QUESTION ABOUT EIGO NOTO 2 Unit 8

[littlebear]

My question about Eigo Noto 2 is mostly related around the a issue that I am having difficulty
teaching the information and having the students pick it up. I find it very challenging to find a
way to teach the story and have the students see there is something to gain from it...In all of
my lessons I manage to find a way for the students gain something useful and real about the
language but with this, I find it extremely challenging..Especially the fact the students are
getting older and they show less motivation to try and learn.


I need some advice if anyone has experience with this module.

[moolooman]

littlebear,

Welcome to the forum. Trying to keep your students on track using the nebulous texts provided. Always tough.
I don`t know Eigonote. So I can't help so much. Maybe try and include something from the students set of influences (manga, jpop, tvstars etc). Make it more contextual and real for them.
The forum is very quiet at the moment as I don`t think many people are back. Give it a couple of days and all manner of advice will come your way I suspect.

[peet]

I did that lesson for the first time last year. I thought it was a hard one too. I tried to focus on specific points that they could learn &/or review (can/can't, pull, help, look, me vs. us).

Last class of the unit, we did the group play. I simplified the dialogue a bit, and gave a couple worksheets - one with the dialogue, and one like the page in the book to plan their script but with more space to write (the book version sucks).

Some groups had a lot of fun with it - esp. ones where the homeroom teacher told them to bring props (i.e. towels for turnip leaves, one actor played the turnip, so they did a tug of war to pull him out, some also found props to make the popping sound when turnip comes out).

Would be more fun to give them option for a different play, but might require too much extra time to prep..

Here's the sheet I made last year for them to prep lines with, but I might change it (and lose the katakana) if I reuse it this year: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/431411/Big%20Turnip%20Script2.pdf

[hokkaido1]

Yes, I totally agree. This is the worst chapter in eigo note (IMO)
There is no clear target structure, so I do a review of other chapters (try to by pass this chapter as much as possible)

[thisiskyle]

The main point I saw during this section was differentiating between me and us. "Please help me." vs "Please hep us." This shows up in the first iteration of turnip madness and I see no reason for all the repetition. These kids are 11-12 years old! This story seems like it was written as a nursery school game.

[littlebear]

I found the answer...

I used this as an opportunity for students to make their own characters and create their funny version of the story. Many students(all of them) made their own props and asked for help to change the language a bit so they could have their own authentic version of The Giant Turnip (大気の壁). They all laughed..But it took two classes for all the groups to finish. I recommend if you do this, to have students know very early on they are going to have do their own version, make characters, and perform using English. Very difficult for 6年生. In any case they all did it..They learned from it, and they improved their ability to communicate and feel less embarrassed.

Thanks for the posts..and comments.

[himitsu]

I agree, when I first had to deal with this lesson, I had no idea where to start and what to do about it. Took me quite some time and effort to make a lesson plan for it (now I've made 4 parts, in case I have to do it 4 times). But it also depends on how many times you have to do it (with the same class). In the end, it can become a bothersome lesson, or a very fun one, depending on the character of the class ("I'm too cool for this" type classes are tough in this case).
Basically I do it according to the original EN plan. First I focus on the first page with the 4 fairytales, I ask students which ones they know, what English titles they know, what the 4 stories are.. then have them listen to the cd/tv, write numbers, then check results. Then I do my own version, self-made (simple) phrases but in a different order. Then check meanings phrase by phrase. At the end I introduce "The big turnip" with cd/tv.
In part 2, I have them cut out the cards at the end of the book, practice the chant, an own version with a quiz, do the practice on p54, and practice a bit the play script (partially self-made).
Part 3 is then the play itself, after each group we choose the best actor (just make them a bit more motivated).
Part 4, finally, is the same but with new characters (they can decide freely), it's quite funny when they call each other "anpanman" aso. At the end, they make own phrases (of course I help there) and play it again. (never got to do this though, as no time left).

[jeisensei]

I had a slightly different tack on this chapter. What I ended up doing was making it a 6 lesson unit. In the first lesson I would go over the first page and have the kids do the listening with the CD. After that I had the kids think up some common fairy tales they know and just shout them out. I then told them to get into groups (in one of my schools I used a simple game to make the group instead of using the normal lunch groups) and I told them that they are now writers, directors and actors. After that I handed out a B4 sheet with a big rectangle on the top followed by place to write the names of students and the rest of the paper was blank.

The students would have to think of their own play, but I told them to base it on one of the stories they told me earlier in the class. I also told them I would give big points if they could make me laugh with their play. For the rest of the first lesson the students would make up a story and assign characters.

In the next lesson the students would have to finish writing their play in Japanese. After that lesson I translated the plays into simple English and they practiced that English for the next two lessons. In the 6th lesson the students all presented their play.

It was a good unit all in all. The plays were funny (O-Kama-deralla and Anpanman no ongaeshi were my favorites), the students learnt a lot of English they normally would not have and they got the pride writing and acting in their own play.

[mangakk]

I found the answer...

I used this as an opportunity for students to make their own characters and create their funny version of the story. Many students(all of them) made their own props and asked for help to change the language a bit so they could have their own authentic version of The Giant Turnip (大気の壁). They all laughed..But it took two classes for all the groups to finish. I recommend if you do this, to have students know very early on they are going to have do their own version, make characters, and perform using English. Very difficult for 6年生. In any case they all did it..They learned from it, and they improved their ability to communicate and feel less embarrassed.

Thanks for the posts..and comments.

I did the same thing. I didn't like the lesson, so what I did during the first class was teach the the few important words, than made them make their original story and asked them to act it out. They had a good time cause we even made a big turnip, and the HRT was holding on to the turnip and wasn't letting it go. My elementary kids (first graders) did a better job and they spoke in english, but they practiced it for two months. (performed it in front of the whole school and parents)