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Supporting your Japanese language program

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Stage 6 Assessment tasks – are you ready?

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This term the hot topic in NSW amongst secondary teachers is the recent change to the Stage 6 assessment task schedule. Even if you are not in NSW, the topic will resonate with you – how can you assess your students at a school level without succumbing to just practising for the test? The dilemma for NSW teachers is that they can only have 3 tasks and only 1 of these can be an exam style task. The non-exam tasks also need to be conducted in one sitting each – so no portfolios or ongoing work; and they need to assess multiple skills in order to cover the outcomes.

So what to do?

One idea is to film a native speaker talking about an object or photograph. The students could then answer questions in English about the speech (listening skills) in Part A of the task. Part B could require them to summarise the text as the script of a conversation between the student and the native speaker (writing skills). They could be encouraged to not only ask questions relating to the content but also to provide details about themselves.

For example if the speaker (B) introduced their school club the dialogue could develop into a text as follows:

A:ぶかつどうは何をしていますか。

B:ぶかつどうはバスケットボールをしています。十三才の時からしています。

A:そうですか。じつは私もバスケットボールのチームに入っています。でも、私のチームは強くないです。

B:好きなプロのせんしゅはいますか。

A: とくにいませんが、きょ年クラスのえんそくでプロのしあいを見に行きました。シドニーキングズというチームがかちました。とても楽しいけいけんでした。

The marking criteria would need to outline the expectations clearly such as:

Write the script of a conversation between you and the speaker from the listening text.

An excellent response will:

  • direct the conversation with questions that allow you to include information provided by the text
  • extend the conversation beyond the information provided to include relevant details about your own experience relevant to the conversation
  • demonstrate a range of grammatical structures and vocabulary
  • demonstrate accurate use of script, vocabulary and grammatical structures
  • demonstrate an understanding of aizuchi and other intercultural skills such as modesty when discussing ability etc

I hope that gives you a starting point for combining skills in a single task without replicating just an exam format.

Further reading:

You may also be interested in our post on feedback at https://www.mantenresources.com.au/teachers/blog/5-steps-to-better-feedback/

Ideas for incorporating Sustainability in your program

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Sustainability is one of the key cross-curriculum priorities of the Australian Curriculum. The environment is an obvious context for this content. Some teachers may be concerned that this topic  is too challenging for their students but it doesn’t have to be. Here are some ideas modelling how to differentiate an environmental unit.

This task is based on the content in chapter 7 of Jblog textbook 3. This unit introduces students to key environmental issues in Japan such as cleaning up Mt Fuji, the Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster and solar panel farm controversy. Students are then directed to consider their own impact on the environment. The following task from the student workbook could be used as the driving question for the unit.

Learning task : In pairs or small groups, choose an environmental issue in your community. What action could you take to help with this issue? Design promotional materials using Japanese (eg poster, flier, videoclip) to promote positive action for your cause.

Extension task: Research how other Japanese communities are grappling with your issue (or similar) in the Japanese context. (Students with prior learning and/or experience, background or who are working at a GT level should be encouraged to use realia in Japanese as part of this research.)

For students who are working at a lower level or who find composing in Japanese intimidating, using a Fake text app may make this more palatable. For example students could use the stimulus on page 86 of the textbook that advertises a river clean-up day. They could then write a series of text messages between two friends planning to attend the event.

 (Click on image to view as a larger image)

There are various applications out that can help you create fake text messages. I found this one was the easiest to use for me personally:  https://ifaketextmessage.com.

There are several more examples of how to create and use fake text messages in our March newsletter. If you missed it, please email me and I can send you through a back issue. You can sign up for our newsletter on the website homepage – just scroll to the bottom of the screen for the sign-up form.

Further reading:

You may also be interested in our post about the Australian Curriculum

How to have fun with questions

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If you are looking for a exciting way to have students practice making questions then look no further than “the question game”. It is free and fun but also ticks the boxes of differentiation and developing growth mindset and teamwork skills.

How to play

This is a great game to play when you have a practicum student or a Japanese assistant. You will need to know a little about the person to make the worksheet. The worksheet can be 3 by 3 squares or larger depending on how long you want the game to take. In each box, write in Japanese a word or phrase. The students will need to look at the words or statements on the sheet and think of a question or statement or action that will make you say that word or phrase. As such, pitch the stimulus phrases to their current ability level.

The idea is that the students are seated in groups at tables with a copy of the worksheet each, plus one team copy that they will use to get signed by the teachers.

When they have thought of a question they call, either you or the assistant over by name, using phrases such as “Campbell せんせい、きてください”. This is good for less confident speakers as they have to say it many times and get quite good at it.

When you come they will ask you the question but the fun part is their question may be grammatically correct but needs to be asked to the other teacher. Eg our assistant liked basketball so asking me 「好きなスポーツは何ですか。」 wouldn’t work. They love it when this happens and are frantic to ask the question again to the right person.

The more they have to think, the more fun they have. For eg I put in the example below the grade my son is in in primary school. They had to think about me and what they knew about my family to generate a good question. (Click on the image to see it in more detail)

The best stimulus phrase though is 「ありがとう」. This can lead to a wide range of responses from compliments about how much they love you to offering you a seat. One time when we played this, a particular group became stuck on this question. The quick thinking Japanese assistant, seeing their dilemma, dropped his pencil intentionally. The boys picked it up for him and said 「どうぞ」 eliciting the 「ありがとう」 they had been searching for.

Why this game works

I love this game because it naturally differentiates and enables all students to utilise higher order thinking skills regardless of their Japanese ability. Students develop teamwork skills as they work together to translate the stimulus word or phrase, consider options that may elicit the correct response considering their knowledge of the person and/or Japanese culture, and translate these questions into correct Japanese. It develops growth mindset skills as students ask the wrong questions and consider new possibilities. It acknowledges social constructivism theory as it encourages students of varying abilities to work together, learn from each other and consider other ways of arriving at an answer. It is also very flexible and the same question sheet could be used by various classes with only the questions changing.

How to mix it up

Idea 1 : You can make it specific to a grammatical structure you want to practice by including more specific phrases such as「はい、行ったことがあります。」when you want to practice questions like 「日本に行ったことがありますか。」. If you want to keep it more general, use instead a phrase like 「はい、あります。」as your stimulus. This could lead to other options such as 「自分の部屋にテレビがありますか」.

Idea 2 : You could test cultural knowledge using the target language via this game. For example your stimulus could be a date eg 「三月三日」which would elicit questions like 「ホワイトデーはいつですか」. Or it could be a specific cultural term eg 「ちゃんこなべ」which would elicit questions like「すもうさんは何を食べますか。」.

Further reading:

You may also be interested in our post on growth mindset at https://www.mantenresources.com.au/teachers/blog/growth-mindset-more-than-just-a-poster-on-the-wall/

5 steps to better feedback

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Feedback is not perceived as exciting to the same extent as many other aspects of teaching (such as organizing an excursion or designing an assessment task). In formal assessment tasks, teachers often dislike writing it, and students frequently fail to read it properly. It seems as if everyone is focused only on the mark or grade, their ranking against others. This is a disappointing state though as feedback has been ranked as one of the top ten influences on student achievement (Hattie 2009). It is also one of the most variable influences suggesting that all feedback is not equal. Why isn’t there more consistency produced by feedback? Why aren’t we doing it well?

Luckily for us there has been some interesting research conducted in this area in recent years. Unfortunately most teachers and schools are just too busy to read it though! If you haven’t had time to finish last term’s cup of coffee then this list is for you. It is a summary of how to save your feedback from failure.

Step 1 : Provide explanation feedback not correctional feedback

For example if correcting a written text of a student who had forgotten to indent at the beginning of a paragraph; “You didn’t indent one box.” , would be an example of correctional feedback. “You needed to indent one box as that would indicate to the reader that it is the start of a new paragraph.”, would be an example of explanation feedback. The student may not make the connection between the correction and the fact it is needed as it is the start of a new paragraph without such detail, and hence may not be able to repeat the indent in future contexts.

Step 2 : Tell them what they did well, not just what they did wrong

Many teachers give excellent explicit feedback about what is incorrect but gloss over or leave out what was well done. For example “great use of punctuation” tells them very little. “I was impressed to see that you remembered that the full stop shares the box with the letter if it appears at the end of a row. Well done.”, is far more explicit and useful to the student.

Step 3 : Avoid negative phrase like “you should” and “wrong”

“You have written the dash in シドニー the wrong way. You should write the dash horizontally when writing a text horizontally.”, is an example of feedback that is unlikely to motivate a student. Instead try phrases like :

“I was really impressed to see you stretch yourself to include the new kanji from chapter 2 of Jblog 2. Take a look at the kanji index on page 125 of Jblog 2 and see if you can find the reason I have highlighted this kanji.”

Step 4 : Provide objective feedback not subjective feedback

Students don’t need to hear “You are awesome at kanji”. That encourages a fixed mindset and will ultimately lead to them playing it safe to avoid making a mistake and disappointing you. Instead try honest but subjective phrases about their effort and persistence, and explain why it was impressive. Eg “You used some great conjunctions in your letter to link ideas and actions such as でも、ですから and そして. This makes your text more interesting for the reader.”

Step 5 : Stop the teacher monopoly on feedback                      

Feedback is not supposed to be about you justifying the grade you gave a student. It is an important opportunity for the student to improve and learn. Try to embed more peer feedback and self-analysis components in your next assessment.

The examples in this text are taken from The Stage 5 Formative Assessment Writing Resource. This resource is available for purchase for $70 from Manten resources and includes professional development readings and a ready-made assessment task to get you started. More information is available at this link : https://www.mantenresources.com.au/teachers/blog/new-growth-mindset-formative-assessment-resource/ 

Further reading:

You may also be interested in our post on growth mindset at https://www.mantenresources.com.au/teachers/blog/growth-mindset-more-than-just-a-poster-on-the-wall/

Reference :

Hattie, J., & Ebooks Corporation. (2009). Visible learning : A synthesis of over 800 meta-analyses relating to achievement / John A.C. Hattie. London ; New York: Routledge.

5 REASONS TO LOVE GOOGLE FORMS

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Are you a novice to google forms or bored of them already? Here are 5 reasons why I love this tool and how you can benefit more from your own usage. (Click on the images to view the detail.)

1. Easy to differentiate

I love to do my listening drills using a google form. I embed the sound file as a linked youtube clip and differentiate the questions in the form. This means that the whole class can be listening to the same sound file but working at the pace and level that suits them. They can pause the sound file to look up a word or repeat the text until they can hear the detail they need. They can choose to work at different levels of difficulty for every question. Sometimes when a topic is familiar or of particular interest to them they can stretch to a harder level of question. The forms allow them to choose as they go and have the time to think about this.

2. Can be used to improve literacy skills and catch misconceptions

When I am having students complete a form that is predominately English based (eg when checking comprehension of aspects of culture) I direct the students to complete the forms individually. Then without marking them, I bring the responses up in “summary” mode. We then talk through as a class which answers are better than others and why. For example in this image, the first response is superior because it is a full sentence and they used a capital letter for Tokyo. After we discuss the answers and ensure we are clear on the original misconceptions, I allow students to then go back into their form and edit their work. I only mark the forms after they have had time to apply the feedback their peers and myself have given them in this general discussion.

3. Time saving

I love the fact that you can export your student responses from the google form to an excel file spreadsheet. This means you can then clear the form to reuse again next year. No more reinventing the wheel.

4. You can personalize shared forms

You can modify the shared resources of others to suit your unique class. Simply make a copy of the original and then edit away! Not sure where to start – there are 288 forms available for the Jblog series already made. We encourage our users to edit their copy to add in their own favourite links or images etc. (These are available as part of the student workbook resources pack – see our website for more details: https://www.mantenresources.com.au/teachers/our-resources/jblog-textbooks/student-workbooks/)

5. You can personalise the feedback

When I create my google forms, I embed the generic feedback in the form. I also have the option of adding to that with specific individual feedback. In this example, all students received the top line of correctional feedback but the other 2 lines are specific to that student only. This saves you time as the basic answer is already there in the feedback and you only need to personalise it.

Technology is there to help us but it needs to serve a pedagogical purpose. Hopefully you can see some new uses for google forms now. A free example of one of our google forms is available as part of the following post on the Australian Curriculum. The sample form is on the topic of Okinawa.

Australian Curriculum – NSW Begins the Journey

DEVELOPING PARENTAL ALLIES

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Language teachers often work in small departments or by themselves and can suffer from a lack of support. A key ally can be the parents of your students. Here are 2 quick ideas to kick start your rapport with the parental body this year.

The Welcome email

My department has a policy to always email the parents at the start of the year and introduce themselves as the class teacher for the year. These emails are highly valued by parents as it opens up a line of communication for them. Parents have told me that they find the transition from primary school to high school difficult as they are unsure whom to contact or how. In the primary setting, they describe how they were often at their child’s school every day for pick-up so they could meet with the class teacher informally or ask other parents for advice. In the high school setting this face to face experience is often limited to parent teacher nights. The “welcome to the course” email also allows you to outline your experience and generate an interest in the subject. Here is a sample:

Dear year 8 parents,

My name is Liberty Campbell and I am your son’s Japanese teacher this year. Many people feel like they cannot help their child with subjects such as Japanese as they are unfamiliar with the language.

My emails will hopefully help you know what is happening in the classroom. Everyone is busy these days so you do not need to respond, although we love to hear from you. Do feel free to email me anytime though if you have a question. Your son is also encouraged to do so via this email. It is better to ask, then turn up to class unprepared.

For Japanese your son will use the following materials: ….

I did not begin my study of Japanese until I began university, so your son already is ahead of me in his learning at his age! (I actually studied German until Year 10. I moved to live in Japan after university for 4 years and return most years now at least once.) I hope your son will enjoy this year learning about a country that has such an interesting history ranging from ninjas and samurai, to the WW2 conflict. My grandfather was a WW2 POW so I find it inspirational how close our nations have become in a few generations. It gives me hope that greater understanding of our cultures and languages, can eventually help us bridge the gap between nations around the world.

All the best,

Liberty

Provide the parents with skills to help

Parents can be useful allies but they need some direction as to how they can be of help. We have developed several fliers to share with parents. These cover the following topics:

  • How can I help my child learn a language?
  • Why is my child learning Japanese?
  • How to use the textbook
  • Is it too hard to learn a scripted language?

I would suggest that you space out the sending of these over time so as to not overwhelm them. Sending information regularly also keeps your subject fresh in their mind. We have a designated page for parents on our website outlining such topics, as we recognise the positive influence of an educated and supportive parent on student learning outcomes.

You can download PDFS of our fliers from the Parents page on our website at https://www.mantenresources.com.au/parents/

 

Further reading:

You may also be interested in our post on increasing positivity in your classrooms and staffrooms:

https://www.mantenresources.com.au/teachers/blog/hows-your-losada-ratio/