‘Summary
Description:
We had an ALT visit an Alternative School that provides guidance to students who do not attend school. The ALT joined the class and interacted with the students using English.
Duration |
3 days / term (9 times / year) |
|---|---|
Location |
Municipal Alternative Class |
Target |
Students of the Alternative Class |
Participants |
Around 10 persons |
Organiser |
Board of Education |
Budget |
0 yen |
Objectives:
The objective is to provide an opportunity to have exposure to English to students who do not go to school. Interacting with someone with a different language and cultural background helps children cultivate personal relationships, and learn to be sociable and cooperative.
‘Implementation
Curriculum:
The curriculum centers on the following three elements:
| 1) | Studies support: students study what is taught in school. |
| 2) | Hands-on activities: creative activities, cooking, music, sports, etc. |
| 3) | Free study: to develop students' abilities to establish relationships through conversation, board games or sports. This includes events such as hiking, field trips, visits to companies, etc. |
Requesting the ALT:
This class is run by the Board of Education; therefore, the visits were planned the same way as a regular school visit and scheduled according to the ALT's availability. The Board of Education set the date. Each term, the visits took place three days in a row.
ALTfs Role:
The ALT spent the whole day with the students, from 9:00am until 3:30pm, and his/her roles were as follow:
| 1) | English support: English instruction using materials prepared by the ALT. |
| 2) | Hands-on activities: English conversation through games and music, similar to an elementary school visit. |
| 3) | Free time: the ALT came along for hiking and similar events. On other occasions, the ALT interacted with the students through sports and board games. |
Meetings and Preparation:
Basically, the ALT was in charge of the contents of the class and teaching materials. There were meetings on the morning of the visit with the staff in charge.
When an ALT was sent for the first time, the Board of Education staff briefed the ALT with an outline and explanation of the Alternative Class.
Furthermore, information from former ALTs who had visited the class helped first-time ALTs to better understand the programme. When a new ALT had trouble coming up with ideas, we suggested a presentation of their home countries using slides.
‘Budget
None (part of regular school visits)
‘Submitted by
Iga Town (Mie Prefecture)
Board of Education
Education Division
Tel: 0595-22-9677
Iga Town
Education Research Centre
Tel: 0595-24-0783
‘Comments/Advice from the Supervisor
We did not want to limit the participation of the ALT to an English conversation class; therefore the interaction between the ALT and students during free time was important. The students have difficulties establishing relationships with others, so we put emphasis on the encounter with the ALT as a new person, rather than an English teacher.
The students are very excited by the rare chance to interact with a foreigner.
Most students have little ability in English, but when speaking with the ALT, they made efforts to communicate and express themselves.
Listening to the ALT's presentations or talking with them, students learned about life and culture in foreign countries.
We were happy the ALT gave individual one-on-one attention to the students' studies.
Students were nervous when interacting with the ALT, but the staff helped when necessary and as the ALT came back on the next day, students got used to him/her.
A few students had a negative attitude during recreational activities in English.
Because students ranged from various grades, contents were kept relatively simple (elementary school level).
Meeting with the sympathetic ALT, passive students gained confidence for communicating with people and foreigners in particular.
The students in this class are very uncomfortable when pressed by their teachers. Because of the language barrier, communication focused on performing activities together with the ALTs. Furthermore, since there are a lot of free-time activities and events, communication focused on interaction: playing sports, instruments, board games together or hiking, etc. This had a positive influence on shy and withdrawn students.
The staff for this class cannot speak English so they were a bit worried, but not being able to communicate with words was also a positive experience gained from this project.
‘A Word From CLAIR
The words of the instructors of this class made a lasting impression on us: "Since the ALTs did not speak Japanese, non-verbal communication became the main issue and this was an opportunity for students to realise its importance."
