Taneichi Shogakko

Taneichi Elementary School

Taneichi Elem is located pretty close to my house. I have seen these smurf-esque tykes wandering the streets for months now, and finally I had the chance to check out their place. The day was extremely organized and ran so efficiently that I actually taught all 6 grades (2 classes combined for each grade) so 250 students in less than 7 hours! Talk about maximizing the use of an English teacher!

So the day was spent doing basic vocabulary and some self-introduction phrases (ex. colors, animals, body parts, "how are you?" and "what's your name?" etc) I really felt motivated today to give these students my best effort---For two reasons: one, in seeing how fearful my junior high students are of english, i wanted to disspell some of the scariness. And two, I learned that it was the only day scheduled for this school year for an English teacher to stop by! How disappointing....one step forward and 3 steps back. No wonder their first year of English in junior high is all basic vocab and phrases.

Japan is considering making English instruction mandatory at the elementary level. It's a hot debate right now and I can probably argue for it either way...........BUT I really can see the benefits of starting while they are young--if you are going to require it of them in high school. Damian and I were chatting last nite about this very topic, and while I don't completely agree with him in that English instruction should be optional in high school, I DO think that the students should be required to study A LANGUAGE---korean, chinese OR english---of their choice. I'm quickly learning that to acquire a language you need several things:

1. the interest (you gotta want it!)

2. the purpose (to know the benefits of acquiring the language)

3. the rapport w/ teacher (Language is all about expression - communication is intimate. With out some kind of connection or relationship between student and teacher, my students are intimidated and afraid to try as they will surely make mistakes. Establishing a rapport is the foundation for learning a new language!

Having these things in order, will improve their English! Need to keep this in mind, when I have my own ESL classroom someday!!!

Again, I wish to extend sincere thanks to the staff at this school. So welcoming and willing to TRY to communicate with me. There school is "English friendly" and that makes me feel good about the likelihood of their students' successes in English! This morning they had a welcoming ceremony for me, where I sat in front of the entire school --like I was on a panel. Various students read off some scripted speeches and all of the students/teachers stood at attention, while singing a song! It was so precious! Moments---I mean, DAYS---like these are days I will never forget.