|
Post by Marta on Sept 20, 2016 13:45:47 GMT 9
So I'm doing my first SHS visit in about 2 weeks, but I ahve no idea what to prepare for them. I'm used to just teaching American history to elementary and middle school students, but the requirements for this lecture are very specific, yet very broad and vague. The school would like me to talk about American communication, culture, and customs. I don't want it to be too easy for them, yet I don't want it to be boring and disengaging, so any advice would help a lot! I'm just so used to being able to interactively kick tea across a room and have it be a lesson on the Boston Tea Party.......
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Sept 20, 2016 14:59:12 GMT 9
Marta Just spit-ballin' here but:
In terms of communication, I think a lot of Japanese people are aware that the average American is much more direct in speech and doesn't really have anything like 本音 and 建て前, but at the same time it's important to understand that that does not make Americans uncouth savages unable to control their feelings. Rather, it's considered standard to be fairly open with people - even if you're not close hulemdos - and to communicate otherwise wouldn't get you too far. Also I think trying to navigate social context as intently as is expected in Japan would come across as somewhat two-faced/disingenuous to some people in the US. Tl;dr emphasize that different does not mean inferior or superior, and every cultural norm serves a purpose (good or bad) that has complex origins?
For customs, maybe do a quick survey of a handful of hulemdos in the US and see how each household celebrates Thanksgiving and/or Christmas to show how people with different cultural blends share the basic custom but might execute it in different ways? You could try to get the students to talk about similar phenomena in Japan, eg New Year's. Basic concept is the same but there are bound to be households that do things a little differently from their neighbors?
Examples of dominant culture vs subcultures/regional cultures? EX: "The Wizard of Oz" vs. "The Wiz", Fourth of July vs. Juneteenth, Chicanx and Tejanx, etc.
They might be aware of some current events, so maybe something related to the upcoming presidential election (electoral college or super pacs or whatever), or why indigeneous peoples and their allies are SMACKDOWNing the contruction of the Dakota Access Pipeline (you said you do a lot of stuff about American history so this seemed up your alley).
|
|
|
Post by Marta on Sept 20, 2016 15:27:17 GMT 9
Marta Just spit-ballin' here but:
In terms of communication, I think a lot of Japanese people are aware that the average American is much more direct in speech and doesn't really have anything like 本音 and 建て前, but at the same time it's important to understand that that does not make Americans uncouth savages unable to control their feelings. Rather, it's considered standard to be fairly open with people - even if you're not close hulemdos - and to communicate otherwise wouldn't get you too far. Also I think trying to navigate social context as intently as is expected in Japan would come across as somewhat two-faced/disingenuous to some people in the US. Tl;dr emphasize that different does not mean inferior or superior, and every cultural norm serves a purpose (good or bad) that has complex origins?
For customs, maybe do a quick survey of a handful of hulemdos in the US and see how each household celebrates Thanksgiving and/or Christmas to show how people with different cultural blends share the basic custom but might execute it in different ways? You could try to get the students to talk about similar phenomena in Japan, eg New Year's. Basic concept is the same but there are bound to be households that do things a little differently from their neighbors?
Examples of dominant culture vs subcultures/regional cultures? EX: "The Wizard of Oz" vs. "The Wiz", Fourth of July vs. Juneteenth, Chicanx and Tejanx, etc.
They might be aware of some current events, so maybe something related to the upcoming presidential election (electoral college or super pacs or whatever), or why indigeneous peoples and their allies are SMACKDOWNing the contruction of the Dakota Access Pipeline (you said you do a lot of stuff about American history so this seemed up your alley). Thanks a lot! I can definitely use the concept of current events to show how it affects our modern culture, so I'm definitely going to keep that in mind. It'll be easiest for me to explain anyway :3. I'll also have to give the 建て前 idea a thought, but I might not have the best luck collecting a large amount of survey stuff on different households during the holidays ^^;. Maybe for a school visit I have *way* out in advance I can do that for, so I'll keep in in mind for Christmas. Thanks again!
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Sept 20, 2016 15:30:33 GMT 9
Marta I'd love to hear how it goes!!
|
|
|
Post by Marta on Sept 20, 2016 15:33:12 GMT 9
Marta I'd love to hear how it goes!! I'll keep this thread updated for sure, so stay tuned! :3 Also, hopefully everyone feels free to use this thread as advice seeking on 高校訪問~~~~~. it's not just about my troubles, y'all ^^;
|
|
|
Post by Marta on Sept 21, 2016 15:11:56 GMT 9
UPDATE: Called school to get a more precise idea on what they were looking for. They want a 出身紹介, which doesn't sounds nearly as cool as a heated discussion on the upcoming election D:.
This just goes to show that it was better to be in the dark than to ask for an explanation. I could've started my own little debate team ;w;. Loved and lost, I suppose :')
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Sept 21, 2016 15:26:51 GMT 9
UPDATE: Called school to get a more precise idea on what they were looking for. They want a 出身紹介, which doesn't sounds nearly as cool as a heated discussion on the upcoming election D:. This just goes to show that it was better to be in the dark than to ask for an explanation. I could've started my own little debate team ;w;. Loved and lost, I suppose :') I think you could swing a little bit of both! For example, I'm from Texas and we have some of the worst gerrymandering in the country. Throw in some information about bluebonnets and barbecue and BOOM. You got a 出身紹介 with a dash of discussion.
Even if you go wide and talk about the US and not [just] your home state, you could go America → diversity → different opinions → including on things like who shoud be president → elections in the US ♪ WHOOMP -- THERE IT IIIIISS~ ♪
|
|
|
Post by King Quailbee on Sept 21, 2016 15:30:12 GMT 9
Yeah....
I never ask for clarification in cases like this...hue.
|
|
|
Post by Marta on Sept 21, 2016 15:35:24 GMT 9
UPDATE: Called school to get a more precise idea on what they were looking for. They want a 出身紹介, which doesn't sounds nearly as cool as a heated discussion on the upcoming election D:. This just goes to show that it was better to be in the dark than to ask for an explanation. I could've started my own little debate team ;w;. Loved and lost, I suppose :') I think you could swing a little bit of both! For example, I'm from Texas and we have some of the worst gerrymandering in the country. Throw in some information about bluebonnets and barbecue and BOOM. You got a 出身紹介 with a dash of discussion.
Even if you go wide and talk about the US and not [just] your home state, you could go America → diversity → different opinions → including on things like who shoud be president → elections in the US ♪ WHOOMP -- THERE IT IIIIISS~ ♪
They def. want me to just talk about the Midwest, so I'll see what I can do :3. Maybe I can do something about environmental preservation in the Midwest and how it's important to the area as well as ways to improve it. ECO hulemdoLY POWERS ACTIVATE But, for next time, I'll definitely keep it vague lololololol
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Sept 21, 2016 15:44:56 GMT 9
Marta Ohhhh yes that's great!! If you don't already know about the Living Building Challenge I would look it into it! The organization where I used to work is building one right now. There's only a handful in the whole world.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Sept 21, 2016 15:55:24 GMT 9
Oh right my college is in the Midwest - that's why I brought that up. My bad.
|
|
|
Post by hikaru on Sept 29, 2016 13:45:49 GMT 9
hey peeps I need your ideas.
I visit one high school twice a year, for four hours each time. Since it's always the same 3rd year class the students are different each year, so I have been able to repeat some of my material, but this time I'm seeing the same group of students for the second time, and although I have some material I can repeat from last year (autumn and halloween and whatnot,) it's not quite enough to fill the time and I'm out of ideas of what new topics to talk about.
So far I have covered/have prepared: 1. Where I'm from 2. Regions of the US, and the typical foods, accents, seasons, etc that they have 3. Autumn in the US 4. Halloween in the US 5. US superstitions 6. US high schools/university life 7. most common foods/meals in the US 8. Independence Day 9. Culture quizzes about various customs in the US vs Japan.
I do games too but I'm still just slightly short on time.
I think I'm officially out of ideas. I need a topic that can cover anywhere from 20-40 minutes and that can still somehow keep the students interested and entertained. I've briefly thought about doing something sports related, (I'm pretty into American football,) but don't know if I could stretch out the time long enough.
プリーズヘルプミー
Edit: has anyone ever successfully done a pumpkin carving activity in Japan? Is this even a plausible idea?
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Sept 29, 2016 14:00:51 GMT 9
In regards to US university life, have you talked about the college admissions process? (CollegeBoard, SAT, ACT, recommendation letters, personal essays, interviews, campus visits, extracurriculars, what type of student is valued, etc.) I remember getting asked that a lot by Japanese exchange students at my university. I think it would be super relevant to the experiences of high school third years. Explain to them what a Spelling Bee is. Since you do Independence Day, what about including Juneteenth and its significance this time around?
|
|
|
Post by CaptainSeery on Sept 29, 2016 14:02:14 GMT 9
Four hours is... a really long time. I'd want to make it as interactive as possible. I think doing sports will interest a decent portion of the class - so see if you can, after a short intro, have them try playing it? It can just be flag football, obviously don't do tackle for something like this. But getting them moving would be good for keeping them interested as well as killing some time.
|
|
|
Post by hikaru on Sept 29, 2016 14:03:35 GMT 9
In regards to US university life, have you talked about the college admissions process? (CollegeBoard, SAT, ACT, recommendation letters, personal essays, interviews, campus visits, extracurriculars, what type of student is valued, etc.) I remember getting asked that a lot by Japanese exchange students at my university. I think it would be super relevant to the experiences of high school third years. Explain to them what a Spelling Bee is. Since you do Independence Day, what about including Juneteenth and its significance this time around? Yep. been there. done that.
And I'm not from Texas, it's not June, and I don't know how long I'd be able to stretch that out.
I might be able to make something out of a spelling bee... hmm...
|
|
|
Post by hikaru on Sept 29, 2016 14:05:35 GMT 9
Four hours is... a really long time. I'd want to make it as interactive as possible. I think doing sports will interest a decent portion of the class - so see if you can, after a short intro, have them try playing it? It can just be flag football, obviously don't do tackle for something like this. But getting them moving would be good for keeping them interested as well as killing some time. I'm pretty good about making it interactive. I can make activities and games once I've actually talked about something. I just... don't know what else to talk about.
And yeah I don't think actually doing sports would be plausible for this class unfortunately...
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Sept 29, 2016 14:16:40 GMT 9
In regards to US university life, have you talked about the college admissions process? (CollegeBoard, SAT, ACT, recommendation letters, personal essays, interviews, campus visits, extracurriculars, what type of student is valued, etc.) I remember getting asked that a lot by Japanese exchange students at my university. I think it would be super relevant to the experiences of high school third years. Explain to them what a Spelling Bee is. Since you do Independence Day, what about including Juneteenth and its significance this time around? Yep. been there. done that.
And I'm not from Texas, it's not June, and I don't know how long I'd be able to stretch that out.
I might be able to make something out of a spelling bee... hmm...
Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation did not affect all slaves within US states/territories, especially in places like Texas which were too far away to enforce. Juneteenth celebrates the day when the Union army occupied Texas and finally declared [that form of] slavery abolished throughout the US. It's an extremely important day that is celebrated everywhere in the country today. Texas was just where the historical event happened to take place.
If you do a spelling bee you should bring a prize!
|
|
|
Post by hikaru on Sept 29, 2016 14:25:38 GMT 9
Yep. been there. done that.
And I'm not from Texas, it's not June, and I don't know how long I'd be able to stretch that out.
I might be able to make something out of a spelling bee... hmm...
Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation did not affect all slaves within US states/territories, especially in places like Texas which were too far away to enforce. Juneteenth celebrates the day when the Union army occupied Texas and finally declared [that form of] slavery abolished throughout the US. It's an extremely important day that is celebrated everywhere in the country today. Texas was just where the historical event happened to take place.
If you do a spelling bee you should bring a prize!
I'm aware what Juneteenth is about, and I'm not saying it's not important, but it would be a topic very much pulled out of the blue, and would be more relevant if I was from Texas or even the South, which I'm not. I should visit this school again next June though so I could easily add that to my Independence Day material then, so thanks for the suggestion!
I always bring prizes. I bribe them to like me. Idk how these kids would react to being put on the spot with spelling, but I could tweak it maybe. Still contemplating...
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Sept 29, 2016 14:40:22 GMT 9
Yeah I was saying to add it to Independence Day because not all people in the US were free in 1776. Not to do Juneteenth whenever/stand alone presentation, hue.
I think spelling in a language you might not be super comfortable with can be nerve-racking..... Maybe do it by team instead of individually? If you can get your hands on mini white boards, you can have each team write the word after deliberation and then everyone shows it at the same time. Correct spelling gets a point. Team with most points gets prizes. Or some variation of that?
|
|
|
Post by hikaru on Sept 29, 2016 14:48:53 GMT 9
oh okay yeah. It just would not fit with the other stuff I have planned for this time. But yeah maybe June.
And yeah I would def do teams. I would just have to figure out what words to have them spell. It would have to be something we covered in that lesson I think. I do hangman fairly often too which they like and are good at, but is sometimes too easy for them, so a spelling bee might be good to challenge them more.
|
|
|
Post by no yark shark on Sept 29, 2016 16:02:18 GMT 9
Yep. been there. done that.
And I'm not from Texas, it's not June, and I don't know how long I'd be able to stretch that out.
I might be able to make something out of a spelling bee... hmm...
Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation did not affect all slaves within US states/territories, especially in places like Texas which were too far away to enforce. Juneteenth celebrates the day when the Union army occupied Texas and finally declared [that form of] slavery abolished throughout the US. It's an extremely important day that is celebrated everywhere in the country today. Texas was just where the historical event happened to take place.
If you do a spelling bee you should bring a prize!
I'm not sure that's true though, because (I'm ashamed to say) I had no idea what Juneteenth was until I looked it up just now.
|
|
|
Post by CaptainSeery on Sept 29, 2016 16:06:46 GMT 9
Me too. I didn't know what Juneteenth was either. And I grew up (until 8th grade) in a part of the country that is very heavily African American. The vast majority of my classmates were black and they always made a huge deal of out Black History Month, but Juneteenth never came up. I wish it had!
I think using words that you covered in the lesson would be good. That sounds like a fun plan!
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Sept 29, 2016 16:11:30 GMT 9
Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation did not affect all slaves within US states/territories, especially in places like Texas which were too far away to enforce. Juneteenth celebrates the day when the Union army occupied Texas and finally declared [that form of] slavery abolished throughout the US. It's an extremely important day that is celebrated everywhere in the country today. Texas was just where the historical event happened to take place.
If you do a spelling bee you should bring a prize!
I'm not sure that's true though, because (I'm ashamed to say) I had no idea what Juneteenth was until I looked it up just now. I meant to emphasize that it's not just a Southern or Texan thing, not necessarily that it's super duper widespread. My bad! I first learned about it in middle school history classes, but I went to college outside of the South and there were always plenty of Black students from various parts of the country who took time to acknowledge the day. I know there are also Juneteenth parades, but I don't know if that's limited to certain places.
|
|
|
Post by King Quailbee on Sept 29, 2016 16:12:08 GMT 9
Same. Never heard of Juneteenth. <<;
|
|
|
Post by Marta on Oct 3, 2016 13:46:20 GMT 9
Update on lesson: Tomorrow's the day TwT. I've prepared a lesson introducing my state a bit, then starting an open discussion on ways both my state and their prefecture can benefit from exchanging information with each other (since both are well know for agricultural tactics, education, etc.). Hopefully it goes over better in real life than in my head, because I have so little confidence in myself right now DDDDDDDDDDD:.
tldr; Wish me luck tomorrow!
|
|
|
Post by Marta on Oct 4, 2016 15:27:03 GMT 9
UPDATE OF UPDATES: DDDDDDDDDDDDD:
Okay, so now that that's over, allow me to recall what happened not a few hours ago.
So I went to the school, this *high* school. It's おしゃれ if I've ever seen a school with scan in ID gates, etc. But, whatever, so I go sit in the waiting room with this teacher that I've been talking to for the past 2 weeks over what I'm going to prepare for the lesson.
Here's where it get's bad. So, all this time I prepared for *high* schoolers, particularly brilliant students that managed to get into this fancy af school. However, after this teacher fumbles through his English for a little while, he eventually sputters out that the students I'm teaching are special.
Special.. What? He said it in English, so I was confused. Were these kids super 偉い or what? No no, he finally corrects himself in Japanese: these were students with learning disabilities. Okay, no problem, I can do my best to work with that. Wait, now he adds on that they're here because they're bullied to much at their school, so they study here specifically. Alright, also no problem, I can understand that you need to learn somewhere you feel comfortable and focused. Here's the kicker, though.
They're middle school students.
ffffffffffffffffff
I prepared an intricate lesson to get the students to independently think for themselves to discover the benefits of 国際交流. This will *not* do in my current situation. Panic has now set in.
Alright, so the elements are against me. Gotta do my best despite the circumstances. Fortunately the first half of my presentation was simply "here's my state, look at how it's so similar to Akita~!". This portion goes really well. The kids are having a great time asking questions and finding out more about what these strange cheese products my people have are (XD). It was the second half that I started to drop in.
Now, don't get me wrong, this lesson didn't go nearly as bad as I'm making it sound, but it was really difficult. When we got to the section thinking of ways Akita and Wisconsin are similar the word of the day became "創造性", which apparently put the teachers in the room in a panic. I asked the kids a lot of questions, which made them nervous at times, but they 頑張る'ed so much (I'm actually really proud of them, bless :'D), but there was a lot of dead air when were were thinking of elements that either prefecture or state could benefit from. I didn't push all that hard, I thought, but the teachers think I could've gone a little easier. Since this was meant for HS students, I'll give them the point.
After the tension of this part, I decided to cut the topic off early and let them freely ask questions about myself, which they seemed to like, so good note ending.
tl;dr: Next time a school has a request for me, they better be damn specific with who I'm teaching and what I should prepare.
PS: The teacher that requested me was the one who thought I was being to hard on the kids, but after his comments, one of the students' personal teacher came by to tell me thank you for getting the kids to start creating their own ideas. She said she was worried at first, but because they gave so much effort into thinking and actually answered with personal opinions, she was really grateful.
DDDDDDDD: rant over
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 4, 2016 15:56:59 GMT 9
Okay wow OTSUKARESAN x1000000 for you.
Um yeah I would also talk to your soup (and/or whoever goes through the school visit requests) about the surprise thing because you NEED to know your demographic and it could help to have other people in your office who are involved in the process on your side to squeeze out that info.
I think this was an important opportunity for the students, teachers, and yourself alike to learn what students with disabilities are capable of. Obviously the high school level aspect complicated it - and would have done so even with neurotypical middle school students - but it sounds like they were perfectly capable of contributing, asking questions, being creative, etc. and I'm sure they face a lot of people who assume they can't do any of those things. So it sounds like a super やりがいが高い experience even if it was frustrating. <3
|
|
|
Post by King Quailbee on Oct 4, 2016 16:07:29 GMT 9
Oh dear. Oh dear. OH DEAR.
Phew. I felt stressed reading that.
I have noticed a trend from teachers thinking that their students won't get it or it is too hard (i.e. when teaching English or whatever) and especially with freely thinking and coming up with their own ideas - but that is something that needs to be nurtured and encouraged at these ages (since they are so used to teacher-fronted lessons).
I'm glad the personal teacher came up to thank you. It is awesome.
I think teachers sometimes shelter their students a little bit too much (or assume that because a kid is having trouble dividing or figuring out fractions, that they won't be able to figure out societal problems in an abstract form).
|
|
|
Post by Marta on Oct 4, 2016 16:10:57 GMT 9
Okay wow OTSUKARESAN x1000000 for you. Um yeah I would also talk to your soup (and/or whoever goes through the school visit requests) about the surprise thing because you NEED to know your demographic and it could help to have other people in your office who are involved in the process on your side to squeeze out that info. I think this was an important opportunity for the students, teachers, and yourself alike to learn what students with disabilities are capable of. Obviously the high school level aspect complicated it - and would have done so even with neurotypical middle school students - but it sounds like they were perfectly capable of contributing, asking questions, being creative, etc. and I'm sure they face a lot of people who assume they can't do any of those things. So it sounds like a super やりがいが高い experience even if it was frustrating. <3 Thanks for the support! Next time I'm going to specifically ask the teacher over the phone who my audience is so I can prepare accordingly. Now that I've had time to cool off I'm really glad with how excited the kids seemed, but still a little miffed at the teacher who thought my lesson was too hard (because that's 当たり前, especially when I told you ahead of time I prepared for high school). Overall, class was good, comments were ridiculous, so feelings are eh..?
|
|
|
Post by CaptainSeery on Oct 4, 2016 16:16:31 GMT 9
Wow! That's so crazy that the school didn't tell you super important details like that. Be very very firm about such things in the future!
But I'm glad it turned out well in the end. I never worked closely with the nakayoshi kids at my schools, but when I did they were always really excited and happy to be learning. It gave me a real appreciation for them, and also helped me really understand the importance of having separate classes for them. It's good to have them mingle with everyone else for some classes, but for the more academic ones they are going to get a lot more out of a small class that is tailored to them. I had some kids who really should have been in the nakayoshi class and they suffered so much for it. One girl in particular, her older brother was nakayoshi and apparently he got bullied for it, so the mother refused to let her go into the nakayoshi class. But then she was bullied and ignored in the main class because she couldn't keep up. She did really well if she got one-on-one instruction, but in a class with 35 kids that was impossible for us to do most of the time. It was so sad cause she really tried her hardest and obviously liked English.
Sorry, that rant got off topic.
TL;DR kids with special needs are super smart and great and lovely to work with, and I'm glad that you were able to make it work for them, despite a gross lack of communication.
|
|