Manten Resources

Supporting your Japanese language program

Student Engagement

Teacher commitment to lifelong learning

by

Recently we launched a new resource called Base Camp. This resource was designed to develop in students the skills they need to learn a language. Base Camp 1 outlines common strategies such as mnemonics and acrostic poems, whilst Base Camp 2 provides suggestions for elective students on how to embed their language learning in their current online leisure activities.

Both of these resources outline how to harness research into the psychology of motivation to help students find time and motivation for their language learning. Methods such as habit stacking, implementation intentions and avoiding the Valley of disappointment provide an infrastructure for successful learning to occur. As I mentioned in my previous post, the very first concepts we should be teaching in our language courses, is the how of learning. The success of all our subsequent lessons will be improved if students have fundamental knowledge of learning habits, study skills and motivation techniques. The poor continuation rates in languages suggest amongst other things, that students are not finding it an easy choice.

As we enter term 4 and elective classes for 2020 are being announced, I am impressed to hear some teachers are organising a special orientation lesson for these language students. During this lesson, sometimes held at lunch, teachers are guiding students through the skills in Base Camp – urged on with some Japanese treats – to have them ready for the start of the year. This seems to be particularly useful if you are teaching the Beginners course for Year 11 and 12. (If you are planning on running such a mini-lesson, you may be interested in our Grammar Patch that is coming out in term 4. This works similar to our Hiragana Patch series but with targeted grammar review. Booklet 1 revises tenses of nouns, verbs and adjectives and Booklet 2 works through common uses of the て form.)

What is also impressive are the teachers who have told me they are using the strategies in Base Camp to drive their own lifelong learning in language. Language teachers are extremely busy and committed people so a few tips on how to find time and motivation can be the difference between thinking about studying as an adult and putting those dreams into action.

The Base Camp level 1 and 2 resource is sold as a set for $50 and can be purchased by emailing jblog1help@gmail.com . The Grammar Patch will be launched in Term 4 and will also be $50 per Book level.

Happy holidays everyone!

Is pedagogy essential to language teaching?

by

Pedagogy is defined as the “method and practice of teaching”. Pedagogy is where we learn the how of teaching. Most of us would agree it is as essential to a teacher as our content knowledge. It is just as difficult to be a Japanese teacher if you don’t know Japanese, as it is to teach Japanese as a native speaker if you don’t understand methodology.

So, let us agree on this point, teaching involves having something to teach and having the skills to share that knowledge with others.

But what about learning? What does it take to learn a language? Could we say that learning involves having someone or something to learn from and the skills to access that learning? Can we say with confidence that are language students are coming to us with those requisite skills?

Perhaps, the very first concepts we should be teaching in our language courses, is the how of learning. The success of all our subsequent lessons will be improved if students have fundamental knowledge of learning habits, study skills and motivation techniques. The poor continuation rates in languages suggest amongst other things, that students are not finding it an easy choice.

I have come to the conclusion, that explicit teaching of skills to access learning in language is the essential first step in the language journey. To this end, I have developed two short introductory courses for secondary students called Base Camp level 1 and level 2.

The first course is pitched at Year 7/8 students who may be beginning a language course for the first time. It covers five key concepts to develop student skills in learning and motivation. These include concepts such as implementation intentions, habit stacking and the two-minute rule.

The second course is pitched at Year 9/10 and 11/12 students who may have continued into elective courses. This sequence looks more closely at specific learning strategies to support independent learners. It suggests ways to revise and extend one’s knowledge in the macroskills using accessible resources from the students’ world. This includes various strategies to harness teenager obsession with social media for positive learning gains in language.

Although there are two levels, I would suggest that students who have not worked with the level 1 materials would benefit from working through those before attempting the level 2 materials. The Base Camp level 1 and 2 resource is sold as a set for $50 and can be purchased by emailing jblog1help@gmail.com .

I consider this resource a prerequisite bridging course for all language students. Don’t start 2020 without it!

WHY YOUR STUDENTS DON’T DO YOUR HOMEWORK

by

One of the difficulties of teaching languages in Australia is our lack of time on task. We simply don’t timetable enough hours a week in the school curriculum to do justice to language acquisition. One way to improve this situation, is to have students spend time out of class doing their own revision and learning at home. Imagine the increased learning gains you could achieve if you introduced new language in a one-hour lesson, and then the students returned two days later having mastered that content and were ready for more. Imagine if for every hour you taught, they matched it with an hour of home learning?

This doesn’t tend to happen in Australia for a multitude of reasons but let’s just focus today on 3 scenarios you can change.

Scenario 1 : the binger

This student only studies when they are given something specific to do such as complete a worksheet. They tend to do all the homework in one sudden hit and then forget about it.

Scenario 2 : the procrastinator

This student rarely completes work because they are disorganised and forget there was even work to do, or because they are worried they won’t be able to do the work well, so they don’t even attempt it.

Scenario 3 : the excuse master

This student has a busy life flitting between part-time jobs, sporting commitments and family/social engagements. They considered doing the work but there just never seemed to be the perfect opportunity.

The key problem with these three scenarios is that the teacher is driving the home learning. The teacher is setting the homework, setting the deadline and then most likely controlling the marking and feedback. No wonder teachers are burned out! How can we increase the level of student autonomy in home learning tasks?

Step 1 – Clarity

“Many people think that they lack motivation when what they really lack is clarity. It is not always obvious when and where to take action.” Page 71, Atomic Habits by James Clear

A research study in Great Britain in 2001 found that subject rates of exercise increased from 35% to 91% simply by having participants identify how, when and where they would exercise in advance.

Could we not have students do this with their home learning? Students could be responsible for identifying home learning goals in a similar manner. For example:

I will practice level 1 set of hiragana flashcards everyday in my bedroom after I shutdown by computer at 8pm.

I will write 5 sentences using the new kanji I learned today in the kitchen at 4pm on Tuesdays before I go to netball training.

I will read aloud the sample text on page 10 to my mum in the car on Wednesday after school and summarise what it means in English.

If students don’t look for time in advance to learn, it is unlikely that it will just happen.

Step 2 – Support systems

The second step is to have your students form small groups of 3-4 who act as study coaches. Each group has a shared google doc where they log their specific home learning goal for the week. Students spend 5 minutes at the end of the lesson on Monday logging their specific goal (what, when, where) with the group. At the start of the Friday lesson, groups report back and log how their learning went. Did they study when they said they would? Why or why not? What obstacles did they face? How could they overcome them next time? Over time students will become more conscious of their habits and they are far more likely to listen to a peer who calls them out on using the same excuse each week.

Step 3 – individual success

“Tend to your dreams every day. Even though you’re not quite seeing the shoots, something unseen is percolating.” Sonia Choquette

One of the problems with language learning is the “plateau of latent potential”. James Clear describes this as the “valley of disappointment” where we feel discouraged because we can not see the results of our hard work. He states “we often expect progress to be linear. At the very least, we hope it will come quickly. In reality, the results of our efforts are often delayed.” (page 22, Atomic Habits.) Sarah Pavy’s research also supports this perspective, noting that students often complain of a lack of progress indicators in their language learning. This is one reason why I use the Patch system to teach Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji. By dividing up the learning of the scripts into levels, students can enjoy progress at their own pace. My son has just started this system for his own learning of hiragana. At first, he struggled with just level 1, but then one day it suddenly became easy. He noticed this change himself and was motivated to learn the next level. When we introduce new vocabulary in class, sometimes we move on to the next list before a student feels that sense of accomplishment. Instead they end up feeling like they half know the words on 10 lists – “a jack of all trades but a master of none” as they say. When we give them a system, like the Patch series, they can run their own self-paced home learning that is complimentary to what you are doing in class. You can focus on teaching task-based interesting lessons and leave them to the grunt work of mastering key concepts like script or vocabulary at home.

Good luck with improving the home learning system in your language classroom.

Making language relevant in regional areas

by

The challenge of building a profile for language courses in what Tony Liddicoat has described as the “monolingual mindset of Australia” is well known. If those of us struggle to do so in metropolitan areas when we have access to resources such as restaurants staffed by native speakers, foreign language bookshops and libraries, spare a thought for our regional colleagues.

I recently wrote on the topic of “the new differentiation”, inspired by Seth Godin’s book “This is Marketing.” In it, he writes:

It doesn’t make sense to make a key and then run around and looking for a lock to open. The only productive solution is to find a lock and then fashion a key. It is easier to make products and services for the customers you seek to serve than it is to find customers for your products and services. (pages 5-6)

I linked this idea to our efforts to establish language programs. How many of us are trying to sell a language program rather than creating a languages product that meets the needs of your key stakeholders? Do you even know what the needs and desires are of your stakeholders are?

I discussed this topic recently with a regional teacher and asked her what the most popular elective class is at her school. She replied that agriculture was and that her Japanese class was constantly running against it on the elective line. It would be a momentous task to change the culture of the school and the community which obviously values agriculture and the role in plays in local industry. Equally, the timetable/ curriculum coordinator is not going to listen to your pleas to have your subject moved away from the popular one. So, what can one do in such a situation?

This dilemma inspired me to create a Stage 4 assessment task called the “Japanese investment Expo”. The idea is that students use their knowledge of their region and agriculture to lure Japanese investment into a product of their choice. Here is a brief extract from the task:

Task overview

Australia is well known internationally for its agricultural success. We are a popular country for trade and investment due to our political and economic stability, our natural resources, safe and ethical practices and high level of research and development.

This assessment requires you to use your knowledge of agriculture in your region with your developing Japanese language skills. This is a group task that will develop your skills in collaboration, project management and creativity.

The brief

A new mayor has been elected to your town. They are keen to increase the profile of your town on the international stage. The mayor has two key projects in mind.

The first is to establish a new sister city relationship with a town in Japan.

The second is to attract Japanese investment into local agricultural businesses to expand production and increase employment.

Your team will need to work through the attached tasks to help the mayor achieve these targets.

Students work through the reflection tasks that have them analyse details from a Japanese text, use hiragana and katakana tables to categorise export products and produce a bilingual video promoting their chosen agricultural industry using simple language and the scaffold provided. An optional extra would be to hold the “Expo” during a visit by Japanese students. The local students could share their videos at small stands and attempt to lure the students to invest in their product using the (fake) investment yen distributed by the teacher to each visitor.

I live in a metropolitan area now, but I grew up on the South coast of NSW and studied agriculture myself for the HSC. We had an “ag plot” that we all loved and we experimented with raising chickens, driving tractors and the power of the electric fence (not recommended!). A few weeks ago, I was visiting Austrade and was impressed by the documents they produce on “investment opportunities in Australian agribusiness and food”. I had no idea Japanese companies like Hakubaku have built a noodle processing plant here or that Kagome have a tomato processing plant in Victoria. There are legitimate opportunities for Australian agribusiness to work with Japan so let’s start preparing our regional students to make the most of these in the future.

Let us now return to the original dilemma of what to do when up against the popular agriculture subject on an elective line. My advice would be to run an assessment task such as this one in Stage 4 and demonstrate to the timetable/ curriculum coordinator that these subjects work well together so should be on a different line. I would reinforce this with different agriculture linked assessment in Stage 5 and joint visits to the agriculture farm with visiting sister school students. Piggy-back onto the popularity of agriculture rather than fight it, and you may find they become your greatest allies. Don’t forget to share your Japanese cooking with the agriculture teachers either – and maybe use that opportunity to discuss how you are creating cross-curriculum tasks in your subject.

Good luck regional teachers!

The Japanese investment Expo assessment task is available for purchase for $70. It can be modified and reused each year to suit your cohort. Email jblog1help@gmail.com to order.

Improving productive skills via contemporary issues

by

If you are looking for a different way to develop your students speaking, reading and writing skills in Japanese, then perhaps you should try this controversial method.

One of the challenges of a language teacher, particularly at the secondary level, is that the level of target language competence is greatly inferior to the student’s ability to think in their first language. These can lead to much frustration for both the learner and the teacher. Class activities can appear less sophisticated than other subjects if pitched at the level of target language competency. Whilst the Japanese class works extremely hard to master ordering a meal, next door the geography class is solving global environmental issues. Sometimes teachers resort to discussing the higher order cultural issues in English but then feel guilty that they have abandoned the “language aspect” of the lesson. So, what can we do to achieve a better balance?

My preference is to use English as the stimulus resource and Japanese as the language of interaction. This way students can quickly access the key concepts of the issue and tick that literacy box at the same time. The interaction with the materials though focuses on developing student productive skills such as listening and responding, summarising facts as an infographic or composing skits based on the perspective of the stimulus text.

So how could this work in a secondary context. Take the following link as a sample stimulus text. It introduces the story of the Indonesian sisters who campaigned to ban plastic bags in Bali.

https://www.smh.com.au/world/bali-tourists-bagged-to-support-girls-monumental-plastic-rubbish-goal-20160311-gng8xs.html

After reading this text in English, you could discuss the text with your students in the following ways.

1.Speaking skills check

メラティさんとイサベルさんはどこからきましたか。どこにすんでいますか。なにじんですか。

メラティさんはイサベルさんのお母さんですか。

メラティさんは何才ですか。

2.Reading skills check

メラティさんとイサベルさんは何がきらいですか。

  • ビニールぶくろ（ごみ）
  • いぬ
  • しゅくだい

メラティさんとイサベルさんはロンドンにいきました。　まる・ばつ

3.Writing skills

Writing tasks will vary according to the level of the students but could be composed and performed in small groups. For example, students could imagine they are Melita and Isabel. They could write:

  • a role play about the lesson that led them to start the campaign
  • a letter/email to a relative telling them about their trip to London to speak at the TEDTalk conference
  • a diary reflection about telling their parents their plans for the campaign
  • a comic summarising the key events in their story

At our Noosa Workshop, we will be looking at some more examples of how you can apply this technique using texts on gender issues and stereotyping in the media. Delegates will have a chance to experience the technique first-hand and will receive all the texts and sample tasks as part of the workshop. We hope to see you there!

The new differentiation

by

Are you struggling with elective class enrolments? Feel like you are constantly fighting for support from the executive? Your problem may lie in differentiation – although not from the traditional perspective.

Differentiation is how we shape our teaching and learning activities to support the needs and interests of the students. Traditionally we focus on making materials accessible to students who are at different levels of understanding and ability at a given point in time. For example, the NSW syllabus groups content appropriate to mainstream, prior-learning and background student levels. In the Jblog textbook series, we differentiate questions at the green, blue and black level based on ski runs.

But what if we looked at differentiation from a different perspective?

I was recently inspired by Seth Godin’s book “This is Marketing.” In it, he writes:

It doesn’t make sense to make a key and then run around and looking for a lock to open. The only productive solution is to find a lock and then fashion a key. Its easier to make products and services for the customers you seek to serve than it is to find customers for your products and services. (pages 5-6)

How many of us are trying to sell a language program rather than creating a languages product that meets the needs of our key stakeholders? Do you even know what the needs and desires of your stakeholders are?

When I refer to stakeholders, I am considering the students, their parents, the school executive and the larger community. These stakeholder groups will influence to different degrees how relevant my languages product will be perceived. Some of you may argue that we shouldn’t have to do this, and that simply stating the many benefits of language learning should be enough. Seth Godin argues though, that “The status quo doesn’t shift because you’ re right. It shifts because the culture changes”. (page 122)

It is a mighty task to change the dominant culture of your stakeholders to align with a languages’ viewpoint. But it is less difficult to align your course with the dominant culture. How about differentiating your languages course to meet the needs and interests of those stakeholders? Can you differentiate to better reflect their values, rather than swim against the tide? One of our schools has a dominant culture that exults commerce and business. So we embraced that with a unit titled “The Intercultural marketing business case study”. Students learned about how marketing to a Japanese audience differs to an Australian audience. They learned how customer expectations of customer service are deeply embedded in the language and culture that we identify with. Those of you in NSW currently reprogramming for the new syllabus may like to embrace this shift in mindset as you develop new task-based programs.

We will be discussing this topic in more detail at our Noosa workshop July 13th. The extended workshop will give us time to look at examples of assessment tasks that align with different stakeholder values and dominant cultures. You can book online using Trybooking or email me at jblog1help@gmail.com to request an invoice for your school. We look forward to escaping the winter chill with you then.

Good luck with your programming!