English Activities in Elementary Schools:

5 Tips for Guest Teachers 小学校英語活動— 5つの提言

3) Making full use of the theory of Multiple Intelligence to plan lessons
Writer s Profile/ based on picture books
Setsuko Toyama is a very popular and respected teacher, teacher- I don t think I had truly tested the theory of MI until I faced a class of 30 to 40
trainer and presenter. She is the author of numerous ELT materials children, each of whom is different from the rest. As I mentioned earlier, what
including the highly regarded English Time. Setsuko Toyama
currently conducts Teaching English Children courses as a visiting
works with a small group of six children under your close guidance doesn
professor at Keiwa College. t work in an elementary classroom. It s a challenge. Look at your lesson plan
and think what intelligences each activity is welcoming or activating. One way
English Time to make sure you are reaching all the different intelligences is to make a long-
Setsuko Toyama ELT term lesson plan.
The following is an example using My Cat Likes to Hide in Boxes by Eve Sutton
and Lynley Dodd. This worked very well with 4th, 5th, and 6th grade classes
as a motivation to learn more about foreign countries. This will tie in well with

It was in 2001 that I started to conduct teacher-training seminars at public Eigo Note 1 Lesson 1 or Eigo Note 2 Lesson 6.
elementary schools. In 2002, I kicked off a study group with a handful of Look at the mind map (Fig.1). Language materials and topics are in the ovals
elementary teachers and I named the group PEN (Primary English in Niigata). and activities are in the rectangles. Which activities are suitable for pre-
Over the past seven years PEN grew to be a body of 170 elementary teachers reading or post-reading? Combine them to make plans (Fig.2) for four weeks
and teachers of children, spread over Japan, from Kyushu to Sendai. We so My Cat Likes to Hide in Boxes is used as the book of the month.
communicate daily by mailing list and every other month we have a meeting You need to be able to offer a long-term lesson plan so the HRT will be able to
called Pencil Box Seminar . Members present their lesson plans and I give continue the lesson in the weeks you are not visiting.
workshops as the advisor. Now guess who learns most! I do! By searching for
and working for the needs of PEN members, my teaching has changed. It s 4) Evaluating Eigo Note
more geared for large classes in which every child is different. In this article, I
d like to share with you what I learned during the past 8 years. Eigo Note 1 & 2 (1 for the 5th grade and 2 for the 6th) are teaching
materials Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology
1) A lesson that flopped: a bitter confession (MEXT) produced for Foreign Language Activities that will officially become
a ryoiki (area of study) in 2011. Although it is called Foreign Language
My first team-teaching experience was in 2002. I met with the homeroom Activities, MEXT states, In principle English should be selected. In 2011,
teacher with a pretty good command of English to discuss the lesson plan. I 35 class hours of English will be compulsory. As of 2009, most elementary
proposed a lesson plan that had worked very well in my own school. We would schools are rehearsing for 2011; most schools have already implemented a
introduce new words (jobs) by showing a video of vocabulary rap. Children certain amount of English instruction in their curriculum- to get ready for the
will absorb the words, we excitedly agreed. Then we would practice to say, official start in 2011.
I want to be a (doctor). Then children in small groups would play a memory
game using picture cards. Every time they turned over a card, they would say, I Eigo Note 1 & 2 are not MEXT-designated textbooks that all schools must use.
want to be a XXXXX. Children will LOVE the game! we happily anticipated. Elementary schools are entitled to use any textbooks other than Eigo Note or
supplement Eigo Note with any commercially available materials.
The next day we confidently started the class. Guess what happened. The
children didn t speak at all. They clammed up and eyed us suspiciously. We Many educators have already publicly commented on Eigo Note. The following
panicked and walked around the classroom to help with the groups but there are the aspects of Eigo Note that I find to be positive. First of all, it s the first
were six groups for the two of us. It was a disaster. effort of MEXT to create actual lesson plans and to publish Student Books,
Teacher s Books and audio CDs. Eigo Note 1 & 2 serve as the basis of what
Looking back, the plan we had made was perfect for a small class of children MEXT wishes the 5th and 6th graders to learn throughout Japan. We can also
who wanted to learn English but it was not appropriate at all for thirty-some give recognition to the fact that the units are topic-based or situation-based
children who were not used to having an English lesson in school. The plan and not grammar-based.
did not give children enough listening and forced them to speak on their own
right away. The plan looked like fun and children-centered. But set in a large We should also note that MEXT has decided on the number of English
class, it became a different monster, almost like the traditional PPP (present, Activities, which had been left to the discretion of each school.
practice, produce). In school districts where more than two elementary schools send children to
one junior high school, the fact all the children have learned the same amount
2) Combining the expertise of the homeroom teacher and that of the of language will help at the start of the 7th grade.
guest teacher In short, we can give a big hand to Eigo Note for having set a norm for English
Activities. However, as an author of ELT materials and a practitioner of team
The bitter experience of the disastrous team-teaching discouraged me but I teaching in elementary schools, I find a number of problems in Eigo Note. Let
did not quit. The experience made me humble and I started to search for ways me now point them out and offer solutions as well.
to make the best use of the homeroom teacher s expertise and offer mine to
reinforce theirs. Now, I love to team-teach with the homeroom teacher. I would 1. Target language in each lesson is intended for both listening and speaking.
not dream of teaching solo 30 to 40 children whom I cannot call by their first The language on the CD is to what the children are expected to produce. This
names. Teaching and learning take place in the communication between the is not natural. Children can understand a lot more language than they can
teacher and students or among students. actually produce. Solution: increase listening activities by using commercially
available materials.
In the past seven years, I have team-taught classes of different grades and
sizes. Even with a class of around 20 children, teaching is more effective when 2. Eigo Note assumes 5th graders are beginners of English. For instance, 5th
the homeroom teacher (HRT) is actively participating. The HRT and the GT graders ask one another their favorite food. 6th graders practice the alphabet
(guest teacher) can model dialogs, demonstrate activities, and fall back on and numbers for three class hours. This does not match the cognitive
each other when a problem occurs. development of 11 and 12-year-old children. Solution: plan more cross-
curricular activities that offer more comprehensible input in which children try
As a GT, you need to communicate with the HRT before your visit. Obtain the to get information through using English.
list of children, if possible, to get used to the names at least. Find out whether
there are any children with developmental disorders and/or learning 3. Same types of activities are repeated throughout the two volumes of Eigo
difficulties, and what you should know to interact with these children. My Note. Children can conduct various activities to use and practice simple, basic
observation is that any class has a few children with some difficulty. You language. Solution: offer language activities that have proved successful in
should not exclude them from your teaching. Often, these children merit from the field of teaching children English.
English instructions that appeal to different intelligences that they bring to the 4. There is very little printed text. Children have already learned Roman
classroom but are not appreciated in other subjects. alphabet. Text helps children to read and retain the language. Also, printed
I have taught special needs classes and English seemed to give them a fresh text in textbooks is not solely for children to read. It is also actually showing
start, so to speak. They responded to my instructions right away and we teachers what to do. Solution: print English on flashcards and worksheets.
connected so well through using English to communicate. When I m asked 5. Chants and songs are too fast-paced, too short and do not offer repetition.
to plan a lesson on my own, I send a list of picture books to the homeroom The merit of using chants and songs is that it s a powerful tool to instill the
teacher and ask her/him to select one that will attract the whole class. The rhythm and patterns of English in a fun, natural way, but it needs repetition.
homeroom teacher s choice is always reliable. If a four-line chant offers four different sentences, it is not a well-made chant.
Chants and songs in Eigo Note are neither children-friendly nor teacher-
friendly. Solution: use ELT chants and songs, such as Carolyn Graham s work.

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 All these features do not serve the purpose of Foreign Language Activities 2001 2002
that MEXT describes. MEXT states that the OVERALL OBJECTIVES are: To form
the foundation of pupils communication abilities through foreign languages Primary English in Niigata PEN
while developing the understanding of languages and cultures through 7 170
various experiences, fostering a positive attitude toward communication,
and familiarizing pupils with the sounds and basic expressions of foreign
languages.
In order to achieve this goal, wouldn t you give children a lot of listening PEN
instead of have them speak from the very beginning? The first step of
communication is not speaking but listening. The reality is that HRTs who are 8
willing to try their hands in teaching English are having trouble using Eigo
Note, or innocently following the Teacher s Guide that comes with the Eigo
Note. Either way, it s the children that will hurt. Some children will look down 1
on simplistic activities, some will suffer from being forced to speak out after TT team teaching 2002
a couple of minutes of listening to the model, some will get bored, and some
will simply dislike the new ryoiki (area of study).
If you are asked to help with English instruction in elementary schools in your I want to be a (doctor).
area, do accept the position. You need to be aware, however, that what works
in small classes in language schools and home schools doesn t necessarily I want to be a .
work in elementary school classrooms. And do not forget that Eigo Note 1 &
2 are not must-use MEXT-designated textbooks. You can show the HRT that
there are various children-centered English teaching materials on the market.
6
5) Not teaching Eigo Note as is but using its framework to make the
content more learner-centered
With so many children in one class, it is not possible to teach every child 30
individually. If you call on each student and spend one minute each, you ll
be spending 40 minutes. Children s minds will wander off for the 39 minutes
that you re spending with the rest of the class. Plan pairwork but do not place PPP(present,
the responsibility on one of the pair (the strong one) to teach and help the practice, produce)
other (the weak one). Two children have to work equally. Plan group work,
but do not let the weak ones remain silent and inactive. Here s the formula 2)
of cooperative learning activities I learned from Dr. Spencer Kagan when I TT
worked as his translator at his seminar in September 2003.
P: Positive Interdependence
I : Individual Accountability TT
E: Equal Participation 30 40
S: Simultaneous Interaction
When you make lesson plans, check to see your activities are ensuring those
four characteristics of cooperative learning. 7 TT 20

In the past seven years, PEN members have made various lesson plans that TT
not only teach the target language but also encourage children to think,
predict, and to communicate with classmates. They have presented their
ideas at the annual PEN Forum. The handouts of these classroom-tested
ideas presented at PEN Forum 2007 and PEN Forum 2008 are downloadable
at my official website. Do take a look and feel free to use them when you have
opportunities to teach in elementary schools.
PEN Forum 2009 is scheduled on Saturday, November 21, at Toki Messe.
It will be a wonderful opportunity for teachers from different walks of life,
elementary schools, language schools, home schools, middle schools,
and students wishing to become teachers to exchange ideas for the better (Fig.2 Lessom Plan/ 2 )
education of children. I hope to see you there!
Multiple
topics,
Intelligences
language, activities preparation
(Fig.1 Mind map/ 1 ) activated in the
purposes
activities
What’s Missing? la world map
I’m thinking of a flag
lpicture cards Word Smart,
lWhat
s
Week 1 llearn city and and word cards Logic Smart,
Go Fish Read and Match Missing?
Memory Game 20 min. country names of countries Body Smart,
lMemory Game
and cities in the People Smart
book
Find the partner
Countries rhyming lthe picture Word Smart,
I want to go Uno lenjoy the book
and Cities Week 2 lread the book book (a People Smart,
lrecognize
20 min. and do gestures big book, if Self Smart,
rhyming words
available) Nature Smart
greetings in
different My cat likes to research:
cats lthe picture
languages hide in boxes animal sounds
Week 3
lenjoy the book lread the book
book
Word Smart,
lread the rhym- and do gestures Body Smart,
20 min. lworksheets of
ing words lRead and Match People Smart
rhyming words
Show and Tell
Listen and Draw
like to ~ lthe picture Word Smart,
lenjoy the book lread the book
Week 4 book People Smart,
Action UNO lsay, My cat and do gestures
20 min. lpicture cards Art Smart,
I want a cat Game likes to lShow and Tell
pets of various cats Self Smart

Go Fish

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 CD
1

3
30 40

40
My Cat Likes to Hide in Boxes Eve Sutton & Lynley Dodd 39
4 5 6 TT
1 1 2 6 TT

2003
1

P:
My Cat Likes to Hide in Boxes 4 I:
2 E:
S:
4

4 PEN 7
1 5 2 6 2011
PEN Forum PEN
2011 5 6 Forum 2007 PEN Forum 2008
35
2011
(http://etspace.jp/ materials/PenForum)
PEN Forum 11 21

Kids
Club
5 6

35
1
1
Mary Slattery and Jane Willis. English for Primary Teachers. Oxford University
1 2 Press
Mary Slattery and Jane Willis

1. CD

CD Howard Gardner. Multiple Intelligences. ©BasicBooks

MI: H
2. 5 5 Dr. Spencer Kagan & Miguel Kagan. Multiple Intelligences. Kagan Cooperative
6 3 Learning
5 6 11 12 Eve Sutton and Lynley Dodd. My Cat Likes to Hide in Boxes. Picture Puffins

3. 1 2
http://www.mext.go.jp/

4. http://hapilab.obunsha.co.jp/

http://www.ohgata-sho.city-niigata.ed.jp/
2007 2008
2 TT
5. CD

4 1 http://www008.upp.so-net.ne.jp/k-sakai/
CD PEN
CD PEN
http://www001.upp.so-net.ne.jp/bittervalley/
PEN 10
PEN 2009

(http://www.mext.go.jp/)

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