She has been coming to this little eikaiwa since she was a nursery school student.
She is currently in a class of five.
We all do writing practice for about ten minutes per lesson.
She still hasn’t mastered writing her own name after four years (and it’s not a difficult name to write at all – think something like Mika or Risa). Her current classmates entered our school in April of this year, and they are already racing way ahead of her in terms of progress.
I consulted with my supervisor, who advised me to get her to write her name on the pages of her workbook each lesson. Even so, she can’t do it. She transposes letters or even drops them. She consistently writes certain letters backwards (especially S and N). I have tried everything to correct this pattern, and I admit I’m getting frustrated.
Some days are better than others. On occasion she totally nails it, and I give a huge sigh of relief. The next lesson, it’s like a trapdoor opened in her brain and let everything fall out. Back to square one.
She’s very quiet and tends to zone out a lot. However, according to her mother she enjoys my lessons immensely and doesn’t want to stop coming. And I don’t want to lose her, because she is a very sweet girl.
If only she could write her name!
32 comments
She may have a learning disability, or dyslexia, or a similar issue. If I were you, I’d stop forcing her to do something she isn’t really able to do, and focus on the things she does better. That will give her more confidence, and then maybe later, after she gains confidence and more refined motor skills, you can try again.
Just let her have fun. Her mom is satisfied; she is enjoying herself; that should be enough.
Not to sound too harsh but I believe there’s almost nothing you can do to help her. To me it sounds like there is something else like a language disorder of some sort, or severe case of dyslexia or she’s mentally retarded. I would recommend her parents to seek medical aid to get her checked. Or she might not be developmental ready. I’m currently in training to become a teacher. At my training school, we have many children with different handicaps. We have students with dyslexia, mutism, mentally retarded people and these need help to function. I don’t know your student but after 4 years with tutoring and not being able to write her own name, I would be worried that there’s something that’s not right.
Dude I’ve had 3rd year junior high school students who can’t write their name. Some kids just can’t do it.
Have this at my school as well.
There’s only so much you can do tbh. Not your fault nor is it your problem at the end of the day.
This bullshit about forcing the kid to write it like 100 times is a waste of her time. That’s how they teach kanjis here and it’s applied to anything else that has with writing to do and it’s just a non effective way.
Some kids just have trouble with English or math or whatever. It is what is.
Also, here lies the major problem with eikawas. If there is a student with a learning disability, what should you do? Eikawas are not equipped to deal with kids that has extra needs.
Eikawas are just greedy. I hate the industry for this. They don’t give a shit about the kids.
Well can she write her name in Japanese fine or does she have trouble with that too?
If she can write it with no problems then she’s unlikely to have a disability because she began learning English and Japanese at similar times.
If it’s just English she has trouble with I’d say your teaching methods have not been effective.
Why are you getting frustrated? This is why you’re teaching.
Make them name stencils. All of them. I’ve got a few who still need to look at their names and copy those.
You need an occupational therapist
You should meet the needs of the student… rather than the student meeting the need of the teacher.
You are putting such high value and pressure on name writing, maybe this student does not have any interest in writing her name when teacher tells her to. If you have seen her write her name before then it’s not that she can’t do it. Seems more like she won’t do it.
Have you observed her doing any mark-making at all? Try having her write her name in a range of ways – writing in sand, using stickers, paint… have her try drawing something she likes. Then emphasise she needs to write her name on it so we know it belongs to her…???
Many people here are trying to say this girl has a mental problem or developmental delay. There’s so many other things that could be going on… it’s easy to say the student has something wrong when actually it’s just the activity or learning environment that is not supporting them
My daughter did this, it does happen even when it is the native language. In most cases it will correct when she is a bit older. I wouldn’t worry about it too much.
Hi, I just wanted to ask if you know if she is neurodivergent in any way. I actually did my honors thesis on dyslexia in Japanese students so when you mentioned the backward writing that’s what came to mind – though it probably isn’t the case for a number of reasons. However, I think some of the teaching practices used for helping dyslexic learners might possibly be useful. Off the top of my head, there are fabric writing practice mats for dyslexic learners. The fibers shift under the moving fingers and provide a tactile response to the writing practice which helps reinforce the writing learning by adding another dimension to the motions.
I wish you both a ton of luck!
Why are you pressuring this poor kid to write her name? Maybe she has a disorder. Maybe she just hates writing or English. The mom is happy and she is happy. Leave her alone dude.
I don’t get how some of you even become teachers.
I agree on the learning disability that was mentioned.
I had a little girl that only after 3 years she could write her name (1 year with a coworker, .5 year with my boss, and 1.5 years with me) and I just had her write her own name a bunch of times. I also did a test per say, if she wrote her name right she got a point on her whiteboard, but if she didn’t she got no point.
Eikaiwa (英会話）Literally “English Conversation”
Aren’t you supposed to be teaching that!?
Not writing.
Over all the years I was a teacher in Japan I can safely say that I have met a handful of kids that had no business attending extracurricular school. They were unable to keep up with their normal schoolwork but the parents thought the answer to their child being slow was to pylon even more unnecessary after school learning.
Instead of The student spending their time finishing their homework, which takes them longer than the normal students, they were forced into even more they could not complete. I ran into some kids going into middle school that could not write the ABCs no matter how many times they were shown or instructed.
A lot of Japanese parents cannot swallow the truth that their kid is not smart. They have the same attitude towards learning that some small town American dads have towards high school football. “Even though you’re 4”7 and 60 pounds you’re going to be a quarterback someday!”
Can you talk to the parents and ask them to check if she has a learning disability? I know you’re “just” an eikaiwa teacher but I’d hate for her to struggle her whole life because you didn’t speak up.
Clearly some people here have never been teachers. There’s nothing wrong with your post. It’s good that you show worry and care for your student’s progress. And those saying to “leave her alone” don’t seem to understand the importance of education (especially in East Asia).
Does it include a lower case d or b?
Because never mind these kanji with only one slight difference, that d and b bit can destroy Japanese kids for some reason.
Wrap your hand around hers and show her how it’s done
If she’s enjoying it, then you’re doing something right. Focus on that, see where her strengths lie. Writing her name is a goal, but it’s not really the *point*, in a way. The point is to keep her interested and engaged in learning the language, so that she doesn’t burn out in standard English classes, once those start for her. Anything she retains from you going into that is just gravy.
Do you have pre-lesson time? Giving the kids the run of the whiteboard in the five minutes before class is often a good way to encourage ABC practice. Also, it might be better practice for her to trace her name regularly (write it out in dots for her to follow) rather than repeatedly copying the name down. The more it becomes a regular thing (i.e. tracing the name on her worksheets) and less like a chore (nothing-but-name worksheets), the more likely she is to retain.
How much leeway do you have with this school to accommodate her?
She might also have ADHD, this is absurdly hard to find in girls. But the fact she Zones out, and this is one of the things to look out for. A non uncommon thing with ADHD is minor dyslexia. A lot if people I know with ADHD has minor dyslexia
Make her a very nice visual of her name that she can hang at home. That will help. Something that won’t break. You can find big letters at Daiso. And I do mean hang as it needs to go on the fridge or better. Assume they have zero counter or shelf space
Magnet letters for the bathroom also works
Make name tag necklaces for all the students in that class (you can buy them at Daiso) and tell students they can copy their name from the card. Of course students that know can challenge themselves. If you can write your name, one sticker, but if you can write without looking, TWO stickers!! If she can’t do it still, it falls more on practice at home with mom. Almost all eikaiwa schools are once a week and things they learn are gonna be forgotten week to week. I understand her hate for writing cause I hate writing too. If your school falls into the once a week territory, tell mom she has trouble and she needs help with it. Moms will typically work with them at home and do their best. You can’t be expected 100% to MAKE her write her name. Part of this falls into her hands as well as her mom’s.
> If only she could write her name!
Sometimes you’ve just gotta let it go man.
Find her strengths and focus on what she can do rather than trying over and over to get her to write an S the right way ’round. You’re there to teach conversation, not spelling.
There’s also a disability in the area of written language called dysgraphia.
Go back to basics. Stroke order is very helpful and overlooked. Air drawing, fine motor activities for name writing, spray bottles etc etc. There’s a lot of ways to help with this. Most important thing is not to push your student too much.
This child needs a special education evaluation.
So many of you seem to be assuming that the child is in need of a special needs assessment which she hasn’t had and not at all considering that the child may already have been assessed and already in special education at school.
Not everybody in Japan who has a child with a learning/cognitive disability wants it known to everybody. If they choose to put their kid in an eikaiwa class for whatever mental/social stimulation it may provide and don’t want to tell the eikaiwa or the teacher, that’s really not something you can do anything about.
There are extensive social programs for the mentally challenged in Japan, both children and adults. Despite the near universal poor opinion you all seem to have regarding the place, if the child is having those kinds of problems then the likelihood it hasn’t been noticed and addressed at school is essentially zero.
And you can’t go by what kind of school the child attends either. I know kids who go to special education schools here who you would never guess had a problem from talking to them. And I know kids with obvious problems who are in a regular school because their parents don’t want the stigma of their kid attending the special needs school.
Just do your best. Be kind, patient, and encouraging. And remember that just maybe not every kid was put there with the expectation they’re going to get good at English.
Ive read through the comments…
I personally teach about 300 kids every week and have a degree in Education.
What I do is I get students to remember how
many letters in their first name. I also get students to name the each letter in their name out aloud. ie My name is Taro. T-A-R-0, Taro.
If they cant say the letters I let them see their name written and work with them over a period of a few months. Learning the number of letters in your own name always seems to help the most for strugglers.
This sounds like dysgraphia. Can she read or is it only the writing that’s an issue?
Japanese staff won’t tell you everything about a kid.
They want your image of Japan, and the people to be ‘kireii’ only.
If the kid has a learning disability, or a visual acuity issue, they will not divulge it unless the parents are okay with it, or the Japanese staff are lax.