Summer 2007

Elementary School: That magical place where the average Joe/Jolene becomes a genuine superstar simply by being there. Those among us who visit one or many elementary schools know how much fun being an Elementary School ALT can be. We are also aware no doubt that it is imperative to ensure that you are always well prepared for your lesson, and for the unexpected! Whether it is your responsibility to help the Homeroom Teacher with games and activities in their lesson, or, like the majority of Elementary ALTs, plan and run the class in its entirety, following are some games and lesson ideas that should be helpful for you if you are stumped before class or want to try something different to another round of “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes” or Karuta.

My kids absolutely love UNO (keep in mind the classes I play it with are max 12 kids)... We play the normal way but have added motions and phrases to go along with respective numbers to make it something more than just a color and number review. So one day I thought, “If my kids love UNO sooo much, why don’t I make a days of the week UNO game? Yes, I had a bit of time on my hands since there are about 100 cards, but it really didn’t take that long. I made cards with the kanji for the days of the week and marked them with the same colors as UNO and laminated them. Rules are the same and they have to say the days of the week in English with the color when they put down the card. I made "yesterday" (reverse) "today" (Draw 2) and "tomorrow" (skip) kanji cards as well also marked with colors. Lastly, the changing color card is "Happy Birthday"...this is their favorite. There is no draw 4 but it works just fine. They stick to saying UNO when they get to the last card. I am sure you could play it with bigger classes if you have more cards.

This board-game is fairly straightforward and can be modified to your lesson based on how much time you have to play it or the level of the students. Students play in groups (3 or 4 works well) and move around the board, either stating the name of the object, or using it in a simple sentence, thus turning a boring flashcard show and repeat activity into fun, fun, fun!

Often for warm up in my elementary classes I have a theme, and start with an alphabet (uppercase or lower case depending on the students level) dot-to-dot related to the theme of the lesson. The students really enjoy it and I was told they were disappointed when I didn’t do it. They love trying to figure out what it is, and those who finish quickly start to color it while others are still working. To help them I will often write the alphabet on the board when we recite the song together. Many of my students at all levels still struggle with the alphabet, but this is one way to make sure that they see and review the letters at least once a month (I only see most students once every three weeks) and don’t want to spend the whole time doing this. If the class is especially weak or large, it can take up to 20 minutes for this activity. There are many excellent dot-to-dot pictures available from www.edhelper.com under “monthly themes.” Whilst some require membership for download, many are free!

Around Easter time I wanted to do an egg hunt, but with 30 kids in a class and nowhere to hide anything in the multi-purpose room (outside was not an option) I came up with the number egg hunt for practicing number recognition. We all know the kids can count to 10 or 20, but how long does it take them to say 7 when they see 7?? I made cut-outs of eggs with numbers 1-20 on them. The numbers you use of course depend on your students’ level. I did 1-12 with the 1st and 2nd grade and 10-20 with the upper grades. First, we practiced the numbers. Then, I hid the paper eggs with numbers under cups, so that they couldn’t see the number. (With 30 cups, there were 3 of each number lined up in a row between the two teams). I broke the students into 2 teams, so with a class of 32....there were 2 teams of 16, then only 8 from each team searched at once. This activity is also useful to practice "How many?". Before the groups could search, they had to ask "How many eggs do you have??" then I would say "I have ------- eggs" and they would have to search for the eggs with that number on it. 3 points for the first one brought back to the basket, 2 points for the second one and 1pt for the last found. I return the eggs after each round. Oh, one last catch! The kids have to do the duck walk the whole time. Use your imagination if you don’t know what the duck walk is, but it basically means they have to walk in a squat....which makes it much more entertaining!!

I’m so happy! I’ve accumulated stacks of study flash cards that my 3rd through 6th grade classes have made! The idea stemmed from having no idea of what to touch on for the week’s lesson.

So, I decided to bring some stickers and stamps to class, and then supply my kids with English-Japanese dictionaries. (If they didn’t want to use the dictionaries, they were required to ask me in English how to say the word). I passed out 2cards each for the student to draw on. They each had to look-up or ask about two words they wanted to learn in English. I made them write both the English and the Japanese on the card, and in the middle, a picture. Voila! Flashcards! What’s great about this is that the students are so creative, and I am happy because the lesson became a valuable tool for my own study at the same time.

So, I will make the kids practice the two words that they learned, and next week take turns in front of class teaching their words to their classmates. It tends to draw interest since it’s their own classmates’ work.

They end up learning all sorts of random words, but that’s okay. As long as they are interested, then it’s cool! And, as I said, I am learning too!!

This is another relay-type-game I do, but you need 2 homeroom teachers to do it. The students line up in teams with one teacher for each team. The students run to the teacher, answer a question and then get one chance to throw a dodgeball at the ALT. If they hit the ALT his or her team gets one point (the teacher asking the questions keeps track of the points). The game finishes whenever the previously set time limit is up. Confine yourself to a fairly smallish area with cones to make it interesting (if you can, try and keep the game tight by cheating a bit). Also, have the students that just threw the ball collect them before the next question is asked to keep the game flowing.

I like using relay races to add a little bit of one-on-one practice after the students have partially mastered the vocab/phrase for the day.

One version I use is the Shouting Relay Race. The set up for this game is pretty simple. Just two teams with the day’s flash cards spread out in front of them on the floor. The two teachers stand to the side of the lines (it is good to be close enough to see the flash cards but far enough that the students don’t hear what you say to them).

The students then run to the teacher who whispers a word in their ear. They then run/jump/crawl/walk like a crab to the plastic megaphone (100 yen store of course) and shout the word whispered to them by the teacher.

The first person in the line must pick up the card corresponding to the shouted word (other teammates can help). After the teacher confirms this is the correct word by shouting “Go” or “Ok” the student can start running back. The first team to have all its members go, wins.

Variation: for action verbs, the first student must gesture the shouted word instead of picking up a card.

This game doesn’t really have a whole lot to do with Karuta but I was trying to make a variation of Karuta when I thought of this. You will need a foam-rubber die from the 100-yen store for each team. Spread all the cards for the day on the floor (you will need quite a few so this is a good review game).

The object of the game is to roll the die over a card and then grab the card and say the word to the teacher. When all the cards are gone, the team with the most cards wins.

Don’t let the students roll again if they miss, or the game can be really boring (this happened the first time I played the game due to a translation issue). The fun part of this game is the random rolling of the dice which makes the last few cards really intense.

This game works best with smallish classes. Also, I have recently been using it with my first grade Junior High School students as a warm up.

By The Juggernaut

Quit your jibba-jabba and get your flash cards sucka! First go through the numbers you want to teach, 1-10, 1-20, 1-100, 1-246874564. Whatever,
Trevor. The best way I have found to do this is step by step. First run through them a couple times numerically, then shuffle the cards up and run through that a couple of times. Once they start getting cocky, get them to stand up row by row and have each student say the number on the card you hold up. Once they have said it correctly they sit down and the student behind them says the next number.

Okay, so that’s kind of the boring warm-up for the awesome game, but most of the classes get into it anyway. For the awesome game, divide the blackboard up into 6 sections (or however many rows of desks the class has – the easiest way to make teams). Move all the desks to the side of the room to make as much space as possible in the middle of the room. Make some kind of a start line around the middle of the room, even if it means drawing on the floor with chalk. Let the awesomely simple game begin...

The students line up in their teams, then the first students in each team races to write the number that you call out on the blackboard. Let the homeroom teacher in on the action by getting them to keep score: one point for the first team to write the correct number, or if you want to be a bit less fascist, 5 points for first, 3 points for second and 1 point for third. You all know how Japanese kids are really competitive? Well they kind of go berserk for this game and most manage to retain the knowledge of the numbers they have learned at the same time! Sweet as...

The end

Materials: Some kind of clock with moveable hands (make it yourself), game board and mini-test (to follow)

If possible, start the lesson with a very simple model conversation with the Homeroom Teacher to get the students thinking about the content of the lesson. Something along the lines of

HRT/ALT: (Looking at watch/clock/sundial/changing tides) “It’s 9:30 / It’s 10 / It’s 3:45 / It’s…”

Essentially you want to demonstrate that reading the time in English is very simple once you know numbers. Using the clock, go through a couple of examples – “It’s 1,” “It’s 3,” “It’s 5,” etc. Then start adding minutes to the equation, perhaps starting with 1:10. Write (yourself or via the HRT) “　　時 : 分” (“Hour : Minute”) on the board with a blank kanji-less version directly underneath, asking the students in Japanese “What time is it?” and writing the numbers in next to their respective kanji and underneath in the English readout, worked well. That way they can see that 1時10分 in English is read “One: Ten”

At this point, you may wish to revise or teach numbers 11-59, by whatever method suits you best (again, increments of 5 or 10minutes if your time is short or the level is just too low), and using your handy clock, asking them “What time is it?” a few times.

The beauty of this lesson is that you can modify how specific you get in telling the time to the level of the students. For instance, you may feel it best to teach increments of 10 or 5 minutes to the 4th graders, but go specific to the minute with the 6th graders.

Once they’ve got that dialled, have them play the board-game on the following page (roll the dice, and whatever you land on, the other students in your group ask “What time is it?” If you answer correctly, safe, if not, back to the start.) If there’s time, get them to do the mini test (also following) for a listening review.

Welcome to Junior High School! Teaching junior high school can be challenging and quite rewarding all at the same time. Working in a junior high school here in Tokushima will vary greatly depending on the size of the school, the English ability of your JTE (Japanese Teacher of English), the amount of classes you have to teach and many other factors. Some ALTs work at multiple schools, others work primarily at one.

Some ALTs are largely responsible for planning all of their own lessons, others hardly do anything while in class. The best advice I can give is to be proactive in communicating with your JTE about what they would like you to do.

First of all, there is much I could say here that has already been said before in past editions of Teamwork Tokushima (TT). Nevertheless, some things to remember are as follows:

Expect Last Minute Plans and Schedule Changes. Unlike what was featured in the snazzy JET DVD, I find that my busy JTEs rarely come to me ahead of time to map out lessons. Rather, they approach me five minutes before class and discuss the day`s plan. To some this could be a little unnerving early on so do not be reluctant to speak first to your teachers ahead of time about the lesson plan. I also encountered many last minute cancellations or other schedule changes without warning. Be prepared for these scenarios by having something to do, should you be faced with a sudden chunk of free time.

Teach slang. This introduces students to words and phrases that they will never encounter in the textbook. It was such a welcome relief to wean my students off the dreaded, “How are you? I`m fine, thank you, and you?”

Use media in the classroom. Music is an excellent way to expose students to English, though be careful of music that is too fast or otherwise hard for beginners to hear. If you own a digital camera or can borrow one from the school, these are fantastic tools for classroom use. You can often connect your camera to the TV in the classroom and show the students neat stuff, like photos from abroad or short videos and commercials. In my case, I taught my kids a slang phrase and then showed the a TV commercial in which it was featured. The results were golden and I still have students busting out the slang over a year later.

Eat lunch with your students. The frequency of this is up to you, but it gives them a chance to get to know you outside of the formal lesson setting.

I do this project every year with my 3rd graders in March - takes two classes (three if you have the time) and is a nice way to spend time after enterance exams are finished.

First, hand out a copy of the attached worksheet. Explain the three steps they will complete in writing their dream - what, why, and how. After practicing the entire paragraph once on their worksheet, give them a small slip of paper (cutting an A4 into quarters works like a charm) and have them practice once more, getting a feel for the space. In addition, they must draw a picture to accompany their dream.

After their practice paper is complete, give them one more slip (see if you have any thick paper in the staff room - has a nicer feel and won't get bent like regular paper; sometimes there's a stack next to the regular printing paper). This is their final draft, where they write and draw their picture in pen.

Encourage the students to use dictionaries and ask questions while they are drafting their ideas. It's okay for them to sit with their friends as they work as well.

If your kids put out a graduation addendum showcasing their final essays and profile pages, get them to include their dream cards as well! It makes a nice final project that can be printed and taken home. Mention it to your JTE and whoever is the third grade homeroom teacher.

This is a good activity for a 2nd or 3rd grade Sentaku English class (special/advanced English class), or if you have an extra four or five classes near the end of the term and your JTE wants a running project.

Divide the class up into groups of roughly five. Say you have six groups. Then, tape or magnet to the board pictures of eight fairy tales - a mix of Japanese and foreign stories works well. For example, you could use Snow White, Three Little Pigs, Momotarou, Urashima Tarou, etc. Engage the groups in a fierce janken battle to decide numerical order. The first group has their choice of fairy tale - take the picture off the board and give it to the group. Continue until all groups pick. Having more pictures than groups doesn't let the last group feel like they got the shaft and had to choose a story they don't like, like a group of boys having to do Cinderella.

Give each group a set of dictionaries and a double sided lined paper - then, off they go writing the story in English! Of course, when you break up the groups, try to balance the strong English speakers / writers by giving at least one to a group. This is definitely an activity where you want to choose the groups rather than let your kids pick their friends to work with.

Roam around the classroom answering questions / encouraging the kids to do their best. Some students will have a sentence in Japanese and ask you to translate it - do your best or have your JTE help you. You can also describe the story (i.e. what happens next) if the kids get stuck for ideas. If they want to change story details, like Little Red Riding Hood getting picked up in a taxi by the Big Bad Wolf, then that's okay too.

Writing the story will take the better part of two class periods, and perhaps a third for some groups. When a group finishes, check their paper and make a photocopy. Then, break their story into five sections using highlighter pens or what have you. Give each student a white paper and have them draw a picture of their "chapter" of the story. Pens and colored pencils are highly encouraged. Tell them to take their time making their pictures nice and pretty - the boys will need time just to get started, while the girls will go all out with brilliant colors.

Once they finish their pictures, give each student a short lined paper, have them rewrite their own chapters (based on the sections you highlighted from the original script), and tape it to the bottom of their pictures. That way their five pictures read like a story with subtitles underneath explaining the action.

Finally, your kids can present their stories if they aren't shy - hold up their pictures and read their chapters to the rest of the class. This is optional as lots of kids are shy about showing off their drawings and reading in front of everyone.

Here are a couple of puzzles my kids have enjoyed - made from puzzlemaker.com. The average level for these is grade two or low three (if only because "if" is taught in grade three). Directions can be found online, but just to summarize:

Students use the letters provided to fill in to the squares and thus complete a phrase. In this sample, the phrase is:

When your students solve this puzzle, it makes the following question, which they can answer on the bottom half ot finish the worksheet.

"Which is your favorite kind of soft cream? Do you like chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, matcha, or squid?"

Welcome to Senior High School

So you’ve found out you’re a Senior High ALT. What’s in store? You will probably be teaching classes of around 40 students, between the ages of 15 and 18. There are four types of High School in Japan:

Generally speaking, academic high schools have students with the highest level of English ability, although there are varying degrees of “academic”. Nearly all the students will graduate from school and go on to university. Therefore, there is lots of pressure on them to do well in their tests. ALTs often use a textbook in their team-teaching lessons, and thus your flexibility in lesson planning may be limited. Try to make the textbook a little more interesting and relevant to the students, maybe by changing the dialogue, and coming up with fun activities to practise what is being learned. The students are generally well behaved, and sometimes even a little shy or quiet. Most students will be busy outside of class with a club activity or extra study. Hence they are often tired and may sleep during your lesson (depending on the situation and the student, try to be understanding – many have extra classes both before and after school, play a sport, belong to a club, and/or just plain study all the time. Be aware of their hectic schedules!)

Commercial high schools often have a more relaxed atmosphere. Some students want to go to university, but this is by no means everyone. Therefore lessons are not structured around the university entrance examinations. ALTs are often free to make their own curriculum and games for classes. Girls sometimes outnumber boys in these schools.

Technical high schools are quite different. Here students are learning a trade, such as mechanics or engineering. They have basic academic classes, but the majority of the curriculum is centred around developing skills necessary for a trade. They may not be the most academic students you’ll meet, but it is worth recognising their other talents. If you tailor your lessons around their interests, then their response will probably be more enthusiastic. There are often more boys than girls at these schools. See TWT Summer 2006 for some more advice on teaching at technical high schools. Similarly, students at agricultural schools focus on developing necessary skills for various trades, such as fishing and farming. The students have lots of energy and teachers are often keen for team teaching lessons to be fun.

This activity was created by my JTE, and I’ve only tweaked it a little to fit each of my schools. You can change it too. The point is that a little competition always makes English class more fun and successful, especially at technical, commercial, and agricultural schools! For this activity, divide students into teams of four or so. I find that students get most excited about the game when they get to pick their own country for the Olympics. Then, just give the students a series of English activities (each lasting about 5-10 minutes) to do in their teams. After each round, award points to the teams and remember to point out to the class which team is in first place. Review material is always good for this game to enforce that paying attention in OC class actually pays off.

I introduced this theme because I wanted to learn a bit more about Japanese pop-culture so that I could chat to my students, but the activity itself is also good practice for them and can be carried out in a number of ways depending on the level of the students.

Tell the students what you want to know about. For example, Japanese TV, celebrities, sports, whatever. Then use wh-questions to give them prompts about the type of information they can give. If the ability is higher, this can be done using an English worksheet and writing in English. Otherwise, in small groups students can make notes in Japanese or English, and then when the students present their information to the class they can use English, pictures and gestures.

Alternative: when the students present their information, they can leave out what or who they are talking about and the other students have to guess.

First I explained what a simile was, and how they are formed (using ‘like’ and ‘as’), with some examples.

The students then worked in groups to create their own similes for various adjectives (hard, flat, noisy etc.).

Animal similes are some of the most common similes, and students can use them relatively easily in their English speaking and writing. I found this wordsearch on the internet and added the animal pictures as hints.

This is a modified version of a British Council exercise (http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/try/plans/newwords/new_words.shtml) which seemed a bit difficult for my students. I also added an extra sheet to help with the sections on ‘rhyming’ words and ‘changing’ words.

Explain that new words are added to the English language all the time, and there are various ways they are created. Here we look at four ways: ‘mixing’, ‘rhyming’, ‘loaning’ and ‘changing’. Try to emphasise that this is fun and that language is a flexible thing that you can play with – there is not always one right answer.

1. Mixing – brunch, chocoholic. Rhyming – ping pong, snail mail. Loaning – guitar, zero. Changing – to chair, snowboarding.

(C) German – hamburger, rocket, luck. Arabic – zero, coffee, orange. Spanish – guitar, tornado, lunch. Hindi – jungle, shampoo, bungalow.

***Having said that, some words have complex etymologies – guitar is from the Spanish from the Arabic from the Greek, while tornado has a root in Latin, and luck is from Dutch.

You may remember this from last year’s mid year seminar. Here it is again in case you missed it.

This was a cultural lesson team-taught by two ALTs. Kelly led the lesson, while Chris assisted in the JTE role. The lesson consisted of four activities, with a follow up lesson a week later.

After the ALT has finished speaking, simply asking “Do you understand?” is not the best way to check students’ comprehension. Nor is it helpful for the JTE to just translate directly. Rather, the JTE can ask the students comprehension questions to see if they have understood what has been said. These questions and answers should ideally be in English, but Japanese is ok too. Give the students time to answer – remember, silence doesn’t have to be filled.

Before playing the quiz game (4), students were given time to prepare (3). By working together in their groups to complete the worksheet, all the members of the group become responsible for the answers. This relieves the pressure on the individual student, and overcomes their reluctance to answer questions individually.

The quiz game was a relevant activity. The students had to have listened to the lesson. Everything about the game was related to the lesson, even the team names (each team was a South African sport).

The two teachers have clearly defined roles. For example, in the quiz game one teacher is the question master, and the other is the scorekeeper and judge.

Quiz game scoring. The students were divided into groups of six, and each group member was given a number (1-6). Ask the question and then say a number (e.g. “How many languages are there in South Africa? ... student number four”). Only the student with that number in each group can answer. The first one to stand up and put their hand up can answer. This ensures that everyone gets a turn, and stops the good / genki / loud students from dominating.

This is an exercise from www.macmillandictionaries.com/essential. We had previously learned various words related to television. We then used this sheet to talk about the different programmes, and followed it up by using a real English TV guide.

This is a modified version of a game from www.englishresource.com. It works well to practice a simple self introduction in English, and I have used it with junior high (1 student) and senior high (2 students) and English club (8 students).

Cut out the cards, and put them into separate pots – one for names, ages, countries etc.

First, players create their own character from the options available. They pick one name, one age, one country etc. and write it on their player sheet. This is their character for the game.

Decide how many points you will play to. We usually play to 10 points. Janken to see who starts.

The first player picks one card from each pot, thus creating a new character. The player then introduces this new character using the information on the cards they picked. If any of the other players have the same information on their player sheet they get one point per match. The player who is introducing cannot score on their turn. Once they have finished, return the cards to the pots, give them a stir, and the next player does the same.

Special Needs

Working in a Japanese school can be a challenging experience, especially for ALTs new to teaching. We have to deal with a very different classroom atmosphere in a very different country, with a very different culture and a very different language. There are many new challenges to face and overcome in order to be successful teachers.

The added challenge of working in a Special Needs school can be a particularly daunting prospect. Many of us are not fluent in Japanese, and have little or no experience teaching, let alone teaching Special Needs, and the thought of working in a Special Needs school may be slightly overwhelming. It may be a relief to know that you’re not the only one new to Special Needs! Far from all the teachers at Special Needs schools have any kind of formal qualifications in the field. The tenkin (transfer) system that exists in Japan means that many teachers from regular schools are moved to Special Needs schools each year. These teachers have not always requested such a move, but, in true Japanese ganbaru style, soon become excellent Special Needs educators, and I have learnt much from working and teaching with such dedicated individuals (not just the English teachers).

Most Special Needs schools in Japan cater to one particular Special Need. There are Schools for the Blind (Mōgakkō), Schools for the Deaf (Rōgakkō), and Schools for the Physically Disabled (Yōgo gakkō). They can be Elementary, Junior High, or Senior High, or a mixture.

Teaching at a Special Needs school is a unique experience and a lot of fun. The students are enthusiastic and really appreciate you being there. Many of these students will never have the chance to travel abroad and experience the world in the way we can. As an ALT, you can introduce them to different cultures, and bring a little bit of that world to them.

English Conversation class. Conversation?! About what? With who? What the hell am I supposed to do in a class with a bunch of strangers ranging in age from 8 – 82? Just talk?

Most eikaiwa run for about an hour or two weekly, and the level of students can vary drastically from poor to pristine. What’s consistent across the board is the students’ interest in language learning and meeting English speakers. This is where you come in…

Get to know your students, right off the bat. Come prepared with a survey or take a vote in class about what kind of English study the students want to focus on, be it purely conversation, grammar, reading, …watching movies. Likewise, try to get a feel for the interests of your students and tailor your ideas and activities to them (while adding some random things you find fascinating too!). An easy way to find out more about your students in to do an extensive self-introduction section, asking about favorite “everythings” and “anythings”, and making note of these things. Classes that are well planned, flexible, and that aren’t exactly the same week after week, will keep students coming back, or possibly even increase attendance. Try something new and off-the-wall! Get out of the classroom together if possible. A change of scenery can make a world of difference, and allow for a variety of different ideas to come to life.

Try to remember that over the first few weeks, students will be getting a feel for you and deciding whether or not they want to study under you. Some will disappear; others will join, but don’t take offense (unless almost everyone drops your class… then you might have to think very seriously about how to improve). Like any other class, if the content and the teacher aren’t a fit for students’ expectations, students will drop. It’s not personal. Usually…

Most importantly, TALK! It may seem like many people are asking you questions, but conversation goes two ways. Ask your students lots of things about themselves. Get to know them. And really, this can’t be stressed enough, have fun! This is a great chance to let loose and to really just enjoy teaching. Why not try to make the most of it?

Here are a few fast and useful warm-ups to get everyone ready to speak English, from Tokushima-city’s 1 and only Canuck, Denise.

"I`m going to the park and I`m taking my....(camera) and (lunch) and....."
"I went to the park and I took my..... (Blanket) and (bat) and (ball)....

You start the sentence and then you go around the circle and they must repeat your sentence and add one more thing after the have recalled all the previous items that other people have said. In small groups I have gone around a few times and made them do a small gesture to help the others remember. Any nouns are okay for beginners.... for Advanced it has to relate to the park. You can choose "Beach" or "work".... or a seasonal activity....

A) You start going to the RIGHT.... you pick a set you say STOP and the next person can says STOP and the next person .....until someone says it`s opposite...GO

B)Then the word changes, to GO along with direction of the word now people start repeating GO to the left until, someone says STOP again or changes the word to a different pair of opposites like..... TALL.... now the direction changes back to the right around the circle until someone says its opposite.....TALL

C) if you want to be in control you can be the one who changes the word to a different pair until they get familiar with the warm up.

Get Cooking

Before my eikaiwa’s fish and chips cooking and history class, I introduced/reviewed some kitchen vocab. It was really helpful for everyone when they were reading the recipe and cooking in the kitchen. (plus a bonus recipe, which was delicious)

....... - prepare food; make ready or fit for eating by the means of heat; person who prepares food

....... - heat to a temperature at which vapour forms (100 `C for water); prepare (as food) in a liquid heated to the point that it begins to give off steam

....... - cook in a little liquid, usually with the lid on the pot; a dish of boiled meat and vegetables

pot / saucepan / frying-pan / kettle / teapot / plate / oven / cooker / fireplace

....... - a device on which you prepare food by heating (usually electric or gas-)

pepper / beef / cabbage / fish / meat / bread / French fries/ mutton / pork / sugar / milk / veal / tomato / potato

Everyone loves roleplaying, especially your eikaiwa students, as it allows them to add vivid emotion and real-life experience to their English conversation. For roleplaying activities, I suggest first making up a variety of scenarios, writing them down on paper, and putting them into a hat. One of my most effective roleplaying exercises is arguing in English!

For this activity, you can use the following situations, but feel free to create your own!

-A wife who is upset at her husband for spending all the family's money at Pachinko.
-A parent who is upset at her child for never cleaning his room.
-A parent who is upset at her older son for being lazy and not having a job.
-An Owner who is upset at his dog for chewing up something.
-A husband who is upset at his wife for never letting him go out drinking.
-Conversely, a wife who is upset at her husband for going out drinking every night.
-A child who is upset at his parents for never spending any time with her/him.
-A wife who suspects her husband is cheating, with 3 different secretaries!

-A husband who suspects his wife of cheating with 3 different secretaries!

I find that husband/wife quarrels are always the best, and that the owner/dog quarrels always provide the best comic relief. In any case, students of your eikaiwa class should be familiar with these situations, if not from real life, then from television. It is important that you include at least one human/nonhuman argument in context, as it really lightens the mood of this particular exercise.

After you assign groups (however you like to do this), have them select a scenario out of a hat, then janken to decide roles. It really helps if you print up a sheet with a variety of general expressions, such as:

Argument Starters
"Honey, I think we have something to talk about."
"Dear, I'm mad at you!"
"I've had it up to here with you."
"You are making me very upset lately!"
"You are making me angry!"

Accusations
"You are being a bad

(daughter/husband/wife/son/dog)!"
"You (bad thing that they did)!"

Accusing Questions
"How could you do that?"
"Why are you doing this to me?"
"Why did you (bad thing that they did)?"
"What is wrong with you?"
"Why are you such a bad (daughter/husband/wife/son/dog)?"
"Why are you being such a bad (daughter/husband/wife/son/dog)?"

Rebuttals
"That's not true!"
"Why do you say that?"
"Why do you think that?"
"I'm not such a bad

(daughter/husband/wife/son)!"
"What's wrong with that?"
"Won Won"

Reasons for bad behavior
"I just want to have fun!"
"It's my money!"
"Because I'm your child!"
"Because I want to!"

Of course, each specific situation will have its own language, so make sure you assist each group. Have them short 2-5 minute skits of arguing. Encourage them to be as creative as possible and try to give them an example. I find that yelling at an imaginary cat for peeing on my carpet is a great example to set the mood for class. Have fun!

Call My Bluff

Sally Orr

This was/is a popular quiz show on British television. It works best with a fairly high level eikaiwa. There are 2 ways of playing it. First of all make teams of about 2/3 people. The easiest option is to pick fairly obscure English words that you are sure that people won’t know and to offer up 3 different definitions of the word ( one being the correct one). The teams have to guess which is correct. The key is creating 3 plausible definitions, so that it is not immediately obvious which is correct.

Example words I used – Butter fingers, Wisdom teeth, black sheep, white lie.

To make it slightly harder, give the teams the words and make them come up with definitions to present to the rest of the class. The other teams must guess which is correct.

Idiom fun and games!
Jordan Svien
English is full of colorful idioms - but your students have probably never heard any of them before! Teaching English idioms is a great way to add color to your students' English. It also reinforces the fact that English is not just a code for Japanese - it is its own rich language full of expressions that are hard to translate. The included chart is a list of sixteen common American English idioms - if you're from somewhere else and don't recognize many of these, simply use the 4x4 chart option on MS Word and create your own.

Have each student make a numbered list from 1-16. After a student reads an idiom, each student writes down what they think the idiom means. Even if they have no idea, encourage them to take a wild guess. Each student then reads their guesses, and you reveal who was closest - or if nobody was close at all.

When you finish the chart, have a discussion about which idioms are your students' favorites. Encourage them to remember and use them in daily conversations, as they are a colorful way to express their feelings easily to foreigners.

As a further activity, you can blow up the chart and tape it to the board. Then, cut out squares of each idiom and mix them up in a "go fish" like pile. In teams, your students pick a card and act out / come up with a story that accurately reflects the usage of that idiom. If they can, they get that square on the board marked for their team. If not, it goes back into the pile. For example, for "tomorrow's another day," they can pretend to be a mother and a student who had a bad day at school.

First team to get bingo wins!

Click for idioms chart

The 15 minute long English Conversation Anyone Can Do!

Dennis Sawyers
Confidence! Confidence! Confidence!
The key to speaking a language is, ultimately, ability plus confidence. Many of your students may be shy and embarrassed to speak the English that they have learned, as they lack the confidence to do so. In order to give them the confidence they need to excel and exceed, I recommend the following activity.
The most basic 10 minute nonstop conversation ever!

With 4 simple patterns and responses, ANYONE, even your students, can hold a 15 minute long English conversation. The patterns are the following:

Good Afternoon)
etc.

The Three Questions:
How are you doing?

How's your (husband/wife/child/father/mother/pet/job/life) ?

What's new with your (family/job/child/boyfriend/hobby/pet/life)?

Basic Feedback

Really?
That's great!
How wonderful!
That's too bad.
I'm sorry to hear that.
Lovely.
Sounds (fun/interesting).
Tell me more.

For five minutes, have one person ask their partner the questions, then switch. It is important that you spend at least one or two classes going over proper responses to the "How is your....?" and "What's new with your...?" questions before having them do this activity. However, once you teach them how to do this basic conversation, long conversations are possible and should be routinely practiced.

Differences between British and American English

This activity went down really well with my eikaiwa, as they were not aware of the fact that there are major differences between British and American English. Having had British Jets as English teachers for a long time, but learning American English at school, had confused them a little, so seeing a list of different words used really helped them. Obviously, you can change British English to Australian/Canadian/New Zealand English etc.

Here is the list of words I came up with. I think it covers most of the obvious ones.

Following on with the cultural theme, my eikaiwa particularly enjoyed the lesson I did on special days and festivals in England. They were particularly amused by my description of ‘maypole dancing’, and I brought photos and information gathered on the internet to show them. After we had discussed British festivals, they explained the major Japanese festivals to me. This was good, as everyone went home having learnt something new.

Special Days in England

February 14th – St Valentines Day. People send cards to their boyfriend/girlfriend, husband/wife, or anonymously to people they like.

February – Shrove Tuesday. Pancakes are made, to use up ingredients before Lent.

April 1st – April Fools Day. People play jokes on each other, but it must be done before 12 noon.

May 1st – May Day. Children normally perform ‘Maypole dancing’ to parents.

1. like	verb + like + noun
2. as	as + adjective + as + noun