Language Resident Name: Yohichi Tagami
Day and Date: Thursday, March 9, 2017
Language and Level (intermediate or advanced class): Advanced Japanese
Class theme/topics discussed: 3.11 & Reading a Short Story
Goal of the class:
Students will understand a story of Disneyland on March 11 of 2011 and then consider true nature seen within Japanese people.
How did you structure the class?
Activity 1 (5 min): Attendance check & Announcement
I check students’ attendance and give them announcements. Then, I casually ask the students about their updates and news, leading small conversation in the class.
Activity 2 (20 min): Warm-up & Introduction of 3.11
I ask some questions about natural disaster to the students. Then the students discuss them in pairs and class. We review related vocabulary together by showing the images and writing them down on the whiteboard. Then, I introduce a today’s topic in the class, and I give them some questions and they share their experiences in the class. Finally, I introduce a little bit history of earthquakes with some videos, which we had a lot in the past. Then the students freely share their ideas and comments in the class.
Activity 3 (25 min): Reading & Comprehension
I make pairs in the class and then give them a handout. The students read aloud the story sentence by sentence while switching. After reading, we review the story together in the class asking some questions to the students. Also, students learn some vocabulary from the reading. I give them several critical questions and they think about them in groups. We share the ideas and discuss each question in the class and consider the true nature of Japanese people.
Activity 4 (10 min): Conclusion
I back to the main topic of 3.11, and then we review the key points together in the class. And I will show them a special video created by those in stricken areas and then students watch that video. After that, I lead open-conversation where students freely share their ideas and comments about 3.11 in the class.
What technology, media or props did you use? (internet resources, playmobiles, handouts, etc.)
Powerpoint
What worked well in this class? What did not work?
The class was successful in general. Today I was able to lead the class as planned, conducting every activity in time. Today’s topic is something deep and sentimental, but students demonstrates their active interest towards the theme. I tried to give them as many chances as possible where they can share their ideas and comments in the class. As a result, we had great class today overall, and their performance in the class today was great.
How could this class be improved/ modified?
Well, I might be able to conduct the reading activity more effectively and efficiently. Today, I led the activity, but there would be some other ways which makes the activity work and more interactive. Since I have a small class, it is hard to apply the other teaching techniques that I know to that class. I am going to research the teaching methods for small class over the weekend and would like to use them in the class in the near future.