This article is taken from "kids com" Magazine - for more articles,
see the "advice" page!
With a little help from
ALTs.- March 2001
Whilst travelling around the country, we've seen
some interesting and varied ways of teaching Kokusairikai. One of the most
surprising things is that even if there is an ALT in the school, the lessons
still tend to be planned from a Japanese point of view.
One example is
in deciding what English to teach. I think that the best way is to ask the ALT
what useful English they most often use. But what happens all too often is that
the Japanese teachers think of something in Japanese and directly translate it
into English. This often leads to very strange English that doesn't seem very
natural. Some examples would be "What time is it now?" (in reality we wouldn't
usually use the word "now"), "See you again" ("See you" or "See you later" is
much more natural and better sounding), and probably the worst example is "Fine
thank you, and you?" as a reply to "How are you?" (there are many different
answers to the question in English, everyone answering in exactly the same way,
every single time just sounds strange and cold! Try things like "I'm OK", "Not
too bad" or ask your ALT what they use).
One other example is in trying
to translate expressions that have no equivalent in English. One example is
"Itadakimasu". I often get asked in schools "How do you say itadakimasu in
English", and the honest answer is "We don't". People of certain religions say
grace before a meal, but for most people we don't say anything special. You
could say "Let's eat", but if it is said by everyone in unison, every time you
have some food it then it just doesn't sound right!!
One useful idea is to
teach phrases that have no equivalent in Japanese. Do you know the simple phrase
"Bless you"? We say this to someone after they sneeze. If your kids use it
correctly I'm sure any English speaker would be most
impressed!!!
Deciding what culture to teach is another area where the
ALT can help. All too often Japanese teachers say to UK or Australian ALTs
"Today you will teach about Thanksgiving". But these ALTs probably know just as
much (or less!) about it as you do (it's a north American holiday)!! Asking ALTs
about festivals, events etc. in their country is a good idea when trying to
choose culture topics to teach. For example, in Japan fireworks are thought of
as a summer thing, but in the UK the biggest firework festival is on November
5th!!!
If you are lucky enough to have foreign visitors to your school
and want to ask them questions, then please let the kids decide themselves what
questions they want to ask. Quite often the teachers tell the kids what to ask
and this often has the bad effect of perpetuating incorrect stereotypes. For
example the other day I heard from a kid "We've heard that foreigners can't use
chopsticks, can you use chopsticks?". The answer is YES!!! Lots of people can
use chopsticks in the West, especially for eating Chinese or Japanese food! It
was obvious that the kid hadn't thought of the question themselves as this is
one of the cliche Japanese misconceptions that adults still tend to hold (and
one question I get asked far too often!!). Questions that the kids have
themselves are more interesting. Kids like to ask about things they like (for
example I often get asked about English "Janken", the answer is that we more
often than not use a coin toss instead!!). They also seem very interested in
food!! They are starting from a blank slate and really are curious and ask some
really good questions!
This is a new education which requires an open
mind. Ask and listen to your ALT and kids, I'm sure that you'll end up learning
just as much, if not more, than they do!
Be genki,
Richard
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