In our oral communication classes, the first graders first worked on listening techniques. Tomorrow, we're going to work on speaking techniques, including volume, tone, pace and word grouping.

--Mark

Date: 16:58｜Permalink｜Author：nelp

The New NELP Classes

Here are pictures of the new NELP classes.

There are five first graders:

The first graders are awesome! They did a wonderful job on their spring homework. What's more, I've already got my eye on several SELP students who, if they study hard in first grade, have a strong chance to join NELP in second grade.

There are twelve second graders:

I'm so happy to see them again. They're so much fun.

There are ten third graders:

For their winter homework, they had to do book reports and give me another draft on their speeches. I don't have everyone's homework yet, but the ones who turned it in did a great job!

There are now ten high school first graders:

I am SO happy to have these girls in my class this year. We did a spontaneous debate this week, no preparation, and they did so well!

I'm sure my classes are going to be a lot of fun this year!

--Mark

Date: 23:26｜Permalink｜Author：nelp

Getting Ready for the New Year

This is a little late, but before classes began, I got the classroom ready for the new year. I cleaned. Yes, I cleaned. I swept. I swept again. I mopped. I swept. I mopped. I swept again.

Here are the results.

--Mark

Date: 23:23｜Permalink｜Author：nelp

Cleaning the NELP room!

Today is the opening ceremony. Tomorrow will be the entrance ceremony for new students. I'm really excited.

I cleaned my classroom! Here are some pictures.

Mark

Date: 09:38｜Permalink｜Author：nelp

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: 21:46｜Permalink｜Author：nelp

The last pictures of the 2010-2011 school year

Here are the final pictures of the 2010-2011 school year.

Here are pictures of the junior high school first grade debate. The topic was "Should students get work experience in addition to going to school?"

Here are pictures of the high school second grade debate. The topic was "Should we stop using disposable chopsticks." The students did an awesome job.

Here are the third grade students practicing for their big debate.

Here are the third graders opening their time capsule.

Finally, here I am with a couple of my high school third grade students who are going to graduate.

My junior high school third grade students each got two DVDs: one has all the photos from the last three years. The other DVD has the time capsule video, the students' introduction to first grade, the video project we did in first grade, and the 3rd grade slideshow video. Moms and Dads, if your daughter hasn't shown this video to you yet, please ask for it!

I just finished editing the 2011 Introduction to First Grade video, but it took a long time to edit. There were a lot of things that needed to be edited

Date: 22:05｜Permalink｜Author：nelp

The New NELP Class

Today was a BIG DAY! It was the day I got to meet my new NELP class.

I can already tell that they're going to be a LOT of fun! I'm really looking forward to having them in class next year.

Date: 12:30｜Permalink｜Author：nelp

Latest Photos from NELP

Here are some of the latest photos from NELP!

Here are the first graders getting ready for their first debate.

Here, a first grade student is doing research to prepare for her 3rd Term final report.

Here are the first graders in reading class.

Here are the third graders getting ready for their debate.

Date: 12:20｜Permalink｜Author：nelp

This Week in NELP

This week, the junior high school first graders are studying "On Colonizing Education" by Chief Canasatego. Chief Canasatego was a Native American Chief of the Onondaga Nation who wrote a letter to the British Colonial administration in Pennsylvania in 1744 regarding the education of young Native American men in Colonial schools. It is an very interesting look at the nature of education.

Yesterday, the students had a discussion about the letter, and today, they did small group presentations about education. Some of the students did VERY well, and one group particularly impressed me by being prepared, working together, and staying focused on the task. Some students in the other groups as well did a lot of preparation, but I would like to see some students participate more and prepare more!

Last Friday, we talked about the names of Native American nations, and how the names by which some nations are known are actually offensive and show a lack cultural sensitivity to the people of those nations. We also talked about colonialism and imperialism and the problems inherent in using education to replace native cultures with the "dominating" culture of the invaders. That's kind of harsh language, there, I know, but I think it's accurate.

The second graders are currently studying the poem "Longing" by Matthew Arnold. My second grade students once again have not only turned in ALL of their homework, but have turned it in well ahead of schedule. They are doing AWESOMELY! They also did VERY well in their small group presentations. However, we did have a short talk in both first grade and second grade about communication and conversation, about listening and responding. I'm hoping to help the students more to develop their ability to listen, think, ask questions and reply. My goal is to have more natural two-way communication in the future!

My second graders always surprise me! One student found "Longing" to be "disgusting" because the narrator seems like a stalker: unnaturally obsessing over a woman who doesn't seem interested in him. I find this tremendously amusing because I'd never looked at the poem that way and it opened whole new avenues of discussion and debate. This kind of clever thinking is one of the reasons I love the second graders so much. They're always surprising me!

The third graders are working steadily towards the June debate. I'm not doing as well as I wish I were. I'm doing a better job organizing and presenting the debate than last year, but I think next yearI can do much better. I hope to cut even more unnecessary "information" and focus more on the "process" of debate.

They've done some VERY clever research, and have had some brilliant ideas, but I'm afraid that they've lost a lot of their confidence in the build-up to this point. Obviously they are in unfamiliar territory in terms of language and skills, and they're feeling distinctly uncomfortable. I can ameliorate (Students, if you're reading this, go look up that word! It's a good word!) this somewhat in the future by doing more practice debates.

Due to some lost lessons in the second grade and an absent student in first grade, we haven't yet gotten to our junior high debates, but I hope to do the first ones next week.

I did have one big disappointment this week. A student turned in a book report that was taken word-for-word from a review on Amazon.com. I'm SO disappointed. In the past, I've had students copy the 'blurb' from the back of the book. Earlier this year, I received a couple of essays from first graders that were taken largely from Wikipedia. Plagiarism (go look up that word, students!) makes me cringe.

Students, plagiarism as an adult can REALLY mess up your who life! People have been expelled from university for doing it! People have lost their jobs and even their whole careers for doing it! People have even gone to jail for fraud doing that! Parents, please talk to your children and make sure to warn them. I mean, honestly, girls: did you think I wouldn't notice that the book report or essay you turned in sounded NOTHING like you? Did you really think I don't know your "style" by now?

In more positive news, I've seen some HUGE improvements in some students recently. A first grade student has been speaking so much more fluently, confidently and aggressively in class. Her English level is soaring now! A second grade student has recently also started talking more. Since I changed some of the second grade readings to make the class more balanced, she has reciprocated by being more open and active in class, and her attitude is SO much more positive. As well, a there's a third grade student who's class preparation has become really outstanding. She's really improved in her effort in class.

Overall, however, classes are going well, and students are doing well.

Date: 18:24｜Permalink｜Author：nelp

This Week in NELP

Here are this weeks pictures from the NELP classes.

Here are the first graders in reading class. The first graders all turned in their winter reading and they're already doing very well on their third term reading.

The first graders are preparing for tomorrow's debate. We're using the All Japan High School English Debate format. Their proposition is: Japanese students should get work experience while in high school. I was very happy at the cooperation today. Both teams did a great job of giving speaking roles to everyone, and everyone contributed to planning for their team. They did a super job!

This week, students also began brainstorming for their final essay. For their final essay, they have to do a report on a country, not the whole country, just one part, such as food, culture, music, etc.

Here are the second graders getting ready for their own debate. Their proposition is "We should stop using disposable chopsticks." The negative team will really have their work cut out for them. Fortunately, both teams are pretty aggressive and they're all VERY hardworking. I'm so proud of my second graders!

Here's one of the third graders working on their debate.

I really need to take more photos of the second and third graders!

Date: 17:22｜Permalink｜Author：nelp

Junior High School Program

At the end of last term, all of the Seishin students took surveys to ask their opinions about their lessons and their teachers. My junior high school second graders took this survey last term, and I gave my first graders and third graders this survey at the beginning of this term. Most of my students were mostly satisfied with NELP but I was sorely disheartened that a couple students were very unhappy with some aspects of NELP.

Recently, my junior high school second graders in particular have complained about the length of some of our readings. My second graders are VERY hard-working students, so when they complained, I listened.

I really care about my students, and if what I'm giving them isn't right for them: well, that's very important to me. In addition to the length and difficulty of some works, I have also been a little worried about some readings in the curriculum because I felt that some readings were too 'negative' and I feel that, particularly because Seishin is a Catholic missionary school, our readings should be more positive and uplifting. Certainly we can have 'serious' topics, but they shouldn't ALL be serious or dark.

So I sat down with each of my classes and we talked about what readings they liked and what readings they didn't like. Their answers were surprising. There were things I thought they would have liked that they didn't like, and there were things that I felt they surely must hate that they loved.

As a result of these discussions, the NELP program is going to be much better next year.

One other change this year is that we're going to start regular debates and conversations in junior high. Each section, the NELP students will have two debates and two conversations. The topics for these were suggested by students. I think we'll have a lot of fun.

This term, the first graders are starting with "Ozymandias" by Percy Bysshe Shelley. Their first debate proposition will be "Young people should get work experience and not just go to school." Their first conversation topic will be "Why do we have P.E.?" This term, the first graders will be making their "Introduction to First Grade" video for next year's NELP class.

The second graders were going to start with "The Cask of Amontillado" by Edgar Allan Poe. I had chosen this because it's in a lot of American high school literature books, but I have thrown it out of the curriculum as being not so terribly appropriate to the students' needs. After all: a guy gets sealed up in a wall! Instead, we're reading the speech "I Will Fight No More Forever" by Chief Joseph. Our first debate proposition will be "We should stop using disposable chopsticks." Our first conversation topic will be "What do you think of our teachers?" The second graders are still trying to finish their video project. They're not getting very far with it. In fact, it's probably going to be a video about them not getting their project done. The multiple takes of students telling each other to do it over and do it better are far more fun to watch than the actual video they're making!

The third graders started working on their debate. Their proposition is "Whaling should be banned." We have started on the constructive arguments and have begun preliminary work on the attacking arguments. The third graders are still finishing their public service announcements. We started filming the first one today, and it looks AWESOME!

Here are the first graders doing brainstorming for their first essay. They're doing essays about art!

Here is the first grade class.

Here are the first graders having a discussion about Ozymandias.

Here are the first graders in reading class.

Here are the first graders doing research for their first presentation.

Here are the first graders in their writing class.

Here are the second graders.

Here are the second graders having a discussion about "I Will Fight No More Forever". Their discussion was SUPER! The second graders are SO good. Usually I have to watch my classes very closely to see that every student speaks during discussion time, but my second graders ALL spoke within the first 90 seconds of the discussion. They're so super! Their presentations were awesome too! I was amazed. They're also the only class to turn in ALL of their homework so far this term (and it was ALL early). GOOD JOB, SECOND GRADERS!

Here is the third grade class!

Date: 18:36｜Permalink｜Author：nelp

The Last Pictures of 2010

Here are the last photos of 2010.

Here are pictures of the junior high school 3rd graders working on their Public Service Announcements.

We played a few games during our last week. In this game, we had five groups. One student from each group would come to the table. They'd have 20 seconds to look at a picture, and then 30 seconds to go back to their group and describe the picture to their teammate. The teammates would then come to the table and would have to answer a question about the picture, just based on the description by their teammate. The students seemed to really enjoy this one.

Date: 21:40｜Permalink｜Author：nelp

A New Chapter for the NELP Program

This week saw a HUGE change in the NELP program!

I bought a new iMac for home, brought my old iMac to the NELP room, and moved the NELP computer to a table in the NELP room to be a NELP computer for students to use (and for me to use for a few last specific windows applications that won't transfer to my Mac).

I spent the better part of this week figuring out how to connect the Mac to the projector and the Smartboard, configuring the Mic (I bought a Griffin iMic external soundcard to boost the sound), working out cables to connect the Mac to the video camera, and linking the computer to the NELP laptops so they can print.

Still having a few minor problems. Some setting on the internet router is preventing me from usingGoogle Images, but it's on my list of things to do.

I've started transferring my Microsoft Word .doc files to iWork Pages documents and transferring my Powerpoint presentations into Keynote.

It should look really good when I'm done and will really help me with a huge new project I'm planning for the NELP project.

In addition, my Mac at home has 8gb of ram and Apple Final Cut Express to help me with making videos for the NELP program. Some of our video files were challenging my old computer. This marks a big turning point in what I'll be able to do for the NELP program.

Date: 21:04｜Permalink｜Author：nelp

NELP Writing Class

Here are the latest pictures from the NELP writing class.

Date: 20:50｜Permalink｜Author：nelp

This Week in NELP

This week in NELP students read stories and articles to prepare for Halloween.

The First Grade NELP students read an article about the Winchester Mystery House in San Jose, California. Sarah Winchester was the wife of William Wirt Winchester, heir to the Winchester Repeating Arms Company that made the famous Winchester Rifle. After the tragic deaths of her husband and infant daughter, Sarah consulted a spiritualist who advised her to buy a house, and told Sarah that Sarah would live as long as work on the house continued. As a result, work continued on this very unusual and unique house for the next 38 years.

The Second Grade NELP students read an article about the Dyatlof Pass Incident in Russia in 1959, in which 9 hikers mysteriously and tragically died during a ski-hiking tour at a pass in the Ural Mountains.

The Third Grade NELP students read a short story by H.P. Lovecraft called "In the Vault" in which an unlucky undertaker is inadvertently trapped in a vault with the dead.

Next:

The First Graders will read "The Gift of the Magi" by O Henry. I often worry that this story is too difficult. The vocabulary is really daunting for first graders. However my first graders have often told me that this is one of their favorite stories.

The Second Graders will read "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi" by Rudyard Kipling. It's one of the longest stories in the NELP curriculum, but has been very popular with NELP students each time I teach it.

The Third Graders will read an article about The Christmas Truce of 1914. This was an amazing incident in which British and German soldiers voluntarily declared peace on Christmas morning, 1914. Unfortunately, they were later forced to continue fighting. Still, it's a good incident to read about.

Date: 17:06｜Permalink｜Author：nelp

Halloween Lessons

This week we celebrated Halloween a little early. I decorated the classroom with my usual creepy pictures, pumpkins and Halloween decorations. The students got Halloween candy and we watched scary videos.

The first graders and third graders also told scary stories as one of their speaking assignments.

Here are this year's scary Halloween pictures:

First Grade:

Second Grade

Third Grade

Date: 16:28｜Permalink｜Author：nelp

These Days in NELP

Here are some pictures from the NELP program!

Here are the first graders having a discussion about the Great Molasses Flood of 1919.

Here are the first graders having a debate about whether or not the government should organize ordinary people into teams to deal with disasters.

Here are some first graders playing while they work on their mid-term presentation. One girl (in the center) is doing a presentation about Vlad (Vlad the Impaler) Tepes who was Bram Stoker's inspiration for Dracula. So I've been making a lot of jokes about Vlad's curly mustache and wavy hair (and a few jokes about Justin Beiber just because I'm a little bit mean!)

In addition to this, the first graders have also been working on this year's Time Capsule project. They were working on profiles, including likes and favorites and so on, and later they will write some letters for themselves and the other class members. We'll also record a video. This time capsule will stay in the room until February 2013 when they'll open it up as third graders.

Here some second graders are looking at Ray Santilli's infamous 'Alien Autopsy' video on youtube as part of their 'research' for our debate this week. Our debate was about whether or not we should allow aliens to live here. The students did a fantastic job and were very creative. This debate, though kind of silly, opened the door for us to talk about immigration, colonialism and many instances in history, particularly the European discovery of America and its impact on the cultures there.

In class we read an article about the alleged UFO crash in Roswell, NM in 1947 and the myths and legends associated with it. I felt this was a kind of fun exercise in mass media pop culture because there are SO many references to this alleged event in movies, TV shows and so on. We also watched the pilot episode of the Roswell TV show.

Here are the second graders working on their special project: another class video. I was about to cancel the video project because I was worried that there isn't a large enough academic value, even though we're really not supposed to spend a lot of time on it. However, the students have assured me that it's not JUST fun (though that's a big part of why they still want to do it). They insist that they WILL learn some English through working together on the project, so I'll let it go forward.

Finally, here are some pictures of the third grade students having a discussion about the Mausoleum of Theodoric.

In addition to this, the third grade students have also been working on their video project: making Public Service Announcements. They worked on their PSAs today and they have some really good ideas, ranging from health and fitness to ecology to education.

Date: 19:04｜Permalink｜Author：nelp

Culture Festival

Today was the Culture Festival at our school. Here are some pictures.

Here is the English Club.

The English Club sold cookies. Here is our sign.

Here is the English Club tent.

I was really happy to see so many of my former students today.

Brian and I enjoyed the Culture Festival!

Here is a graduate who was in my 8th period NELP class last year. Wow! Time passes so quickly! I remember when she was in my junior high school first grade class!

Here is a high school 3rd grade SELP student (who was my student in junior high first grade before we had a NELP program) and her older sister (who was in my high school English conversation class years ago). There's another sister who was also in my class, but unfortunately I didn't see her today!

Here are some SELP students enjoying the Culture Festival.

Here are the Junior High School First Grade NELP book reports displayed in their homeroom.

Here are some of first graders with their friends.

Here are the Junior High School Second Grade NELP book reports displayed in their homeroom.

Here are some pictures of the second graders and their friends.

Here are the Junior High School Third Grade NELP book reports displayed in the homeroom.

Here are some pictures of the third graders and their friends at the Culture Festival.

Here are some pictures of the high school NELP students at the culture festival.

Date: 17:03｜Permalink｜Author：nelp

This Week in NELP

This was a busy week in NELP. Here are the latest pictures!

The First Graders have started doing cooperative writing. This means that students show their writing to another student. They check each other's writing, give suggestions, and hopefully learn some new writing techniques from each other.

Here are some pictures of the First Graders engaging in a discussion about their first reading. Their first reading was "The Wayfarer" by Stephen Crane, a part of his larger work "War is Kind".

Here is a picture of the Second Graders during reading time.

I don't have a picture of the Second Graders' discussion time, but their first reading was the poem "Opportunity" by Edward Rowland Sill.

Here's this term's class picture of the Third Grade.

Here the Third Graders are having a discussion about their first reading: "Ulysses" Alfred Lord Tennyson.

This term, all three grades began doing formal debates. Here are a couple pictures of the First Graders preparing for their first debate.

The First Graders' debate topic was "Should the Media Stop Reporting Negative News about the Government?"

Here are pictures of the Second Graders preparing for their debate.

The Second Graders' debate topic was "Should Young People Be Required to Give One Year of Compulsory Public Service in Japan?"

Here are some pictures of the Third Graders preparing for their debate.

The Third Graders' debate topic was "Should We Pass a Law Requiring Elderly People to Have Supervision or a Person Appointed to be Responsible for Them?"

Date: 15:56｜Permalink｜Author：nelp

Second Term Begins

Second Term has begun, and I have some new pictures of the first graders.

Here's the first grade class.

And here are some pictures of the first graders having a discussion.

This year I'm reducing the amount of overall homework so that my students can focus more time and attention on their library reading. As well, over time, we're going to introduce a lot of new activities, including regular debates for all students, and maybe some discussions of science, art, history, music, geography and so on.

I think we'll be able to do a lot more with the new curriculum.

I'm also working on confining the curriculum to my own works and those works that are in the public domain so that when I do decide to put the curriculum into a real textbook, I can do so without worrying about copyrights.

Date: 19:35｜Permalink｜Author：nelp

Final Pictures from First Term

Here are the final pictures from First Term.

Here is the first grade class.

Here are a couple of my first grade students.

Here are a couple of my students playing with my rubick's cube before class.

Next term, the first graders are going to work on a class video for our special projects class. Here are some pictures of the students working on ideas for the video.

Here are the first graders shooting their teacher ... again!

Here are the second graders playing Jenga. We play Jenga a little differently in NELP. In NELP, when you take a block, you have to ask somebody a question. The second graders like to play with TWO stacks of blocks.

Here are the final pictures of the high school first grade class. From September, two of my first grade students are going to America for a one year homestay. I'm really going to miss them.

Here's a rare picture that one of my students took of me.

Every day after school, I have what I call the "English Open Room". My students can come to the NELP room to study, do homework,　do research, and so on. For years, almost nobody came, but this year I've had a lot of students coming and I really like it because it not only gives me more opportunities to see my students, but it also gives me the opportunity to help them more.

Date: 16:51｜Permalink｜Author：nelp

We're way overdue for an update

This Saturday, my high school first grade students are going to have their big debate, so I've been really busy, but today I finally set aside some time to update the blog and show what we've been doing the last ten days.

First, on the 17th, my students participated in our in-school speech contest.

Next, my junior high school first grade students had a debate, and I'm sorry I didn't videotape it. It was AWESOME!

Here are my first grade students in their reading class.

Here the first grade students are talking with students from our sister school in Blair, Nebraska. My students made presentations about Japanese culture.

Here, the third grade students are talking with the students from Blair, Nebraska as well as our students from our other sister school in San Jose, California.

Date: 20:04｜Permalink｜Author：nelp

Update for NELP

Here are some pictures from last week and this week in NELP.

First, here are some of my first graders in writing class doing their brainstorming for an essay.

Here are the first graders working on computers to research information for a presentation.

Here are the second grade students talking with some students from our sister school, Blair High School. The Blair, Nebraska students and one of their teachers are here for a two week home-stay, along with students from another of our sister schools, Notre Dame San Jose in California.

At the end of the class we spent a little time playing Jenga. In NELP class, when you take a piece, you also have to ask a question!

Finally, I've received a few more letters from my second grade students.

I'm up to about 160 letters since the beginning of the term. Well ... at least they're writing in English ...

Date: 19:59｜Permalink｜Author：nelp

Writing, Superlatives and Prepositions

I haven't updated the blog in two weeks because we had mid-term examinations. I'll write more on THAT later. For now, here are the latest pictures from the program.

First, here are the first grade students in our writing class.

Here, the first graders are studying about prepositions.

Here, I let one of my first graders take a picture of me. You can see another first grader hiding behind me.

Here are some pictures of the second graders studying superlatives. I gave them a list of people, places and things to study, and here they are researching those people, places and things on the internet to determine why they are important for our class.

Date: 20:18｜Permalink｜Author：nelp

Fun, Letters, Quizzes and the English Open Room

I caught one of my students having a little fun after school.

Some of my junior high school second grade students have started writing me love letters but signing OTHER students' names on the letters. So far I've received DOZENS of these little notes. I'd discourage them, but I know they don't mean any harm, and at least they're writing, right?

Here are my third grade students taking one of our many quizzes.

Finally, here are some students coming for after school study. My junior high school second grade students often come after school for help with homework, studying for tests, or sometimes just to talk.

Date: 18:51｜Permalink｜Author：nelp

This week in NELP!

A couple of my second grade students were making notes into paper airplanes before class.

Here are two of my second grade NELP students and a SELP student in the English Club.

Here is my NELP 3rd Grade class right before today's discussion.

Here are a couple of first grade NELP students playing before class today.

Finally, my second graders had to teach the class a dance today. Here are pictures from our annual 'Dance Lesson'!

This group gave a little history for their dance.

We read an article about people in New York who are trying to repeal the Cabaret Laws that make it illegal for people to dance in establishments that don't have a Cabaret License. This group very cleverly tried to get out of giving a dance lesson by saying they didn't have a license!

Date: 19:59｜Permalink｜Author：nelp

This Week in NELP

The junior high school second grade students have been doing wonderfully.

We had a small group discussions the other day and one group in particular (and you know who you are) did spectacularly. Afterward, we had a full class discussion. Here's a picture.

One of my first graders decided to use the camera this week ...

I've decided that I may start allowing the students to take pictures. Maybe some of my students will be less camera-shy if it's another students taking the picture.

Date: 20:02｜Permalink｜Author：nelp

Saying Goodbye

Today was the last day for one of my high school first grade NELP students. She's moving to America and I sincerely wish her all the best, though I will miss her. We had a little goodbye party for her in class today..

Date: 19:38｜Permalink｜Author：nelp

This Week in NELP

A couple of first graders 'got the giggles' in NELP class.

The second graders attempted to draw a person described in "Getting a Haircut in the Army", a non-fiction piece about a haircut-gone-wrong during the US Civil War.

Date: 17:29｜Permalink｜Author：nelp

This week in NELP

Every day at 16:30, students are welcome to come to the NELP room to study, check out library books, talk and so on. Here are a couple of students using Open Room time to get books.

Here are the Junior High 3rd Grade students having a discussion about Chief Seattle's 1854 Oration.

Here is my High School 1st Grade Class.

Here the high school first grade class is preparing for their debate.

Date: 11:01｜Permalink｜Author：nelp

New School Year, New Classes

The 2010-2011 School Year is off to a great start. Here are my junior high school classes.

First Grade has eleven students.

Second Grade has ten students now.

Third Grade has seven students.

Next week, we'll start our first readings.

Date: 15:47｜Permalink｜Author：nelp

This month in NELP

Here are the final pictures of my high school second grade class.

Here are the junior high school 3rd grade students opening the 2010 time capsule.

Date: 16:19｜Permalink｜Author：nelp

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：nelp

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：nelp

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：nelp

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：nelp

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：nelp

This week

This week, the first grade students are reading "The Fun They Had" by Isaac Asimov. Today they had a debate. The red team argued that a human teacher would be better than a machine teacher, while the blue team argued the opposite. I was extremely proud of the students because they did so well at this debate. They were very active, and they made really excellent points.

The second grade students are currently reading "Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening" by Robert Frost. Today we had a discussion about symbolism.

The third grade students this week have been studying the organization of the debate, including the specific roles for the speakers on each team. We've also looked at the Toulmin method for presentation of arguments, and today the students were introduced to fallacies. For homework, they've been asked to generate ideas for their team. The topic of our debate regards schools raising animals for meat. The proposition must propose a [strictly theoretical] new program wherein students would raise, nurture and ultimately slaughter a pig for meat. This is based in part on a true story of a similar project conducted at an elementary school in Japan.

The high school first grade students are studying about journalism. This week they'll be practicing interviews.

The second grade students are studying humor. This week, they'll be studying puns, irony, word-play, idioms, sarcasm and figures of speech.

Next week, the first grade students will be studying a news article called "Video Games Have Role in School" and we'll be talking about practical applications of video games for education.

The second grade students will be reading "The Cask of Amontillado" by Edgar Allen Poe. We'll then have a debate on whether Montressor would have been caught by the FBI if this had happened today.

The third grade students will begin working on their supporting arguments.

The high school first grade students will talk about humorous stories and observational humor, and will be focusing on techniques for delivery. This will be important for their presentation skills later on.

The high school second grade students will be talking about sports announcements.

Date: 22:59｜Permalink｜Author：nelp

Second Term Final Exams

Last term I changed my oral communication final exams. The exams consisted of five parts: comprehension, response, completion, conversations and short talks. In Part One, Comprehension, students are given a target sentence. They must then choose one of four sentences (a, b, c or d) that has the same meaning as the target sentence. This section is typically used for testing vocabulary and grammar. In Part Two, Response, students are given, alternately, a question or a sentence followed by four possible responses. The students must choose the response that would most logically follow the target sentence. This tests not only comprehension, but critical thinking skills involved in conversation. In Part Three, Completion, students are given a sentence fragment and must then choose one of four possible endings for the fragment. This is used for testing vocabulary, grammar, comprehension, and critical thinking skills in conversation. In Part Four, Conversation, students listen to five conversations. Each conversation has three listening comprehension questions. Some of these questions require general comprehension listening, some require detail listening, some questions call for factual answers, some require inferences. In Part Five, Short Talks, students listen to a short story and answer questions about the story.

In the past, the entire test was listening only. However, this term I decided to put the questions and answers for parts four and five in the test booklet. The reason was that I wanted to more accurately test the students' ability to understand what they were listening to. When the test was listening-only and the questions followed the listening section, in my opinion the students' listening was unfocused because they didn't know what to listen for. As well, in some cases, rather than testing comprehension, I was inadvertently testing their memory of what they heard rather than their ability to understand what they had heard. So this term I made the test more focused and accurate by putting the questions and answers for parts four and five in the test booklet.

For each exercise (one short listening), I gave students approximately fifteen seconds to read the three questions. They then listened to the conversation or short talk. Afterward, I gave the first and second graders approximately one minute, and I gave the third graders approximately forty-five seconds to answer the questions.

I feel that this approach worked very well for several reasons. First, by allowing students to read the questions before listening, I gave the students the opportunity to focus their listening. A large degree of our listening comprehension comes from context, from anticipating what we are about to hear. By allowing students to make inferences about the context by reading the questions, I increase the students' potential to understand what they will listen to. Secondly, by allowing students to read the questions, students no longer have to mentally juggle their memory of the question and their memory of the listening. They can more easily separate the information and focus on the actual content of the listening.

I feel that this change was successful and plan to do this in my future tests. I also plan to give further consideration to how this can be improved in the future.

Date: 08:46｜Permalink｜Author：nelp

Reischauer Speech Contest

Today, I took six students to the Reischauer Speech Contest in Okayama. Three students participated in the recitation contest. Three students participated in the original speech section. Two second grade students and one third grade student participated in the recitation contest. In the original section, I had one first grader, one second grader and one third grader.

Now, some people have pointed out that a there was a FOURTH Seishin student listed in the original speech category. However, this particular student delivered that particular speech LAST year at the 49th Reischauer Contest (when she was in second grade). This year, she is in the third grade and delivered a new and very different speech at the Joto High School Speech Contest (where, I'm happy to say, she won first place). I think the entry was simply left over from last year's program.

At this year's Reischauer contest, our Seishin girls, in my opinion, did a wonderful job. I'm very, very proud of all of them. Our girls in the recitation contest unfortunately did not take home an award, but it was a very tough contest with a lot of very great recitations, and even though our girls didn't go on to the final round, I'm still very, very proud of all three of them.

In the original speech category, my first grader came home with fourth place, and my third grader came home with first place. My second grader, unfortunately, did not go on to the final round, however, she tried her best and gave her best performance so far. I'm so very, very proud of all them.

Not only our own Seishin student, but many other students from the other schools also did a very good job. I was amazed at what a high-level contest this was. The participants demonstrated a tremendous amount of effort.

I have judged a number of contests myself, and I have delivered comments at many of the contests I have judged. In giving comments to the audience and participants, I believe it is valuable for the judge to explain the judging criteria, and for the judge to offer suggestions on how to improve the speech and performances. However, I feel that one mistake I've made in giving comments is that I've spent far more time and energy on what I felt were the weaknesses of the speeches than on the strengths of the speeches. I think that quoting a speech and talking about why that speech was good, and why the quoted portion of the speech made that speech a WINNING speech is far more persuasive than the huge downer of subjecting an audience to a detailed description of their perceived failures or weaknesses. I feel that this is certainly something to think about because people like to hear what they did right far more than what they did wrong, and a positive atmosphere can be very constructive.. Of particular note, I strongly feel that we judges, if we are going to quote a speech, should never do so in criticism. I feel that would be cruel: to shame a young person by publicly telling the audience why that particular speech was weak. So, I think it's important for judges such as myself to be positive in our comments, and in praising the speeches to be as specific as possible. Such a reward, I think, would be very special to those whose speeches were quoted in praise. Furthermore, I think that when judges such as myself give advice about speeches, or wish to talk about perceived weaknesses in the speeches, we should keep our comments as general as possible so as not to single anyone out or cause them to feel ashamed. This is something I certainly plan to keep in mind in my own comments from now on.

Again, I am extremely grateful to everyone involved in the Reischauer Speech contest for giving our girls the chance to develop their public speaking skills.

Date: 21:18｜Permalink｜Author：nelp

Readings

The first graders read a short article about The Great Molasses Flood of 1919. I first learned about this incident from the Grammar Sense textbook by Oxford, and I rewrote the article including details from various sources on the Internet. In 1919, a huge tank of molasses exploded, sending a 10 meter high wall of molasses racing down Boston streets. Interestingly, one my current high school second graders used this article as a recitation for the Reischauer Speech Contest several years ago. I showed my first graders her performance!

I took the class outside and we measured from the third floor of the junior high building to give the students an idea of how high 10 meters would be. For contrast, I told them about the 1958 tsunami at Letuya Bay, Alaska, which rose a whopping 500m high!

After that, we read "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost and talked about nature, choices, and so on. Next week, we're going to finish the term with O Henry's "The Gift of the Magi", and we'll talk about the true meaning of Christmas.

The second graders read "Every Breath You Take" by Sting (and The Police). We had a nice debate about love, romance and stalking. The students were forced to take sides in a debate over whether the narrator of the song is merely romantic or a deranged stalker. Overwhelmingly, though, the students' personal opinion was for the latter! We listened to several covers of the song in various styles (by very talented York-based singer-songwriter Joe Venables, and by a very gifted and creative singer named Charlie Howitt). In class we noted how the voice can change the meaning and tone of the words. We also had a very productive discussion about romance and stalking, and we discussed the question: "When does it stop being romantic and start being scary?" The students expressed their ideas and opinions very well.

We followed this with "The Night the Bed Fell", by James Thurber. The students did some very good small group discussions about amusing stories, and they asked one another some very good questions. I was very proud of their ability to listen to a student's story and then ask follow-up questions: a very important and useful skill to develop.

We're going to end the term with the speech "I Will Fight No More Forever" by Chief Joseph. Although the speech is very short, it's very deep and there's a lot going on. It's a very good illustration of the importance of knowing the context of a work, because without knowing the history of the Nez Perce, it really loses a LOT of meaning. I was extremely fortunate this year to meet two very nice women from the Nez Perce Nation earlier this year, and I was finally able to ask about the correct pronunciation of 'Nez Perce' (which is actually a French name, though they use the English pronunciation). They explained a little about their history and culture, part of which I already knew from studying the Nez Perce for a high school research paper, ironically about the history of Chief Joseph's speech. I also learned that the Nez Perce are known in their native language as the Nimipu or Nimiipu (since the middle vowel sound is stressed). I was very fortunate to meet these very nice people.

The third graders read "The Open Window" by H.H. Munro, a very funny story about a girl who is a compulsive liar. We attempted to discuss hoaxes and frauds, but unfortunately the students had a little trouble getting into the topic. More guidance by me would have helped tremendously. I do tend to just throw my students into a subject.

We followed this with one of my favorite lessons in the entire curriculum: "You're Beautiful" by James Blunt. Here, we talked about parodies, and we studied various parodies of the song, including "You're Pitiful" by Weird Al Yankovic, "My Cubicle" by The Morning Sidekick and Jym Britton, and "It's Bloody Cold" by Jon Culshaw and The Dead Ringers. Students were then asked to make presentations. Possible topics or presentations included presenting another example of a parody (Weird Al naturally dominated, but we saw other parodies as well, including a very amusing parody of the Naruto theme which used English subtitles that sounded similar to the Japanese lyrics, but which made no sense) . One might think that merely finding a parody and showing it wouldn't be much effort, but several of my students came by the NELP room after school to look for parodies, and it was quite a challenge for them. Several students gave short speeches about parodies and why people do parodies, Finally, one student chose the advanced topic: writing their own parody of "You're Beautiful". We put on an instrumental version of the song, and this student SANG HER OWN SONG! It was a brilliant and funny song about a bald guy on a train. I was very impressed because it was a courageous and audacious thing to do.

Next week, the third graders will finish the term with "The Christmas Truce of 1914", an article I wrote based on a number of sources. This tells the now famous story of British and German troops during WWI staging an impromptu truce on Christmas Day. It's a very sweet but sad story. In class, we'll be discussing the power of average people to make peace.

Date: 08:41｜Permalink｜Author：nelp

Joto High School Speech Contest

Last Saturday, two of my NELP students participated in the Joto High School Speech Contest. My second grade student unfortunately did not go on to the final round. However, my third grade student not only went to the final round, but came home with first place.

I was extremely proud of BOTH of my girls because they both did such a wonderful job. They put a lot of heart and personality into their speeches, and they really used their voices and facial expressions to add meaning to what they were saying.

It was kind of funny because my third grader had originally written two different speeches, and when we first started preparing for this speech contest, she had brought me the OTHER speech. I looked it over, and it was a good speech, but out of curiosity, I asked her what her other speech was about, and when she told me, I got all excited and said "Yeah! Do that one! Do that one!" I'm glad she chose to do the speech that she did.

My second grader wisely chose a topic that was very personal and important to her, but which also had a good message for other people. I'm really looking forward to working with her next year, because I'm certain she'll be able to take home a prize next year.

I always tell me students that it's not about the trophies. I tell them that a few years from now, a junior high trophy won't mean that much because they'll go on and do bigger and better things. I stress to them that the most important thing is to develop their public speaking skills because being able to speak clearly and effectively in front of a large group of people is a skill that will be of great value to them for the rest of their lives. However, I do really like to see my girls receive recognition for all their hard work and dedication and spirit. Naturally, we're building leadership skills for their future, but a little immediate validation is also pretty sweet.

Here are some photos from the contest:

My second grader at the preliminary:

My third grader at the final round:

The awards ceremony:

Date: 08:20｜Permalink｜Author：nelp

Latest Readings

Last week, the first grade students read a short article about Halloween in Japan. For their speaking activity, we had a short discussion about Halloween. The second grade students read a short Halloween blog entry that involved nightmares, ghosts and ancient graves in an empty lot. For their speaking activity, students were encouraged to tell scary ghost stories, true or false, and we had some spectacularly scary stories. The third grade students read a news article about the victim of a train collision whose cell phone continued to call friends and family for up to two hours after the crash ... even though rescue workers claimed he had died instantly. This led to a discussion about whether or not the rescue workers might have been lying, and a short lesson on how cell phones actually work.

Next week, we will celebrate Halloween a little late with some Halloween videos, games, etc.

The following week, the first graders will read about The Great Molasses Flood of 1919, when a giant tank ruptured and unleashed 8 million liters of molasses into downtown Boston. They will then make presentations about other disasters.

The second graders will read the lyrics to "Every Breath You Take" by The Police. They'll have a debate about whether the narrator is romantic or a stalker, and at what point infatuation ceases to be romantic and becomes scary.

The third graders will read a fun short story called "The Open Window" by HH Munro. This will lead into a discussion about lying.

I'm sure it will be fun.

I'd love to post some recent pictures, but I think my students would murder me if I did.

Date: 16:49｜Permalink｜Author：nelp

The latest pictures from NELP

Here are the latest pictures from NELP.

Here, the 8th Period NELP students in my Independent Studies class are working on our Yumeji Art Museum Project. They are helping to translate parts of the Yumeji Art Museum website.

One of my junior high first graders had this picture ...

So I thought I would put it here because she kept looking at it all through class.

Here, two first graders are pausing in their work in our special projects class.

In these pictures, the first graders are making a presentation for their parents.

And finally, here is a picture of a couple of high school second grade students fighting in class!

Here's a picture of me. The high school first grade students were reading a story in our Totally True textbook about a guy with a long mustache, so the students took turns using the Smartboard to give me a makeover. Unfortunately, I'm so humiliated by their outrageous suggestions that I cannot publish the results here! So instead, here's the 'unmarked' picture of Mark.

Date: 09:43｜Permalink｜Author：nelp

Whoa! Two weeks and no update?

Last Saturday, two of my students participated in the Okayama Preliminary for the Prince Takamado Trophy All Japan Inter-Middle School English Oratorical Contest. I'm happy to say that one of my third grade students got third place and one of my second grade students got first. Two students who aren't in my class but who I helped to coach also won prizes in the recitation contest. They all worked very, very hard and I'm really proud of all of them!

This week, the first grade students read an article about fashions, focusing particularly on 17th and 18th century fashions. On Tuesday, they made presentations about unusual fashions. The excerpt was from the excellent textbook "Grammar Sense" by Oxford.

The second grade students read an excerpt from the excellent book "The Blue and the Gray" by Henry Steele Commager. The article was called "The Blue and The Gray Fraternize on the Picket Line" and was written by Alexander Hunter. It describes an incident during the US Civil War in which enemy troops peacefully traded tobacco for sugar and coffee. We then had a discussion about war and peace, and how the US Civil War changed the way wars are fought.

The third grade students read an article I wrote about the Mausoleum of Theodoric. This building was built nearly 1500 years ago, and it's puzzle-like interlocking pieces are held together by the 300 ton dome that acts as the keystone to the structure. Magnificent engineering, and quite a puzzle how they got that dome all the way from Croatia to Ravenna, Italy.

The third grade students made presentations about unusual buildings, including the Washington Monument, Sydney Opera House and the Atomic Bomb Dome in Hiroshima.

Next week, the first grade students will read an article about Social Anxiety Disorder, the second graders will read an article about rising food prices and increasing poverty, and the third graders will read an article about a father who smashed his daughter's cell phone with a hammer because she ran up a $4,000 dollar phone bill in a single month by sending over 10,000 text messages.

The first graders finished their special project on their prequel book for The Cave, and luckily finished it on Parents' Day so that some of the visiting parents got to see the powerpoint presentation they did.

Our next project will be a video documentary about Seishin. The students will each narrate one section that will talk about an unusual place in the school, and as we go from place to place, the students will introduce the school.

Later I will upload the most recent photos, which include suggestions that my high school first grade class made for giving me a makeover!

Date: 20:32｜Permalink｜Author：nelp

This week's pictures

Here are the first graders.

They are still working on their special project: a prequel to one of the books we read in class. This project was supposed to have finished ages ago, but it has begun to merge into a project about how to use powerpoint.

Here in this picture, the second graders are attempting to draw a mongoose.

We just finished reading Rikki-Tikki-Tavi by Rudyard Kipling, and I wanted to know if they'd done a little research to see what a mongoose was (or alternately, if they had been listening in class).

Here are some of the results.

Here, the second graders are having a class discussion about "When I Heard the Learned Astronomer" by Walt Whitman.

Our discussion topic was: does studying something in detail increase or decrease our appreciation of the aesthetic value of art, literature, music, etc.

Here are the third grade students preparing their arguments for a debate

Here, our third grade class is having a debate based on "The Flying Machine" by Ray Bradbury.

We debated many topics, such as the arms race, national security, totalitarianism, and specifically whether or not the emperor in Bradbury's story was right or wrong to order the execution of a man who had created a flying machine that the emperor was afraid might fall into the hands of his enemies.

Here the third grade is preparing for their final project.

They will make a public service announcement, from 30 to 90 seconds long, on a topic of their choice. Right now they are discussing what their topics will be. We have three groups, each making a different PSA. One group enjoys saying "Let's do drugs."

Here the third graders are having a class discussion about "I Have Been One Acquainted with the Night" by Robert Frost.

Here the third graders are going over some discussion questions in reading class.

My high school first graders thought this was amusing:

Here the high school first graders are reading a book before class ... a highly suspicious book they found in the library. Well, at least they're reading in English, right?

Here the high school first grade students are listening to a lecture by a guest speaker from Chugoku Junior College.

Date: 17:45｜Permalink｜Author：nelp

This Week!

Junior High First Grade:
We're reading a short poem called "An Easy Decision" by Kenneth Patchen, and we're going to talk about interesting people and what makes people interesting. We're also talking about the content of poems, specifically the choice of animals in the poem "An Easy Decision."

Junior High Second Grade:
We're reading "When I heard the Learn'd Astronomer" by Walt Whitman, and we're going to have a class discussion about whether it's better to enjoy art, music and literature only with our senses, or whether it's better to learn it in a more scientific way. We're also talking about work usage in poetry.

Junior High School Third Grade:
We're reading "Acquainted with the Night" by Robert Frost and we're talking about walking at night. We're also talking about tone in poetry.

High School First Grade
We're going to be talking about mustaches. We're also possibly going to have a preview of some materials I'm preparing for the new high school curriculum.

High School Second Grade
We're going to talk about the course and what to expect, and changes in the course (since this Wednesday will be my first chance to see them this term).

High School 8th Period
We're going to try to finish the last things given to us by the Yumeji Art Museum project, and then talk about test-taking skills.

Date: 19:57｜Permalink｜Author：nelp

new photos

Here are the latest photos of my classes.

Here a couple of my high school first graders are waiting for our 8th period class to begin and are filling the time drawing on my board ... this time drawing slightly troubling pictures of ME with my head on a platter!!!

Here's my junior high school first grade class.

Here they are working on a powerpoint presentation for our special projects class.

Here's my third grade class.

Here's my high school first grade class.

And here's one of my high school first graders have a quiet moment with our much-abused class mascot.

Date: 19:51｜Permalink｜Author：nelp

Photos from First Term

Here are the photos from first term.

These are the first graders in oral communication class.

Here are the first grade students in grammar class.

Here a student in first grade is looking for worksheets in our self-access library.

Here is our board after a first grade reading class. The drawings were actually a reading comprehension activity to see how well the students understood a description of Cliff Young, a famous Australian marathon runner we studied about in class.

Here the first graders are working in their special projects class. We were making a book. The most important part of the class is not the actual product (in this case, the book), but rather the process of using English in a cooperative work situation. Most of my students think we're simply coloring, and don't really think about the give-and-take language, cooperation language, the negotiation, agreement, disagreement and resolution that goes on in special projects. I told my third graders recently that I'm often teaching them a lot more than I tell them I'm teaching them, and that they sometimes won't know exactly what it is I'm teaching them. Another point of our special projects class is learning independence, since I don't actually help them very much: Mostly I moderate.

Here are the second grade students doing some reading comprehension drawing as well, this time drawing Bob McIntosh from "Getting a Haircut in the Army", an amusing story about an unfinished haircut during the US Civil War, taken from Henry Steele Commager's excellent book The Blue and the Gray.

Here are the second graders taking one of our many quizzes.

Here are the third grade students having a discussion about one of the readings.

Here the third grade students are preparing powerpoint presentations for reading class.

Finally, here one of my high school first graders is trying to sneak away with our class mascot.

There are a few more pictures I would LOVE to put up ... such as when the first grade moms came, or when the second graders were giving dance lessons ... but I swore I wouldn't, so you'll just have to use your imagination.

Date: 11:57｜Permalink｜Author：nelp

Update

First term is now finished. I meant to update before now, but as always, I've been very busy with various projects.

First: all of the fundamental work on the junior high curriculum is now complete. Anything that happens to the curriculum from now on should be relatively minor.

This summer, I will begin the major work on the new high school curriculum.

I'm also working on the SELP curriculum for the high school. Next April, we will be changing textbooks, but starting in September, we will begin slowly shifting our classes towards the new book and the new material. In 2010, we will have a much stronger emphasis on listening in the SELP curriculum, and will do much more to prepare our students for important exams.

There is a lot going on with the high school NELP curriculum, but that news will have to wait.

Final exam scores for the NELP classes went quite low this term. I was very surprised in several cases. The reading tests were particularly brutal, so parents, please don't be too shocked at your children's grades. The tests were very difficult.

Now that the curriculum is complete, I should be able to keep this blog a little more up to date.

Date: 20:28｜Permalink｜Author：nelp

First Term - Second Half

I've been extremely busy since the mid-term, finishing the last of the major work on the junior high curriculum, working on my final exam review sheets and a staggering NINE final exams, preparing 49 students for the junior high school speech contest, and beginning preliminary work on the new curriculum for the high school program.

Since the mid-term exams, each grade has covered four readings.

The first grade started with a poem called "Rebecca Grimes", and the students gave fun presentations about getting in trouble at school. Their second reading was a short science fiction story by Ray Bradbury called "All Summer in a Day", which led into a discussion about bullying. We then read a short article about Australian marathon runner Cliff Young, who showed up for a Sydney to Melbourne marathon wearing overalls and gumboots. Our final article was from the US TV talk show "Oprah Winfrey" and was called "How Does It Feel". It was a short article about a young man who disappeared from an airport shortly before embarking on his honeymoon, only to be found three days later, wandering the streets with amnesia. This led us to a discussion about people who ran away from their weddings, in one case faking an abduction. It also led us to the story of Benjaman Kyle, a man who has suffered amnesia for the last five years, and despite a nationwide effort, remains unidentified.

The second grade began the half-term with the poem "The Wayfarer" by Stephen Crane. We used this poem to talk about symbolism, but also talked at length about why it is sometimes difficult for people to pursue the truth. We followed this with the traditional story "Stone Soup" about three soldiers returning home from a war who trick the people of a village into making soup for them: a trick that ultimately brings joy to the villagers. This led us into a variety of discussions, covering everything from the Hoovervilles of The Great Depression in the United States, to the poem "The Vision of Sir Launfal" by James Russell Lowell, about a wealthy knight who learns humility and piety from a beggar. We then read a short article called "Fungus Brings Dinosaurs Fate to the Frogs", about how a fungus may wipe out all frogs within twenty-five years. Interestingly, one our third graders used this article as the basis for her speech in the speech contest (and did a really excellent job of it). Finally, we read the complete speech "I Have a Dream" by Martin Luther King Jr., and watched the video of his speech. This led to a discussion about our dreams for the future.

The third grad began the half-term with the poem "Longing" by Matthew Arnold. We had a good discussion about longing and pining and unrequited love, and our third graders rewrote the poem in English (something I've been forgetting to publish here). This was followed by the short story "The Faery Handbag" by Kelly Link. Unfortunately, we were really unable to have a proper discussion about this as it seems most of the class didn't actually read it. I am, however, happy to report that a number of students have since gone back and read it properly. This was followed by the short article "Quenched Fire Found in Greenland Ice" about the explosion of Mt. Mazama 7,000 years ago. We finished the term with "Inside Africa's Playstation War", an article about how our desire for cell phones and playsations is increasing demand for a rare metal called Tantalum, and thereby creating instability and war in Central Africa. We then had a great discussion about other products and resources that cause war or other problems in the world. The students did a fantastic job talking about the article and the issues raised by the article. I was extremely impressed with them.

Date: 20:26｜Permalink｜Author：nelp

Update

It's been about a month since my last update. I've spent the last four weeks finishing the review sheets for my four mid-term exams, finishing the actual four mid-term exams, and then finishing the basic work for the rest of the term. I'm now in the middle of making review sheets for the final exams.

I actually don't have time to update, but I'll update a little anyway.

We started off the the week with a blast.

First grade is reading a poem called "Rebecca Grimes" which starts off "I have to write one hundred times 'I Will Not Tease Rebecca Grimes'". Today, as our speaking activities, our students had to tell about something bad they did at school that they got punished for, but with the option to make up a story (if they were shy or particularly good) and have us guess if it was real or not. Most students at first made up a story, but later we got to the good stuff. I won't write any of it here, but I never did get to hear what happened to a certain rabbit. I also got a great picture of the first graders making goofy looks but have promised on pain of death never to publish it on the web.

Second grade is reading a great poem by Stephen Crane called "The Wayfarer". It goes:
The wayfarer,
Perceiving the pathway to truth,
Was struck with astonishment.
It was thickly grown with weeds.
"Ha," he said,
"I see that none has passed here
In a long time."
Later he saw that each weed
Was a singular knife.
"Well," he mumbled at last,
"Doubtless there are other roads."

We definitely got a lot of mileage out of it, talking about symbolism and truth and ethics.

The third graders did a poem by Matthew Arnold (who in my mind shall forever be confused with Andrew Marvel - and one of them should definitely change his name) called "Longing":

Come to me in my dreams, and then
By day I shall be well again!
For so the night will more than pay
The hopeless longing of the day.

Come, as thou cam'st a thousand times,
A messenger from radiant climes,
And smile on thy new world, and be
As kind to others as to me!

Or, as thou never cam'st in sooth,
Come now, and let me dream it truth,
And part my hair, and kiss my brow,
And say, My love why sufferest thou?

Come to me in my dreams, and then
By day I shall be well again!
For so the night will more than pay
The hopeless longing of the day.

I owe a special thanks here to my friend William who, approximately 20 years ago, loaned me a tape of the soundtrack to the TV series "Beauty and the Beast" which included actor Ron Perlman reciting this very poem.

I asked my third graders today to rewrite the poem into modern English and I hope to share the results with you soon.

Date: 20:14｜Permalink｜Author：nelp

This Week's NELP Classes

Today I saw my high school first grade class for the first time. Here they are:

I thought about putting up their junior high first grade picture for comparison, but I'm afraid they'd lynch me.

Here's the junior high second grade reading class.

And finally, here are the first graders working on an assignment.

Due to orientation, holidays and school activities, I actually will not see my junior high first grade class next week, and due to Golden Week and St. Julie's Day, I will only see them once the following week. However, in two weeks time, we'll read a short non-fiction article called "Weird Fruit" about, as the title suggests, a weird fruit that two travelers found while on vacation in Thailand.

The second graders will do "Getting a Haircut in the Army", a very funny Civil War story about a haircut gone wrong. This was taken from the book The Blue and the Gray by Henry Steele Commager.

The third graders will do "Rock Garden", a short story by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston. This is a story about a young Japanese girl in an internment camp in California during WWII. This led to some rather interesting things on my board this week, as I suggested that my students look up "Sitting Bull", "Ghost Dance" and "Wounded Knee" to understand the story a little better.

The High School First Graders will do "Hi. My name is Scott", a lesson from their Totally True textbook.

I won't see my high school second grade class. I totally meant to take a picture of them ... but didn't.

This week, the third grade students got to try out a new game I made for powerpoint. This one was based off of family feud. I think it went quite well.

Date: 15:21｜Permalink｜Author：nelp

New Year

The new school year has begun. All of my students have come back, and I have a whole new grade to teach.

Here is my junior high school 3rd grade class:

There are currently 12 students in my 3rd grade class.

Here is my junior high school 2nd grade class:

There are currently 7 students in my 2nd grade class.

Finally, here is my junior high school 1st grade class:

There are five students in my 1st grade class.

All of my students are doing wonderfully so far this year. The third grade students are more motivated than ever before, with many students turning in homework early. We already had our first speaking activity, a group discussion, and I was VERY happy to see that everyone really did well. I was particularly pleased with one group of students who used to be very quiet, but during this speaking activity were very active and outgoing.

The third graders have already had their first reading assignment: a short humorous article on How to Act Like a Superstar. One of our activities was discussion the good points and bad points of being famous.

The second graders have not yet had their first reading assignment. However, they took an assessment test this week to see how much of the Progress in English Book 2 material they have mastered so far. I was very pleased. They did quite well considering they've never actually studied most of it. They also are showing more confidence this year.

The first graders have been full of surprises all week. They've already handed in two assignments: all EARLY. For one of their assignments, I told them "Don't worry. We'll do that in class later this week." The next day, it was not only done, and not only handed in early, but the work itself was excellent. I've just finished grading their spring homework, and I can really see that, while there's work to be done, their level is very high. As an added bonus for me, there doesn't appear to be a significant difference in their levels, so this class will be quite a bit more balanced. This week, the students read the poem "For Sale" by Shel Silverstein.

Next week, the first grade will read "Turkish Delight" by Hamdiye Celik. This is a selection from the Visions textbook, and I think it's one of the more enjoyable selections in the book.

The second grade students will read the short science fiction story "There Will Come Soft Rains" by Ray Bradbury. It's quite dark and gloomy, but there's a lot to talk about and the darkness of the story will be nicely balanced by the next reading, which is a humorous non-fiction account of a hair-cut gone awry during the U.S. Civil War.

The third graders will only have two lessons next week, so we'll do supplementary activities.

I had my first lesson with my high school second grade class, and it was very nice to see them. I didn't have a chance to take a photo, but perhaps next week.

I haven't seen my high school first grade class or my 8th period high school NELP class, but I'm looking forward to seeing them on the 24th.

Date: 18:57｜Permalink｜Author：nelp

New NELP Class

Today was the orientation for new students at Seishin Junior High School, and so today I met my new NELP students. In April, our first grade class will have five NELP students. I'm very happy. These students all did very well on the NELP entrance exam and a couple of them also did well in the elementary school recitation section of the Notre Dame Cup English Speech Contest last November.

Here's a picture of the new NELP class. I'm very excited.

Date: 13:23｜Permalink｜Author：nelp

English on the Board

I often find, at the end of the lesson, that there are some amazing, surprising and occasionally very funny things written on my board. I'd like to share a few of these here.

Second Grade:

1. Inform
2. Change the way people think about something
3. Cause people to take action
4. Entertain

Here we were talking about the purposes for speeches.

Tone
Purpose

Here we were talking about things to look for in a story or poem.

Masons
Coat of Arms
Foot and Serpent
Death

The students were studying "The Cask of Amontillado" and so we discussed a few things that were in the story.

Third Grade:

Heroin

The third grade students are doing a public service announcement this term, so we studied a lot of different examples of public service announcements, one of which was an anti-drug PSA about heroin.

First Grade:

16:45 train
Kurashiki - Okayama
biased
mango

To be completely honest, I no longer recall what the bit about the train was. However, our story for that week was a news article about a report, paid for by video game developers, that encouraged video games to be used educationally in schools. So we talked about biases. My example was a guy who grows mangoes who pays for a report that says mangoes are good for our health.

We also discussed:

1. Inform
2. Change the way people think about something
3. Cause people to take action
4. Entertain

... purposes for giving a speech or writing an essay.

Third Grade:

Message: smoking is bad for our health.
Side stream, second hand smoking

Purpose: Cause people not to smoke.

Where: Cafeteria.

Who:

*** - customer
*** - camera
*** - smoke fx
*** - maid
*** - smoke fx
*** - older sister
*** - younger sister
*** - smoke fx
*** - customer

Here we were making plans for our anti-smoking PSA.

Second Grade:

allegory
fable

Here, we were talking about different kinds of stories. However, I no longer recall the actual topic of our conversation.

First Grade:

Yankee
John Bull
John Cheese
Jan Kees

Here we were talking about the origin of the word "Yankee". Now I know that wikipedia does not agree with the "John Cheese" theory. However, my source is the Webster's Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language, so I think that's slightly more reliable than wikipedia.

Third Grade:

humuhumunukunukuapua'a
dog collar
scholarship
coyote

In third grade, we watched "High School Musical 3" with English subtitles, and these words came up in the movie.

Second Grade:
Our board was filled with words, but here are a few of my favorites:

pirate
parrot
Jolly Roger (this was MY word, but all the others are from the students)
scurvy
bad personal hygiene
peg-leg
hook
eye patch
rum

Next week, in second grade, we're going to be reading an article on Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean that are attacking ships near Indonesia. So we talked today about some classic pirate stereotypes and myths.

Among my favorite topics today was that the pirates had eye patches, not to cover blind eyes or empty sockets, but so that they could see better when they went below-decks of a ship during an attack (flipping up the eye-patch.

We also talked about sea-legs vs. land-legs, and how weeks and months at sea would leave the sailors staggering on dry land for a few days, leading to the reputation of sailors as a bunch of drunks.

Date: 18:09｜Permalink｜Author：nelp

Pictures from 3rd Term

I'm finally ready to upload some pictures from 3rd term.

First Grade:

Here are a couple of pictures from a debate we had in class. The debate was about whether a human teacher would be better than a robot.

In Special Projects Class, the first grade students are making a short film about a haunted doll, so we had a 'Scary Doll Contest'.

Here are some pictures from the first grade reading class.

Second Grade:

Here are some pictures of a class discussion.

Here are some pictures from the second grade reading class.

Third Grade:

My third grade NELP students and a few SELP students have been coming by after school to practice recitations for our in-school contest. During their free time they've been writing on the board.

My third grade NELP students, as a final project, are making an anti-smoking public service announcement. Here, one of the students is rehearsing with a fake cigarette. I put a black banner over her eyes to protect her identity.

High School:
My high school 8th period NELP class is doing a special project for the Yumeji Art Museum by helping to translate their website from Japanese to English. The students have been amazingly enthusiastic and dedicated. I've been superly proud of them.

Date: 17:42｜Permalink｜Author：nelp

This Week in NELP

I've been very busy the last few weeks finishing up the 3rd Term reading handouts, making review sheets, and finishing the exams. I've already finished seven of my eight final exams for third term. I still need to make a few grammar quizzes, but all other work for the term is now complete.

I've also been preparing for our Hiruzen English Camp in March. I'm a little sad that only two of my twelve second grade NELP students have decided to join us at camp this year, but I'm excited about teaching them and working with the SELP students who will coming to camp.

Last week, the first grade students finished a news article about using video games in education, and we had a very nice discussion about how simulation software could be used as a teaching tool in many kinds of industries, jobs and careers.

The second grade students read The Cask of Amontillado ... at least most of them did. We then had a class debate over two topics. The first point was: if this had happened in modern times, would Montressor have gotten away with the murder of Fortunato, or would he have been caught by modern forensics? The second point was: would Montressor have been found competent to stand trial? Although I was sad to see that a few students did not participate, I was very glad to see that a couple of students showed tremendous effort in overcoming their shyness and joining the debate.

The third grade, due to high school entrance exams, had only two lessons last week, so we worked on their Public Service Announcement video project. They've decided to make an anti-smoking PSA, and they have some really great ideas.

This week was movie week in NELP class. The first grade students watched "Chicken Run" with Japanese subtitles. As they watched, they answered questions about the movie. The second and third grade students also had subtitles, but the subtitles were in English. The second grade watched "The Parent Trap", and the third grade watched "High School Musical 2". We had watched "High School Musical" at the Hiruzen English Camp last year, so the students wanted to watch part 2 for this year's class movie. However, it quickly became apparent that half the class had already seen part 2, so I have a strong feeling that the third grade movie will change next year. My high school class is currently watching Hoodwinked. We watch approximately 20 minutes of movie, and then spend 20 to 25 minutes talking about it. However, I feel that since the first graders have class only once a week, perhaps there just aren't enough high school lessons to justify a movie, so I have a strong feeling that movies will be permanently dropped from the high school curriculum in favor of something that uses our class time a little better.

This week, the first grade also began filming this term's special project: a short film about a scary doll. The students are VERY creative, and they're really putting a lot of effort into their movie.

I've sometimes noticed after class that there are sometimes some very interesting or surprising things on my blackboard, and it's often interesting to me the directions that my lessons can sometimes take as we make unexpected detours and journeys into topics related to our readings. Starting next week, I plan to share some of those things.

I have pictures on my computer, the latest NELP photos, long overdue. I hope to publish them to the blog on Monday.

Date: 21:56｜Permalink｜Author：nelp

Third Term Starts Well

Third term is off to a great start. Everyone in first grade and third grade not only did their homework, but they turned in their homework early. Two or three people in second grade still need to turn in their homework, but most of the students turned in their work quite early.

One of my NELP students also did an extra creating writing assignment: a fourteen page story IN ENGLISH. It was one of the most impressive things I've seen in all my years as a teacher. I hope she continues to write, because she has a real talent for it and it obviously gives her joy to write.

This week, the first grade is reading "The Fun They Had" by Isaac Asimov. This was a science fiction story that was originally in our Visions textbook, but which I have adapted for class. They enjoyed that a lot. Today we had a debate about whether a human teacher is better than a robot teacher.

The second grade is reading "Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening" by Robert Frost. I always promised myself that I would never teach Robert Frost or Emily Dickinson because my own schooling was overly saturated with them, and many young people have come away from poetry classes with the idea that there's no other kind of poetry. However, my poetry collection is somewhat more varied and eclectic, and Frost is quite pleasant and approachable so he can stay. Emily D. however is a bit dreary so no Emily D. in my class. Today we had a nice discussion about the poem and even talked a little about the structure of the poem.

The third grade is currently reading "Richard Cory" by E. A. Robinson. I've been a little worried about this poem because it ends so badly, and talking to students about death, particularly suicide, is a delicate thing. However, today, in mid-discussion, we got into a very nice discussion about what makes us happy, and we all made a kind of informal list of a few of our favorite things. I think that gets my opinion across without tiptoeing around the issue of Richard Cory's foolishness. I would simply cut it out of the curriculum, except it IS a great poem. Still, suicide might be a bit dark, even if it is in US high school textbooks.

Next Week, the first graders will be reading a short news articles about video games being used for educational purposes in the classroom.

The second graders will read "The Cask of Amontillado" by Poe. This is a short, but very difficult reading, in large part do to Edgar Allan Poe's extensive vocabulary, but I think the students are going to enjoy it. I'll have to remember to dig up the information on the real-life inspiration of the story. Macabre indeed!

The third graders next week will make up for this week's somber poem with a funny story: "The Ransom of Red Chief" by O. Henry. I hope this story will be a hit because it is quite funny and unique.

The first graders have chosen the topic for this term's final project: they want to make a short, scary video. I can't tell you what it's about, but the ideas are really fun. I can't wait. We're also going to take some time to make a video for next year's first graders, introducing them to NELP first grade!

I'll let you know how it goes.

In a side note: my third grade students scolded me harshly today for not printing double-sided copies. They're worried I'm wasting paper. Aren't they great! I'm going to follow their advice and look for ways to conserve paper.

Date: 19:26｜Permalink｜Author：nelp

Final Exams

Well, final exams are finished. How did we do? First grade did wonderfully on their essay tests for the writing class. I was very proud of all of them.

This term, I increased the number of questions on the reading tests from 60 questions to 75. I added 15 questions. There were two reasons for this. First, I felt the test was too short. Students were finishing much too quickly, and that told me that all of my students were ready for a bit more challenge. Second, I wanted students to pay just a little more attention to their weekly reading assignments because it was becoming apparent that not everybody was actually reading the assignments, and considering how much work I put into those assignments, I really wanted them to at least try to read the packet. So I added fifteen questions to the test to cover the content of the readings. On average, about ten of the questions included the same information as what the students were required to know for their weekly reading comprehension quizzes. There are four reading comprehension quizzes, five questions a piece, so they only would have had to study twenty questions on their quizzes to successfully get the answers to about ten of the fifteen reading comprehension questions on the final exam. I thought this was kind of a throw-away section honestly: a reward to those who had kept up with the readings, and punishment for those who hadn't.

"Sorely disappointed" doesn't begin to describe how I feel about this section on the test. I don't feel the questions were that difficult, especially given that we had discussed the quizzes in class and the students had those quizzes to study. So what happened? It was a freebie, a give-away, and yet: it was apparently the section that tripped up the most students.

On the plus side, more students have been keeping up with their vocabulary. Vocabulary scores were generally up with only a few surprises.

The oral communication tests, likewise were not without a few bumps. I've decided that I really do need to get a partner for future tests, because my MorphVox voice changing software from Screaming Bee Software, amusing as it is, just isn't as good as a human partner. It's more than a little weird, creepy and distorted. Good for a few laughs, and I don't doubt it'll be used for quizzes, but I'm going to have go with a human partner for future tests, I think.

Another problem came up on the tests: my third grade oral communication test was extremely difficult. On the whole, the third grade students got massacred by it. Test scores took a major nosedive. As a result, the next set of oral communication final exams are going to see a few format changes.

One: the test will be fifteen questions longer. Two: there will be no repeats. Now, I know you're saying "Wait, Mark! Don't do it! You just said the last test was too difficult! Are you insane?" Well, yes and no. See, the problem is that my test, especially this term's third grade test, require the students to think. It's no longer just a simple matter of recognizing sentences that are grammatically flawed. We're way past that. We're getting into appropriate situational usage. We're getting into comprehension. Students need a little extra time to think.

So, parts 4 and 5, short conversations and short talks, will no longer be repeated. This will cut the length of the listening by about 60 percent. I will add 15 questions, a 25% increase in the number of questions, and then, most importantly, I'll be able to give students more time per question to think. The truth is, if the students have time to jot down a note, and take an extra second or two to think, they won't need repeats on parts 4 and 5, which are mostly basic narrative comprehension anyway.

In addition, I might have to give up short conversations simply because it's difficult to find a partner for all of my tests.

In great news, my high school NELP class did BEAUTIFULLY on their test. It was a very difficult test. Two of the listenings were 4 1/2 minutes long, the other two were 3 1/2 minutes long. There were no repetitions. Eighty questions on the test. Students really did wonderfully. I was amazed.

So this time the tests didn't go so well for the junior high. Well ... better luck next time.

Date: 22:22｜Permalink｜Author：nelp

The Number of Lessons

There have been some questions recently about the design of the NELP program, so I'd like to explain a little about the structure of the program, and why the program was designed in this way.

At Seishin Junior High School, first grade students have eight English lessons per week. Second grade and third grade students have nine English lessons per week. SELP students have lessons with a native speaker twice a week for oral communication class in all three grades. First grade NELP students have eight lessons per week with a native speaker. This includes English A (writing), English B (reading) and Oral Communication. Second and third grade NELP students have four lessons per week with a native speaker. This includes English B (reading) and Oral Communication, but not English A (writing). Instead, NELP students will study English A (grammar) with a Japanese teacher of English along with the SELP students.

This structure is explained several times a year, every year, during our NELP explanation meetings. This information is made available to interested parents and prospective students before they take our entrance exam and the NELP test so that parents and students can make an informed opinion about whether or not the NELP program is right for their daughter..

Last year, however, an amendment was made to this program. It was decided last year that if five or more students had passed the Eiken STEP Test Second Grade or higher and wanted to have a special NELP English A class, a class would be made for them. Last year, we made such a class for our current NELP second grade class, of whom six had passed the Eiken STEP Test Second Grade. Those six students are now studying English A with Brian. This was done, in part, because the parents of last year's first grade students asked if we would be willing to make an amendment to the program.

However, this was not the main reason why this amendment was ultimately passed by the English Department. The NELP committee and the English Department chose to make this special amendment to the design of our program in large part due to the recommendation of the English A Japanese teacher of English, who felt that students who had passed the Eiken STEP Test Second Grade might already be familiar with the content of our second grade textbook: Progress in English 21, Book 2.

Was this the right decision? In some ways, yes. Some of our second grade NELP students possess a high degree of familiarity with the grammar in Progress in English 21, Book 2. It was believed at the time that the amendment was made, that if the students believed themselves to already be proficient in the content of the class, that they would not give their full attention and effort to the class, that they might be bored, that the educational curriculum might not fully or efficiently meet their academic needs, and that this might create an environment conducive to disruption. It was therefore believed at the time that a writing class might be more beneficial. These are factors that need to be considered.

Was it the right decision? In some ways, no. My experience this year has shown that, although these students are generally familiar with the content of Progress in English 21 Book 2, they are by no means proficient. They have discovered during the course of the year that they NEED explanations of the grammar because the grammar is far more difficult than the grammar in PiE21 Book 1 by an order of magnitude. Despite the fact that I covered Perfect Tenses over a period of 5-6 lessons in class, some students revealed during review for the exams that they still did not understand the Perfect Tenses well enough to use them consistently, nor to recognize with accuracy those situations wherein the Perfect Tenses would be necessary. This despite the fact that they have been repeatedly told to ask for help when there is something they do not understand.

Some people feel that junior high school second grade students should not be expected to ask for help, that it is a burden for them to admit when they do not understand. Largely, I agree with this sentiment, however, grammar is generally not covered in the NELP class. This is because some of the students and some of the parents insisted that classroom instruction of basic grammar was unnecessary and redundant. Therefore, the students have been made solely responsible for their own education, and are required, as a part of the course, to take initiative in seeking help when there is something they do not understand completely. For this reason, I have an open door policy after school. I have signs on my doors and I frequently remind my students that I will do tutoring after school with those who wish to have extra practice. Very few students come for this practice.

I am of the opinion that PiE21 Book 2 and Book 3 are of an advanced enough level that even those NELP students who have achieved the Eiken STEP Test Second Grade or higher may still be challenged by the grammar, phrases and structures therein, and that these students could strongly benefit from the controlled practice and the explanations provided by the Japanese teacher of English.

In our Seishin Girls' High School NELP program, NELP students who graduate from Seishin Junior High School may have Oral Communication classes separately from the SELP students, and all NELP students may have the extra 8th Period NELP class on Friday. Some of our students are disappointed that they do not have MORE classes with Native Teachers. I understand these feelings. However, it is my professional opinion that our Seishin Girls' High School English classes taught by our Japanese teachers of English are sufficiently difficult to challenge even my NELP students.

While the NELP classes with a native teacher may be more 'exotic', I feel that the first priority of the school should be to provide our students with THE BEST education that we can, and our responsibility to provide the education that our students NEED, in my professional opinion, far outweighs our desire to provide the education that our students WANT. The Seishin Girls' High School English classes, as taught by our Japanese teachers of English, WILL prepare ALL of our students for university.

I am an English teacher. I studied English at university. I first became an English teacher more than sixteen years ago, and have taught English in both America and Japan. However, although I can teach my students English and I can prepare them for university and I can prepare them to study abroad, again, my PROFESSSIONAL opinion is that the Japanese teachers of English at Seishin Junior High School can BETTER prepare students for high school entrance exams than I can, and that the Japanese teachers of English at Seishin Girls' High School can better prepare students for university entrance exams than I can.

It is further my opinion that even my highest level NELP students could strongly benefit from basic development of their grammar skills.

Now, unrelated to the NELP program, the English Department made a decision last year to change the content of the English lessons for the Seishin Girls' High School third grade students. Most, though not all, of the students no longer have English conversation with a native teacher. Shocking, isn't it? Why did we do this? Isn't English conversation important? Is it really? First of all, our Seishin Girls' High School students have classes only first and second term. Secondly, a number of our high school third grade native English teachers had noticed that the third grade students did not seem particularly dedicated to their oral communication classes: that in fact, because oral communication was not a necessary consideration for university entrance exams for most students, most students were not giving their class their full attention or effort, and were instead placing their emphasis on other subjects. It was felt, therefore, that students would more fully benefit from greater preparation for university entrance exams, particularly in listening, as we had noted that listening test scores have been steadily falling. So now, our third grade students study listening with a Japanese teacher of English.

This has been an almost universally unpopular decision with the third grade students. Why? They naturally miss interacting with the native teachers. I have been told that the listening comprehension class is not as interesting because there is less activity or interaction. In Oral Communication, students could talk more, interact more, play games and so on. Many have told me that oral communication was much, much more fun. Hmmm. What is our goal? Is our goal to educate or to entertain? Certainly oral communication was more fun, but was it in the best interests of the students. Do you see the bearing this has on the NELP program?

I don't doubt that students may find NELP more entertaining than a grammar class. I don't doubt that I'm not as strict as some of the Japanese teachers, that I don't demand the level of respect that the Japanese teachers do, that I don't give as much 'drudge work' as the Japanese teachers do in terms of repetitive exercises and activities. I don't doubt that my class is more interactive, and I don't doubt that my class requires a broader range of creativity and self-expression. I don't doubt that my class may seem more 'fun'.

However, is 'fun' what we're really after? Or is it 'education'? Aren't those repetitive exercises necessary? Couldn't our students benefit from a few lectures in Japanese on the meaning and uses of various grammar basics? Considering that entrance exams require students to understand the Japanese terminology for English grammar, considering that Japanese entrance examinations for junior high school and high school require a particular kind of understanding and interpretation of grammar, and considering that Japanese entrance examinations for junior high school and high school have a particular style quite different from tests in, for example, America, wouldn't it be a good idea for students to receive at least SOME education in English from someone who knows how to prepare students for those kinds of tests? I may be an expert in English (and I think my qualifications are such that I can describe myself as an expert), I am by no means an expert in Japanese entrance exams. However, our Seishin English Department Japanese teachers of English ARE experts when it comes to preparing students for Japanese entrance exams and that is an expertise not to be lightly discarded nor taken for granted.

So, instead of giving my second grade NELP students an English A grammar class with a Japanese teacher of English, we instead gave six of them a writing class with Brian - and it is an EXCELLENT writing class, by the way. However ...

Was it the right thing to do?

Some of my first grade students would LIKE to have the same kind of class, but ...

Will it be the right thing to do?

These are not questions that I can answer alone, but they are certainly questions worth asking.

Date: 07:52｜Permalink｜Author：nelp

Latest pictures of the NELP classes

Here, the high school first grade class is again receiving a lesson from a visiting professor. This lesson was about speed reading, something that I hope will help the students a lot when they take tests.

Here, my third grade junior high shcool NELP students are reminding me why I'm like a sheep.

My third grade junior high school class was visited by students from Finland and Australia.

They had a chance to talk with them.

And when the talk subsided, we played a game of Jenga. There are questions on these blocks, which makes it more amusing. I bought it here in Japan, but the questions are all in English. I considering, as a future project, having students make questions and write them on an ordinary (i.e. not pink) set of Jenga blocks. Hopefully we can also get a little originality in the questions that way.

Here a first grade student is working on her brainstorming for an essay in our writing class.

Here, the first grade students are engaging in a discussion.

Here, a student is working on an essay.

Here, another student is working on an essay.

Here, students are working on the newsletter.

Here are two other students, also working on the newsletter.

Here, students are looking at a rough draft of the newsletter.

Here, students are displaying their final work.

Date: 15:31｜Permalink｜Author：nelp

Establishing Goals for the Native English Language Program

Any time that we begin something, it's very important to understand what we hope to achieve. If I'm going to take a trip, it's useful to know where I'm intending to eventually go. That's not a perfect analogy, because sometimes we just want to go for a drive and enjoy the scenery, and that's all well and good if we're taking a drive, but not so good if we're hoping to actually accomplish something.

When I first began building the NELP program and setting up the first curriculum, I thought long and hard about my goals. However, I realized recently that there was a fundamental gap in my goals. I had planned what academic goals I wanted my students to achieve. I knew very well that the primary purpose of the NELP program was to further the students' English language ability, and prevent the loss of English language ability that invariably accompanies a child's return from a comprehensive English language environment overseas to an English language environment that is largely limited to a classroom here in Japan. However, this was not enough of a plan. That's kind of like going for a drive with the only goal being: I don't want to get into an accident.

From the beginning, I had academic goals. I set out very carefully what grammar structures I wanted the students to be able to recognize by third grade. I set out very carefully a plan to improve their reading comprehension, with clear reading targets and vocabulary goals for each grade, and this plan in particular has improved tremendously since I began. I established writing goals for first grade students, and I later added clear speaking goals regarding the kinds of speaking activities and degree of speaking proficiency that I wanted my students to achieve by the end of the third grade. However, again, it was not enough. I went for a drive. My first goal was not to get into an accident. My second goal included clearly established criteria for the trip: numbers. It's kind of like going for a drive and saying: This is how much gas I want to use, this is where I want my fuel efficiency to be, etc. There was one important goal that I had not established, and it's really only been since I began the new reading curriculum this summer that a clear final goal has begun to take shape: our destination.

In essence, my question has been: What is the purpose of the NELP program? Put another way: What do I want my students to be able to do with the education that I give them?

Here it is: through my program, I want to prepare my students to function effectively in a native English language classroom overseas. For those students who have already lived overseas and experienced an native English language classroom, my goal is to maintain the growth of their language skills so that if they someday return overseas to study, they will be able to reintegrate into that environment quickly and easily. For my students who have not lived or studied overseas, my goal is to prepare those students function in a regular English classroom.

Now, it would be unreasonable to expect my students to function with 100% effectiveness in a native English language classroom overseas, and such is not my goal. My goal, in simple terms, is for my students to be able to go into a regular classroom in an English speaking country and be able to function, that is, not to be completely lost. Now, what exactly does that mean? This means that my students should be able to: understand directions from the teacher; have the necessary vocabulary and reading level to comprehend their reading assignments: have the oral communication skills necessary to participate in class and contribute to the class on a regular basis; possess the writing ability necessary to complete their writing assignments in a way that their teacher can understand. This, in my opinion, is a reasonable goal.

Through my program, my NELP students are already gaining an outstanding level of English language comprehension in listening and reading. They are likewise learning to write effectively enough to make their message clearly understood. Our greatest weakness up to now has been in oral communication, because although my students have improved dramatically in their ability to make presentations in front of the class, many of them continue to struggle with spontaneous conversation. This is a weakness that I've begun to address this year by encouraging more student-to-student contact in class. Likewise, new speaking activities are stressing the ability to listen and reply. I hope in the coming months this weakness can be quickly remedied.

It is my hope that by establishing a clear and concrete goal for this program, the ability to live and study overseas, we can better focus the students' efforts in language development and further motivate students to take a greater responsibility in their own language development. In this way, students can better understand and feel a greater motivation to adhere to, my rule on English-Only in the classroom.. Also through this goal, I hope to broaden the students' interest in the idea of overseas study in the hope that, in high school, more students will choose to go abroad for a year to one of our sister schools in America. I would also very much like to begin working with administration to see if we can establish more sister-school relationships to open more opportunities for students to study abroad.

In our increasingly global society, the language skills, social skills, and broadened perspective that students gain through studying abroad will continue to increase in importance in their lives and careers.. Seishin's primary mission is to provide our students with an education, both academic and moral, that will prepare our students to be future leaders of society through whatever fields they ultimately choose to pursue. Establishing more focused and concrete goals for the NELP program can help me to guide my program to more effectively support and fulfill that mission.

Date: 09:56｜Permalink｜Author：nelp

The sign on the door

For the last two and a half years, I've had a sign over my NELP room door that said: Magic Theater Entrance. Nobody ever asked me why. At the beginning of this term, I put a sign on the inside. This sign said:

Hold stick near center of its length.
Moisten pointed end in mouth.
Insert in tooth space, blunt end next to gum.
Use gentle in-and-out motion.

This got their attention. I told the students that for two extra points, they could tell me what the sign was and tell me why it was over the door. I then drew their attention to the forgotten sign outside, and said that for one point, they could tell me what it was a reference to.

They quickly solved the questions, discovering that the inside sign was a reference to British science fiction/comedy author Douglas Adams, and that the outside sign was a reference to The Steppenwolf by Herman Hesse. The outside sign was also an homage to great English teacher whose class I was privileged to attend in high school. He had a similar sign on his door.

However, now that the mystery has been solved I'm somewhat at a loss what to put there next.

Speaking of forgotten: nobody seems to remember that I have a mailbox outside my classroom. Maybe nobody trusts it because I often see students trying to pick the lock. I'm going to have to get rid of the combination lock and put up a keylock. That'll fix 'em.

Date: 09:08｜Permalink｜Author：nelp

Update on the Program

We have finished the first half of second term. Mid-Terms have been checked and returned, and all-in-all, I'd say things are going well. Already, in the new curriculum, I've had to change a few of the readings, but I'm now able to look ahead and anticipate a little better which articles or readings will be troublesome and quickly replace them before we get there.

Overall, the scores on the mid-terms were very good. There still seems to be a wide divide, though, between the different levels of students. Some students, however, have surprised me with how much they prepared for this exam. Very few students, in my opinion, performed below their ability.

I'll have to reassess the vocabulary sections on the exams. Too easy. I think it's a mistake NOT to reword the meanings. I'm not entirely sure that, in matching words and meanings, the students are REALLY being tested as to whether they KNOW the word, or whether they have merely learned to look for a specifically shaped or spelled keyword in the definition, thus allowing them to match a word and a meaning without really understanding either one. I'll have to address this in future tests.

So, what's going on?

First, I bought a couple new books and received a sample book from Oxford with their latest catalog so we have three new books in our library.

Curious George Rides a Bike

I had this book when I was a child. I enjoyed it then, and it's still enjoyable today!

Curious George Goes Camping

A strong case can be made that these aren't age-appropriate for junior high students, but the students requested more Curious George, so I obliged.

Rainforests (Thank you, OUP-Japan!)

This is perhaps too high a level, both in language and maturity for junior high, but we also share the NELP library with the Life Science Course students, and I think THEY'LL be interested.

Next, we have some pictures from our classes:

It's sometimes difficult to get 'normal' pictures of my third grade class because they're always doing something funny. This isn't even the funniest picture from third grade this week, but I swore I wouldn't post the others.

I'm happy to report that the third grade class now has eight students.

One of our students came back to Seishin after more than a year in Europe, and we are all really glad she's back.

The first graders just finished their mid-term projects.

The students had to research a person, place, thing or event from history, write an essay and make a presentation about it.

This student did a superb presentation about King Tut: specifically, theories about the death of King Tut and the possibility of a conspiracy! Very cool.

The students all did a lot of research.

We had presentations on: the history of cell phones, King Tut, Agatha Christie, the domestication of dogs, Adolf Hitler, Florence Nightingale and the differences between European and Asian dragons!

Here, students are doing research for their essays and presentations about dragons and Agatha Christie..

A rare picture of me, taken by my third graders.

Note to the second graders: you notice how the picture does not focus exclusively on my balding head? :)

The first graders are continuing work on the newsletter, including their column about my different neckties.

They are also doing research for a column on festivals.

And another column on recipes.

And here is more artwork for the column on interesting books in the library.

Finally, here is a picture of a student during reading class.

Which actually brings me to my next point. Recently, our school was visited by teachers from cram schools, who wanted to see what was going on, etc. A couple of teachers who passed by the NELP room were a little puzzled because the class looked very different from what they had seen in the past: apparently, not much was going on, and it looked quite casual.

I think this deserves an explanation: it was reading day. On reading day, students are expected to independently get books, read books, and talk about their books. It's a little difficult, as you can imagine, to keep students on that task for 45 minutes.

When the idea of devoting my valuable class time to in-class reading was first suggested to me by one of the advisers to the NELP program, a professor at Seishin University, I was quick to dismiss it. I felt that reading was something students could do outside of class and I saw no reason to give up my teaching time to something that was better done outside of class on the student's clock. However, my adviser asked me to give it a try, and I'm not sorry that I did. Reading has increased exponentially. Although it may look like not a lot is going on, there's more to reading time than meets the eye. The students have been doing very well at recommending books to one another, encouraging one another in their reading, and in helping one another with improving the quality of their book reports, and by extension, the reading experience. I highly recommend in-class reading. I have discovered that, contrary to my initial dismissal, it is not a waste of time at all.

Date: 09:00｜Permalink｜Author：nelp

This week

This week, a lot has been going on.

The first grade studied about fashions in the 17th to 19th century.
The second grade studied about trading between enemies during the US Civil War.
The third grade studied about the Mausoleum of Theodoric.

In our reading classes, there has been a lot more discussion going on.

Here, the third grade students are discussing their outside reading books in our Thursday reading class.

Here, the first grade students are discussing their writing.

This is my board work for my first grade writing class, wherein I talked again about the importance of brainstorming and following the writing process.

In reading class, the first graders worked in groups on a paraphrasing exercise.

Here, the second grade students are discussing topics related to our reading.

Here, the high school first grade NELP class is getting reading to give presentations about entertainment. Two students taught us a dance. One student taught us to cut out interesting paper flowers, and the last demonstrated her ability to make a 'bridge' by bending backwards and putting her hands on the floor.

Here, the junior high first graders are doing research for the articles that they would like to put into our class newsletters. Two students are working on an article about festivals. Three students are working on an article showcasing recipes, and two students are writing an article about interesting books.

Here, students are copying art from the covers of the books they are writing about.

And here is one of the book covers they decided not to use, but which I think was still very cute.

The students are also doing a column about my ties.

The third grade students had a little fun in class drawing pictures of me on the board during a drawing game.

In other news, I redecorated my classroom, and this time I put up a series of motivational quotes. This one is my favorite, and I read it to all of my students. In case in doesn't come out well enough to read, it says: I am always doing that which I cannot do in order to learn how to do it. Pablo Picasso.

Finally, we have a new book for the library: Peter Pan in Scarlet. I hope the students will enjoy it as much as I did.

Next week:
* In first grade, we'll be studying about Social Anxiety Disorder.
* In second grade, we'll be studying about the recent crisis of rising food prices and its effects on the third world.
* In third, we'll be studying about the recent change in focus of the American education system.

These will be the last readings for the students before the mid-term.
Monday, I hope to give out the mid-term review sheets. I've consolidated and shortened their vocabulary lists, printed the texts of the readings that will be on the test, and included a vocabulary list explaining the difficult vocabulary on each reading.

Date: 17:21｜Permalink｜Author：nelp

Update

Today, I universally implemented student-centered learning in the reading discussion class. The students took most of the class to discuss the issues in their discussion questions, and then we went over the answers at the end of class. Not only were there more answers, and more original answers, but many students were capable of ... I kid you not ... three times as much talking as they would get under the old teacher-centered system. Still having trouble getting some students engaged in the discussions, but it may take time and a little motivation on my part. Wish me luck.

Last week, one of my third grade students asked if she could have a list of due dates for the homework. It seemed like a tall order, but I decided to give it a try ... and I'm glad I did.

I made a list of all the readings, and all the homework, and all the quizzes, and speaking activities and writing and so on ... I'm sure that not only will the students be more organized, I think I will be more organized too.

I've already laid the first groundwork for diversifying the oral communication speaking activities too! I'll let you know how it goes.

The fact that I'm already updating much more than in the past is positive proof that the NELP program is finally coming together the way I want it to be.

As of now, I'm 95% planned through the next three weeks, and one of my four mid-term tests is already finished (and two of the others are about 40% finished!) I'm way ahead in the game, which is good, because I still need to make the review sheets for the mid-terms and get to work on preparing the readings for the second half of the term.

I especially want to find some interesting (and scary) videos to show for Halloween, and I'd like to update the pictures I'll be using for my Halloween slideshow after school! Yahoo! Halloween is my favorite holiday.

Date: 20:09｜Permalink｜Author：nelp

Pictures

I figure we're overdue for some pictures ...

It's been a little difficult to take picture. Some of my students don't want their pictures taken. Maybe it's because I always take pictures that embarrass them. This time, I'll try to protect the innocent ... and the not so innocent ... with a few smiles.

Mimi is quite popular ... in a way ...

Students were supposed to use this time to chat in English. I've been trying to create more opportunities for students to talk to one another in English ... not working out so well here.

I blocked out pencil cases, watches and so on to prevent kids from getting in trouble with Mom and Dad ... after all, it was only a minute or two before the end of class on a rainy day, and we all know how sleepy we can get on days like this ...

Students frequently need dictionaries in my class.

A student is doing her vocabulary homework. I believe using the words in sentences is more useful than memorizing the meanings. I encourage my students to use the word to describe something real, something personal, something from experience, in order to tie the word into the memory. It's a kind of 'learn by association' approach.

Here, one of my first graders is working on an essay.

Here, another student is working on an essay.

Here is a student preparing for a speaking test.

Here, my high school students are being taught by a professor from a local junior college.. (I would put both her name and the name of the junior college here but ... is it okay?) I'm not sure, so I'll err on the side of caution.

The professor brought an interesting magazine, and the students had a nice discussion about appearance, and the singer Joss Stone.

One of my high school students fills in a chart on the board.

My first graders want to put a column in the newspaper about Mark's Neckties.

Date: 10:03｜Permalink｜Author：nelp

Weekly Update

In the hope I can do this more often, I'd like to give a bit of a more mundane rundown on what we're doing this week.

In first grade, we read and discussed a poem called 'An Easy Decision' by Kenneth Patchen. The students enjoyed it enormously. The students made short presentations about unusual people they've seen.

In second grade, the students read and discussed 'When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer' by Walt Whitman. That, likewise, went over very well. They students made quite good presentations about art vs. science, enjoying a thing vs. studying it.

In third grade, we tried to read 'Ulysses' by Tennyson. I realized that it would be difficult, but I thought the story would get them going. Unfortunately, even though we went over the vocabulary, the abstractness of some of the lines made understanding next to impossible. It's a lesson for the future: poetry is a real challenge when it's not in your native language. So, instead, we're replacing that with 'Acquainted with the Night' by Robert Frost. I'll let you know next week how it goes.

Next week, the first graders will work on their Special Project. The second graders will review verb tenses with me. The third graders will read a new poem.

The following week, the first graders will read a short story called 'Gonzalo' by Paul Fleischman. The second graders will read Rikki-Tikki-Tavi by Rudyard Kipling. I'm a little worried about that one, but again, I'll let you know how it goes. The third graders will read 'Buried Poems' by Terry Tempest Williams. They've already responded favorably, and I think it will prove easier than Tennyson!

Date: 15:37｜Permalink｜Author：nelp

The New Curriculum

Well, I had meant to update a little more often, but I haven't done it. Here's why. I've been busy updating the curriculum.

See, I realized at the end of last term that, although things were not going badly in the NELP program, they weren't going as well as they could be.

Originally, we had a literature textbook. Unfortunately, half the students said it was too easy, and half said it was too hard and about 75% of them said they just didn't like it.

So after that, I started using newspaper articles. The newspaper articles were good because they were challenging, and they were fresh. I could choose articles that matched the students' interesting, and that was a good thing.

However, as I said, I began to realize that something was missing. Newspaper articles, I told my students, have a lot of vocabulary: but they only have ONE KIND of vocabulary. They only have ONE KIND of grammar. In real life, there are many kinds of vocabulary and many varieties of grammar, and this was something that I knew we had to address a little better.

So I decided to expand the curriculum, give it more variety. I have, in essence, reestablished my reading classes as LITERATURE classes. I could not find a satisfactory textbook, and considering the nature of NELP, that is perhaps a good thing. Instead, I am MAKING a textbook for my students in the form of an online reading curriculum.

Each half-term, the students will have one poem, one short story, one non-fiction article, and one current issue from a newspaper or magazine. I can already see that this is going to reinvigorate the students.

We have everything from Shel Silverstein to Isaac Asimov. We have the humor of James Thurber, the adventure of Rudyard Kipling, the suspense of Edgar Allan Poe, as well as more recent works of fiction by authors such as Kelly Link and Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston.

Our non-fiction likewise is diverse, including recipes, fashion, psychology, history, architecture, technology, great speeches (including three wonderful Native American speeches), stories of modern-day pirates, and lost gold mines, massive volcanoes to haunted hotels.

The volume and variety is really exciting for me. However, we've already had a few bumps in the road. I was perhaps far, overly ambitious in attempting to teach Tennyson. It wasn't merely the vocabulary, but the structure of the poem itself. I've therefore already replaced some older poems with more contemporary works, including modern music lyrics and a very nice Robert Frost poem. I hope these will be received a little better.

Any curriculum is a work in progress, but I hope this work will be, with a few exceptions, enduring.

Date: 15:23｜Permalink｜Author：nelp

Pre-Test

We had the NELP pre-test today. It went very well. The new format worked really well, I'm happy to say.

For those interested in preparing for the actual entrance exam, I teach a special class for high-level elementary school students two Saturdays a month through Seishin English Hills, sponsored by our Seishin Alumni Association.

http://www.nd-seishin.ac.jp/school/primary.html

Joining this class doesn't mean one can automatically pass my NELP entrance exam, but it will certainly help.

Date: 15:42｜Permalink｜Author：nelp

Summer School

We're having summer classes right now at Seishin, and so Brian and I have been teaching some classes. Brian has been teaching the second graders, and I've been teaching the first graders. One of my students isn't back yet from vacation. I hope she's having fun, and I hope she knows we all miss her.

Here are our first pictures of the week:

Right now, we're finishing up a project: our students are writing and illustrating a story. It's a prequel to one of our graded readers, and it looks to be a really interesting story about pirates.

Date: 15:33｜Permalink｜Author：nelp

NELP Pre-Test

We're now gearing up for the NELP Pre-Test. For those who are interested, The NELP Pre-Test will be given on Saturday, August 23rd. I'm really excited about this year's test.

This year we're taking the test in a new direction. In previous NELP entrance tests, pictures were a big part of the test. The first thirty questions, in fact, had pictures. The pictures made for a visually appealing test, and in some ways I'll miss them, however, there are four major reasons why pictures will not be used in future tests.

One, it required me to draw forty pictures for each test, and quite frankly, it's a lot of work for test that will take thirty minutes. Often those forty pictures were days of work, drawing and redrawing, and I'm really not that great an artist.

Two, picture-based questions tend to lend themselves to identification-type questions: recognizing the difference between a fork and a spoon for example. However, in NELP, it's not really enough for students to be able to simply recognize objects or know a little basic vocabulary. Many students are now able to recognize basic things and know the words for those things in English. In NELP, we're looking for functional communication ability, and that can be better assessed, in my opinion, without pictures through questions that test the applicant's communication ability: the ability to respond to questions, the ability to correctly complete a sentence and so on.

Three, my mid-term and final exams in the NELP program have no pictures, and I wanted a test that would more accurately reflect the kind of tests the students can expect to see when they enter the program.

Four, as I said before, many students are now learning basic English nouns and verbs in elementary school, but that doesn't mean they can actually communicate in English. Our previous tests, to state it simply (no pun intended), were too easy. Sometimes the scores were too close together. I wanted a test that would more accurately put the students on a scale, that would not merely measure whether or not they met the basic requirements to enter the NELP course, but would rather more accurately assess their language strengths and weaknesses in a way that would allow us to determine their language level in relation to the other students taking the test. As we get more and more applicants to the program, since we are only able to accept 15 students to the course at this time, it will become increasingly important to not only know who is capable of thriving in the NELP environment, but in fact who can MOST benefit from the course. This was a major goal.

So, what will the test be like?
The basic structure of the test, and the material to be tested will not change. There will still be three parts:
Part 1: Listening Comprehension
Part 2: Vocabulary and Grammar
Part 3: Reading Comprehension.

Part 1 will now consist of four sections:
Part 1-1: Question and Response (fifteen questions)
Part 1-2: Fill-in-the-blank (fifteen questions)
Part 1-3: Conversation Comprehension (two questions)
Part 1-4: Narrative Comprehension (three questions)

Part 2 will consist of multiple choice fill-in-the-blank questions.
Part 3 will consist of multiple choice questions about a reading.

Things you should know: the basics. Study the basics. For the pre-test, you should know basic vocabulary, basic verb tenses, pronouns, adjectives, possessives, word usage, prepositions, countable and non-countable nouns, and comparatives.

Students should also be able to answer factual comprehension questions and should be able to make inferences based on what they hear or read.

I think this test will be more successful than previous tests.

Date: 11:37｜Permalink｜Author：nelp

Exams are finished!

Well, I survived! I gave eight final exams this year, and though I fretted and worried a lot earlier, now that it's done, it certainly didn't seem so bad at all. In fact, this year, I was much more on-the-ball and ready-to-go than I have been since the start of the NELP program. The last time I was this organized (meaning my work was actually finished!) was when I was teaching English Conversation back before the NELP program started.

The students did remarkably well. I'm particularly proud of all of them. My junior high first graders did very well on their first ever essay test. I'm also really proud of their performance on the oral communication listening test and the reading test.

My high school first graders did wonderfully on their test. It was a very difficult test, but they got through it, with good scores.

My junior high third graders showed some good improvement over their midterms.

And the junior high second graders? Parents, if you're reading this: I gave your children the most challenging tests ever. Please don't be surprised if their grades have fallen since last year. I was asked by a student to make a more difficult test, and against my better judgment, I did it.

However, next term, we're going back to MY test. I think I've proven that the previous tests were a better assessment of student abilities.

That said: the second graders did far better than they realize. I know they thought the test was impossible, but they really did quite well, considering the difficulty of the test, and I'm proud of all of them.

Date: 16:43｜Permalink｜Author：nelp

Final Exams

Test time is here again, and has brought with it a few surprises.

First, is the final exam for the High School First Grade NELP students. I only see them once a week, and half of our lessons were taught by visiting university professors. As such, it's a little difficult to test them because we haven't had a significant amount of actual CONTENT. Instead of a content-based test, however, I'm hitting them with a SKILLS-based test: in this case, listening skills.

The test will have sixty questions. There will be four listenings, each followed by fifteen questions. Students will hear each listening and each set of multiple-choice questions twice. The first ten questions will be one point each. The final five questions (which require a deeper understanding of the point of the story) will be worth two points each. The test will be for a total of 80 points.

However, although the test will undoubtedly be very challenging, as I told the students: It's not so different from what we do every day. They hear me talk, they answer my questions and so on.

I'm not so worried.

The second big change is in my junior high school second grade tests. This change is due to complaints from a student that my tests are not challenging enough. I have therefore adopted tests that are, again, more skills-based than content-based, and I have reorganized the test to be more challenging. For example, in the past, the vocabulary section of reading test had vocabulary in groups of five to make it easier to match the word and meaning. Now, I have all fifteen vocabulary words together in one group. Likewise the readings are longer and the questions require more thinking to answer.

In the past, the purpose of the test was to determine: How much of what I am trying to teach did the students actually assimilate? In this case, a perfect score would mean they learned 100% of my intended content. In this test, however, the goal is slightly different. Whereas the previous test was focused specifically on my personal goals for what I wanted them to achieve, this test is more general. This test attempt to determine: To what degree did the students master the target skills we have been developing in class, and how much of the content available for them to study did they assimilate.

The new oral communication exam now has 90 questions. It has no repetitions. It goes very quickly. However, as I explained to my students, neither the reading nor the oral communication test will be impossibly difficult. Both tests have been designed to the level of the students. That is, the reading level of the texts in the reading test are consistent with the reading levels of the students in the class and are in fact easier than the majority of the texts we have read in class. The vocabulary likewise has been covered in class and has been made available to the student. The challenge in the reading test comes from mastering skills we've covered and practiced in class: in this case, the difference between skimming, scanning and reading for details balanced against questions that test general comprehension of the purpose and themes of the text.

The oral communication test likewise tests comprehension through a wide variety of questions, and tests the students' ability to communicate successfully, to comprehend a variety of lengths of spoken discourse, and so on.

In this regard, the test will be extremely challenging, but will not be outside the students' abilities ... so I'm quite proud of it.

Whether or not we will continue to have my so-called MegaTests in the future for this group of NELP students will depend largely on how they do on the test.

Date: 10:56｜Permalink｜Author：nelp

Before and After Mid-Terms

Things have been going very well in the NELP program. The first graders are doing fantastically in their reading.

They've been reading a lot of books.

They've also written a lot of book reports, and some of their book reports have been amazingly detailed.

They've also been reading some very difficult books (but I'll be honest ... not everybody reads books as hard as this one). Still, the reading level of the class is very impressive.

Second Grade has been doing well also.

In this picture, we can see reading day.

I wish I could put up more pictures of 3rd grade ... but every time I go to take a picture, they make faces at the camera! (But it's okay ... I like my 3rd graders a lot. They're a fun class).

The third graders have also been working hard on their speeches for our in-school speech contest.

In our last picture we can see 2nd grade.

I'm hoping to do more on the computers this year, including a lot more multi-media learning activities.

Date: 17:08｜Permalink｜Author：nelp

Start of the New Year

Here are our new classes for the year:

Junior High School First Grade:

Junior High School Second Grade:

Junior High School Third Grade:

High School First Grade:

The Junior High School First Graders have already written their first essay, today they will give their first presentation, and most of them have given me their first book report! In short, they are doing wonderfully.

The second graders and third graders, meanwhile, are now working on their second topics for the term.

all in all, it's shaping up to be a great year.

One new change that's going to have a direct effect on the NELP program is our Saturday course for elementary school students. The Notre Dame Seishin Alumni Association sponsors Seishin English Hills, a saturday course for elementary school students.

http://www.nd-seishin.ac.jp/school/primary.html

We currently have two very high level students. One is a sixth grade student in Seishin Elementary School's International Program. The other is the younger brother of one of my third grade NELP students. I had hoped the sister of one of my second grade students would come as well, but I haven't heard back. Because these students have a level of English proficiency many times higher than the average Seishin English Hills students, we've decided to make a special high-level class. It's my hope that this class will not only help prepare students to enter my NELP program, but will also help students with a high level of English proficiency to maintain and improve their English skills, even if they will not someday apply to NELP.

Date: 08:49｜Permalink｜Author：nelp

Long Time No See

Well, it has been more than six weeks since my last entry, and that really surprises me. I wasn't aware that it had been so long. During the last six weeks, I've been extremely busy. First, there were final exams. Third Term, I had to make FIVE different final exams. This year, I shall undoubtedly long for those 'good old days', as this year I will have EIGHT final exams to make!

This year, I will be teaching 18 lessons a week ... with no repeats! Each lesson will be completely different. That means I have to plan 13.5 hours of lesson time EVERY WEEK! Also, I teach NINE completely different courses. In first grade, I will be teaching English A (Writing), English B (Reading) and Oral Communication. In second grade and third grade, I will be teaching English B and Oral Communication. I will also be teaching high school first grade Oral Communication, and a special mixed-grade high school NELP class. If you want to be particular, you could say I'm teaching ten different course because I also teach junior high school first grade Special Projects (although the grade is part of their oral communication grade). Needless to say, I'm somewhat overwhelmed by the magnitude of this year's class load. Will I survive? Only time will tell.

What is nice is that this year, we have a new NELP teacher! His name is Brian Timms and he is from Canada. In addition to teaching SELP classes, Brian will be teaching junior high school second grade NELP English A (writing). Originally, we had planned not to have English A in second grade because the grammar is becoming more difficult, and we thought it would be better to integrate the SELP and NELP students for English A. However, this year's second grade class has SIX students who have passed the second grade Eiken STEP test, and so the second grade Progress in English textbook really doesn't have a lot to offer them, seeing as how they have all lived overseas. So we have passed a new rule that if we have five or more students in one grade who have passed the second grade Eiken STEP test, then they can form a NELP English A class.

So, how are my classes this year? Well, I have 7 first grade students, 14 second grade students, 7 third grade students, 4 high school first grade students, and 4 students in my 8th period NELP independent studies class. Three of the students in Independent Studies are also in my high school first grade Oral Communication class. One student in oral communication will not be participating this year in the 8th period classes due to other obligations. One second grade student will be joining that class. It will be nice to teach her again, because I taught her when she was in junior high school first grade, back before we had a NELP program.

I hope in spite of my busy schedule that I'll be able to update this blog more or less regularly. We'll see. Wish me luck.

Date: 08:02｜Permalink｜Author：nelp

What's going on?

It's been a while since my last update. So, what's going on in the NELP program this term?

Well, first of all, the second grade students have started working on their final projects for third term. This term, their final project is to write a report and make a presentation about another country. Students are encouraged to be focused in their topic and write about a specific aspect of the country, its people, culture, history, economy, etc.

Here's a picture of a student already working on her project:

Students are also working on special projects to send to students in America. In our special projects we've been communicating (albeit very intermittently) with a Japanese Club in an American high school. So as part of our e-pal program, we're sending them information about Japan. Because many of the students in the Japanese Club are interested in anime, J-pop and manga, our students are writing about some of the shows they like, the music they listen to, and the books they read.

Apparently these students are writing about video games ...

In addition, next week the first grade students will start a new project in their Special Projects class. Last term the students made a 'time capsule' including video messages to themselves two years from now (when they are about to graduate from junior high school). This term, they will make a video with messages to future NELP students. In this video, the students will talk about their experiences this year, what they learned, and what advice they have for the next NELP class.

In the NELP program, our students have regular opportunities for 'self-access' study. This includes our self-access grammar in first grade and our 'reading day' in all grades. During these times, students who have finished their reading, or are ahead in their grammar, may do other activities, such as working on their vocabulary, or preparing for tests. Here, some second grade students are practicing interviews for the STEP test.

Students have been doing wonderfully on their reading. Third term is now about half over, but already many students have finished their required reading. These include: one out of three third graders, one out of seven second graders and six out of twelve first graders.

Here is a second grader reading a book:

Finally, today was the orientation for next year's first grade class: including the new NELP students. Next year there will be seven new NELP students. I met them today, and I'm very excited about teaching them next year. I'm sure we'll have a lot of fun, even though I know the curriculum will be quite difficult next year. Here's a picture of our new NELP students:

Date: 11:55｜Permalink｜Author：nelp

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

2008 is here and we're about to start the third term here in the NELP program. I found a few old pictures on one of our cameras. I haven't posted any pictures in a while:

This term we're going to focus on a bit more creativity. I hope to get the students doing some creative work. Last term we focused more on newspaper articles for our reading. This term I hope to introduce a few stories or poems. Last term, we wrote essays. This term, I'd like to do more creative writing, such as stories , poems and more creative type essays. Last term we focused more on presentations. This term, I'd like to do more dialogs and skits.

In addition, I might like to introduce letter-writing. We've written letters, but haven't really studied HOW to write an effective letter, and as I think this is a good skill to have, we'll do a bit of that. I'm also very interested in teaching students to take notes. To further our skills in that direction, we can expect more dictation exercises this term.

I'll be updating a few categories today, and hopefully this term I can try to keep a little more up to date on the NELP blog.

Date: 11:18｜Permalink｜Author：nelp

A Busy Season

What a busy season! I was surprised to see that it has been nearly a MONTH since my last update. Things here have been just crazy. Students turned in tons of last minute homework. The rule here is that all homework and book reports are due by 17:00 the day before final exams start. I told my students that once the exams start, I want them to be thinking about the exams and not their homework. I told them that at 17:01, all late homework becomes ZERO. That was a big motivator.

I am happy to say that I got LOTS of homework. Only ONE of my 22 students didn't complete the required reading on time (but she turned it in late, so she'll get credit for that assignment on next term's reading).

Students also spent a lot of time working on final projects. In addition to this, I've been very busy working on the entrance exams for next year. I'm really excited by some of the changes that are coming to our NELP program, but it's all TOP SECRET at the moment, so I can't put it here.

Today, I'll be writing some updates on various things about the NELP program, and I'll try to update a little more often in the future.

Date: 09:03｜Permalink｜Author：nelp

The Difficulty of the Nelp Program

The Difficulty of the NELP Program
(November 11, 2007)

There have been many questions recently regarding the difficulty of the NELP class. To answer those questions, I would like to explain a few things about how the NELP program works.

* NELP is a student-centered program.
* Students choose their own level of books to read.
* Students are given a basic amount of reading which they must do, but beyond that, the students choose how much to read.
* Students choose approximately 25% to 30% of the vocabulary.
* Students are given grammar assignments based not only on an assessment test, but on regular assessments of their homework, class work, tests and essays. Therefore the work they do during the self-access grammar time is based directly on their level and their needs. There are a variety of exercises and work sheets for each level from which students may choose their work. Students are encouraged to choose those exercises whose difficulty level most challenges them. However, again, the level of the worksheets is based directly on the level of the students and their needs, as assessed through the initial test and their daily work.
* Beyond the basic grammar assignments that are given to them based on their individual needs, students may choose other work which challenges their level.
* When students have satisfied the basic grammar requirements, more difficult and challenging work will be made available to them at that time.
* Students are given a choice of essay topics of different difficulty levels. The students are encouraged to choose the topic that best suits their English level.
* In their presentations and speaking assignments, students are encouraged to challenge themselves, to prepare and develop the topic according to their level.

As we can see, a learner-centered program is designed to immediately and specifically address the needs and weaknesses of each individual student. However, it requires that the students choose the difficulty level themselves. If I, as a teacher, were to choose the difficulty for them, their needs would not be addressed as accurately, nor as specifically, as when they choose the difficulty for themselves.

The ability of the students to choose the material is important to this method.

Things Students Can and Should Do to Increase the Difficulty of the Course

* Choose longer and more challenging books.
* Try to finish reading longer books within the term.
* Choose more challenging vocabulary words.
* Try to memorize all of the words on the vocabulary list.
* Do the required ten example sentences, then try to make sentences for the other 20 to 30 vocabulary words on the list. Our students currently receive 30 to 40 vocabulary words each week, only ten of which are required for the vocabulary writing exercise. If it is not challenging enough, then students should do more.
* Try more difficult worksheets during self-access time.
* Try to do MORE worksheets during self-access time.
* Request more difficult worksheets from the teacher (please request one week in advance).
* Choose the more difficult and challenging essay topics.
* Do the required brainstorming, pre-writing and rewriting that the teacher recommends.
* If the essay is 250 words, write 250 words or more. If that is still not challenging enough, write 350 words, or 500 words.
* Prepare for the speaking activities. The majority of my students were not adequately prepared for their last speaking activity. Plan what to say, memorize important facts, and make sure what you are going to say is well-organized.
* If the speaking activity requires a 90 second presentation, then make a 90 second presentation. The majority of students are not meeting the minimum time requirement. If 90 seconds is too easy, make a 2 minute presentation, or a 3 minute presentation. Please do not do more than twice the recommended time without permission from the teacher.
* If you want a longer presentation, more than twice the time requirement, please ask the teacher to allow it, then challenge yourself to make a good presentation.
* Try to use more formal language, both in writing and in speaking.
* Stop using Japanese in class. Many students are still using too much Japanese in class.
* Speak more in class. Currently, 2 students contribute to class discussions regularly, another 3 often contribute, another 2 sometimes contribute. The other five students hardly speak at all. If the class is too easy, then students should come to class prepared to speak and contribute to that week’s topic.

Things Students Can and Should Do If the Class Seems Too Difficult

* Make sure that the books you’re choosing match your level. If you have to read each page with a dictionary in your hand, the book is too difficult. Get an easier one.
* Read more books. Reading exposes your mind to the language, allows you to see the language in use. Reading more will increase your language ability.
* Study the vocabulary. Study all of the words. Try to use each word in a sentence. When writing a sentence with a new word, don’t write just an ‘example’ sentence. Write a sentence about something you are thinking of. Apply the word to something in your life or in your experiences. This ties the vocabulary word to other parts of the brain, increasing connections to that word and increasing the likelihood that the word will stay in your brain.
* Carefully read the background reading each week. Study it thoroughly. The background reading will help you with your essays and speaking assignments.
* Prepare for your speaking assignments. Study your topic so that you will be able to discuss it in class. Plan out what you’re going to say, and memorize it if necessary. Practice speaking in front of a mirror.
* Do the required brainstorming, pre-writing and rewriting that the teacher recommends.
* Come after school. I have four signs on my doors that say: English Open Room Every Day from 16:30. So far, no one has come. If you are having trouble with English, come after school.
* Stop using Japanese in class. Many students are still using too much Japanese in class.
* Speak more in class. Currently, 2 students contribute to class discussions regularly, another 3 often contribute, another 2 sometimes contribute. The other five students hardly speak at all. If the class is too difficult, study the topic, write down what you want to say, and when your chance comes: read it during the discussion.

A Note about Speeches and Standardized Tests:
* Come after school. I have four signs on my doors that say: English Open Room Every Day from 16:30. So far, no one has come. If you are having trouble with English, come after school. This sign says: Speech Practice, Conversation, Homework and Reading. I also do test preparation. If you’re worried: come.

Date: 12:41｜Permalink｜Author：nelp

End of the First Cycle

Things are going well with the weekly cycle. We had our first self-access Tuesday a couple of days ago, and I was really pleased with the results.

First, as usual, we had a quiz. I'm giving a lot of quizzes these days. Quizzes are usually 10 questions long these days. The first five questions are practice questions to help prepare students for the kind of questions they might see on standardized tests. These questions don't count on their quiz grade. The last five questions are based on grammar structures from their textbook, and these do count. Basically, each week, I tell my students: next week, we're having a quiz on Lesson (x). Please review it. If you have any questions, please ask me.

Grammar structures will be explained before the quiz, but only briefly. The pattern here is definitely Test-Teach-Test. I test them. If they need review, I assign worksheets for Tuesday's Self-Access Day. Can we make it an acronym and say that Tuesdays are SAD?

Pictures from the quiz:

We then had Self-Access time. Students used the assessment sheet from their assessment test, which showed which Lessons from the textbook they need to study. They went to the binders, pulled out worksheets, and went right to work.

Pictures of students working:

A few students tried to pull out EVERY worksheet they needed. A few took their worksheets home as homework. I explained to the students however that Self-Access Tuesday is class work. There are two reasons for this: (1) I can help them if they have questions; (2) They already have enough homework, what with vocabulary, writing, and preparation for speaking assignments.

Most students did very well on their worksheets. For those who need further development, I pulled out worksheets, and in some cases MADE new worksheets to fit their needs. I'm especially excited about that last part, because I realized that I can really tailor the class to each student's needs in this way. Students who need more development will be given work that specifically addresses the exact areas where their language skills need to be developed.

In many ways, because students choose only those worksheets that they really need, grammar class has become MUCH more productive. Likewise, by using part of the Thursday grammar class for writing time, I can give very personal guidance to students who are having trouble developing their essays. Today, for example, I reviewed brainstorming with a few students, re-emphasizing for them that planning DOES make writing easier and more organized. Also, be allowing writing in class, many students have definitely improved in their writing structure. I can't tell you how many times I've written the word 'indent' in red ink, nor how many times I've explained what it means. However, it's a very different experience for the student when, as they are writing, I can come, and explain right on their paper what I mean by 'indent'. Indentation for paragraphs has increased substantially.

The students have shown a lot of interest in their new control over their education, and the classes feel MUCH more productive than they did before. Tuesday, I really felt that finally the needs of every student were being met during the class time.

I'm quite pleased with the last two weeks. The students have been challenged. Their individual needs have been addressed in a much more personal manner. I think I'm finally getting this NELP program shaped the way I want it to be.

Date: 18:48｜Permalink｜Author：nelp

Start of the New Cycle

We finished our first week of the new cycles. Last Friday, students each received a packet containing: Reading (due Monday 10/29), vocabulary from the reading (on which they will be tested starting 11/5), vocabulary that was chosen by students (students must submit two new, useful vocabulary words each week; they'll be tested on these words starting 11/5), a vocabulary worksheet (for which they must choose ten words from their vocabulary list and write a sentence using each word; Due 11/5), and a new vocabulary worksheet (where the students must write two new, useful words, an easy meaning for each word, and a sentence using each word; also due on 10/29), their essay topics (students could choose one of three topics, selected by difficulty; due 11/5), and a speaking topic (students had to speak on the selected topic, in this case: telling something scary that happened to them, for 90 seconds. A minute and a half isn't very long, but it's a start, and these presentations help the students become more confident speaking in front of other people; this presentation was due 11/1).

Then, starting last Monday, students have been given longer quizzes in reading, grammar and oral communication. I'm hoping that these quizzes will eventually help improve their scores on standardized tests.

This week's topic was, naturally enough, Halloween. The classroom was decorated, and quizzes, tests, reading, essays, presentations and other assignments were coordinated with the theme of the week. On Wednesday we watched a few scary videos, and talked about Halloween.

I also gave the students 'ghost photos' of the classes.

The first graders

The second graders

Next week, the first graders will be studying about fashion. The second graders don't have many lessons next week, so in another week, they'll start studying about the future, alternative materials, and so on. I think the new lesson cycle is going to prove to be an interesting challenge for the students.

Date: 16:50｜Permalink｜Author：nelp

Update on the Weekly Schedule

With the move towards Self-Access Grammar Lessons and the move towards a more communicative approach to language development, I'll be revising my approach to the weekly schedule.

After the mid-term, the class will focus more on reading, writing, presentations and discussions. Each week will be built around a basic theme, and the themes will be varied in order to practice different language structures, vocabulary, levels of formality, formats, and so on.

Friday
The lesson cycle will begin on Friday. In our Friday lesson, students will be given the topic for the next week, along with background reading. The background reading will vary according to topic. Background reading may be in the form of news, letters, articles, essays, stories, poems or other forms of written communication. For more difficult reading materials, students may be given a choice, for example between a news article that has been edited to make it easier to read and understand, and an article that has not been edited.

Along with the topic for the week, students will be given essay topics. Students may then choose the 'easy', 'intermediate' or 'advanced' topic for their essay. These topics will all be on a similar theme, but will vary in the complexity, from essays that require only personal information, to topics that require research or analysis, to topic that require persuasive language or logical support.

In addition to the essay topics, students will also be given the Oral Communication topic and format. Again, this will vary from topic to topic and week to week, and may take the form of conversations or discussions, debates, skits, speeches or presentations. Like the essay topics, students will be given a choice in the complexity of their Oral Communication topics.

Monday.
In Oral Communication, we start with a listening quiz based on language that we studied the previous week. In the future, I would also like to set up a system, possibly on the computer, whereby students can take listening tests according to their level, standardized tests they are taking and so on. We will then have topic-based conversations of the 'What's new?" or "Show and Tell" variety, followed by skits, role-plays, improvisations, interviews or other oral communication activities, usually based around a function, a structure, or a language set that relates in some way to the weekly topic.

Then, in our reading class, we'll do a reading comprehension test and/or vocabulary test. The reading comprehension tests will be based on preparation for standardized tests. In the future, I might also try to set up a system by which students can choose reading tests based on their levels. Following the reading comprehension or vocabulary tests, we will do a comprehension check the background reading we received on Friday, do a vocabulary check, and so.

Our weekly assignment for Mondays is to bring two new, useful vocabulary words. Students choose vocabulary that they think is useful and that they believe will advance their vocabulary level. Students must write the word, an easy meaning for the word, and a sentence using the word. Vocabulary is compiled and given to students to study for exams. In addition to the vocabulary chosen by students, there will also be vocabulary words chosen by me from our reading and discussion.

Tuesday
Tuesday will be our Self-Access Grammar Day. Students will go to our Self-Access Grammar Library:

... and choose worksheets. Students may also do oral exercises using Powerpoint. Students may also study using practice test materials for standardized tests they are studying for. Students may study alone or in small groups. Again, students will choose worksheets based on their performance on the assessment test, and based on feedback from me on their essays and class performance.

On Self-Access Grammar Day, I will be working with students on a more individual level, allowing them to work at their own pace, check their own work, and so on.

Wednesday
Wednesday is our In-Class Reading Day. On this day, students may read books in class, write book reports, talk about books with other students, give oral book reports to other students (telling them the story, why the book was good or bad, etc.), or (if they have finished their reading quota for the term) play reading-based games (text-adventure games) that require reading comprehension.

Thursday
In Grammar Class, students will start with quizzes based on standardized tests. Following the quiz, students will be given feedback on their writing assignments. We'll go over common errors, go over writing formats, and so on. During class, students will be given time to work on their writing assignments, and I will give more individualized instruction and assistance.

In our Oral Communication lesson, we will have either a discussion, debate or presentation based on our weekly theme. This will include feedback and instruction on format, style and language.

Friday
On Friday, we'll do further reading on the topic, including reading comprehension and discussion.

In our special projects lesson, we will be involved in a variety of different projects that may contribute to the weekly project, or may relate to a more long-term project.

Monday
Students will turn in their writing assignment.

In addition to the weekly schedule, there will also be a major theme for each term that will be used for the final project and presentation. Some weekly themes will contribute to the term theme, but some will not.

In Second Grade, we'll have a much briefer form of this cycle, since we only have four lessons together in Second Grade.

Again, students will receive their topics and background reading on Friday. They'll do reading comprehension on Monday, basic oral activities on Tuesday, reading on Wednesday, and discussions or presentations on Friday.

So the format of their cycle is more limited, but the outcome should be similar.

I think this cycle will prove to be quite strong, especially when applied with strong goals for each term and each year. I will keep you posted on this cycle as it develops.

Date: 11:21｜Permalink｜Author：nelp

In the Past

This week, the first grade students are studying the past tense. This is going to a be a big part of this term.

Students learned in Grammar class how to make the regular past tense. In Oral Communication, we learned why some regular past tense verbs have a 'd' sound, others have a 't' sound, and others have an 'id' sound.

Then, as part of our final paper in Reading Class, students will write a report about a historical event, and for Oral Communication, students will make a presentation about the same topic.

Meanwhile, the Second Grade students are learning to compare verb tenses. In particular, we're studying perfect tenses.

And speaking of PowerPoint presentations, all of the groups who are preparing presentations for the October 6th Open Class have decided to make PowerPoint Presentations. We had studied PowerPoint a little bit, but now the students have really gotten into it, and they've all working very hard to get ready for 'presentation day'.

Finally, the 3rd Grade students have begun working on Public Service Announcements.

The students will work together on three thirty-second Public Service Announcements: short commercials used to give information about important issues. The students are going to make videos! I'm really excited about this project.

In further news, the second grade students have been showing a lot of improvement, and they have been working hard, but I think we need to lighten the mood a little. I think I need to introduce some games. After all, all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy!

Date: 16:39｜Permalink｜Author：nelp

October 6th Open Lesson Pamphlet

Here are pages from the pamphlet for the October 6th Open Lesson. Unfortunately, due to bandwidth restrictions, the pages are a little small. I suppose if you want to read the whole thing, you can always come and see our open lesson. :)

Date: 09:39｜Permalink｜Author：nelp

Open Class: October 6th

The Native English Language Program will have an Open Class on Saturday, October 6th, 2007, from 13:00 to 16:30.

There will be a NELP demonstration lesson (First Grade) from 13:00 - 13:45, followed by explanations, information, etc.

A short talk will also be given by Kiichi Matsuhata from Chugoku Gakuen University.

if you would like to come to the open class, please call or e-mail Seishin Junior High School and tell us your name, the name of your school, your telephone number, and whether you will come on the school bus from Nakasho Station or will come by car.

This is a good chance to see NELP in action and learn more about our English program, so we're really excited to welcome everyone to our school this fall.

Date: 12:38｜Permalink｜Author：nelp

Seishin Junior High School Speech Contest

Yesterday was the annual Seishin Junior High School Speech Contest. Twelve NELP students participated: two in the first grade recitation contest, three in the second grade recitation contest, and four first graders and three third graders participated in the original speech contest. In the first grade recitation contest, the NELP students took both First and Second Prizes out of ten contestants.. In the second grade recitation contest, the NELP students took the Third Prize and the First Prize out of ten contestants.. In the original speech contest, all seven participants were NELP students. The First Prize was won by a third grade NELP student. The Second and Third Prizes were won by first grade students.

I was so very, very proud of all of my NELP students, whether they won a prize or not. All of them did an outstanding job, and I'm spectacularly pleased with all of them.

In the original speech contest, the students wrote their own speeches, and I encouraged them to choose their own topics. I gave them three rules for choosing a topic: (1) You must know about your topic. (2) You must care about your topic. (3) You must have something to say about your topic, i.e. you must have a reason why you are giving this speech and a reason why the audience should listen. I was very pleased with the speeches.

Here are some pictures.

Date: 18:40｜Permalink｜Author：nelp

Trip to Seishin Elementary School

On June 14th, the first grade NELP students took a field trip to Seishin Elementary School along with the students from America and their teacher. We visited art classes and English classes, and had lunch with the elementary school students. Seishin Elementary School students gave several presentations, including origami, Japanese toys, and tea ceremony.

Here are some pictures from our trip:

With the art class ...

Playing games...

In the Seishin Elementary School International Course Science Class ...

Date: 14:59｜Permalink｜Author：nelp

Students Give a Special Presentation

Today, the first grade NELP class met six students and a teacher from America. They met two of these students last week, but today, they got to meet everybody. The first grade students gave three really impressive presentations. The first, was a lesson in origami, where three students taught the American students and their teacher how to fold a paper crane.

Next, several students dressed in yukata and demonstrated and traditional Japanese dance.

And then they taught the students from America how to do the dance too!

Our last group then taught the students from America how to use a traditional Japanese toy called a kendama.

And how to spin a top.

It was a really great presentation and I was really, really proud of how well everybody did.

The American students who did best with the kendama and the Japanese top each got to take one home as a prize. They were spectacularly good.

Date: 18:53｜Permalink｜Author：nelp

This Week's NELP Classes

This week, the NELP students have been very busy. In grammar class, the first grade students have been learning about "have" and "like". In oral communication class, they have been learning about American pronunciation, especially Southern pronunciation. As you can see, the students are very motivated.

Students raise their hands in class.

Students practice class dialogs.

Students will perform one of the dialogs from the textbook for a speaking test tomorrow. In reading class, students have been studying about Sasaki Sadako and the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. In addition to a story about Sadako in our Visions reading textbook, I also read to students several outside materials, including a rather scary 2002 interview with the pilot of the Enola Gay, Paul Tibbits, an interview with one of the Manhattan Project physicists, Dr. Richard Feynman, and a short essay written by a friend of the family who, as an American sailor during WWII, visited Hiroshima approximately ten days after the bombing. In Friday's reading class, we will talk about the cost of war, and about various peace organizations around the world, and will read several short statements about peace from former president Dwight D. Eisenhower (the Cross of Iron speech), and by Mairead Corrigan and Betty Williams, co-recipients of the 1976 Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts in Northern Ireland.

First grade students also turned in their 'secret' notebooks for their Special Projects class. I will check the notebooks and give them to the students' 'secret pen-pals' on Friday.

The second grade NELP students are currently studying comparatives, and will have a very tough speaking test on Monday. On Friday, they will have a chance to talk with an exchange student from Finland who will be visiting our class. In our second grade reading class, students have begun to learn more about the parts of a story, including conflict, characters, motivations, and so on.

The third grade students today performed a short exercise, carefully disguised as a game, which practiced word-association and words grouped around a theme or topic. The purpose of the exercise was to help students deal with words they don't know in English by having them think of words that the 'unknown word' is associated with. In other news, the third grade students have been given a very interesting and difficult assignment for their next presentation. Each student will make a report about another student in the class (subjects were assigned in class). The student must write fifty things about their subject, but they cannot write what THEY know about the subject: they must interview fifty people to find out what OTHER people say about the subject. I told the students that what they are told, and what they report, need not be true. It only needs to be what people say. The purpose of this exercise is reported speech, using phrases like: "I heard that", "somebody said that", "someone told me that", etc. I'm really looking forward to the reports, which will be given in class on Monday.

Date: 14:02｜Permalink｜Author：nelp

Preparing for the Mid-Term Exam

This week, the first grade NELP students are preparing for their mid-term exams in Grammar and Reading. We've already done worksheets and practice tests, so today, I thought we'd try a different kind of review for the test: a quiz show. I divided students into groups, and we played a game to practice some of the different things we've been learning in our classes.

Date: 11:27｜Permalink｜Author：nelp

NELP blog begins

From this month, the Native English Language Program will start a new blog to report on what's going on in the class. Most of these reports will come from me (the teacher), but a few of these will also be written by the students. I'm looking forward to showing what goes on in our NELP classes.

Date: 09:58｜Permalink｜Author：nelp

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