While I spend most of my working life at three junior high schools, I visit each of the 10 elementary schools in my part of town at least once a trimester. I either stay for the whole day or half a day, depending on the size of the elementary school, and I usually eat lunch with one of the classes and play with the kids during recess. I absolutely adore elementary school visits, because the kids are excited, enthusiastic, hyper, and so cute! And they think I'm the coolest thing ever. It's quite a nice refresher after teaching shy and bored junior high school students. Though to be fair, I have some wonderful junior high classes, too!
Since the fall trimester is just drawing to a close, I'm just finishing up the first round of all the elementary schools in the area. I've been visiting a lot of them lately, so I thought I'd give you an idea of what it's like!
I come to each elementary school and wait in either the teachers' room or the principal's office, the latter of which usually has a nice seating area for visitors. When it's time for class to start, anywhere from 2 to 8 students will come meet me and take me to the classroom or wherever we're having class; if there are a lot of kids or multiple classes, it'll be in the gym. When I walk in, they usually applaud loudly (remember, I'm a rock star!), and some of the more outgoing kids might start saying "hello." I myself begin class with a friendly loud "hello!" and usually receive a resounding reply in return. I don't, I make them do it again!
I then ask what other English greetings they know, and they throw out "Hi," "How are you," an occasional "Good Morning." I then ask if they know what to say when meeting someone for the first time, and depending on the age group, they'll look puzzled or say they forgot or shout it right out. Then we'll practice "My name is ---." When I say "My name is Emily," and they repeat after me in full, I tease them by saying, "Is everyone here named Emily?" which is apparently the most hilarious thing they've heard in awhile. When we go over "Nice to meet you," I ask them what gesture goes with "nice to meet you," and they usually know it's a handshake, but don't always know that you have to use your right hand. Then I do an example conversation with the teacher, put the kids in pairs to practice for a few minutes, and invite kids to come up and introduce themselves to me. There are always a few takers, but sometimes it's half the class.
After practicing greetings, I start my self-introduction, which is the cornerstone of being an Assistant Language Teacher in Japan: between all my middle school classes and all the classes at elementary school, I must have done in around 100 times by now. I do a somewhat simplified version for elementary school that goes like this:
Hello! (Hello!)
My name is Emily. (Sometimes I say "My name is..." and let them fill it in."
I come from America.
How old am I?/How old do you think I am?
Common responses: 18, 22, 23, 24, 25, 28, 31, 35, 38
The kids say it in Japanese and I repeat in English; only the older kids can count that high, but I think it's good for the younger kids to hear the English if nothing else. To any kids that guess close to or over forty, I reply "Shitsureina!" which means "How rude!" This also makes the kids laugh, and when I finally say slowly and clearly, "I am twenty-five years old," they are usually somewhat surprised, with the exception of the one or two kids who guessed 25 and are ecstatic at being right.
Then I say "what's in my bag?" and take various things out of my backpack (the same navy one I've had since high school, by the way!). I start with an American map and I point out two things: that I come from New Jersey, which is a little bigger than the island of Shikoku. Since they are often surprised that any state in America is as small as Shikoku, I can never resist pointing out that California is slightly bigger than all of Japan, which they naturally find shocking. I diplomatically state that America is a very large country and leave it at that. I then pull out a picture of the Statue of Liberty, which all the kids know in Japanese: jiyuu no megami (goddess of freedom). I tell them what we call it in English, make them repeat it, and say that it's close to where I live.
I pull out a picture of my family, and ask how many people there are in the picture to make them count: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. I ask them which one is me and point to my parents first, and when they laugh and say no, I tell them the English words (eg. my mother) and usually they'll guess what they are in Japanese. I get the biggest laughs pointing to my brother, who has some facial hair in the picture I use. The picture of my family gets a lot of interest, but isn't anywhere near as exciting as the picture of my dog I bring out next; elementary school kids seem obsessed with pets! I say that his name is Riggs, and that he's ten years old (and they have to tell me how old that is in Japanese) and that he's big but friendly. When I say he's around 40 kilos, they are flabbergasted, since many of the small ones are barely 20 kilos themselves. When I ask if anyone has a dog, and then a cat, they'll reply enthusiastically, and when I ask if they like cats or dogs, the crowd goes wild!
I then pull out a Harry Potter book and tell them that I like to read. I read the "Harry Potter" title, since it's more like Halli Potta in Japanese, and then say, "but in English!" and reveal the inside; they are properly shocked by the English text. I bring forth a CD and say that I like music, and get them to say see-dee rather than the Japanese pronunciation of shi-dee. Lastly, I bring forth a bar of chocolate and say that I love chocolate, and they are amused by my enthusiasm, but when I ask if they like and then love chocolate, most kids tend to be right there with me.
Then there's question time, which is sometimes at the end of class instead, but I like doing it right after the self-introduction. Here's a sample of the questions I get:
What's your favorite color/food/animal/fruit/vegetable/sport/Japanese food?
What kind of bugs/animals/food do you have in America?
What is your house in America like? (They are usually very surprised to hear that it's brick)
Have you met President Obama?
Are there beetles in America?
Why is there a Statue of Liberty in America?
My favorite question and answer recently:
3rd grade boy: What famous buildings are there in America?
Emm: Well, it's not a building but we just talked about the Statue of Liberty, right? That's in New York. There are many famous skyscrapers in New York, like the Empire State Building (which they don't really know). There's also the White House. Who lives in the White House?
(Kids raise hands)
Another boy: (a little shyly)....a smart person?
Emm: Well, yes, that's (usually) true, but a special smart person.
Girl: Obama? Bush.....Obama!
Emm: Yes, right now it's President Obama, but the president of America always lives in the White House. So before, it was Bush, but now, it's Obama.
(Kids are rather surprised by this)
Then there are the games and songs. English language teaching at the elementary school level is really all about getting them excited about English, and games and songs do that well. When I meet with the teachers a week or few days beforehand, they often have games, songs, or at least vocabulary in mind, though there are some teachers who are happy to leave it all to me. Here are some of the current staples of my elementary school teaching career:
London Bridge: The kids know it in Japanese (Rondon Bashi) so it doesn't take too long to teach them the English lyrics, and I spice up the drill by adding gestures (hands outstretched for the bridge, sinking down to the knees for falling down, hands cupping the face for my fair lady). Then we get them all in a circle and have them sing while walking around through the bridges, usually made by the teachers, and as "My Fair Lady" is sung, the bridges fall down and catch whomever is walking through at the time, who then becomes another bridge. Great fun, but hard to do with over 50 students, which I have occasionally done.
Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes: such a classic, and so good now that the schools are freezing and the kids are happy to run around like crazy. I go through all the vocabulary first, again adding some Emmspice by telling them to massage their shoulders, going back and forth between "knees" and "toes" with lightning speed, making silly faces and pushing my eyes and mouth around while practicing the facial words. Then we sing the song rather slowly together, I in a loud voice which the students copy rather well. We do the song faster and faster, and after a few runs I start asking if they think they can do it even faster, and about half reply with an emphatic "yes," while the others insist that it's "muri" or impossible. Even once it gets ridiculously fast, some kids are usually clamoring to do it again even faster. Needless to say, it's pretty good exercise!
Go to Sleep game: I shamelessly copied this game from an ALT in Matsuyama, just as I shamelessly use the flashcards my predecessors have left behind rather than make my own (it's economical and ecological, after all!). It can be done with any vocabulary as long as you've got flashcards wih magnets that can be stuck on the blackboard. I have loads of these for various categories, but I do colors and fruits more often than anything else and often together. I'll go through the vocabulary, which I say in various ways, different voices, sometimes in song, and add relevant information (ie, Americans almost always eat the skin of grapes; many people don't in Japan). Once I've stuck all the cards on the blackboard, I'll tell the kids to pretend to go to sleep while I remove one card, and once I shout "brrrrrinngggg! alarm clock!" they "wake up" and tell me what card is missing. Eventually I start taking more cards off the board, and every once in awhile I'll take all the cards off and make them guess until we've got all cards back on the board. They are often falling off their chairs in their efforts to catch my attention so that I call on them. I only wish I could get my junior high students to do so! The kids also like to curl up together and pretend to snore when I tell them to go to sleep, and they also love it when I scold any kid who tries to keep his/her eyes open.
Aaaaah, it's so cute! I've got just two more elementary schools left to visit this trimester, but I'll start making the rounds again in the new year. I might see if I can get some pictures of me teaching, since most teachers take them, but I hope you enjoy hearing tales of Emily-sensei, the crazy American English teacher!
