Last night when I was teaching the new elementary business class all I could hear was my own voice. Everyone else was pretty silent. Now I know that the textbook is very easy to understand, the vocabulary is business-oriented but elementary. I also know that everyone in that class had no trouble reading the damn textbook. But nearly nobody spoke. I had to carry the entire hour which is NOT the way for them to learn to speak.
The people in my class are all intelligent; they are scientists and pharmacists and more. But they cannot speak. And I try to get them to do so as that is what they need. I would never turn blue in the face due to too much communicating however my talking is not going to help their talking.
At the end of the class I asked one woman whether she thought the class was difficult, eas or somewhere in between. She told me it was "a little bit easy".
.......
and I had to drag a few words out of her during the hour.
*sigh*
I wonder if my friend Matt faces this in his classes...?
Today is a manager conversation class ... but nobody is here as they all have meetings.
It is even quieter than yesterday's class.
...
but not by much.
I have another at 16:30 and if they are available it will be OK. Those guys talk (if I lead of course).
Have a good day.
Cam
Sounds frustrating... why do you think they're so quiet?
ReplyDeleteweird.
ReplyDeleteI made suggestions on your WP blog, based on the language classes i've taken over the years.
ReplyDeleteI'll go copy and come back with them after i eat some dinner.
Good luck in the meantime.
Ok... I JUST got the whole "Dreadry"
ReplyDeleteDon't know if you've already tried something like this but...
ReplyDeleteYou’re going to have to find some way connect with them on some level, be it business, current events, music or other pop culture, maybe even something personal, though i know the Japanese are not very open, personally.
Ask them questions you honestly don’t know the answer to so they feel like they are helping YOU as well as getting English practice.
When i was in high school, my first year of Spanish the teacher was OK, but older and very traditional.
Then my next year we got a new, younger teacher who was very personable and interactive.
After the first few weeks he started conducting the first half of class time almost exclusively in Spanish.
He would start talking about TV shows he new we watched… even the soap operas.
We were engaged and had to hang on to his every word to get the gist and ask questions, etc. Then he would switch to English and check how much we had gotten.
It was fun and a great way to learn.
Anyway just a suggestion.
I sure used to, but now my only classes are 3-hour lectures. I speak. They listen. And I like to speak, so they have a lot to listen to. It's bliss for me.
ReplyDeleteOne way to get them speaking is to pair them up for everything. When introducing a topic, get them to brainstorm together (in English) for 2-3 minutes. Then, have one of them report back to the rest of the class. For whatever reason, they often find it easier to speak English amongst themselves, and also, it's cute to watch.
*giggle*
ReplyDeleteWrite down a word on the board, tell them to discuss, and then sit back and say absolutely nothing.
ReplyDeleteImagining the words Cam would come up with....
ReplyDelete*shudder*
LOL
ReplyDeleteThis is a fantastic suggestion, IMO. If it helps, the English teachers on base here have been exceptionally successful with small groups, but have had less than stellar results with groups over 6 people. Maybe they ran into similar issues?
ReplyDeleteThanks for the suggestions. I remember this phenomenon 20 years ago. It hasnt changed. The shyness factor and the fear of making a mistake in a group has stunning implications on how the entire group reacts. Nobody wants to stand out and show that they CAN communicate... the culture here is just so different.
ReplyDeleteEven in business meetings with all the company directors on a project (Japanese - not engrish crass) everyone sits there saying nothing... It is bizarre to me. Consensus must come in a form quite different from the way the west does. Also nobody here learns debate so it is not a tool that works in class or in business meetings. If you disagree with someone there is nothing more. He said his thoughts you said yours.
Its NOT wrong; its just very different.
Jaime- One class has 11 and the other has 25. I have to split that one which means more later nights...
Time to eat my 693katsu.
Sounds like a fun day of discussion is in store.
ReplyDeleteIt's weird (or "different" as Cam says), but i can understand the phenomenon, knowing what little i do of Japanese/Asian culture and of shyness in general.
ReplyDeleteThe one's who don't know or aren't sure are so afraid of making a mistake and looking bad...
Then there's the ones who do know who are afraid of looking like smartypantsknowitalls and looking bad.
Those are hard obstacles to overcome. So yeah, the small group thing, or better, the pairing up is probably a good way to go.
Don't know the logistics of that time-wise though.
Good luck, Cam.
Make some interesting topics thrown in with the boring business etiquette blah blah..... you know, a good scandal always gets peoples tongues wagging ... :-)
ReplyDeleteTry getting them drunk! "Nomu-nicaion" really gets them going.
ReplyDelete... or tossing their cookies on the platform as they curl up in a ball and refuse to go anywhere... Been there. Seen that.
ReplyDeleteAnd then of course there are the drunk guys who fall down huge flights of stairs at stations. They have exploding teeth... ask Stefnee about THAT one if you dare...
ReplyDeleteNow THAT is a great idea.
ReplyDeleteNoooooo!!!!!
ReplyDeleteAhhhhh, memories!
ReplyDelete