A New Year for NELP

This year, we will begin the 6th year of the Native English Language Program. The first NELP class will begin their final year at Seishin. Hard to believe!

This year also marks major changes in Native English Language Program, including major changes to the NELP curriculum.

This year, two-thirds of the main readings will change and more than one quarter of the test readings will change. Some of the readings will indeed be new, but I will also be bringing back many readings that were previously dropped from the curriculum.

Last year, I did extensive interviews with all of my students to determine which readings 'worked' and which readings did not. Students told me their favorite and least favorite readings, and we discussed why certain reading weren't working. I had a lot of very valuable feedback from the students. In this way I hope to maximize the benefits the students receive through this program. In someways, the program will be easier, and in some ways it will be harder.

There will also be many new activities.

In Oral Communication, students will continue to have discussion, class presentations and small group presentations. Students will continue to have conversation topics and debate topics. We will also continue to use classical art as a medium for language practice and discussion. Starting this year, we also begin pronunciation practice.

We're going to be doing tongue twisters and other exercises to work on clarity, pronunciation, word stress and cadence in language.

Later I hope to introduce students to famous (and not so famous) quotes in order to generate short discussions.

We're also going to study music. I'm going to use music to develop their listening skills, develop vocabulary recognition, generate discussion, and reinforce grammar and discourse.

I'm also planning to re-introduce final presentations to second and third grade students.

As well, I'm planning to introduce short writing exercises and projects in second and third grade to help students further develop their writing skills.

I'm also giving strong consideration to making changes to my oral communication and English B tests in order to better challenge the students and create more opportunities for students to learn and excel.

This year, the high school program will also see significant development. High school first and second graders will now have NELP writing classes. I'll be teaching first grade writing this year and Brian will be teaching second grade writing. I have some ideas for some very interesting, challenging and NEW kinds of writing projects that will take students in a very new direction in their language development. As well, my high school first grade oral communication classes will see some very new and exciting activities.

The students will be learning advanced oral communication techniques that will be designed to prepare the students for leadership roles in the future. Specifically, I'm planning to help the students to develop their pronunciation, clarity, volume, power, cadence and tone. We'll be working on gestures, posture, and body language. We'll also be talking not only about how to convey emotions, but we'll also be learning how to create mood and tone through word choice and vocal control.

In all, we'll be doing some very new and unique things in NELP this year.

Date: 2011⁄04⁄05 21:46｜Permalink｜Author：nelp

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