“I’ll believe in technology in the classroom when…
…teachers really do have eyes in the back of their heads”
Anyone other ideas for a “I’ll believe in technology in the classroom when…”? Comments below please:
Not a big enough problem to worry Auntie Alex with, so will deal with this reader enquiry myself:
Some good-looking internet resources on said topic, have no more than skimmed them myself but the sites they are on are well respected.
http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Kilickaya-AutenticMaterial.html
http://www.readingmatrix.com/articles/berardo/article.pdf
http://eltj.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/51/2/144
The last one is the Amazon page of a classic book by a great author with a great name- Zoltan.
It seems not just the population but also the chimps in Japan are suffering from rapid ageing, something else in which we also lead the world:
http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200707250108.html
(First time I’ve said ‘we’ meaning people in Japan there!)
As the baby boomers and their pet apes reach retirement time with time and money on their hands, it makes for a growing market for English lessons too. Will take some special content and methodology though. My oldest student in Japan was in her 80s and I’ve had 10 or so students over 60 here and in the UK, so here are my ‘expert’ tips for the greying braincells segment of the Eikaiwa* student population:
* Eikaiwa means “English conversation”, and is the normal Japanese expression for the language school industry- maybe another reason why they have false hopes on how easy it will be to learn at your school and don’t apply themselves (often not even bringing a pen!)
No, not TEFLtastic- Toyota. Now that Toyota is top of the world, it seems all some analysts can see is the inevitable decline. Understandable in a way, but it is not as if the Japanese gave up their number one position in most other products in a hurry, so after quickly consulting my dartboard I’d say Toyota shares are a buy.
So as the Japanese are number one in cars, video game machines, animation etc. etc, why not English? It is understandable that the immense differences in the vocabulary, writing systems, grammar and pronunciation of the languages makes it a lot harder than switching from English to Dutch- but why at least haven’t they come up with a language learning method that helps them catch up with the same ease and convenience as a (Japanese-owned) 7-11?
Part of the reason for the lack of Japanese progress with English, despite millions of dollars spent on ALT*s and millions of books bought every year is actually connected to that convenience store thing- language learning does not lend itself to clever effort saving solutions in the same way as toilet technology. Another problem lies in those millions of books, as authors are judged the same way as salarymen and churning out books reliably is seen as the height of a writer’s skill. The main problem, though, is the one Toyota is facing- a lack of a clear goal where to go next.
Most Japanese students come into a language school classroom convinced by high school English lessons, impossibly obscure university entrance tests and the above named ungraded English learning books that they will never be able to communicate in any way in English. When they find out they can, they are so happy they don’t seem to know where to go next. As the Toyota article says: “What do you do when you pass a rabbit you’ve been chasing for 70 years?”
* ALT, Alien Language Teacher- a native speaking assistant teacher who helps give lessons in Junior High schools etc. Not to be confused with ALF, which is Alien Language Friend- someone who gives informal English conversation lessons in cafes.
“…teachers who have been told that their students are ‘high achievers’ (even if they are not) tend to get the kind of results associated with high achievement”. Scott Thornbury in An A-Z of ELT (Macmillan)- a very readable and accessible book
Any comments? Any at all?? Go on go on go on go on go on go on go on go on
Had a flash of inspiration while reading this IHT article comparing Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (uyoku bakayarou!*) and ex-PM Junichiro Koizumi (also uyoku bakayarou!*, but with a cool haircut and a bit more personality and subtlety). If you were in the unfortunate position of having to chose one of these to vote for, which would you choose? If you were in the financially fortunate but morally disheartening position to choose one to teach, either one-to-one or in a group, which one would you choose? You see- it’s the same!
So from now on, when an election comes around, all you have to do is picture the various candidates coming into the classroom and imagine your reaction- bang, you have a voting decision made!
If you would like Aunty Alex to sort out anymore of your life dilemmas with the tools of TEFL, let me know below:
(* guide to Japanese slang coming soon)
Someone else took their frustration out on the world by choosing rush hour to dive in front of the Tokyo-bound train again this morning. That’s one way of coping with pressure, I guess. It all makes me wonder- any Japanese people ever been so shy about speaking English in class they took the ultimate escape instead? The closest thing I have heard is an urban myth going round at my university that the reason the tower in the campus square was closed to visitors was that two Chinese students had taken a jump off it together, and then there is the classic story of people topping themselves off with a pencil during the exam…
I’ve certainly had Japanese students who seemed stressed enough in the class, starting with “Takeshi” on my first teaching course (CELTA). If you asked him a question he didn’t know but thought he should he would start drilling into the middle of his forehead with a knuckle and grunting, as if he was trying to physically pull the idea out of his head- and which point all the trainee teachers learnt about not putting too much focus on one student and letting the other students help him. Don’t know if he was asked to act up by the trainers to make sure we didn’t forget that important teaching point, but I might try that tactic next time I am a teacher trainer on the CELTA. You could have one student who pretends to have a panic attack everytime a grammar explanation was unclear, one student who falls asleep everytime the teacher drones on for 5 minutes without giving the students a chance to speak etc. etc. It’ll be like the SAS EFL training course. Coming soon!
Immoral? Insensitive? Ungrammatical? Let me know by clicking below: