Up-tempo teaching keeps kids on toes
By Yoko Mizui
Yoko Mizui Daily Yomiuri Staff Writer
"Takuma, how was your weekend?" asked Toru Taguchi, an English-language teacher at Fuchu No. 2 Middle School in Fuchu, Tokyo, as he began an English lesson for his second-year students. The student answered, "So-so," and then Taguchi said: only so-so? Tell me more. Don't stop at one sentence." Taguchi asked a few other students the same question and also talked in English about how he spent his own weekend.
The day's lesson was review and practice of the phrases "there is..." and "there are..." Holding up a picture, Taguchi told the students to construct a sentence using the target structure. After some students presented their sentences, the class repeated the sentences together.
The next task was reviewing vocabulary they had learned in the previous lesson. The words were "station," "after," "maybe," "concert" and "festival." Using cards, Taguchi, 50, flashed the Japanese words and the students said the words in English and spelled them out in the air with their index fingers.
Then came a pop quiz. While students were writing these words down, Taguchi spoke in English using the vocabulary words and the "there is" pattern. For example, while students were writing "festival," Taguchi said, "There is a big festival at Okunitama Shrine in May" or for "concert," he said, "There was a big concert at Tokyo Dome yesterday."
Following the quiz, the students opened their textbooks for the first time that day. After listening to a tape of a conversation between English text characters Emma and Ken, Taguchi told the students to repeat after him. He then repeated the dialogue in Japanese, followed by his students in English.
"Now, I'll mix the Japanese lines up," the teacher said. He read out the dialogue again, and the children provided translations. Then he selected pairs of students to read the parts of Emma and Ken.
The next task was practicing the sentence patterns using a workbook.
The theme then shifted to endangered species such as giant pandas, Sumatran tigers, koalas and Japanese cranes. Taguchi handed each student a worksheet listing the animals and whether there are any at Ueno Zoo or Tama Zoo, and how many.
Taguchi asked students using "Are there...at...zoo?" pattern. Students were required to answer the questions and practice constructing questions using "Are there...?"
Then mixed-gender pair work started. As the handouts each partner had were different, each student had to ask his or her partner questions in English to provide answers to fill in the blanks.
In many English classes, sleeping students are a common sight. But with Taguchi's fast, rhythmic lesson, which was conducted largely in English, the kids were paying their utmost attention. Taguchi's lesson, in which Taguchi used a method he has been using for the past 20 years, was broadcast in "Waku-waku Jugyo: Watashi no Oshiekata" (Exciting lesson: My Way of Teaching) on NHK Educational TV in May. He is also an adviser for middle school English teachers of Tokyo Kyoshi Dojo (Tokyo Teachers' Dojo), organized by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Board of Education. The "dojo," which opened in 2006, aims to brush up the teaching skills of Tokyo metropolitan public school teachers in various subjects.
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Repetition, rhythm and tempo
Taguchi believes repetition is key when studying English, and so he has his students repeat practice sentences as many times as possible without boring them.
Taguchi constantly varies his drills, but in ways that call for the same English response from the students, who may not consciously notice that they are saying the same sentence in response to different prompts.
"I think it's sometimes necessary for teachers to try to trick their kids," he said. "Students nowadays have problems concentrating or sitting still. So I'm faced with the challenge of keeping their attention for 50 minutes."
When NHK broadcast his lesson, he was a hit with viewers, who enjoyed his rhythmic and up-tempo teaching style. In his class, students are called by their given names. He said it's import!ant to know students' names and personalities to carry out the lesson smoothly. "I'm trying to interact with my students as much as I can. Also, it's import!ant to use eye contact to direct the class," he said.
An old standard of Taguchi's is to have his students spell out new words in the air with their index finger. "Of course, from where I'm standing, I can't see if they're spelling the words correctly. But they do it seriously as I make them think I'm watching closely," Taguchi said.
Speaking clearly at an appropriate speed is also import!ant in holding students' attention, according to Taguchi. "I incorporated some ideas from rakugo into my English teaching," said Taguchi, who enjoys the traditional comedic storytelling. He learned when to pause and how to lead naturally into an introduction to the lesson's main content.
Taguchi believes rhythm is extremely import!ant in class, and that elaborate preparation is indispensible in conducting such a class. "A rhythmic lesson should include well-balanced activities covering all four skills [reading, writing, listening and speaking], and should be free of dead time," he said.
Taguchi speaks English at natural speed--even to the first-year students, though for them, he uses easy words. He sometimes uses words students haven't yet studied, if the meaning is readily apparent.
Since he was in his 20s, the teacher has aimed to teach English in a way that was fun. "I wanted to become a teacher when I was young, not necessarily an English teacher," he said. He happened to become an English teacher as the language was one of his favorite subjects. "In my time, English lessons were boring. I decided that if I became a teacher, I would teach in a more interesting way," he said.
Students agreed that Taguchi's lessons are fun. "I think his lessons are interesting," said Shoji onishi. Classmate Kento Fujiwara said, "It's fun, and I like the way he teaches."
Taguchi always conducts his lessons in the Kokusai Rikai Kyoshitsu (International Understanding Classroom). The classroom's walls are covered with maps, English posters and summer homework.
As a rule, Taguchi gives homework after every class. "I can't spare much time for writing practice during class, so I usually give them a writing assignment," he said. on the day The Daily Yomiuri visited, Taguchi told students to write down sample sentences five times each at home. "I always give them a dictation test during the next lesson, so students study seriously," he said. He collects dictation sheets and stamps each correct item twice, each mistake once. Students paste these sheets in their notebook. The teacher uses the number of stamps as a guideline when grading the students.
Sometimes, he assigns a passage to be read 10 times from the textbook. He checks how well they practiced reading at home by having some students read the passage out loud during class.
He tells the students their score out of five for their rendition, and their classmates clap hands once for each point. These points are also reflected on their report card.
"English is a practical skill," Taguchi said. Because of this, he positively eval!uates students who talk in class, even if they make mistakes, rather than students who stay quiet.
"I don't think I'm doing anything special," Taguchi said. Actually, each activity was not particularly unique, but the lesson worked as a whole and stuck faithfully to his lesson plan.
"As we're at an ordinary public school, there is a wide difference between students' abilities," Taguchi said. "Capable students help their classmates if necessary. I think this is one of the merits of public school."
Although Taguchi's lessons emphasize oral communication over grammar and translation, he said his students scored above average on a metropolitan middle schools English achievement test.
"I think English education has been changing at middle schools, whereas it hasn't at the high-school level for the past 20 years, with the exception of some schools such as the Super English Language High Schools (SELHi)," he said.
(Oct. 4, 2007)