Teaching Kids
Mums and Dads around Japan are signing their kids up for English classes faster than they can be provided. It may be seem to be smart thinking to get your kids started on English as soon as possible, but I really wonder if that’s necessary when the child is only two years old and barely speaks anything, let alone English.
Yes that’s right, TWO YEARS OLD. That means that kids classes are often interjected with bouts of nappy-changing and vomiting. And that’s just for the toddlers. The older ones are just like kids anywhere else in the world. They run around, they scream, they hit each other for no apparent reason, they cry, they wet themselves.
Somewhere in all that, comes the actual education, even though most of us instructors are not formally qualified (besides the mandatory eikaiwa training, which can range from 8 hours to 3 days).
Most kids classes are about songs and games, which is meant to be some sort of “learning through fun” technique. The kids are encouraged to sing along or repeat what the instructors says. There are usually worksheets and report cards, but they don’t seem to mean much.
The main idea of kids classes, particularly for young kids, is to simply expose them to the language. It’s at this age when they can pick up new languages with no troubles at all. I question how useful the kids classes at eikaiwa though. Once a week for an hour doesn’t seem like enough “exposure”, especially if they speak Japanese for 70% of the lesson and completely forget what they learnt the moment the step out the door.
From what I hear from students, English is compulsory curriculum now in Japanese primary schools anyway. So these kids classes are really just a complementary add-on to what the schools are teaching…except it costs a lot more.
If you do teach kids, either at an eikaiwa or at a private school, you have to be able to tolerate kids. For those that can’t (or, like me, are borderline), take solace in the fact that the classes generally don’t go on for longer than an hour.
I’d also recommend drawing small cats or monsters instead of the smiley faces generally awarded for good work. They’ll love it and always remember you for it.
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March 3rd, 2006 at 3:16 pm
1 hour a week for kids in the eikaiwa can have significant impacts on their English skills. I have been teaching out here in Japan for 15 years now. I have worked in all areas of education and I can tell you that even 60 min a week can be a good use of time. You have to capture their attention with interesting games; you have to make them feel like they want to be there. Remember they are attending your class after having a full day of Elementary school from 8am till4 or even 4:30, so of course they will be ちょっとねむい！
If the games are fun and exciting, then the kids will learn a lot from your lessons.
Anyway, this is the case in my experience!
じゃね！