Unipol yesterday. Looking forward to seeing you soon.
Mike

Electrical Class

Today, the students did some review on some basic electrical terms, such as micro, milli, pico, etc. The students understood how to do the calculations, but had a lot of difficulty explaining them.

I taught the students to frame their explanation like this: well, um, today, I learnt that "milli" was ten to the power of negative three. Actually, I already knew this, but I learnt how to explain it in English, um, yeah, I also learnt other vocabularly like this, such as, um, do you know, "pico?"
Oh, well, "pico" is.............

The students, hopefully, understand how to talk about what they learnt in a very general way. Of course, I don't understand about the details of the Electrical Engineering class, but if the students begin to talk about what they did - as well as gauging the level of knowledge of the interactant, then it starts to generate a conversation. I intend to do this type of structure to ask about all of their specific classes. My aim is to get the students to repeat the specific vocabularly, as well as generally apply the "theoretical" side to a more "practical" side. I find that the students can easily understand the equations and work their way through difficult calculations, but miss the actual aim of why they are doing these equations. Explaining why they are doing these equations actually forces the students to apply their knowledge in a broader more practical approach, which will hopefully reinforce their learning.

Today the students were very tired when they came to my English class from 3-4. I gave the students some time to gather their thoughts and said that we will do something "fun" tomorrow - they wanted to play badminton, so I think I'll dust off my white bata bullets tonight ready for English class at the gym tomorrow. A bit of fun to relieve the stress never goes a miss.

Mechanics/Maths Classes

The students were gradually immersed into these two subjects by Richard (Maths) and Doug (Mechanics). The first classes consist of a general introduction by both teachers about their background and getting the students use to their pronunciation. The teachers also find out a little about the students. These classes help build rapport in the class. A little bit of the engineering specifics were touched upon, which will form the basis for the English specific classes tomorrow.

For the maths class, the students did a test, which took them about an hour. From this we can decide the students level and how to pitch the rest of the classes.

Did you have a good day? / Electrical Engineering - Basics

Today, we practised the same question as the other day, but this time, I got the students to structure their answer in a way that starts with a general introduction, then a slightly more detailed account of some topics, and then finally a conclusion relating to how they felt about their day. I included an example of this structure from a conversation that I had and analysed it with the students on the data projector. Tomorrow's class is going to be going over the same content - practise makes perfect. I have found that the students really appreciate having the opportunity to practise speaking. They told me that they never got this practise in Japan. I also told the students that if they are asked a question then they should answer within about two seconds. Even if they don't know the answer, then they should give a hesitational marker (so as to keep the floor and indicate acknowledgement that they have been asked something) and then give an avoidance strategy such as, "I'm sorry, I don't know, but I'll think about it. Please ask somebody else first." I also gave other similar expressions and then we practised saying them. Hopefully, now the students understand that if they are asked anything by anybody then they should quickly default to these expressions. We then talked about classroom culture in Japan and New Zealand.

I am now starting to encourage the students to use more English in the classroom.

What is the unit of length? mWhat is the symbol for metre?What is time measured in?What is length measured in?Volume is measured in meters (to the power of 3) cubed.What is area measured in?What frequency is radio NHK in Japan?What frequency is National radio in New Zealand?What is this number to 3 significant figures? (Please round this number to 3 numbers.)

The students learnt about how to manipulate various units of length, measurements and equations into English (as above). I sent the students all of the electrical engineering notes and went through them in class. We are up to page 21 now.

Teaching Websites

Today, the students each came to the front of the class, where the computer was, and showed on the data projector their chosen English site. The students learnt how to explain where to go, how this site would help them with their English study and what they thought of it. As a default the students could say that even though they had accessed this site, it was quite difficult. Sometimes the links on the site wouldn't open and/or wouldn't display what the student wanted to show. The task that the students did illustrated that they have the opportunity to manage their own learning as well as share it with others in the class. They also became confident at moving around on the web, which will hopefully, make them more proficient at accessing similar sites and feeds later on in the programme.

The students also set up their PIN for their library account, which now means that they can access their details via the internet. I got a few students to show me their accounts on the data projector, which again provided specific hooks into how to utilise the computer - in English. The students weren't use to doing any of this in English, but I think that it provided them with a slow introduction into getting use to developing their interactive English skills. The vocabulary that emerged from doing this simple task focused on such terminology as: scroll up/down, click here, due date, tab, login/out, etc. A very valuable first lesson, which I intend to build upon.

Japanese Language

http://www.languageguide.org/nihongo/index.jsp

Did You Have a Good Day?

HS: Did you have a good day? Maybe the students will face this question every day. The students need to respond quickly.

S: um, yes, thanks, um, yeah, today By saying these hesitational markers the students give the impression that they have got something to say. It also means that they can hold the floor for a longer time - or less likely that they will be interrupted.

We also learnt how to "feel" if the conversation needs to be extended into giving extra information. If it does then the normal information expansion works; however, if the person looks as if they are busy or don't want to continue the conversation then the students should say:

"Oh, anyway, I'll talk to you soon, um, I'm going to go and change my clothes." We also looked at other expressions to use. For example, "anyway, I'll talk to you soon, um I just need to go to my bedroom" etc.

The students are learning strategies to change the flow of the conversation, or to end it. I made the students realise that they need to pay attention to the atmosphere of the situation.

ESP - Getting the students to teach

Today, the students taught each other about some specific engineering subject of their choice. Firstly, I took the students to the library and got them to choose a book related to their subject. The children's section in the library has many books which explain these concepts in easy English. The idea of this task was to get the students to talk about a subject that they already knew about in their own language, but needed to now explain it in English. Of course, like anything, it was difficult, but the students were starting to surround themselves with specialised vocabulary and concepts. It only took a little prodding from me to get them on the road to explain what they already knew about engineering, and at some times, quite advanced vocabulary. I then prized out what they needed to know and wrote some of the sentences up on the board and proceeded to give a grammar focus. Tomorrow, I intend to give the students more time to practise teaching the other students in their group about these concepts.
In all of this classroom task, the students are the ones who are developing their own knowledge and are in control of their learning in most parts. Hopefully, when the engineering teachers come in to actually teach the content, the students will already have been pretaught much of the content, but more importantly, engaged with the content in a way that they can manage.

Some Japanese Expressions

Thanks to Bronwyn for giving these expressions. Hope that they're of use.

Home-stay Phrases

Around the house

Shall I help you? (an offer) Tetsudaimashoo ka
Shall I dry the dishes? Sara o fukimashoo ka
Where shall I put this cup? Kono koppu wa, dokoni irereba ii desu ka
May I take a bath? O-furo ni haitte mo ii desu ka
May I have a shower in the morning? Asa SHAWAA o abite mo ii desu ka
May I go with you? (eg to the shops) Issho ni itte mo ii desu ka
I’m a little bit tired Chotto tsukarete imasu
......I think I’ll go to bed early Kyoo wa hayaku yasumimasu.
......I think I’ll write letters in my room. Heya de tegami o kakimasu.
I get a bit tired thinking in English all the time. Itsumo Eigo de kangaete, chotto tsukareyasui desu.
I think I’ll have a little rest in my room Sukoshi, heya de yasumimasu

Sickness

I don’t feel very well Chotto kibun ga warui desu.
May I stay at home today Kyoo uchi ni ite mo ii desu ka
It’s asthma Zensoku desu.
I have a headache Atama ga itai desu.
I have a temperature Netsu ga arimasu
I feel nausea Hakike ga shimasu
I’ve got diarrhoea Geri o shite imasu
I’m constipated Benpi o shite imasu
I’ve got a cold. Kaze o hiite imasu.
Host: Shall I call the doctor? O-ishasan o yobimashoo ka
It’s OK. Please don’t worry. Daijoobu desu. Shinpai shinaide kudasai
I’ve got some medicine Kusuri ga arimasu.


Meals

Food’s ready! Gohan desu
It smells good. Ii nioi (ga shimasu)
It looks delicious. Oishisoo (desu)
Said before eating. Itadakimasu
Would you like another helping? H: O-kawari wa (ikaga desu ka)
Yes please Hai onegai shimasu. / Hai itadakimasu
It’s delicious Totemo oishii desu
No thank you Moo ii desu / Iie kekkoo desu.
Thank you for the meal. Gochisoosama (deshita)

English for Specific Purposes/Taking Notes/Journals/Reading/Listening

Today, as always, we spent the first hour practising conversational English. The students get into two lines and ask each other questions, for example, what kind of music do you like to listen to?
The students are trying to adopt a conversational style of taking the question and making it into a platform to launch into anything related to music, especially highlighting music in Japan and comparing it to music in New Zealand.

Later on when the students have become proficient at this conversational style they will be given cards with just a topic on them, for example, music. This means that the student should voluntarily talk about music in a conversational style. This is quite a difficult task to achieve, but with practise the students will reach this level.

Today, we also did some homestay conversational topics that the students chose themselves. These conversational topics included talking about; TV, the weather, chess, food, etc.

We also made a start on English for Specific Purposes (ESP). The students are being introduced to many terms associated with engineering vocabulary. For example, motion, movement, force, mass, volume, etc. The ESP classes start on the 18th of May and the students will be studying until about 4pm.

TAKING NOTES

From experience I tend to know that a lot of the students I have taught on this programme don't really know how to use their notes. The students write down a lot of things from the board, but don't really engage with the material that they have copied down. I always try to say "cover/check" in order to get the students to use their notes. Today, I got them to give their notebooks to their partners and then the students had to tell their partners what was written on that page. Of course, this was quite difficult to remember, but it did emphasise that the students need to know what they have written down. I then said, "well, do you really need to know this?" This is when the students started to highlight what they wanted to remember and erase what they didn't need. I think that now the students know that their notes are important.

JOURNALS

I encourage the students to write in their journals every day, or as they want to. They can write about anything. I check their writing and always encourage them to do their corrections - sometimes, like today, I focused on some common mistakes that many of the students made.

LISTENING

All of the students borrowed a book from the library with an audio tape of the story. The students took it in turns to listen on a tape deck in the classroom about their story. The students also borrowed another book of their choice.

S.R.A. (Scientific Reading Associates) READING

This is a reading box that has twelve cards in each colour level. The colour levels start at red and go to the most difficult level: purple. The cards have a story and then comprehension questions. The students then take another card and check their answers. (You may remember this tool box in your own class at school - this is a revised edition). I have heard from the students that they enjoy doing this kind of reading because they are in complete control of their own learning. They also like competing with others in the class to see who can get to the highest level.

All of the activities in today's blog are focusing on giving the students the strategies to take control of their own learning, so that they can learn in the class, or at home independently of a teacher. My job now is to encourage the students to practise these strategies to the best of their abilities and furthermore, show them new ideas for learning.

It's Cold Today

Today, the students learnt how to respond to the comment; it's cold today.

They wrote many responses up on the board. For example: Yes, the snow covered my house; yes, my host mother gave me some gloves; yes, it is; yes, I need a hot drink; yes, it was difficult getting up this morning.

The students also practised saying them very fast because if you pass a person around the Polytech then you only have about 1 second to say the response. We also practised rubbing hands together, so as to really give the feeling of being cold.

Hopefully, the students will be able to use these expressions around the Polytech and also at their homestays.

What's that?

SITUATION: The students had just finished taking a break and the teacher had sat down ready to listen to the start of the English class. One of the students was swinging a kendo stick, but noticing that the class was about to start was putting it back against the wall behind where the teacher was sitting. The teacher was curious as to what the stick was and so asked:


T: Oh, what's that? The teacher was asking about the kendo sword that the student was holding.

S: Oh, home run. This is just a one word answer that doesn't really explain anything.

T: Oh, really?

Me: Come on [student's name], what is it? Here I tried to get the student to explain about "kendo." Since the student wasn't that forthcoming I decided to throw the question out to the whole class with some prompts from me.

Class together: Kendo is a traditional Japanese sport that uses bamboo. A very long time ago people used this. It is used for practise only. We use it for baseball.

T: It reminds me of the Maori fights that they do with their sticks too. We can see here that the teacher is now giving some knowledge to add to what the class said. This is where the conversation really starts to take shape about a certain aspect, i.e., kendo. I then drew a diagram on the board showing that the students have knowledge from their background and people in NZ have knowledge from their background. When the two pieces of knowledge intersect then there is a conversation where both parties can share and expand upon - as happened in the conversation above.

I was really pleased that this conversation took place - it happened by pure coincidence in a very natural way. The conversation illustrated that even though the students have been practising such responses to questions just like this, they still revert to missing the opportunity to converse by simply giving a one-answer response (which wasn't even understood by the teacher). I intend to use this type of situational question to remind the students on how they should be trying to respond.

How to stay warm in Dunedin

Today, we also discussed how to stay warm.

The students wrote a star diagram on the whiteboard and put up many words about how they stay warm in Japan. I then told them how to explain some Japanese words in English. One word is "kairo." This is like a mini hot water bottle that is cheap to buy in Japan and it stays warm for about 6 hours. After this you throw it away. It doesn't use water, but a chemical (I don't know the details of how it operates.)

The kotatsu is also a heated table with a blanket over it that is very common in almost every Japanese house.

The bath is another way to keep warm. To soak in a bath is quite a natural every day occurrence.

Japanese people usually take clothes off in their house, but in New Zealand - you guessed it, people usually put clothes on if they are cold. It's a cultural difference, but a big hurdle to get use to if you are trying to adjust.

I explained about "thermals" and other ways to keep warm in Dunedin - jokes about long underwear etc. It was a good class and I think that the students understood the differences.

CEE Class 2009

In general.............(Topics to talk about)

The topic is: Music

Well, in general, (generally) music in Japan is quite similar to music in New Zealand - I think. We have all of the main music, but I think that there is probably more variety in Japan. In my town there are many Japanese bands, of course they all sing in Japanese, so that is why you may not have heard of them, but there are bands that also sing in English. Um, for example, do you know............Utada Hikaru, Soulhead, Puffy, Here we have a general view of what music is in Japan.

There are also many clubs in Japan where you can go and listen to music.

I like going to hip hop clubs and listening to lots of hip hop This is now personal information

The students talked about how to start a conversation from a very wide generalisation and then focus it down to a personal note. The students were imagining how to talk to people from New Zealand.

Homework: Write on the blog about a topic that interests you. Try to imagine that you are explaining this to a New Zealand person. Make it funny and interesting.

Conversation Analysis

These following conversations were recorded in class. I use them to illustrate how conversational styles are different between Japan and New Zealand, or between a high context culture and a low context culture.

Conversation Analysis 1


1) HS: what did you do today, Hiroko? Really the question here is; tell me everything about what you did today - entertain me with a story.

2) S: today, today, I had a English class. This is just a direct answer to the question, not answering the actual "behind the scenes" question.

3) HS: ask, what did you do yesterday?

4) S: yesterday? ((laughs slightly)) yesterday I had an English class. ((laughs))

5) HS: what did you do yesterday afternoon, Hiroko?

6) S: I watched, “I am Legend.” ((laughs))

7) HS: and where did you watch that?

8) S: at Hoyts.


As you can see from this conversation above, it isn't working. The student only responds to the questions in a direct manner. Compare this kind of response to the response that the teacher (T) gives further down the conversations.

1) HS: what will you do tomorrow, Masa?

2) S: tomorrow, ar, we will go to town and the library

3) HS: and the library

4) S: ((laughs slightly)) yes

5) HS: will you sleep in the library

6) S: ((laughs slightly)) no

7) HS: imm There is no further attempt at trying to get the student to elaborate.



1) HS: What have you been doing?

2) S: arr, watch TV

3) HS: watch TV

4) S: and talking

5) HS: talking, what about your, what are they, your profiles?

6) S: arr, yes, not finished yet


T: Do you take trains in Japan?

S: Yes. The conversation stopped here. Again, there was no elaboration.



T: Is that different to here?

S: Yeah


T: I take a bicycle

S: a bicycle?

T: yeah


T: Whereabouts do the bikes ride?

S: ride? Oh, um, I’m sorry I don’t understand your question.

T: Where do the people walk? (The following is the example response I gave to the students.)

S: Near people. Oh, um, in Japan the bikes and people are on the footpath together. Actually, it’s ok for bikes to be near people because bikes go slow for people. We call these bikes “mama chari” because they go slow and many mothers ride them. They go to the supermarket to buy things on these bikes. Yeah, um, I’ve seen bikes in New Zealand are very fast – it’s different.

T: Near people? (This is the response that the student gave.)

S: yeah



T: What about slang

S: slang?

T: slang, like “gidday.”

S: oh, not good

T: yeah, like not good, but it’s ok, but you know how you do grammar in Japan, we change it like slang words in English. Like cool words to say?


T: What else is different just in general?

T: what about the weather? Tell me everything about the weather in Japan.

S: oh, cold,

T: it’s spring in Japan?

S: yeah


T: Is there always snow in Japan?

S: yeah (Again, the student didn't know how to go "behind the question" to give the response that was probably expected by the teacher, i.e., tell me everything you know about snow (or weather) in Japan.)

T: I didn’t know that.



T: Do you all go skiing?

S: yeah

T: whereabouts? (This word is usually not known by the students.)




T: when you go back to Japan it’s spring again?

S: yeah

T: oh, that’s right because you’re here for a year, right?

S: yeah


T: What don’t you like to eat?

S: I don’t like pickles (Again, there is no further explanation about pickles.)

T: Pickles?

S: yeah, pickles

T: oh, right, ok Pickles are a delicacy in Japan, but this is not commented on by the student. Yes, I know that with limited vocabulary and grammar it is difficult to explain, but I have noticed that even with proficient students, the response is not extended into anything more than just the answer given.

(Next person)



S: What kind of food do you like in NZ? (Look at how the teacher gives more information to the question than was asked. This is a good example of how the NZ teacher responds to the "behind the question's meaning."

T: oh, yeah, I really like sweet food, like chocolate, yeah, I have to have

S: Tim Tams

T: yeah, I like Tim Tams, but I also like avocadoes. I like fish, but I don’t like much shellfish, usually when I go to somebody else’s house.



T: What kind of music do you have in Japan?

S: music, um oh, Jpop.

T: Jpop?

S: Japanese music

T: oh, do you like have drum and bass?

S: pardon

T: um, techno, like drum and bass?


T: Do you like Eminem?

S: yeah, of course This seems to be a typical response by students that I have taught from Japan. There is no further elaboration. Instead, the teacher adds the following comment. Again, it is necessary to teach the students the meaning behind the question "Do you like Eminem?"

T: he’s got some new songs, but he’s ok, I’m not a big fan.




T: so where else have you been to from Japan. What other countries have you been to?

S: America

T: I haven’t been to America

S: Last summer we went to study abroad The student responds in a communicative way, but is then asked a further question by the teacher.

T: oh, yeah, for how long?

S: just one month There is no further information given, so the conversation stops.


T: What do you usually like to do for fun?

S: shopping Once again, there is just one answer given with no further comment.

T: shopping?

S: yeah

T: oh, you need a lot of money for that. The teacher provides a comment, which is not picked up by the student. The conversation then stops here.




ADVICE / THINGS TO THINK ABOUT

Try to support each other, e.g. Oh, yes I agree, Oh, Imm, Yes, I think that that’s a good comment.
Laugh when everybody else laughs.
Who did all the talking in your group?
Did you speak in a Japanese/English style or an English/English style?
Explain the CEE programme. Why are you here?

Class at the Mihi (First Day)

Differences of Culture

Today in class we learnt about the similarities and differences between life styles in Japan and New Zealand. We talked about washing clothes, eating dinner, buses, TV, taking a shower, and learning English. It was a good discussion with lots of vocabulary being learnt, but that it is difficult to explain these differences. I firstly wanted the students to realise that there are different ways of doing things - even washing the dishes is done differently in both countries. I let the students speak in groups in Japanese, so that they could understand all of the situations in their individual homestay environments. The second aspect of teaching this kind of content is trying to get the students to explain in a conversational way what the situation is like in Japan compared to New Zealand. Of course, this is going to take time, but a valuable aspect of learning about culture, which will hopefully have the added bonus of empowering the students.