Grassroots
Tsunan had another test this morning. All teh first and second years had to take it and the English teachers had to invigilate. I carried on working on Ikarashi-sensei's Phonics Display.
Ikarashi-sensei has had the idea that teaching the students the phonetic English alphabet will help the students pronouce English words better. I think it's a good idea. Afterall, the phonetic sounds are closer to how you pronounce a word ( cat is "Ka-tu" not "Ka-tea") and native speakers are taught "ah, buh, kuh" before "ay, bee, see".
So, to help teach phonetics, Ikarashi-sensei want's a display of the first 26 phonetics sounds, plus some extra ("th", "ch", "ph" etc). We're doing it in teh classic style; Letter, phonetic symbol, picture. So today I was drawing pictures of an ant, a beetle, a cup, a doll etc.
After the test, the students were free to go home. One student, the head of the student council, came to the English Department. Next week, Tsunan will be host to exchange students from America, to whom the student council leader will have to give a speech. In English. He had one worked out but wanted me to look at it and give him some hints. I suggested where to pause and re-wrote on of the sentences to sound more natural and we practised it a few times til he had it. He borrowed Takahashi-sensei laptop to re-write his script so he was sat next to me for the next couple of hours, talking abot what music we liked, which videogames we liked. It was one of those rare times when you feel like you're fulfilling the "improving grassroots internationalisation" part of my job. So much focus is placed on preparing lessons and teaching that "being human" bit is often overlooked.
Adding to the "grassroots" vibe of the day, I also got an email from one of the new Tokamachi graduates. I exchanged details with a group of girls who came to see me after the graduation ceremony and this was teh first time they'd contacted me. According to Noriko, who sent the email, she is in Kamakura with Yukina and Miho. She also sent a picture of the big Buddha statue in Kamakura, which looks pretty impresive so I've added it to my list of places to see.
Ikarashi-sensei has had the idea that teaching the students the phonetic English alphabet will help the students pronouce English words better. I think it's a good idea. Afterall, the phonetic sounds are closer to how you pronounce a word ( cat is "Ka-tu" not "Ka-tea") and native speakers are taught "ah, buh, kuh" before "ay, bee, see".
So, to help teach phonetics, Ikarashi-sensei want's a display of the first 26 phonetics sounds, plus some extra ("th", "ch", "ph" etc). We're doing it in teh classic style; Letter, phonetic symbol, picture. So today I was drawing pictures of an ant, a beetle, a cup, a doll etc.
After the test, the students were free to go home. One student, the head of the student council, came to the English Department. Next week, Tsunan will be host to exchange students from America, to whom the student council leader will have to give a speech. In English. He had one worked out but wanted me to look at it and give him some hints. I suggested where to pause and re-wrote on of the sentences to sound more natural and we practised it a few times til he had it. He borrowed Takahashi-sensei laptop to re-write his script so he was sat next to me for the next couple of hours, talking abot what music we liked, which videogames we liked. It was one of those rare times when you feel like you're fulfilling the "improving grassroots internationalisation" part of my job. So much focus is placed on preparing lessons and teaching that "being human" bit is often overlooked.
Adding to the "grassroots" vibe of the day, I also got an email from one of the new Tokamachi graduates. I exchanged details with a group of girls who came to see me after the graduation ceremony and this was teh first time they'd contacted me. According to Noriko, who sent the email, she is in Kamakura with Yukina and Miho. She also sent a picture of the big Buddha statue in Kamakura, which looks pretty impresive so I've added it to my list of places to see.
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