Improving your students reading comprehension

So I came across a great website recently that gives some great tips about reading strategies - Mind tools.

Firstly, before introducing the link... 

The article isn't exactly aimed at foreign students, but people fluent in the language. However, these are still really valuable tips. There is one important thing, make sure that you don't use the information to "slot" your students into a certain "learning level". Don't box them in. Instead, when wanting to improve the student's skills (in this case reading comprehension), first identify what they need to work on and then suggest an appropriate strategy to employ. Consider the variables, what content are they trying to tackle, and for what reason (test, report, etc)

One of the things I liked about the article is about how deep one should read. Useful for students that struggle to comprehend some vocabulary. Having a brief skim of the text can give you a lot more context.

Anyway, take a look at the article. I'm sure it'll give you a few strategies you can teach your students.

http://www.mindtools.com/rdstratg.html

Summer in Japan - a couple of hints - something practical for the incoming JETs

So, it is pretty much summer here in Japan. I believe that it is still suppose to be the rainy season, but including today we've had 3 fine days. You know when it is summer when your on the way to school in the morning and you think it would be a great idea to go for a dip in that small river next to school. When you are hoping that the bus gets here quicker so you can sit/stand in the nice air conditioned interior. When half of the English department goes for a mission to the closest supermarket for icecream.

The photos that I promised recently and more

Ok, so here are some recent photos from around Nagasaki, Japan. Also include photos of Hotaru (fireflies), and Kousoutai (High school sports meeting).

Nagasaki - China Town

Nagasaki - down town

Karate sparring - Kousoutai

A dam not far from Nagasaki. This is where the firefly live.

Hotaru are hard to photograph!

A Japanese girl managed to catch one

The event called Hotaru ホタル in Japan (fireflies)

One thing that I love about Japan is that it seems to have a season or time during the year for everything. Sakura (cherry blossom) in spring, maple leaves and colour in autumn, Hotaru in the rainy season, etc, etc. I live in Nagasaki, a small city, but it has a fair share of its own events, some of which are famous around Japan (e.g. Lantern Festival).

Anyway, last night I went to see about the 蛍、ホタル、Hotaru (fireflies) around Nagasaki. In fact, I found that Nagasaki has a website setup for giving Hotaru reports (check out other locations around Japan here). So the fireflies are doing their glowing, dancing business from the end of May to mid June. Some famous spots will also have a Hotaru Matsuri (Firefly festival). 

Personally, I loved seeing these things floating around, giving off a kind of magical feeling. The best moments are when you get a good view down the river/stream and see like a tunnel of glowing, pulsating orbs swirling around.  These things were tricky to photograph but I got 1 or 2 keepers that'll i'll post up later.

Any way, cheers, these critters are still about for a bit longer, so get out and see them if you can ;)

Prefectural high school games - kousoutai 高総体

Hey there, long time no post.
So as I have said through some of my posts, working at schools in Japan is not only about the classes. There are many events through the year. At different times in the year, you may feel like you're attending more events than actual classes. One of these events in high school is Kousoutai 高総体 (high school athletic meeting). This event (in Nagasaki prefecture anyway) is prefectural. That means all the high schools in Nagasaki-ken (prefecture) have to compete against each other in different sports.

This event is quite big. The sports are played in various high schools and sports grounds around the prefecture. Usually it has a city that it is based in, but the events are held in various places. During this time students either participate or cheer on their fellow students. There are no classes, but there is no stay at home option ;) Students are given tickets they must hand to teachers to show they had attended the event to support their high school. Though in reality they only needed to hand them in and then leave, but the many I saw enjoyed watching the sport. Same goes for the teachers (including me), we had to attend. However, teachers don't need to hand in tickets. The Kousoutai takes place over about a week, and narrows down to the winning high school sports teams.

I quite enjoyed the Kousoutai. It is quite a nice time of the year for it to be held. Now it has just entered the rainy season, so the days are warm, but not too hot like summer. I, myself, went to watch Karate on the first day, and then swimming and volleyball on the second day. The atmosphere of the city changes a bit with all the highschool students out in groups wearing uniform. It was an interesting day, meeting students, walking around, watching sport, relaxing, etc.

Well just a quick post explaining the event. Might put some pictures/video of some sports later. Cheers.

Buying a Nintendo 3DS over a electronic Dictionary - Japanese/English Dictionary

It was some time ago that I thought it was about time to get a electronic dictionary, esp because i'm meeting a Japanese friend once a week for 1-on-1 English/Japanese lessons. Having a dictionary is just plain helpful, esp if you can enter kanji in it.

So the features I really wanted were Kanji entry, Jap/Eng dictionary (and of course the opposite), and some good examples in the definitions.

Well, I finally finished looking around the shops and figuring out what the best product would be for me. I checked out a whole bunch of the new Electronic Dictionaries...

Castle game - simple but great ESOL game

Hey guys,

So I read about this game somewhere, but it is easy to adapt and can be used on any type of quiz or whenever you want to turn answering questions into a game. Pretty much anything which has a lose/win scenario. I've used this game on classes with 15 students to classes with 40 students. It creates a bit of playful competition and can liven up a class if done right.

So this is how it goes. Firstly, I break the class into 2-6 groups. Each group has a castle on the blackboard that represents them. I usually draw the castles myself. The students usually love this part. Watching as my castles get worse and worse as I quickly draw them. The castle usually consists of 2-3 wall segments (dependent on difficulty) and 1 tower which has a flag. Usually If I have a large class, or want a shorter game, i'll only use 2 wall segments. Now you just start the quiz, any team that answers the question correctly first has the choice to destroy another teams castle (and I also allow them to rebuild their own if damaged). You can simply erase a wall segment of an attacked castle (or draw in the damage). Once a team is down to only their tower, it is their last stand before the other team can steal their flag. If a teams flag is stolen it can be placed on the attacking teams castle. And that is how it goes. Really the game can last as long as you still have questions to ask (and I always chuck in a few fun questions like who is this actor just to wake them up).

So I just quickly spewed this out. Now that you get the general idea you can easily adapt it as you wish ;)
Cheers.