Was hired recently to teach a Japanese class and given a list of words (think N5/N4 type of vocab). Couple days in and all the kids know hiragana and katakana really well but not any kanji, only issue is their attention span is about 15 seconds.
Was thinking about creating some type of games with point systems and wondering if anyone on here has any past experience or fun ideas to keep them engaged and excited to learn. They’re all between 8-10 years old
Also, I’ve never taught anything before and also work 4-5 days at another job. Self taught Japanese learner myself so it’s just kinda crazy thinking about teaching other people since I’m the only non-Japanese on staff.
2 comments
I’d focus on speech and listening (using reading to reinforce those) before worrying about kanji when it comes to kids.
Is this a required class or more of an enrichment type activity? Either way, I’d incorporate a lot of fun (games, songs and other fun media, movement) and cultural activities. If it’s an enrichment opportunity with no pressure from things like tests, I’d really lean into that side of things over traditional school work. Nothing kills a kid’s interest in foreign languages and cultures like being forced to do hard/boring, repetitive work.
How much time/energy are you looking to put into learning teaching? What kind of resources do you have at your disposal?
I’m a trained ESL teacher and have tutored quite a bit of JP in the past. I can probably share some helpful resources with you.
If you want something REALLY easy to prep that’s point based, you could try a Blooket game. Make a set on Quizlet and import it to Blooket.
Also, what kind of words were you given? It’s easier to come up with relevant activities if there is a theme (for example, you can do restaurant roleplay with food words, shopping roleplay with clothes/items, give directions and have students move around a classroom with shop and place names, etc)