Hello. I need some advice. I have some students who I just started teaching a few months ago but have been studying for EIKEN Pre-1 in my school for about 4 years. One of them(17f) has lived in the US so she’s fluent verbally but she always failed eiken due to her essay writing. One(14f) is too young to understand sample questions even if they’re explained in Japanese. I want them to pass this time.
I’ve done everything I could think of to help them-brainstorming different topics, tried different approaches to memorize vocabulary, mock tests, had them rewrite their essays with corrections. What else should I do to make them pass? How do you teach your own students at pre-1 level?
Thanks in advance!
11 comments
Give them a pattern to follow. Many Japanese students base most of their “learning” on rote memorization.
For younger learners specifically, Pre-1 can be an issue. Look, it’s not that the kid isn’t proficient in English, the problem is that you’re asking a 10-year-old about pensions when they have no clue what a pension is.
Teach them the basics of the topics they may encounter. Let them form their own ideas and how to express them.
Unfortunately, this will include such things as AI and the workforce, nuclear weapons, and discrimination. Best of luck.
For the essays, did you teach them how to write the essay, or did you just correct them.
You know, what goes in an opening paragragh, supporting paragraphs and closlng?
When I’m teaching Pre-1s I not only correct them, I go through the example essay in their book and explain why it’s written as it was.
I’ve yet to have a student fail after I’ve broken down how the essays are constructed.
If it’s been four years, honestly get them reading if they aren’t. Do that, then all the other learning stuff might begin to click. Doing all the other stuff without actually engaging in the language is like going to boxing class but never actually boxing. Basically, it just becomes an aerobics class. Sure, you are in shape, but you can’t fight.
turn on your DMs or check your chat
For your pre-1 student, how is her essay structure? How about her logic and reasoning skills? Unlike pre-2 and sometimes 2, the reasons given actually matter, and if they don’t logically support the opinion or properly answer the question, it won’t matter how good the English is. Also, things like sentence pattern variation, using different words and phrases to rephrase the main question and points, and avoiding repetition of words are also very important.
You should definitely update the post and put their ages in it. Who’s some of the questions on Pre-1 assume that people have societal knowledge that high school graduates would have, and some of the questions are hard for high school students because of that. As a result, I always recommend to my students for that level of the test that they read the newspaper every day just to get exposed to topics that might show up.
If a student is having trouble with writing and they’ve been practicing writing a lot then you should change how they’re practicing. In order to figure out what they need, you need to understand what’s holding them back. If you look at one or two practice essays you should clearly see what the issue is. Are they too slow? Spelling? All of these will be really obvious to you if you just look at their writing, especially if you time them. If you’re asking them to write things at home, they might be using a dictionary and moving very slowly to produce something that looks good, but that wouldn’t help them on the test, so do some writing practice with them in front of you.
Thank you very much! I read all the replies and Dms. (Students’ ages have been added to the post.)
I’m sorry I forgot to mention it’s a pair teaching style in our school, the Japanese teacher handles writing and reading while I listening and speaking/interview. We do brainstorming of different topics in my class for their essay but actual writing isn’t done in my class.
Since I noticed that this isn’t enough, I started teaching writing, too. However, different people make the lesson outline so I can only spare about 10min from the 65-min lesson as I have to follow “the Japanese style” and stick to the curriculum they made. (Though I don’t really follow their lesson outline for this class unless I’m being observed/my lesson is being video recorded.)
I’ll see if I can squeeze in more time for writing. I may have to change some things in the lesson outline they give me. Again, thank you everyone for the advice!
Sometimes they students are simply too young. Had a couple like that. The topics they are asked to talk about are sometimes too complicated. Even if the questions were in Japanese and they could answer in Japanese, they still wouldn’t be able to do it.
The advice given to get them reading more is good advice. At Pre-1 they should be able to read the news in English. Tell them to read a couple English news articles on their phone every single day. The news is a fantastic source of topics/examples to use in the essay.
Eiken essays are really formulaic. The pattern is two reasons each with supporting examples/information. They should just follow the pattern exactly using grammar structures they are extremely comfortable with. Pre-1 is really difficult because that’s when students are competent enough to express their opinions almost freely, but they tend to get themselves into a lot of trouble with long complex sentences that are just a disaster grammar-wise. Tell them to keep the grammar simpler. Stick to known structures rather than freely dumping their brain onto the page.
To practice support for their reasons, you should have them write out statements (or give them a statement) and then work with them to try different ways to expand on that point. Teach them to ask themselves leading questions: “Why?” “Why is that good/bad?” “What will happen if we do/don’t do X?”
Vocabulary is another trap. Rote memorization just isn’t that effective. They need to actually use the words to fully internalize them. Have them put new vocabulary into sentences (sentences which make the meaning of the vocabulary clear if they go back and read it – not ‘He **confined** the dog’)
Teach your student to write an essay without the lame composition crutches the cram books try to push.
I agree with this. I have three reasons.
Firstly, ….
Secondly, ….
Thirdly,…
For these reasons, I agree with this.
Write about the topic, stop padding your writing and focus on complete sentences and clarity.
Also, if there are deficiencies in their first language understanding of social issues there is nothing you can do to help. If the kid is able to pass Grade 2, be happy for now.
Our kids are given the “correct answer” to memorize to sample questions, and they write it out. That might be a good strategy. It helps them memorize the structure the testers want. A lot of our older elementary kids have passed pre2 and 2, and a few have passed 1. We have a 5 year old studying to take Eiken 3 now using this method for the essay portion. (The Japanese teacher says he’s got a good chance of passing.)
One of mine is studying for the Eiken 1 now, but it is crazy hard. He passed pre1 in elementary grade 5. He never lived abroad, but he’s been in our international school since he was 1.5 years old.