tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24255943166364780682024-03-05T17:42:16.266+09:00EFL Joelle Teaching in Tokyo, EFL, language learning.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09681402042238340124noreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2425594316636478068.post-76389723297942548732015-06-08T14:16:00.002+09:002015-06-08T16:22:25.980+09:00Class rules and procedures - laying down the law.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span id="docs-internal-guid-f6731349-d191-94d7-902a-9988435019e1"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Recently, the topic of classroom management came up and I was asked, "What are your class rules?"</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">These are the rules and procedures I gave my students in the first lesson of this academic year April 2015, for 9th graders (14-15 years old). The copy I gave the students also had a third column with a translation in their 1L. I have all students glue this sheet into the front cover of their textbooks during the first lesson of the year so it's always there and I can have them to refer to it when necessary.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After going through the rules, I had each class come up with <b>their own rewards and punishments</b>. The most commonly desired reward was to watch a movie, and punishment was extra homework. One class requested a "boring talk" from Ms. Kuiper as a punishment. I'm sure I could come up with something boring, like my sock collection or all the different kinds of cheeses I enjoy and can they name any more types of cheese ...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">NB: the bell that starts and finishes class in Japan is called the 'chime', so I just use that word.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 24.0pt; margin-right: -64.9pt; margin-top: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -24.0pt;">
<h4 style="text-align: left;">
<span lang="JA" style="color: black; font-size: 11pt;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">MY CLASS RULES</span></b></span></h4>
<span lang="JA" style="color: black; font-size: 11pt;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="margin-left: -16.5pt;">
<table style="border-collapse: collapse; border: none;"><colgroup><col width="107"></col><col width="660"></col><col width="506"></col></colgroup><tbody>
<tr style="height: 0px;"><td style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); padding: 3px; vertical-align: top;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">PRE-CHIME</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">チャイムの前</span></div>
</td><td style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); padding: 3px; vertical-align: top;"><ol style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Put your textbook, worksheets file, iPad and pencil case on your AB pairwork desk.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Push the desk together with your partner’s desk so you can talk easily.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sit down </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-style: italic; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">before</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> the chime rings.</span></div>
</li>
</ol>
</td></tr>
<tr style="height: 0px;"><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); padding: 3px; vertical-align: top;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">CHIME</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">チャイム</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); padding: 3px; vertical-align: top;"><ol start="4" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-style: italic; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Silence</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> when the chime goes. The leaders stands and does the greeting.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Once the chime has sounded, you MAY NOT go and get your stuff (unless you have permission from the teacher).</span></div>
</li>
</ol>
</td></tr>
<tr style="height: 0px;"><td style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); padding: 3px; vertical-align: top;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">START</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">始まり</span></div>
</td><td style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); padding: 3px; vertical-align: top;"><ol start="6" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Write the goal down on your learning log.</span></div>
</li>
</ol>
</td></tr>
<tr style="height: 0px;"><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); padding: 3px; vertical-align: top;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">WARM UP</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">ウォーミングアップ</span></div>
</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); padding: 3px; vertical-align: top;"><ol start="7" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ask your partner the questions in English. Help them to answer using English. </span></div>
</li>
</ol>
</td></tr>
<tr style="height: 0px;"><td style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); padding: 3px; vertical-align: top;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">WHOLE LESSON</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">授業中</span></div>
</td><td style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); padding: 3px; vertical-align: top;"><ol start="8" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Listen without speaking when the teacher is talking.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Raise your hand to ask a question.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Encourage your partner.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Keep the conversation in English - unless you’re explaining an activity to a classmate who doesn’t understand.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Look up new words in the dictionary app, or ask a classmate or teacher.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Pass things. We do not throw anything, ever, either </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">before</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> or </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">after</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> the chime.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ask permission to leave your seat, raise your hand & ask, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">'Please can I... ?</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">’</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Keep your hands to yourself.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Do not repair broken pens, stationery or any other broken items of any kind during the lesson.</span></div>
</li>
</ol>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span> <br />
<h4 style="text-align: left;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-themecolor: text1;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">PEER ASSESSMENT </span></span></b></h4>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span> <br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I also gave my students the following criteria for peer evaluations which will make up a small part of their grade. The idea is to encourage good study skills, and the sheet I gave out said:</span></div>
<br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="text-indent: -24pt;"><div style="font-family: Times; font-weight: normal; text-indent: 0px;">
<h4 style="text-align: left;">
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: center;">Wor</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-themecolor: text1;">king well in a pair is very important in this class. </span><span style="text-align: center;">Once or twice a </span><span style="text-align: center;">semester, instead of a test with </span><span style="text-align: center;">a teacher, your partner will score you on your pair </span><span style="text-align: center;">work skills. </span><span style="text-align: center;">You can get a good score if you:</span></span></b></h4>
</div>
</span></span></b><ul style="text-align: left;">
<li style="text-align: left;"><h4>
<li><b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="text-indent: -24pt;">always trying to speak in English </span><span lang="EN-US" style="text-indent: -24pt;"> </span></span></b></li>
<li><b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="text-indent: -24pt;"><span style="font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="text-indent: -24pt;">encourage your partner</span><span lang="EN-US" style="text-indent: -24pt;"> </span></span></b></li>
<li><b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="text-indent: -24pt;">seek help when necessary </span><span lang="EN-US" style="text-indent: -24pt;"> </span></span></b></li>
<li><b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="text-indent: -24pt;">seek to extend your pair work if you finish</span><span lang="JA" style="text-indent: -24pt;"> </span><span lang="EN-US" style="text-indent: -24pt;"> </span></span></b></li>
</h4>
</li>
</ul>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09681402042238340124noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2425594316636478068.post-85935138814421949422015-02-14T18:02:00.002+09:002015-02-14T18:02:16.084+09:00Links for creative avatar apps.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<ul style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin: 0px 0px 10.5px 25px; padding: 0px;">
<li style="box-sizing: border-box;"><a href="https://tellagami.com/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0367b0; text-decoration: none;" title="Link: https://tellagami.com/">Tellagami</a> </li>
<li style="box-sizing: border-box;"><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/talking-tom-ben-news/id444946356?mt=8" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0367b0; text-decoration: none;" title="Link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/talking-tom-ben-news/id444946356?mt=8">Tom and Ben News</a></li>
<li style="box-sizing: border-box;"><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/en/app/talking-tom-cat-2/id421997825?mt=8" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0367b0; text-decoration: none;" title="Link: https://itunes.apple.com/en/app/talking-tom-cat-2/id421997825?mt=8">Talking Tom Cat 2</a></li>
<li style="box-sizing: border-box;"><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/sock-puppets/id394504903?mt=8" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0367b0; text-decoration: none;" title="Link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/sock-puppets/id394504903?mt=8">Sock Puppets</a></li>
<em style="box-sizing: border-box;">"Sock Puppets lets you create your own lip-synched videos and share them on Facebook and YouTube. Add Puppets, props, scenery, and backgrounds and start creating. Hit the record button and the puppets automatically lip-synch to your voice."</em></ul>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09681402042238340124noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2425594316636478068.post-5995340373161643152015-02-14T17:50:00.003+09:002015-02-14T17:50:29.811+09:00Sing 'Frozen' from Let It Go in 25 different languages. If you can!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: left;">This multi-language version of the song that parents all around the world just wish they could hear one more time brings a tear to my eye - what a truly international collaboration. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: left;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: left;">Very impressive.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://ytimg.googleusercontent.com/vi/H0Vy6xBjbKg/0.jpg" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/H0Vy6xBjbKg?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09681402042238340124noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2425594316636478068.post-91261916632663256752015-02-14T17:35:00.000+09:002015-02-14T17:39:12.815+09:00Quirky Videos<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<h3 style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: left;">Use the stop-play technique to elicit language from students </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: left;">with these imaginative short films. </span></h3>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
</div>
<ol style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>The Black Hole </b></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: center;">- dir.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: center;"> Phil and Olly</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Signs</b> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">- dir. Patrick Hughes *</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>The Note </b></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">- dir.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Jon Greenhalgh</span></li>
</ol>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A few possible questions to ask students:</span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: left;">
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What is the man is going to do next?</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Is he going to take something?</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What?</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Are the man and woman going to talk to each other?</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Do you think they will go on a date?</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What will the note say next?</span></li>
</ul>
</blockquote>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"> * In Signs there is one brief moment at 6.19-13sec you'd be wise to skip over if you teach young teens!</span><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09681402042238340124noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2425594316636478068.post-82582219109555991412015-02-14T16:51:00.003+09:002015-02-14T16:51:27.970+09:00Recommended sites for creating web comics.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">makebeliefscomix.com</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">marvelkids.com</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">Pixton </span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">ToonDoo</span></li>
</ul>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09681402042238340124noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2425594316636478068.post-55656239949786096082015-02-08T14:57:00.000+09:002015-02-08T14:57:05.257+09:00Free Professional Development in ELT - Coursera x The University of Oregon<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /><br />I've spent the last five weeks doing an online course through <a href="https://www.coursera.org/" target="_blank">Coursera</a> called <a href="https://www.coursera.org/course/shaping1landscape">Shaping the Way We Teach English, 1: The Landscape of English Language Teaching</a>. It's run by the University of Oregon and the best thing about it is, it's all online, it's collaborative (you get to meet and discuss topics on ELT with teachers from around the world) and it is free of any charges. All you need is a computer connected to the Internet.</span><div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Basically with course each week involved:</span></div>
<div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">a reading from an academic journal</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">watching a classroom video</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">a quiz based on the reading & video </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">compulsory posts in discussion forums</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">a two-phase lesson planning project</span></li>
</ul>
</div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have gotten a lot out of the course and in just five short weeks it has already impacted the way I teach. I've started trying out a bunch of new things on my students, like projects (not easy to do in just 45 minutes once a week), silent time, replacement role-plays, and lots more.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The peer evaluations are particularly valuable, the aspects I enjoyed reading in other teacher's lesson plans ended up in my classroom the very next week. Some teachers actually found doing peer evaluations addictive.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have enjoyed the course so much that I am doing <a href="https://www.coursera.org/course/shaping2paths" target="_blank">the next five-week course</a> which starts in 9 hours! No rest for me until March 16th.</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09681402042238340124noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2425594316636478068.post-52694332952007105662015-02-02T10:41:00.001+09:002015-02-10T08:56:15.890+09:00Fairy Tales in ELT<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<h4 style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Guessing Game Cards</span></h4>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My students love this activity. I'm posting it firstly as it's part of an assignment, secondly because I really appreciate other teachers sharing resources they've made and of course I am keen to contribute to the ELT community.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I usually do the activity something like this.</span></div>
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<ol>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ss. put all the cards face down on a desk. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The first student takes a turn to read a card out to the group.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If a member of the group knows the fairy tale as it is being read, they put their hand down flat on the table.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When the reader has finished the story, they ask one of the students with their hand down flat, </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">'What story is it... (Maki)?' </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(Maki) says, 'I think it's (Cinderella). </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">She is told, 'That's right.' Or, 'Not quite. Anyone else?'</span></li>
</ol>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It would be a great introduction to a fairy tale writing activity. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The best part of the game is that reticent students get caught up in the fun of it and listen keenly to the speaker, so I look forward to watching my students play this game every year.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqYyUd7ZGhWttLdrdaAfBJ1RV7Czx98_PutAQNlO7khYh3FIx30UnLUYbr9nOAWenVVUcn6gJ8zZOOdo6IB97KVFMWCcw_4BdjLRhamkYfmqG-BtbAYHVgAJt37_YhiUvPkMuIyvuu20A/s1600/Screen+Shot+2015-02-02+at+10.34.46+am.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqYyUd7ZGhWttLdrdaAfBJ1RV7Czx98_PutAQNlO7khYh3FIx30UnLUYbr9nOAWenVVUcn6gJ8zZOOdo6IB97KVFMWCcw_4BdjLRhamkYfmqG-BtbAYHVgAJt37_YhiUvPkMuIyvuu20A/s1600/Screen+Shot+2015-02-02+at+10.34.46+am.png" height="436" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnzs1leiPKf3SMPvXvTOsDuRaR_lqhT-enYI4rINUgiIDU6ym_OtuztjBBR3pxMYlxwI-0dJ8EY6efFvd-g-DnwQDcpIgA566URVx82Orn328JlunYqfMpHr1KIGEPDxbr0whA1BuV5GE/s1600/Screen+Shot+2015-02-02+at+10.35.02+am.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnzs1leiPKf3SMPvXvTOsDuRaR_lqhT-enYI4rINUgiIDU6ym_OtuztjBBR3pxMYlxwI-0dJ8EY6efFvd-g-DnwQDcpIgA566URVx82Orn328JlunYqfMpHr1KIGEPDxbr0whA1BuV5GE/s1600/Screen+Shot+2015-02-02+at+10.35.02+am.png" height="430" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">These are some ideas on main activities to do after this warm-up. Thanks to my classmates at <a href="http://coursera.org/">Coursera.org</a> for many of these ideas!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Have students:</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
</div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">modernise the fairy tale - students pick a modern moral to tell, e.g. the dangers of texting and walking, drugs, stranger danger, etc.</span></li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">erase the last few lines of the story and write a new ending.</span></li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">switch the gender roles - for example, The Sleeping Cutie and the princess who wakes him up from his 100 years of slumber. Cinderon, the boy who is treated badly by his evil stepfather and dreams of going to the ball to dance with the princess.</span></li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">put out some props that you wouldn't expect in a fairy tale and have each group choose two that they have to incorporate into their version of the story, like a toy helicopter, a cellphone or some soap.</span></li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">tell the fairy tale from the perspective of one of the supporting characters. For example, retell Cinderella from the Prince's point of view. Or the Fairy Godmother's, Cinderella's father, one of the mice, etc.</span></li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 21px;">comparing the fairy tales from different cultures - e.g. what are the similarities between Japanese and Serbian traditions?</span></span></li>
</ul>
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<br /></div>
Joelle Kuiperhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16309106769426845652noreply@blogger.com0Tokyo, Japan35.6894875 139.6917063999999321.7112815 119.03740939999993 49.6676935 160.34600339999992tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2425594316636478068.post-20851422639814235062015-01-06T20:24:00.001+09:002015-01-24T18:52:03.645+09:00Teachers TV - a great tool for professional development<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/GTbcMj7O2DI?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Teachers TV was a free video website funded by the UK government until 2011. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I loved this British series and wish it had continued because it was a treasure trove of brilliant, practical help for teachers and administrators. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sadly, funding was withdrawn for reasons unknown but at least all the videos are still online, some on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=teachers+tv" target="_blank">YouTube</a> or hosted on other sites like <a href="https://www.tes.co.uk/MyPublicProfile.aspx?uc=447531" target="_blank">TES</a>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Back in the day, I spent hours every week watching videos from Teachers TV to pick up new tips and ideas. The advice dispensed on a wide range of subjects and school issues was incredibly useful.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As <a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2425594316636478068#editor/target=post;postID=4441025756255112347;onPublishedMenu=allposts;onClosedMenu=allposts;postNum=5;src=postname" target="_blank">Sir Ken Robinson </a>says, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"Investing in professional development is not a cost, it's an investment."</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And these online video websites are an incredibly helpful tool for professional development (PD), because busy teachers easily watch or listen to videos in their free time, in order to keep on absorbing the huge amount of information, new ideas and techniques that are necessary to do our jobs of keeping our students' minds engaged in learning.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I highly recommend watching it.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
Joelle Kuiperhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16309106769426845652noreply@blogger.com0Tokyo, Japan35.6894875 139.6917063999999321.7112815 119.03740939999993 49.6676935 160.34600339999992tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2425594316636478068.post-17382584433020619612014-12-31T08:00:00.000+09:002015-01-12T12:09:32.317+09:00Advice I gave my students in 2014.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: left;">2014 has been a year full of personal and professional growth for me, and as a homeroom teacher getting involved in the pastoral care of my students, at times I found my internal dialogue start up with, </span></div>
<div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"Yeah, yeah, Ms. Kuiper. That's all well and good, but to what extent are you following your own advice?". </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, that's the challenge. As the Argentinean band <i><a href="http://www.losenanitosverdes.net/" target="_blank">Los Enanitos Verdes</a></i> song </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, tahoma, verdana; line-height: 20px; text-align: -webkit-center;">Solo Dame Otra Oportunidad (Just Give Me Another Chance) </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">goes, </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">'They say best advice is that which you give yourself.'</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">'</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, tahoma, verdana; line-height: 20px; text-align: -webkit-center;">Dicen que el mejor consejo</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, tahoma, verdana; line-height: 20px; text-align: -webkit-center;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, tahoma, verdana; line-height: 20px; text-align: -webkit-center;">es el que se da uno mismo'.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, tahoma, verdana; line-height: 20px; text-align: -webkit-center;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, tahoma, verdana; line-height: 20px; text-align: -webkit-center;">So here is a re-cap of some of the advice I gave my students, and I'll try to remember to check at the end of 2015 with an update on how well I followed it myself.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, tahoma, verdana; line-height: 20px; text-align: -webkit-center;"><br /></span></div>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Be proud of your successes but more importantly, learn from your mistakes. #GrowthMindest</span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hone your creative, oratorical and collaborative skills.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Get to know your own personality and how it affects other people.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Work on building rapport with your classmates,
they are your <b>partners in learning</b> and understand your school experience like nobody
else. <b>#VisibleLearning</b></span></li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Don't cut yourself off from feeling hurt. Numbing your ability to feel sad may actually numb all of your feelings and end up limiting your ability to feel happiness. (From: <a href="https://www.ted.com/talks/brene_brown_on_vulnerability/transcript?language=en" target="_blank">The Power of Vulnerability by </a></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Custom', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 22px; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://www.ted.com/talks/brene_brown_on_vulnerability/transcript?language=en" target="_blank">Brené Brown</a>)</span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Invest in having positive interactions with everyone. Move quickly to sort out issues.</span></li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Apologize properly - <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/sungardas/2014/03/13/how-to-apologize-the-right-way-an-apology-actually-has-three-parts/" target="_blank">a proper apology has three parts</a>. (This is an invaluable interpersonal skill that everyone, not just students, should learn from an early age.)</span></li>
</ul>
</div>
<h2 style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, what advice did you give your students this year?</span></h2>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEkUfbwDPHBUn3J9X6FqrKEbPctJ2_vAqvh91gj59T3zZ2TY3caA8Fasy5TpNyCRs3gjqk11TMqz5dBGqCf1TuBrHYUeNW0G9amNMpe7yPsGqlZN1ukJLL2zxfWTW4GdO3n5zd2helI1k/s1600/IMG_0868.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEkUfbwDPHBUn3J9X6FqrKEbPctJ2_vAqvh91gj59T3zZ2TY3caA8Fasy5TpNyCRs3gjqk11TMqz5dBGqCf1TuBrHYUeNW0G9amNMpe7yPsGqlZN1ukJLL2zxfWTW4GdO3n5zd2helI1k/s1600/IMG_0868.JPG" height="266" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ishigaki Island at dusk, Okinawa. By @MsKuiper.</td></tr>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09681402042238340124noreply@blogger.com0Tokyo, Japan35.6894875 139.6917063999999321.7112815 119.03740939999993 49.6676935 160.34600339999992tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2425594316636478068.post-18879627296822263142014-12-22T08:08:00.000+09:002015-01-24T18:39:41.965+09:00To scold or to laugh it off?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
Should we give high school students 'the talk' or just turn it into a joke?</span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sometimes a scolding is required, but knowing when to err on the humorous side is very valuable. This is the story of my experience and the lessons learned.</span></div>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The sleeping beauty.</span></h3>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Many years ago, one of my students kept falling asleep during lessons. She would let her hair flop in front of her eyes and then nod off. What to do in this situation? </span></div>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
The background. </span></h3>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was a small class of high schoolstudents and over the year and a half I had already taught them, we had gotten to know each other well. It was their final year of high school and they were facing university entrance exams, applications and difficult choices and so I knew how exhausted and stressed out they were.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So when this particular student, kept falling asleep, a scolding just didn't seem fair. But allowing students sleep through lessons is not an option either, so, what to do?</span></div>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
Turning it into a joke, instead of a big deal.</span></h3>
<div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9PIF2KcxXZ-zlbU8PElvactkof_jxEjo9j6RAImBzOVb5bnQ9IyCFz_WAxM70iu-QnjudpX7-TDvKN0Hebhk-fkKgZFvEpdk_8Vc754rv4i0yDH_HpH38hI5wwc4ZCxyeg0IfhLy1xF4/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-12-16+at+10.34.21+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Back in the teachers' room after one lesson involving more snoozing by Sleeping Beauty, I made this sign on a whim, which I pasted onto my lesson planning notebook. Then the next lesson when bangs flopped down and eyes closed, I silently held the sign up in protest. The awake students giggled, rousing sleeping beauty to read this sign being held in front of her. She just smiled reticently, but after that she magically seemed a lot less sleepy.</span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9PIF2KcxXZ-zlbU8PElvactkof_jxEjo9j6RAImBzOVb5bnQ9IyCFz_WAxM70iu-QnjudpX7-TDvKN0Hebhk-fkKgZFvEpdk_8Vc754rv4i0yDH_HpH38hI5wwc4ZCxyeg0IfhLy1xF4/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-12-16+at+10.34.21+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9PIF2KcxXZ-zlbU8PElvactkof_jxEjo9j6RAImBzOVb5bnQ9IyCFz_WAxM70iu-QnjudpX7-TDvKN0Hebhk-fkKgZFvEpdk_8Vc754rv4i0yDH_HpH38hI5wwc4ZCxyeg0IfhLy1xF4/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-12-16+at+10.34.21+PM.png" height="319" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Original Image: <a href="https://twitter.com/Hellknight_10" target="_blank">Pedro Machuca </a></span></td></tr>
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<h3 style="text-align: left;">
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No offense taken.</span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Towards the end of the year, S. Beauty was accepted into one of the most prestigious private universities in the country. I was so glad for her that when she told me, I burst into tears. As she graduated, she let me know how much she appreciated how;</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>'[... ] you tried to understand how we </i></span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">were and what kind of circumstances we were in. </i><br />
<i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Even though most teachers would </i><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">have scolded me [...] , </i><br />
<i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">you made it a funny moment, </i><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">and laughed it away.</i></div>
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The lesson learned.</span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Students are tired. Teachers are busy. Endless scolding is just more exhausting and wears everyone down. Turning minor issues, especially when there are extenuating circumstances, into a laugh can help a student correct their behavior and still keep the mood positive and allow the whole class to keep learning in a nicer environment without the finger wagging, hands-on-hips strictness that can cause teenagers to stop listening. Of course, I don't recommend laughing everything off. Eraser throwing, gum chewing, these may be minor issues too, but are dealt with very swiftly by me.</span></div>
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Why be lenient?</span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I was lucky to have taken my </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">CertTESOL</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">at VUW when <a href="http://www.victoria.ac.nz/lals/about/staff/paul-nation" target="_blank">Professor </a></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.victoria.ac.nz/lals/about/staff/paul-nation" target="_blank">Paul Nation </a>w</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">as one of the faculty teaching the course. He was a superstar teacher for many reasons. One day, he talked </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">about erring on the side of compassion and had a great anecdote about a student who claimed to have "lost" his essay. Paul thought, "Hmmm...", but he just said, "Alright, bring it to me tomorrow." Later that day as he was walking back to the faculty room from his office, Paul saw some paper blowing in one of the bushes and when he picked it up, it turned out to be that student's essay.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Where have I gone from here?</span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Well, I still turn sleeping during lessons into a joke. I always make sure it is a joke where we are laughing with, not laughing at the slumbering teenager. Students still attempt sleeping during my lessons, no matter how interesting I attempt to be. My new tactic for the prevention of in-class sleeping is:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">- sneak up behind the sleeping student and suddenly roar, 'Raaaaah!'.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Then I laugh much louder that any of the students when the sleeping student has been startled awake. Feigning enjoyment in these situations is a tactic I got from another educator I admire (there are many!) <a href="http://www.philbeadle.com/" target="_blank">Phil Beadle</a>, but more on Phil in another future post.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One 10th grade student was very startled indeed, gasped loudly and jumped to his feet. He has never attempted even a second of shut-eye again. His surprise was so genuine that the whole class was in stitches for a good minute.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And aim, of course, is to create a positive atmosphere where all students can enjoy laughing, and learning. You do have to be careful and make sure that it is a student you know really well, of course.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As this video on <span style="color: #222222; letter-spacing: -0.03em;">How To Maintain Classroom Discipline </span>from 1947 shows, it's hardly a new idea. The narrator notes,<i> </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>"a friendly attitude with a sprinkling of humor goes a long way to winning the regard of the class."</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Check out </span><a href="http://marisaconstantinides.edublogs.org/2012/06/02/thinking-about-discipline-part-3/#.VJbUycAAPE" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">Marisa Constantinides</a>'<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> wonderful edublog where I came across this video - it's a real gem! </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You will never complain about commuting to school again.</span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now on the morning train, I smile just thinking of Juvencia's story.</span></h4>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Last December I started <a href="http://www.kiva.org/internvolunteers/reviewers" target="_blank">volunteering as a Spanish to English translator</a> for <a href="http://kiva.org/">Kiva.org</a>, a micro-finance non-profit based in California. This animation explains how Kiva works.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Last weekend I translated this loan for <a href="http://www.kiva.org/lend/808148" target="_blank">Juvencia</a> and was surprised to read her reason for requesting a loan to purchase a motorcycle.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">First of all, <a href="http://www.kiva.org/lend/808148" target="_blank">Juvencia</a> and I have something in common. She has been a teacher all her life. Now her commute to school is where our life stories start to differ drastically.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjRQV6wiT-GLwhuRzjh4gotP4AeQLDymJY8mFsY1MeCqmR2YuohJwIXyCRapSNyqK4-Oq39u0ydJ7zUlN9oFxkPcfD1rqdkpkyftMFVq2nEOQL3hIhiFwsixYblPfi0BzhqyGHH9rv6n8/s1600/Screen+shot+2014-12-21+at+4.48.26+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjRQV6wiT-GLwhuRzjh4gotP4AeQLDymJY8mFsY1MeCqmR2YuohJwIXyCRapSNyqK4-Oq39u0ydJ7zUlN9oFxkPcfD1rqdkpkyftMFVq2nEOQL3hIhiFwsixYblPfi0BzhqyGHH9rv6n8/s1600/Screen+shot+2014-12-21+at+4.48.26+PM.png" height="371" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small; text-align: left;">[screenshot from Kiva.org]</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It turns out that to do her job as the head of a school district in El Sauce, Nicaragua, <a href="http://www.kiva.org/lend/808148" target="_blank">Juvencia</a> has been riding to all of the schools in her district by horse, and at her age, she's a little tired of it. So she would like take out a small loan so that she can zip around her schools on a motorbike.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I was astounded, especially while translating it didn't occur to me that the second half of the sentence would include any horseback commuting.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So this Christmas I will be thankful that I take a speedy, warm, clean train to school.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In fact if you need any gift ideas for Christmas, a <a href="http://www.kiva.org/gifts/kiva-cards" target="_blank">Kiva gift card</a> is a great option.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As of publishing this post, <a href="http://www.kiva.org/lend/808148" target="_blank">Juvencia</a>'s loan is still funding so please consider helping her out.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">A week ago my older brother asked me about the best way to learn Japanese.</span></h2>
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Chuffed to be asked for advice, my reply turned into an essay-length email. Having made several big mistakes in my initial approach to picking up the language, I wanted to prevent my dear brother from making the same blunders. Also, I love teaching and learning languages. What could be more exciting or cool than speaking another language?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So now I am using that email as a base for this post.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My brother, I have to point out, has been very busy studying to become a brilliant emergency physician and thus has not realised that I'm not actually a completely fluent, near-native speaker of Japanese. I don't do anything to spoil the allusion though, and I can definitely hold my own in a conversation as long as it's not about something tricky, like the discovery of the Higgs boson particle.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One natural advantage I have with learning languages is a keen ear, imitating what I hear and then having no fear trying it out on someone else to gauge their reaction and figure out how to use new chunks of language. This aptitude helped me learn French and Spanish before I moved to Japan. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But the more important advantage is that I love my mistakes. Not because I don't care about making mistakes or am sloppy, far from it. It's because learning from mistakes is a valuable way of learning, and the funny slip-ups made when a beginner are some of the best jokes to tell to native speakers in conversation once you're finally able to converse. I definitely approach my own language learning with a <a href="http://mindsetonline.com/whatisit/about/index.html" target="_blank">growth mindset.</a> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So here is my advice.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: small;">First step is: learn all the kana. </span></b></h3>
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<b><span style="font-size: small;">Master hiragana and then move on to katakana. </span></b></h3>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;">Kana are the building blocks of Japanese, and as they are phonetic (for the most part!) they are really useful because if you can read them, you can pronounce any word correctly. </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;">Japanese syllables don't make sense without knowing kana and there's a big difference between, say, </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;">ゆ and </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;">ゆう. </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;">So when you are writing Japanese down, here is a big pearl of wisdom:</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">Avoid</span></span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> taking notes in romaji. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Why not?</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Because Japanese isn't written in romaji. The first 6 months in Japan I wrote new vocabulary down in romaji because I presumed that learning kana was impossible, only achievable by Stephen Hawking or Terence Tao.</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Now I know that if Japanese was so difficult to learn, many of the Japanese people I know wouldn't be able to speak or write it either. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When my American friend who arrived with me in Japan mastered kana in the first few months, I realised that writing in kana right from the beginning would have helped me learn faster and just made a whole lot more sense. So, don't make my mistake and write new vocabulary down in kana and kanji as soon as you can.</span></div>
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I'd say on any given page of Japanese text, hiragana is used more often, so learn that first. Some Japanese people think foreigners should learn katakana first because foreign words are written in it, but overall I'd say katakana definitely makes it into less words per page than hiragana. My first Japanese teacher was a one a million teacher who got us to learn them in that order, so I recommend it. </div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Start learning kanji right from the beginning.</span></h3>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhNSfMWjUoWVqyHk0mk3TwBmtC3er8wKP0abrLG_GYu4CdpajsjFhzQ6EwT_jZ8ymJbPlkajOhKZO6I3FgdDrQexFiDMWCJgSqbNgYYIl4MFJFC9w3rEZZBmKKjcxUPgwNg09zK8zPmXs/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-12-20+at+8.33.32+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; font-size: 12.7272720336914px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhNSfMWjUoWVqyHk0mk3TwBmtC3er8wKP0abrLG_GYu4CdpajsjFhzQ6EwT_jZ8ymJbPlkajOhKZO6I3FgdDrQexFiDMWCJgSqbNgYYIl4MFJFC9w3rEZZBmKKjcxUPgwNg09zK8zPmXs/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-12-20+at+8.33.32+PM.png" /></a><br />
I recommend learning the kanji actually as you go, right from the start. Otherwise it's double handling and you just have to go back and learn the kanji for words you already know, which is more precious study time misspent. So 1) learn about stroke order and 2) get a good app which has stroke order diagrams and videos, such as <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/midori-japanese-dictionary/id385231773?mt=8" target="_blank">Midori</a> which is my favorite Japanese dictionary app, and you are all set to start writing kanji.</div>
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So just say you learn the verb <i>tabemasu</i>, to eat.</div>
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Write it in kanji, even if your kanji looks like a drunk salariman's. It's good for your brain and you will get better at writing later. Then put the hiragana on top of the kanji (furigana) so you remember how to pronounce it. Like this:</div>
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た</div>
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食べます</div>
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Verb forms: start with ~<span style="background-color: transparent;">ます</span>.</span></h3>
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It makes sense to learn lots of verbs first all in the ~ます form first because it's polite and often used. Then you can start to learn other forms like past tense, dictionary form, etc.</div>
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Get a good textbook.</h3>
My favorite textbook as a beginner was '<a href="http://www.amazon.co.jp/%E3%81%AB%E3%81%BB%E3%82%93%E3%81%9445%E3%81%98%E3%81%8B%E3%82%93-%E6%B2%A2%E6%9D%91-%E4%B8%89%E6%81%B5%E5%AD%90/dp/4883243699/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1418166768&sr=8-1&keywords=%E3%81%AB%E3%81%BB%E3%82%93%E3%81%94+45+%E3%81%98%E3%81%8B%E3%82%93" target="_blank">Japanese in 45 Hours</a>'. Does that sound like a lot of hours? It isn't, really. We got through it in a year or even six months and most importantly, it was funny and had helpful cartoons illustrating the exercises which made it easy to follow. Get the workbook too, and practice away. When you're done, there is a sequel called <a href="http://www.amazon.co.jp/%E3%81%AB%E3%81%BB%E3%82%93%E3%81%94%E3%81%A4%E3%81%8E%E3%81%AE45%E3%81%98%E3%81%8B%E3%82%93-%E6%B2%A2%E6%9D%91-%E4%B8%89%E6%81%B5%E5%AD%90/dp/4883243877/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1418166768&sr=8-3&keywords=%E3%81%AB%E3%81%BB%E3%82%93%E3%81%94+45+%E3%81%98%E3%81%8B%E3%82%93" style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 15.1272716522217px;" target="_blank">にほんごつぎの45じかん</a> - Japanese, In 45 Hours and More. The only drawback with the series is that it is all in hiragana, no kanji integration right from the beginning as I advocated above. </div>
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<b><span style="font-size: small;">Get a teacher. Get a study buddy.</span></b></h3>
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I took private lessons with my American study buddy for a year and a half. The teacher came to one of our apartments once a week and it was great way to learn for several reasons.<br />
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1) Both my friend and I found one-to-one lessons too intense, but group lessons tend to get a bit unfocused. So learning with one other friend took that pressure off but gave us both the right amount of attention from the teacher. Also having a friend there was a great motivator.<br />
2) Our teacher was awesome - no app or textbook can ever replace having a human being explaining things to you. She was relaxed enough to teach us any words we ever asked her no matter what the topic, and strict enough to give us kanji quizzes at the beginning of lessons to help keep us on our toes.<br />
3) Sensei had great resources. One book in particularly liked that she used was <a href="http://www.amazon.co.jp/%E7%B5%B5%E3%81%A7%E5%B0%8E%E5%85%A5%E3%83%BB%E7%B5%B5%E3%81%A7%E7%B7%B4%E7%BF%92-%E8%B6%B3%E7%AB%8B-%E7%AB%A0%E5%AD%90/dp/4893585762/ref=pd_sim_b_5?ie=UTF8&refRID=04ESVRJ3S7YEJCYT4X0B" style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">絵で導入・絵で練習 Practice with pictures, Learn through pictures</a>, a fantastic aid for students because it is all cartoons, which it helps keep the dialogue with the teacher in the target language - Japanese. I liked it so much that I went out and bought it myself, even though I'm not a Japanese teacher.<br />
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My last advice is: get a good mindset about kanji.</span></h2>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Don't let kanji intimidate you, or dismiss them as unimportant. They are not scary and they are<i> </i>important. </span></h3>
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For one thing, one big ol' scary-looking kanji is actually just lots of simple kanji squished together. </div>
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E.g.<br />
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木 tree き</div>
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林 wood はやし</div>
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森 forest もり</div>
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Without knowing kanji, Japanese just does not make sense. When I learnt that <i>kyou</i> means today but <i>kyonen</i> means 'last year' I got confused and exclaimed, "Why? That makes no sense." to the principal of one of my first schools. He then explained that it isn't the sound, but the kanji that gives the words their meaning.</div>
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きょう<i>kyou</i></div>
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<b>今日</b> now day</div>
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きょうねん <i>kyonen</i></div>
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<b>去年</b> gone year</div>
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Just start from the beginning with kanji, like a kid.</h4>
Learn the kanji that Japanese elementary school kids learn, unless you're learning Japanese for a test which is slightly different story.<br />
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If Japanese children in primary school learn about 100 kanji a year, then an adult who works full time, has two kids and spends his working days saving people's lives can do it too.<br />
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A kanji practice notebook with the squares and the gaps for furigana is good idea. So just use muscle memory to learn kanji by writing them over and over again - probably 8 times minimum per character. Get one of these kanji notebooks and GO FOR IT!<br />
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Good luck on your Japanese learning journey.<br />
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*And remember, you can learn anything. #GrowthMindset<br />
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*That's from the Khan Academy, but I don't think Sal would mind me borrowing their slogan.</div>
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Joelle Kuiperhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16309106769426845652noreply@blogger.com0Tokyo, Japan35.6894875 139.6917063999999321.7112815 119.03740939999993 49.6676935 160.34600339999992tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2425594316636478068.post-31558039627414057842014-11-25T17:57:00.000+09:002014-11-25T17:57:09.007+09:00Try IT On Monday in Japanese ー TIOMは日本語でやります!<h3>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Japan ASCD has another Try IT On Monday (TIOM) seminar coming up in Tokyo this <b>Saturday December 6th. </b></span></h3>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">TIOM is characterized by its relaxed vibe, while being very practical and accessible to teachers at any level of the IT spectrum.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This one coming up is aimed at Japanese educators and will be hosted by the lovely people at Nishimachi International School. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As you can see on the flyer, they have coffee!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I highly recommend attending, our teachers really enjoyed the atmosphere while picking up very useful skills at <a href="http://latestgreatidea.blogspot.jp/2014/04/try-it-on-monday-2014.html" target="_blank">the TIOM we attended (in English) this April. </a></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3mbDIj96Gxbkwp37_Ie5j6K9ddp1ziSeymwAxmKwi2-XQYfaSIsukQdJJoBcPcqhjRYQ6u7tVDX3HTDiS45865uc38l5TEjdOvzYqigSiTmPeSxtPXUfDbEEv5d9ivMB7AqQIosKT5FA/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-11-25+at+5.44.16+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3mbDIj96Gxbkwp37_Ie5j6K9ddp1ziSeymwAxmKwi2-XQYfaSIsukQdJJoBcPcqhjRYQ6u7tVDX3HTDiS45865uc38l5TEjdOvzYqigSiTmPeSxtPXUfDbEEv5d9ivMB7AqQIosKT5FA/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-11-25+at+5.44.16+PM.png" height="400" width="319" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Please get the word out to your Japanese colleagues. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Links: </span><br />
<a href="http://jascd-tiom.ning.com/" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">Try IT On Monday - in Japanese</a><br />
<a href="https://www.eventbrite.com/e/japan-ascd-try-it-on-monday-in-japanese-registration-14408912445" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Register</span></a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09681402042238340124noreply@blogger.com0Tokyo, Japan35.6894875 139.6917063999999321.7112815 119.03740939999993 49.6676935 160.34600339999992tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2425594316636478068.post-44410257562551123472014-04-29T10:50:00.000+09:002014-12-23T10:48:35.941+09:00Creativity Expert - Sir Ken Robinson<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Revolutionary ideas on education and razor-sharp wit. </span></h2>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sir Ken Robinson is very widely-known, yet his ideas deserve even more spreading, especially around </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">teachers, school administrators, politicians, parents, and basically everyone.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">An expert on creativity and one of the wittiest public speakers I've ever heard, <a href="https://www.ted.com/speakers/sir_ken_robinson" target="_blank">Sir Ken's TED Talks</a> are so popular that he's done at least three - they keep asking him back. I'm having difficulty deciding which one of his books to read first. Any suggestions?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">One of the anecdotes he gives in one of his talks is that of British </span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">choreographer and director </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Gillian Lynne, most famous for her work on the musical </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Cats</i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">. As a young girl of eight, she simply couldn't sit still in class or turn her homework in on time. Her mother was called in to school, and this is what happened...</span><br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/yvhJnTPtJNQ?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Picking favorite quotes from his TED Talks is difficult, so here are just two:</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1) <i><b><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wX78iKhInsc">Escaping Education's Death Valley</a></b></i></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="talk-transcript__fragment" data-time="774065" id="t-774065" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 21px;">"you can't improve education</span><span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span><span class="talk-transcript__fragment" data-time="777009" id="t-777009" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 21px;">if you don't pick great people to teach</span><span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span><span class="talk-transcript__fragment" data-time="778658" id="t-778658" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 21px;">and if you don't keep giving them constant support</span><span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span><span class="talk-transcript__fragment" data-time="780517" id="t-780517" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 21px;">and professional development.</span><b><span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="talk-transcript__fragment" data-time="782282" id="t-782282" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 21px;">Investing in professional development </span></span></b></span></span><b style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="talk-transcript__fragment" data-time="782282" id="t-782282" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 21px;">is not a cost.</span><span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span><span class="talk-transcript__fragment" data-time="785219" id="t-785219" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 21px;">It's an investment"</span></span></b></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2) From </span><span style="background-color: white;"><span class="talk-transcript__fragment" data-time="992000" id="t-992000" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Custom', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 21px;"></span></span><b style="-webkit-transition: color 0.2s; background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Custom', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 26px; overflow: hidden; text-decoration: none; text-overflow: ellipsis; transition: color 0.2s; white-space: nowrap;"><i><a class="l3 talk-pip__title talk-pip__top-link" href="http://www.ted.com/talks/sir_ken_robinson_bring_on_the_revolution/transcript#" style="-webkit-transition: color 0.2s; background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Custom', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 26px; overflow: hidden; text-decoration: none; text-overflow: ellipsis; transition: color 0.2s; white-space: nowrap;">Bring on the learning revolution!</a></i></b></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="talk-transcript__fragment" data-time="1023000" id="t-1023000" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 21px;">"every day, everywhere,</span><span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span><b><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="talk-transcript__fragment" data-time="1026000" id="t-1026000" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 21px;">our children spread their dreams beneath our feet.</span><span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span><span class="talk-transcript__fragment" data-time="1029000" id="t-1029000" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 21px;">And we should tread softly."</span> </span></b></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">See more on his website and on YouTube. </span><a href="http://sirkenrobinson.com/?page_id=14" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">http://sirkenrobinson.com/?page_id=14</a></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09681402042238340124noreply@blogger.com0Tokyo, Japan35.6894875 139.6917063999999321.7112815 119.03740939999993 49.6676935 160.34600339999992tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2425594316636478068.post-68292503614359481612014-04-28T11:08:00.000+09:002014-12-21T17:33:55.014+09:00Try IT On Monday 2014 - Part I<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">On Saturday I went to <b>Try IT On Monday (TIOM) 2014 </b>with some teachers from my school. It was our first time at the event, and it was well worth it. There were over 100 teachers from international schools mostly around Tokyo to exchange ideas with. The aim of TIOM is for teachers to share IT ideas that are useful, but still easy enough to use that you can walk into your own classroom on Monday and try them out.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />TIOM had a great atmosphere, professional yet relaxed - the perfect combination for teachers volunteering their time on a Saturday morning. According to the coordinator, Kiyo Horii, a successful TIOM event includes these flavors and spices:</span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">informal</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">flexible</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">variety of presentations</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">open registration</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">student involvement</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">free lunch and snacks</span></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Check it out at <a href="http://jascd-tiom.ning.com/">http://jascd-tiom.ning.com/</a></span><br />
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Some of the presenters (do I dare call them <i>'techsperts'?</i>) were IT integrators or Google certified teachers, others were regular teachers who had figured out how to do something cool or time-saving using IT.</span><br />
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The sessions I saw were:</span><br />
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1) blogging </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">2) Google sites </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">3) efficient report card writing</span><br />
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As you can see, I really am trying IT on Monday with this new blog. Over the coming year, I will share ideas from the sessions I went to, and much, much more...</span><br />
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A big thanks to our hosts at Nishimachi International School - otsukaresama guys! </span><br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://jascd-tiom.ning.com/" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3dJ9mEIUII6moMLaL5qftGPwLxGRnNA2eTiZt7__ajt_HUAtyFPn0O9LBzCBC2XDVZqL4bGe3uSBDA7NZarSWmS_GB2EFugyNqAwyUYdfsEjvnWWstLc3sWEmAp9NilYQ29VKuFl8Edw/s1600/P1010016.JPG" height="480" title="Efficient Report Card Writing" width="640" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Efficient report card writing session at TIOM2014 - no more spelling mistakes, ever again! </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.schoolreportwriter.com/" style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-size: 15px; text-align: start;" target="_blank">www.schoolreportwriter.com</a></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<a href="http://jascd-tiom.ning.com/"><span id="goog_1544880571"></span><span id="goog_1544880572"></span></a></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09681402042238340124noreply@blogger.com0Tokyo, Japan35.6894875 139.6917063999999321.7112815 119.03740939999993 49.6676935 160.34600339999992tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2425594316636478068.post-24334603789306214272014-04-27T19:54:00.000+09:002014-04-27T19:54:11.060+09:00Coming soon...<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This blog starts Monday, 28th April, 2014. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The first blog entries include Try IT On Monday and Sir Ken Robinson.</span><br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09681402042238340124noreply@blogger.com0