Almost ten months have passed since David Berg came to Chikusa last August. His main job is, of course, teaching English through English in order to develop the students’ communicative skills in English. As he writes below, we have seen some improvements in the students’ English ability, though it still takes a long time before all of them acquire the language perfectly. Please read his report on how the English classes are going on at Chikusa High School.
"English Class at Chikusa High" written by David Berg (ALT)
The first half of our first term here at Chikusa High School is already over, as we just started mid-term exams yesterday. One month is a pretty short amount of time, and having Golden Week split the month down the middle made it feel even shorter. The students seem enthusiastic and happy to be here, even though their favorite response to my daily question “How are you?” is typically “I’m sleepy!”
In our English classes, things are going very well as we continue to use more and more English when teaching. There are lots of misunderstandings, but such is the nature of any foreign language class. I see improvement every week, and I am especially proud of our 3rd year Basic and Active students, who always try to use some of the new vocabulary we learn together in class during our short conversations after school.
Our 2nd year Challenge class also did a great job last week when Mr. Matsui and I asked them to write each other invitations to hypothetical parties or events. One student had the whole class in stitches with an invitation that read: “We are having a party at your house on Saturday. Would you like to come?” In my experience, making others laugh is one of the best ways to make language learning more fun, and our students don’t disappoint!
Although the workload has lightened in the past few days, it has been a good time to reflect on how we started the year, and how we will continue forward to the end of the term. Based on how the students have responded so far, I feel very optimistic about continuing the push for more English in the classroom, and I’m really looking forward to seeing our students grow their communicative skills in the coming weeks and months!
