9 Sep 2009, 6:51pm
business EFL eikaiwa kids
by

2 comments

Variable fees: a crazy idea?

I had a wild thought last night as I headed home last night at 23:30 and thought I would throw it out there for consideration…

Has anyone tried/thought about charging variable fees based on how ‘good’ students are? (I’m thinking about kids here).

For example, you would have a standard monthly fee of, say, 8000 yen.
If a student participates actively in class, does all homework, and gets into English, after a month or two they would change to a lower monthly fee, say 6000 or 7000 yen. This is like an academic scholarship, and is dependent on their good behaviour continuing.
On the other hand, if a student does not participate actively, is disruptive, doesn’t do homework, then they move to a higher monthly rate (to compensate for the extra difficulty of teaching them), ie 9000 or 10000 yen. Their parents would be contacted a month before the change and warned. If the student’s behaviour improves, they would move back to the standard rate or even the scholarship rate if they become a model student.
I came up with this as I pondered what I will be doing once I ‘retire’ (won’t happen for a while), and continue teaching for pleasure rather than out of necessity. I suspect a system like the above might encourage parents to become more involved with their children’s English studies, as well as encourage less serious students to quit. I find that the pareto rule applies to our students, where a small minority of the students cause all the problems.
Obviously I would like to make a difference to all our students’ lives, and ‘rescue’ the less socially/academically able, but a lot of the time it’s not really feasible to make a difference with an hour a week when parents are not helping at their end with encouragement/interest.
Now, I am not going to implement this myself at the moment (we’re trying to grow at the moment!), but if we were at full capacity or oversubscribed I may consider it. What does everyone else think?
21 Aug 2009, 10:20am
Uncategorized
by

1 comment

Materials development

This is a new area for me, but I have four projects I am starting up to develop teaching materials, all of them addressing needs my students have that I haven’t been able to meet by buying commercially available publications. I’ve been lucky enough to find partners to work with for some of them, and I think that will help a lot.

However, I don’t have any experience of creating or publishing. Any advice out there for a budding materials writer?
19 Aug 2009, 7:55pm
EFL eikaiwa ES school management summer camp
by

2 comments

Summer camp

We did our first day summer camp with our students last year. We joined a camp run by another school, and went off to a nearby island with them to play on the beach, have a barbecue, and do lots of small English games.

We learned a lot from the experience, not least that it is not particularly difficult to organise ‘English’ events. I liked a lot of what they did (putting students in mixed-age teams, having low-pressure competition throughout the day, being active, going outside), but found some of it less effective (forcing English onto students, some of the activities).

We organised our own summer day camp this year, and it was a huge success. Students and staff had a good time, it didn’t take all that much preparation, and I think it will help our schools’ reputation.

I’m going to list some of the things that went well below, in the hopes that it will be useful for other teachers or school owner/operators.

1. We found a company to do most of the work that does outdoor activities for kids’ groups like neighbourhood associations, etc. and they were able to provide a morning activity (making zunda mochi), lunch, bus there and back, and a beautiful outdoor location for a very reasonable price (1700 yen per person). This took almost all the pain out of the experience and meant that we just had to organise our students and think of some games to play in the afternoon. If we had had to provide lunch and arrange transport, it would have been much more work.

2. We had students from various classrooms and classes, so mixing them up was a priority. We made mixed age and ability teams, and had two teachers and fourteen students in each. This worked well, and after about ten minutes into the zunda mochi making you couldn’t really tell which students were in the same class and which had just met for the first time.

3. We had a lot of staff, mostly parents and university student volunteers. This really helped with logistics (helping the students do things and carrying stuff mostly).

4. We had a mix of structured activity and free time, which meant the students had a chance to play soccer with their friends if they wanted, but didn’t really have time to get bored.

5. The emphasis was not really on English (some of the students brought friends who were not studying English) but rather on having fun together and getting to know each other. This removed a lot of the pressure, and resulted in a much more relaxed atmosphere than the camp last year (where there was much more emphasis on English, to the extent of the safety briefing being done in English!).

The best thing about the day was the chance to just hang out with the students and run around outside. I think everyone enjoyed the day and made some new friends.

I am hoping to do more activity days like this, again not based on English so much as having a fun day out with friends. That way we can build our school community further.

18 Aug 2009, 12:00pm
Japanese Kanji Kentei kanken self-study tests
by

2 comments

Kanji Kentei, the best Japanese test?

The ???? (kanji kentei), or Japanese Character Proficiency Test, is in my opinion one of the best tests for non-native residents of Japan who want to improve their whole language skills.
Given that the test is designed for native speakers, and focuses on reading and writing Japanese characters, what basis could I have for making that statement?
I am not just being controversial for the sake of it, I honestly believe that, unlike it’s best-known competitor, the test is well-made, good value for money, and that studying for it yields benefits that amount to more than a passing score on a test.
The test has the following benefits:
1. it tests kanji and vocabulary in context, as well as on their own
2. in order to pass, you need a good knowledge of the meaning, reading, stroke order, compounds, usage, and antonyms of each character
3. you learn to write, which is an important skill if you live in Japan
4. the study materials are reasonably priced and widely available in book stores and even 100 yen shops (the earlier tests mirror school grades, so you can buy kids’ kanji workbooks and use them to practice)
5. the test is held three times a year and is reasonably priced
6. you get your results in a month or so, and they also give you the answers when you finish the test so you can check how you did while it is still fresh in your mind
There is a range of materials you can use to study for the test, but I have found the following the most useful:
1. renshuu.org allows you to drill data sets specifically for the kanji kentei
2. the official range of study guides are excellent
3. the range of Nintendo Wii and DS software
I will be trying for level 6 the next time I take the test, which is the equivalent of 5th grade elementary school.
The kanken is not for everyone, but if you are serious about improving your Japanese and need a structured approach with regular, achievable goals, it can be a useful tool.

15 Aug 2009, 2:00pm
EFL India Pratham Books readers Reading reviews teaching culture
by

leave a comment

Pratham Books (low cost readers from India)


I recently ordered the full range of English language readers from Pratham Books in India to review them for our school. They are an NPO that focuses on literacy in India, and aim to provide low-cost, attractive materials for children. Benefits include very cheap books and the knowledge that by purchasing their materials you are supporting their charitable activities.

Pratham Books currently publish 95 books in English. Purchasing the entire range was very reasonable (40 dollars for the books, and 50 dollars for shipping). Payment is unfortunately limited to bank transfer (no credit cards or paypal), which adds an additional expense. Still, the opportunity to buy books for around 100 yen is very attractive when buying multiple copies for class sets.
My first impressions were as follows:
1. There is a fairly strong Indian flavour to much of the series (character names, objects, illustrations, culture, slang), which is a plus for us as we hope our students will gain a more cosmopolitan outlook through studying English, but could be a drawback for schools looking for American or British English only.
2. Some of the books are pretty advanced and seem designed for native speakers of English, although the simpler ones are decodable, recycle language, and deal with simple concepts (ideal for our EFL students). The simpler ones are also cheaper.
3. The books are not organised into levels or series, so teachers or schools would have to organise them themselves to fit their program.
4. There are a range of topics, from folk stories to science to maths and conservation.
On the whole I like the series and can see myself using the lower end of the scale (the first 30 books or so) for decoding/reading practice for our elementary classes, and the rest as possible extensive reading materials for JHS and above. Despite the advanced English in some of the books, they are designed for children so the topics are not particularly difficult.
I am not sure if I can recommend the books wholeheartedly though. Limitations include a lack of control of vocabulary and grammar, little coherence between books, and occasional difficult or esoteric language. They would work well as supplementary materials for schools that already have a basic foundation of readers (for example, we have the full range of Jelly and Bean and the Oxford Reading Tree already), but not as the sole resource. Finally, ordering is not very convenient as Pratham Books do not accept credit cards or Paypal. Hopefully this capability will be implemented in the future, which will certainly boost their sales overseas (I have been informed that due to strict Indian financial regulation, it may be difficult for businesses in India to accept payment by credit card/Paypal).
However, the prices are excellent, and I can see potential for giving sets of these to students as part of a school welcome pack, for example.
If you are interested in the series, you can see the covers of all the books and get more information at the Pratham Books website.
 
←    →
 
← Newer Posts  Older Posts →

  • Recent Posts

  • Archives