Class theme/topics discussed:
Verb(Gesture game)
Adjective, Noun (Explain what it is in Japanese)
How did you pick this theme or topic?
I thought most of them need review vocabs from last year, so I chose many verbs with Kanji for gesture games. That part was kind of warm-up exercise.
How did you present the material? (handouts, group work, general discussion, student presentations, etc.)
In advance, I prepared the verb vocabs paper from the GENKI textbook that they used in Mason. They picked up the one card from the box and had to do charades.
Then, next two exercise, I let them students to write down 2 ADJ and 2 NOUNS, and put them into the box. I divided to 2 groups. This time, students had to explain the meaning by their own words.
How did students react?
They really enjoyed it!! And It was good practice for them to remember their memories and tried to explain very hard! That was really good exercise.
Did they engage with each other and you?
Yes, they engaged with each other very well, and they asked me a lot of questions, which was really good time!
What materials or media did you use? (articles, satellite tv, digital projector, etc.)
n/a only blank paper.
Would you recommend this activity for a future class?
Yes!
Why or why not?
It worked very well. The reason I chose this topic was many students forgot their vocabs from last year, and those vocabs were very basic and really useful for daily life. Students were having fun NOUN and ADJ. This exercise is also good for them to explain the words by their own word, which they picked up from the box. Another good point is they tried to think first how she/he is going to explain that word to their friends. Also, it has to be clear for them to understand. Students asked me a lot of questions, too!