■NEW■　Certification Program Feedback from Autumn 2011

■Trying MAT out in my class, I found that the lesson was less time consuming, and much noisier than before. The students really seemed to be concentrating, which is very hard for active 4 year olds to do. The actions actually helped them blow off some extra steam, and the class was more productive and fun than always.

■During my first class of using the MAT Method the head teacher from the BOE came to watch the class. He saw how much fun the students were having and that they were actually learning how to use English. I'm hoping that the BOE will realize how important it is for the students to start to learn how to write, read and speak English starting from the 1st grade and not waiting until they start JHS. And I think that with using the MAT Method and having the students being able to understand English and use it, it might change the way of the English teaching style in Japan.

■I had always imagined that English should be taught very slowly, word for word and as a result I never realized how much this could hinder a child's ability to speak English in a confident and natural way.

■Enjoyed how clear and natural the speaker's English was. It was a pleasure to just listen.

■I used to notice anxiety in my students, maybe they thought making a mistake when speaking English was embarrassing. But now, little by little they can express themselves in English clearly and confidently.

■Before I knew about MAT, I used to ask the questions to the students and they would just answer them. But after I started teaching with the MAT Method, students can do pair work, even the new students. They look very satisfied having a conversation between themselves.

■The Japanese government thinks that there will be more Japanese who can speak/use English by adding English as a subject in elementary schools. However their curriculum is not well balanced. They focus on listening and speaking. In junior high schools, they divide English classes into 'oral' and 'English (grammar)'. This is not "Living English". (...) I always keep in my mind that a teacher must/should be a learner. When a teacher stops learning or improving his/her English (if the teacher is not a native speaker), he/she will lose students. Especially for Japanese teachers including me, it is essential to practice and improve pronunciation.

■I had never applied teaching words and sentences using word cards. Once I learnt the way to use them in the workshops, I found the very interesting fact that the students want to learn them as eagerly as they do for picture cards.

■I'm very glad that my son who just turned 3 years old can do the same actions that my 6 years old daughter can do. There may be a 3 year gap in between my children, but they both like the lessons about verb sentences, and it doesn't look like they have 3 year gap.

■I was really dumbfounded to find that the littlest things, like not showing students cards, would make such a huge negative impact on the concentration levels of the kids.

■Showing visual aids is good for students to remember something. Children really like to look at pictures. They really get interested in the lesson when I show some pictures. I could feel the importance of visual aids during the lesson. So even when I teach how to read and how to write, I want to show some visual aids with the words.

■For my application, I and my husband watched an American movie then we took some lines and pretended as the characters in the film. Then even as the days past we can still remember the lines including the action the characters made.

■Elder students in grade 5 or 6 don't like to act or sing or speak loudly. At every lesson, I used to tell them to say "Speak louder." "Let's sing together." "Let's move." After I attended the workshop, I tried to speak to them louder than before with a big smile and I used a lot more gestures. As I kept doing this, they also gradually spoke louder with gestures. I was so excited to see that they did.

■In my previous teaching style the students only enjoyed doing card games. It was fun but they were only able to memorize the words. The problem was that they could not use the words they had learned effectively. After changing my lesson style to the MAT Method and using many more activities, the students have totally changed. They are able to use words more naturally and remember them far better.

■With them having fun learning English it will prove to the BOE that children can have fun and learn English at the same time. Most BOEs think that the students should only play games at English time or the students won't have fun. I want to prove to them that they can have fun and learn English at the same time and I think that with using the MAT Method it is possible.

■The techniques we learned in using the flashcards were awesome.

■I tried teaching verbs in my class, and it worked great. First, they enjoyed doing the gestures and they said the sentences at the same time. Since they used the both sides of the brain simultaneously, they learned the sentences and the verbs really quickly. And I realized that by doing this, it makes it easier to review. When you review, all you have to do is to show the gestures, you don't need to speak and explain for a long time.

■On my first day of teaching in preschool I was a little bit nervous. As I started my class, as expected, some kids were running around, others were playing by themselves and some of them were not interested at all. It was a very stressful day for me as well as for students. I made my voice loud in order to be heard and my students were anxious with it. When I came to the workshop and learned about MI, it made me think that whatever effort I will do just to make them listen will not work as long as I do not know my students and the learning process they need in class. In two weeks time it really gave me a relief looking at them sitting nicely during the morning circle and receiving response...
I was thinking of my lessons during this lecture. And I thought I am doing my classes from the teacher's point of view. Although each class has different students, some games worked well in one class, but sometimes, it didn't work well in another and I blamed it on my students.

■I was very surprised how much the kids liked clapping their hands saying the sentences. And at the end of the lesson, one boy said to me Omoshirokatta, so he is probably rhythm and music smart. It was the first time a child spontaneously thanked me for a lesson, and it never would have happned if I had not come to these workshops.

■Until I took these classes, I never thought about the concept that students must be required to use complete sentences and that knowing just the nouns even though that is a sufficient answer in many conversational settings, doesn't give the kids the experience they need with the sentence framework.

■In teaching reading, I will present a big flashcards for vocabulary words. While for the abstract words, I can have it printed with a different color so if I put it into sentence combination, the students can easily understand the difference of nouns from the particles or abstract words.

■Many important points were made about introducing reading in EFL. I like how everything is kept as simple as possible, eg., turning cards upside down for "NO". I really like the simplicity of the Word Cards. Very clear. Reading while speaking looks very valuable for improving reading skills as early as possible.

■This workshop sets out to break some conventions by introducing "reading" as soon as possible. The important point is even though the children can't read yet, as we would normally define as reading, they can however, recognize the words and sentences they have learned to say and understand. I think this is a huge advantage, as it also brings the phonics lessons and alphabet lessons into whole language and into the natural way to speak and read a language.

■The new words section in the text can be used for reading practice, writing practice, and/or vocabulary building, whatever the students wish to do. They can also do reading practice only for those words they have trouble speaking. I will be labeling it as "My Challenge Section".

■For my application, I made my own workbook. First I read a story to my student then made questions. For my student understand better as I read to him the question we go back to the story where the answer of the questions is. I let him write it in full sentence and let him practice that until he can do it on his own and then made him read his own writing and then I ask him orally the question and he was able to answer back.

■I tried to do the same activity that I learned at the workshop. I let my daughter find the word "what" in the handout, circle the word, and count how many "what" she found. She really enjoyed this activity. I noticed an interesting thing when I teach her English. She shows more interest and curiosity when I tell her "Let's play games in English 英語のゲームやるよー" than telling her "Let's study English さぁ英語やるよー"

■I did everything step by step, as I learned at the seminar. I used Japanese for the key words, so the students knew what they were doing in the lesson. They didn't get lost when we did the third person singular. I didn't have to take time to explain everything, which I was surprised. I thought it would have been more difficult to teach it as a grammar lesson.

■I saw a very quick improvement with my student who lacks focus and is hyperactive. As his teacher, I have to hold his hand and have to write with him. I asked him to trace several letters, but I had to turn my attention to my other students for a while. When I returned to him again he had traced five letters nicely! I said to him "good job", "you did it" with a big smile and hugged him. He realized that I praised him with all my heart. For the last few weeks, every time we do art or writing in class, this boy shows improvement and interest in the lesson.

■I sometimes struggle with some students who disturb others and the class. But to solve this problem, getting children's trust is the most important thing. If teachers show our interest to the students, they talk about their situations and so on. And, students start to open their hearts to the teachers and begin to behave well in the class.

■I liked this workshop and I didn't want it to end, in fact I was surprised when it was over so quickly. There is of course a lot of material presented here, but participants are bound to take some parts home with them to use in their classes. I also think it would be good to do the workshop again, as there are so many ideas and good tips, all of which would really make teaching a lot easier and students would learn more and be able to use a lot more language.

■I was really eager to try doing some fun-learning activities using the available flash cards which I got from this workshop. So when I got home, I tried doing a pair game "What do you like? ..1, 2, 3!" with my younger sister. She grew up in Japan and is a junior high school student now. She said she can only understand Basic English because they don't speak English in class. At first we were only using the nouns in the available flash cards. Afterwards, I challenged my sister to think of any nouns that were not on the flash cards. And then she began to think harder and tried to look for some things inside of our house. Both of us found the pair-game activity a really fun and interesting way to learn using the vocabularies we know in a sentences.

■I tried the ball throwing activity. During the activity, I noticed my student's English sounded natural. Because she does not read or know Katakana yet, she pronounced exactly how she heard the sound of the word. She is not trapped by the sound of katakana.

■I realized that much of my lessons were teacher centered, so I decided to give role play a try even in my 3 year old class of 4 students. Before beginning, we drilled colors and I demonstrated what I wanted them to do. Despite my skepticism, I found role play was possible with 3 year olds! The also said "Here you are" "Oh, no!" naturally although they had never said it in class, but I used them a lot as classroom English.

■NEW■　福岡Study Group Meeting 4月8日開催レポート

４月８日（日）福岡市天神にてIIEEC福岡スタディー・グループ・ミーティングが開催されました。
今回も多くの先生方に集まって頂き、白熱した研究会になりました。

今回のトピックは　「デモ・レッスン（Whole Lesson）」。

普段はレッスンの細かい部分（センテンスの導入の仕方など）を練習していますので、レッスン全体の流れがいまいち掴めないという先生方もおられました。
２年ほど前にもこのSG（スタディーグループ）でデモレッスンを行いましたが、それ以降、参加された先生方のレッスンへの見方が変わり、「楽しい」だけのレッスンではなく、「成果の出る」レッスンが求められるようになりました。

今回、新しい先生方も含め、再度、確認をするために行いました。参加された先生方が生徒役となり約５０分ほどのレッスンを体験されました。普段は指導する側ですから受ける側として何か掴めて頂いたのではないでしょうか。

デモ・レッスンの対象学年は小学校１年から３年生で、約６～７ヶ月の学習期間の設定です。
今回のメインレッスンは前置詞 (in, on, under, by, behind) ＜Let's GO 1 unit 6＞から。

【デモ・レッスンの流れ】
1.Warm up:歌 "Seven Steps"を、今回は応用として「１１から１７」で歌いながら動作しました。そのあとにMAT Verbs として「動詞」の練習からcan, everyday, like to などの文を使ってペア練習まで行いました。

2.Greetings:
ここではリーダーを決め、挨拶や簡単な質問をさせます。

3.Daily Expressions:
名前、年齢、住んでいるところ、学年など日常的な表現をペアで練習させます。また、スキット風にして発表させます。
今回、新しく「ごめんなさい。I'm sorry.」「いいですよ。That's OK.」を導入しました。

４．Review:
隠れたメインレッスンとも言えるレビューコーナーです。通常はUnit1から学習しているところまでを復習するのが良いのですが、学習期間が長いとかなり多くなりますから生徒の弱いところを重点にします。もちろん、他の表現は素早く復習します。参加者の方からも「復習に時間をかけていますね」という意見がありました。もちろん、いつもというわけではありません。第１週目はNew Lessonですので時間配分が大事です。
毎回のレッスンにてきちんと復習することで定着が増していきます。

5.Main Lesson:
今回は前置詞を取り上げました。in, on, under, by, behind です。まずは動作を付けて導入していきます。慣れてきたら絵カードなどを使ってドリルをしていきます。単語導入はMATメソッドを使えば簡単にできます。文はWhere / It's... ですが今回はAnswer formのIt's... だけを取り入れています。
このあとにCDを使ってリスニングをします。今回は聞かせ方を説明しました。

６．Reading & Writing:　
フォニックス（母音）の復習と３文字程度の単語を読ませる練習です。MAT Phonicsを使いながら子音などの復習を交えて練習していきます。

７．One-minute Review:　
レッスンの最後に必ず入れて欲しいセクションです。１分間でかなりの復習ができます。その日に学習したことを簡単に復習するだけでも定着力は増します。

８．Farewell：
帰りの挨拶です。レッスンで良くやれたことをほめてあげることも次回につながります。

今回のトピックである「デモ・レッスン」について簡単に流れを書いてみました。

参加された先生方には細かく見て頂けたと思います。上記の流れは基本的なものです。クラスや学年（年齢）によって違いますのでレベルに合わせてプランを立てるといいですね。

デモ・レッスンのあとに参加された先生方をグループ毎に分け実践して頂きました。新しい先生方にはカードの扱い方や単語の導入、文の導入など練習してもらいました。中堅・ベテランクラスの先生方は先生役、生徒役に分かれ練習していただきました。
今回は先生が子役でしたので、スムーズにいきましたが、実際は思ったほどにスムーズにはいかないものです。しかし、めげずに何度も繰り返し練習することで指導法が身についていきます。つまりはドリルですね。

次回は７月を予定しています。
「百聞は一見にしかず」といいます。ぜひ、このSGに参加されてクラスの流れを変えてみませんか。ベテランの先生方の意見にもありますが「必ず発見があります」と。
是非、ご参加をお待ちしております。

3月4日大阪Study Group Meeting 開催レポート

３月４日の大阪Study Group Meeting にはたくさんの先生方のご参加をいただき、ありがとうございました。

今回のテーマは「数字」でした。
まずはカントリー風の前奏につられて踊りだしたくなる"Counting up to Twenty" を振りつきで歌いました！！子どもたちも知らず知らずのうちに２０までの数字を言えるようになっていそうですよね！！

さらに、Practice Key 1 では１から１２までの数字を正しく言うための発音指導を見ていただきました。
日本人が苦手とする /th/ /l/ /w/ /n/ の音をしっかり丁寧に最初に押さえておけば、これから先の学習もスムーズに進められますね。

そして、１３と３０、１４と４０などの発音の違いを意識させるLearning Activity もご紹介しました。

"Bigger or Smaller Number Game"
[Aim]
To recognize the difference of "thirteen" and "thirty"
To help students learn to say them correctly
[Procedure]
The teacher says a number.
If the number ends with '-teen', the students should point to the ceiling as they say the number.
If the number ends with '-ty', the students should point to the floor as they say the number.
Change the task to "Stand up" and "Clap" and so on.

１３と３０などの発音の練習をした後、-teen words ならば天井を指しながら、-ty words ならば床を指しながら言う。慣れてきたらstand とclap のようにtask を変えて、繰り返し、聞かせて言わせるようにします。

ちょっとした工夫ですが、子どもたちに無理なく覚えてもらえることでしょう。
楽しみながらしかし要点はしっかりと押さえて、短時間でたくさん練習させること、それがMAT METHODのLearning Activitiesです。
ただのゲームとはその学習効果が全然違います。
お試しください！！

数字が言えるようになったところで時間の言い方、尋ね方を勉強します。　　
Practice Key 2 では"What time do you get up?" "I get up at 6:30." を題材にMAT Practice System に注目して導入指導のステップの確認をしました。
もしも MAT METHOD で指導しているのに、なんだかうまくいかないというのであればもう一度ステップの確認をしてください。
何かを飛ばしていませんか？リズムを保っていますか？

さらにワークシートを使って学習を深めて『自分のことを表現する』活動へとつなげていきます。
このTELL Writing の時間もぜひレッスンプランの中に組み込んでくださいね。そしてワークシートは一度で終わらせずにたとえばお友達同士で交換して今度は３人称の練習に使うこともできます。　　
"I get up at 6:45. Noriko gets up at 7:00" といったふうに。
このような活動を通して子どもたちは学習した英語が使える、自分のことを表現できると気づき、『英語を使おうとする意欲』を徐々に築いていきます。

そしてMeeting の最後の部分ではEaster にちなんで"Little Peter Rabbit" の歌を歌いました。ハエが身体のあちこちにとまっちゃって・・・・・"Oh, no!!!" みんなで楽しく歌ってください。そしていつものように簡単クラフトもご紹介しました。楽しみつついっぱい英語も言わせてください。　　

そんなわけであっという間の３時間でした。
いつも皆様の熱い心に打たれます。私たちもパワーをいただいています。本当にありがとうございました。
また６月にもお目にかかれますように。　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　大阪スタッフ一同
　

12月4日　大阪Study Group Meeting 開催レポート

12月4日にはたくさんの先生方とともに、楽しく有意義なStudy Group Meetingを持つことができました。その様子をご報告します。

今回はクリスマスの歌を2曲歌いました。歌詞が長く、少し難しいとも思える"Here comes Santa Claus"と"Must be Santa"ですが、Picture Cardsとかわいいジェスチャーを使えば、幼稚園児でも歌えますよ。クリスマスパーティーで子どもたちが歌えばお父さんお母さんもウルウルしてしまいそうですね。

PK1ではいろんな職業の語彙を導入し、He is a taxi driver. She is a teacher. といった言い方とそれに対する質問、Who is he? Who is she?の教え方をご紹介しました。効率よく、しっかり定着させる方法として MAT METHOD の Practice System がいかに有効か、再確認できたと思います。 冠詞の a/an の違いもジェスチャーを使えば、文法用語で混乱させることなく、楽しく教えることができますね。 さらに複数形の They と He/She の対比を使って丁寧に教えることで単数・複数の概念もスムーズに定着させることができます。 また要所でのちょっとした母語 （私たちの場合は日本語） を効率よく使うことも忘れてはいけません。 誤解がないか、概念と言葉がしっかり結びついているかを母語でチェックするステップを大事にしたいものです。

It's your turnのコーナーでは参加された先生方に先生役をしていただき、実際にカードの持ち方やPractice Systemの各ステップを確認しました。リラックスした雰囲気で笑いながら、楽しく一緒に技量を高めあうことができたと思います。

PK2ではまとめて教えることの少ない代名詞の目的格の him / her / them の導入の仕方とさらにそれを定着させるためのActivityとChantsをご紹介しました。主格のHe / She / Theyと目的格のhim / her /themをしっかりDRILLするステップを踏むことで、その後の定着が促進されることを実感していただけたと思います。退屈で創造的でないと批判的にとらえられがちなこともあるDRILLですが、DRILLをすることによって生徒たちは自立して英語を使えるようにはなります。しかもMAT METHODのDRILLはとても楽しいのです。参加された先生方のアンケートでも100％の方が楽しかったと書いてくださっています。それがMAT METHODの強みです。

そしてChristmas Activitiesも楽しかったですね。
サンタさんに洋服を着せたり、脱がしたりするゲームやそりでサンタさんの代わりにプレゼントを運ぶゲームなどで生徒さんたちと楽しい時間を過ごしていただけると嬉しいです。そして１００均の商品を使った安価で楽しいクラフトや『トナカイせんべい』もお試しください。きっと喜んでいただけると思います。

この一年間、暖かい励ましをたくさんいただき、心から感謝しています。
来る年が皆様にとって幸多きものとなりますよう祈っています。
また大阪Study Group Meetingでお目にかかれますように。

IIEEC 大阪事務局
松本紀子

2011 秋 IIEEC-OUP Certificate Program Oct.16 開催レポート

We have just finished the 6 module IIEEC-OUP Teacher Training Certificate Program!

The last sessions covered how to have good Classroom Management and how to make an effective Lesson Plan with several topics in one lesson instead of just one topic.

The afternoon session covered the long awaited Activities with teachers having fun with the Halloween Hokey Pokey song and puppet show as well as many other activities including the body janken.

The skills sessions covered how to teach 3rd person singular easily and Role Play. With Role Play teachers learned how to build up conversational skills gradually without making students memorize lines.

See more pictures of Facebook .