The New NELP Class (2010-2011)
This last photo deserves it's own entry: the New NELP Class (2010-2011)
Two students, unfortunately, aren't in the picture. One was not able to come to orientation, and one came after the orientation, and so couldn't be in the picture. However, in April, I'm sure there will be a picture with the whole class.
Date: 21:53｜Permalink｜Author：mark
photos from 2009-2010 (part 7)
Here are pictures of the junior high school third grade students: taking quizzes, preparing for their public service announcement video project, and preparing for our big debate.
Date: 21:38｜Permalink｜Author：mark
photos from 2009-2010 (part 6)
Photos from the Seishin Girls' High School Speech Contest. There were eight recitations, including one by one of my junior high school third graders. There were also eight original speeches, including three by members of my high school first grade class, and one by one of the high school 8th period NELP students.
Date: 21:26｜Permalink｜Author：mark
photos from 2009-2010 (part 5)
Here are photos of the junior high school first grade students and their special projects video.
Date: 21:14｜Permalink｜Author：mark
photos from 2009-2010 (part 4)
Here are two photos of the junior high second graders. I'm afraid I don't have many photos of second grade.
Date: 21:09｜Permalink｜Author：mark
photos from 2009-2010 (part 3)
Here are pictures from the high school NELP classes
Date: 20:58｜Permalink｜Author：mark
Photos from 2009-2010 (part 2)
Here are pictures from Brian's Junior High School 3rd Grade English Alpha Class. Brian's class has been using a page-layout program called Scribus (an open-source (and in my opinion, superior) alternative to programs such as Microsoft Publisher). They've been working on a newsletter project.
Date: 20:47｜Permalink｜Author：mark
photos from 2009-2010 (part 1)
It suddenly occurred to me that I haven't posted any pictures of the NELP program in quite awhile. I have quite a lot of catching up to do, so here they are. In order not to over-tax anybody's computer, I'll break this into sections.
Reischauer 2009
Date: 20:37｜Permalink｜Author：mark
NELP Orientation
We had orientation for NELP yesterday. I'm VERY happy that ELEVEN students came for NELP orientation. I think they will be a great class. I can already see that every student has something valuable and special to offer the class, and I can see that there will be a great variety of strengths and talents in the coming year. I'm REALLY looking forward to teaching this group of students.
Every one of my NELP classes has been special, each in a unique way. Each year, the atmosphere of the new class is a little different. Each class shares many qualities with the other classes, but often there's ONE quality that really stands out.
One of my NELP classes is the hardest working and most improved class of any group of students I've taught since I began teaching in 1992. One class is simply the nicest group of students. One class is so easy to teach because they enthusiastically jump right in and try whatever I ask them to try. Another class is so competitive and constantly push each other to do better. One class is without doubt the funniest group of students I've ever taught. As I say, they all share characteristics (for example, they're all very smart and very hard-working as a whole), but each has a special quality that stands out. I'm really looking forward to seeing how my new NELP class will shine in the coming year.
Date: 10:13｜Permalink｜Author：mark
Final Exams
Final exams are getting an upgrade this year. As with last term, junior high Oral Communication exams will be 75 questions instead of the usual 60, however, the questions for parts four and five will be in their test booklets, and this was very positively received by the students last term.
The due to our debate project, the junior high school third grade English Beta exam (reading) will get a major overhaul. To third grade parents: expect Beta exam grades to plummet. This exam will be one of the hardest tests in the entire NELP curriculum. One of the things that makes this test difficult is that students won't be able to simply memorize information. They'll have to understand it and apply it. This exam will cover many of the debate topics we've discovered, including organization, points and motions, fallacies and logic, and the Toulmin Method.
Also the high school exams are getting a very new look. Up to now, the high school oral communication exams were skills-based tests that involved four long listenings with 15 to 20 questions each. Now, the test will consist of ELEVEN parts:
1. announcements (an announcement followed by five questions)
2. completion (five completion exercises)
3. comprehension (vocabulary) (five exercises testing comprehension of a sentence)
4. conversations (long) (a conversation between two people followed by five questions)
5. dictation (taking notes on information in a long listening)
6. practical listening (following instructions - this term involving directions on a map)
7. picture practice (identifying five pictures)
8. pronunciation recognition (showing recognition of basic English sounds and the phonetic alphabet)
9. short conversations (five short conversations with one question each)
10. stories (a short story followed by five questions)
11. long listening (a long story or article followed by ten questions)
The tests will involve themes and vocabulary from our quizzes, so hopefully the students will be able to prepare much better for the test, and the test is a good combination of content and skills assessment, and so I feel it is a much better test than before.
Date: 10:00｜Permalink｜Author：mark
Ending Progress Reports
This term I decided to try a little experiment. I decided to ask the students to write Progress Reports on their reading rather than book reports. There were several reasons for this. One, some students were reading books, but were not writing book reports because they felt they couldn't write a good report on that book. I felt that this was missing the point, as our real goal was reading, not writing. Secondly, some students were not keeping up with their reading, and I wanted to better monitor their progress. As well, some students were reading their books, but turning in book reports after the deadline, causing them to lose massive points on their grades.
These are all valid reasons for the idea, and I stand behind them. However, what seemed a good idea in theory was a little confusing in practice. The biggest problem was that students didn't clearly identify what progress they made in their reading. Most didn't remember my instructions to write down what pages they had read. This led to confusion for me as I often didn't know if the report I was receiving was a Progress Report or a Final Report. As well, and most importantly, I noticed a greater tendency for students to stop reading once they had reached their reading quote.
This last reason particularly has convinced me that we should go back to book reports.
Date: 09:54｜Permalink｜Author：mark
This term in special projects
The first graders are currently working on two simultaneous projects. The first is their class video. We're making a kind of documentary/game show about the school. We had a huge setback when we realized that what we had done so far was not really what they had in mind when we started, so we're going back to reshoot a couple of scenes, but I really believe it will be worth the effort.
Their second project is a research report and presentation about another country.
The second graders are currently writing a poem that they will have to recite in class. We've been talking about meter, rhythm, rhyme scheme, content and we're starting to talk about delivery.
The third graders are currently doing two projects. First, naturally, is the debate, which I must say is going very, very well. It amazes me how creative and hard-working the students are. I sometimes have to redirect them back on course (breaking up frequent games of "pen stacking" and other pursuits), but for the most part their work is first rate.
Secondly, the third graders are finishing up their Public Service Announcements. These promise to be really worth the effort, and I'm hoping to film at least one of the PSAs on Friday.
In the meantime, I'm putting the finishing touches on the First Grade Time Capsule (to be opened in February 2012), and on the Third Grade Final Slideshow. During our Spring Supplementary Lessons, I also plan to get the first graders to put together their "Introduction to First Grade" video that will be shown to the new NELP students in April.
Date: 10:30｜Permalink｜Author：mark
In the High School Program
Two weeks ago, the high school first graders talked about giving news interviews.
Last week, a visiting instructor from Chugoku Junior College began an excellent lesson on how to make a resume. The visiting instructor will return this week to continue the lesson.
After that, we'll have only one lesson left, and most of that lesson will be spent on quizzes to prepare the students for their final exams.
Two weeks ago, the high school second graders talked about sarcasm and irony in humor.
Last week, they talked about parody.
This week, we will talk about practical jokes, pranks and physical humor.
Next week, we will perform one kind of humor that we studied this term.
So far, the high school first grade students have taken their announcement quiz, the completion quiz, the comprehension quiz, and the conversation quiz.
The high school second grade students have taken their announcement quiz, the completion quiz, the comprehension quiz, the conversation quiz, the dictation quiz and the practical listening quiz.
The practical listening quiz was the most fun, because in Quiz 5 of practical listening, the students must follow a series of verbal instructions to navigate through a town (using Google Earth) to a specific location.
Other than a few wrong turns, things went mostly well.
Date: 10:24｜Permalink｜Author：mark
This Week in Reading Class
Two weeks ago,, the first grade students read an article called "Video Games Have Role in School" about the use of video games in school. We also had a good discussion about using video games for work.
Last week, the students watched the movie "Chicken Run" and we discussed the movie in class.
This week, the first grade students read a poem called "One Thousand Nine Hundred and Sixty Eight Winters" by Jaci Earley. We talked about depression, and also about how we can learn about the narrator of a poem through the language of the poem.
Next week, the first grade students will read "On Colonizing Education" a speech by Onondaga Chief Canasatego (given in 1744) regarding the nature of education.
Two weeks ago, the second grade students were supposed to read "The Cask of Amontillado". This did not go so well. I don't know if it was too difficult, or if it wasn't interesting, but for the second year in a row, this story flopped. I can't tell if they read it but didn't understand it or if they didn't read it at all. Hard to say. Either way, this story will be replaced in next year's curriculum.
Last week, the second grade students watched "The Parent Trap" and we discussed the movie in class.
This week, the second grade students read a mock-science article about banning DHMO - dihydrogen monoxide (also known as water). The students gave small-group presentations about dangers to the environment and they had very interesting ideas.
Next week, the second grade students will read a news article about modern pirates in the Indian Ocean.
Two weeks ago, the third grade students began forming their attacking arguments for the debate and we discussed fallacies and logic.
Last week, the third graders watched the movie "School Days with a Pig" (ブタがいた教室) and they discussed the movie in their debate teams.
This week, the third grade students are studying points and motions in debate.
Next week, the third grade students will learn about debate procedures.
Date: 10:10｜Permalink｜Author：mark