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Post by Springjay on May 11, 2022 11:53:33 GMT 9
I'm newly hired (non-JET) and have been asked to do an 英会話講座 for some adult volunteers associated with my office. The only real requirements given was it needs to be done on Zoom, and the level should be geared towards adults with junior high level English. I found a cool resource that I thought I'd share here. It's a free-to-use murder mystery ESL game with a twist. Source: www.englishcurrent.com/games/esl-murder-mystery-game-grims-mansion/I was able to edit the materials to better suit Japanese people's general English understanding. The event won't take place for a few months yet, so I can't guarentee how it's going to go, but if nothing else it seems like a fun way to break out of more traditional 英会話講座 topics. My coworkers seem impressed with the idea, so I hope the actual participants will like it too. |
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Post by Dee on May 11, 2022 14:07:33 GMT 9
That sounds really interesting! I hope you post your 感想 here after you hold the event.
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Post by Springjay on May 11, 2022 14:52:59 GMT 9
That sounds really interesting! I hope you post your 感想 here after you hold the event. Will do  I wasn't too keen on doing a traditional English lesson per se. Last year, the person who did an 英講座 did a comparison of commonly used Japanese and English phrases, but I don't have access to the handouts to see what exactly was covered. In any case, I figured this time, a game of sorts might be a nice change of pace! |
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Post by Aya Raincoat on May 11, 2022 16:13:16 GMT 9
One of my past ALTs did an escape room for their class once and it was a hit, so I hope it goes as well for you!
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Post by Springjay on May 11, 2022 16:16:20 GMT 9
One of my past ALTs did an escape room for their class once and it was a hit, so I hope it goes as well for you! Oooh, very cool! I love it when we can find non-traditional activities to make language learning more fun~ |
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tearight
Straight outta Narita
Posts: 10
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Post by tearight on Oct 14, 2022 17:27:11 GMT 9
Oh I'll have to do this next year! I'm having my class create monsters this time, but this sounds way more fun! Please let us know how it went!!
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Post by Springjay on Oct 24, 2022 16:15:53 GMT 9
Oh I'll have to do this next year! I'm having my class create monsters this time, but this sounds way more fun! Please let us know how it went!! I got mostly positive feedback from it! In the end, the group was able to have a great discussion, and they did end up solving the mystery. I had a lot of fun and would love to do it again next nedo :3 Yappali it was difficult though. I think if we were to do it again, we'd need to raise the level up to advanced students, or if we could hold the event in person and give them more props/picture cards to aid understanding, that would work better. It wasn't ideal doing it on Zoom, as some members couldn't use it properly, and it was apparently hard for them to speak up and ask questions when they didn't understand (though if it were a 対面 event I think people would feel more comfortable speaking up when they needed clarification on what another person had said.) Or like have a more solid definition of what level of English is needed to participate maybe, rather than our vague 中学校ぐらい requirement |
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num05410
So jozu at chopsticks
Posts: 139
CIR Experience: 3rd year
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Gender (Pronouns): meh. whatever
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Post by num05410 on Dec 22, 2022 15:30:09 GMT 9
Oh I'll have to do this next year! I'm having my class create monsters this time, but this sounds way more fun! Please let us know how it went!! I got mostly positive feedback from it! In the end, the group was able to have a great discussion, and they did end up solving the mystery. I had a lot of fun and would love to do it again next nedo :3 Yappali it was difficult though. I think if we were to do it again, we'd need to raise the level up to advanced students, or if we could hold the event in person and give them more props/picture cards to aid understanding, that would work better. It wasn't ideal doing it on Zoom, as some members couldn't use it properly, and it was apparently hard for them to speak up and ask questions when they didn't understand (though if it were a 対面 event I think people would feel more comfortable speaking up when they needed clarification on what another person had said.) Or like have a more solid definition of what level of English is needed to participate maybe, rather than our vague 中学校ぐらい requirement Heya, would you be able to share the details regarding this? Like how you may have toned it down towards a Japanese audience, and if you were to make it for a lower English speaking class how you might go about it, etc. It seems really interesting and wondering how I might or might not be able to incorporate it into my Eikaiwa class too |
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Post by Springjay on Dec 26, 2022 14:12:58 GMT 9
num05410If I were to do it again and wanted to make it a bit easier (I did do a slightly easier version of it with my old people Eikaiwa group, and they're pretty beginner still!) I would do the following: - definitely do in person instead of online - include picture cards for nouns to aid visual understanding. Each player got a character profile card that they basically needed to read off of, to tell the other players their names/connection to the victim/their alibi/the items they were caught holding. I gave everyone a blank chart that they were supposed to listen and fill in for each player (writing in Japanese was allowed).
One of the big feedbacks I got was the players couldn't understand what the others were saying, so they just kinda tuned out while the players were reading off their profile cards.
I think having: 1. name tags, so people could keep track of who was speaking when, and 2. pictures of the items would have been helpful. I had given everyone a map too to keep track of which people were in which rooms (as mentioned in the alibis), but I think people got overwhelmed with too much info that they didn't understand being explained at once, so at least if there were pics/name tags they could confirm what they were hearing with a visual aid. - if time allowed, after each person finished reading their profile sheet, I might pause them and ask more directly if people needed something repeated. Possibly even check understanding by asking confirmation questions about the content like "what item does Mrs. White have?" or "what was the reason she was in the kitchen at 8:00?" I'm sure there are other ways to make it easier for people as well, but these are some of the ideas that came to mind when the 感想文 was fresh in my head. I'm planning on doing this activity again so likewise, if you come up with better ideas to make it smoother, I'd love to hear them! (and if you'd want the materials I made I'd be happy to email them to you)
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num05410
So jozu at chopsticks
Posts: 139
CIR Experience: 3rd year
Location: Iwate
Gender (Pronouns): meh. whatever
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Post by num05410 on Dec 26, 2022 14:34:52 GMT 9
num05410 If I were to do it again and wanted to make it a bit easier (I did do a slightly easier version of it with my old people Eikaiwa group, and they're pretty beginner still!) I would do the following: Thanks so much for the response!! I've just recently started my own eikaiwa class, which is starting out with a few people but is slowly growing so i was hoping i could do something out of the ordinary to get more ppl. (but at the same time, since the members arnt consistent the level of English tends to waiver so maybe not right this minute...) Anywho, I'm guessing that the mystery's logic itself is self explanatory, as in, as long as all the details are understood there shouldn't be too much confusion, right? And if the murderer isnt in the conversation then the logic wouldnt be disrupted too much i assume. I've fortunately been able to do the classes in person and the attendees are fairly young, so I'm thinking this would be fun to do. If its not too much if I can take a look at your materials that'd be very helpful!! (btw, how much time did it take to get you through this session?) I was thinking this, or do warewolf in English, or do a fairly short TRPG session in English, or do Amoung us in English hue |
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Post by Springjay on Dec 26, 2022 14:40:10 GMT 9
Thanks so much for the response!! I've just recently started my own eikaiwa class, which is starting out with a few people but is slowly growing so i was hoping i could do something out of the ordinary to get more ppl. (but at the same time, since the members arnt consistent the level of English tends to waiver so maybe not right this minute...) Anywho, I'm guessing that the mystery's logic itself is self explanatory, as in, as long as all the details are understood there shouldn't be too much confusion, right? And if the murderer isnt in the conversation then the logic wouldnt be disrupted too much i assume. I've fortunately been able to do the classes in person and the attendees are fairly young, so I'm thinking this would be fun to do. If its not too much if I can take a look at your materials that'd be very helpful!! (btw, how much time did it take to get you through this session?) I was thinking this, or do warewolf in English, or do a fairly short TRPG session in English, or do Amoung us in English hue If you DM me your email, I can send you the link to the original site where I got the idea from plus the Word files of the profile cards and stuff I made. I had a powerpoint to go along with it to help set the scene (and used visual props such as a mustach on a stick that I would hold up when I was pretending to be the butler) that also helped The mystery's logic is pretty easy to follow; both groups I did it with didn't have too hard of a time guessing what really happened, even with the twist ending : ) I did around 90 minutes I think; two 40 minute free Zoom sessions with like 10 minutes break between them. It was just the right amount of time for my bigger group (10 people), for my smaller more beginner group, I broke it into two 45/50 ish minute lessons |
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Post by Springjay on Dec 26, 2022 14:40:30 GMT 9
your ideas for other events also sounds interesting! I bet they would be great for spicing up usual activities
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