The importance of building a "safe space" for students to speak as much English as possible
Within the "Comprehensive English" and "English Comprehension" classes at Kokusai High School, all school years participate in team teaching classes held by Japanese teachers of English and ALTs once a week.
Here, 3rd year English Comprehension class instructor Kenta Tominaga spoke to teacher Brett Lerner about the features and merits of team-taught English lessons at Kokusai High School.
Teacher Kenta Tominaga
8th year at Kokusai High School.
"Lessons in English to understand Western books"
--At Kokusai High School, what sort of English lessons do you offer through team teaching?
Over three years, students read five Western books in their lessons. Students read the children's book "Matilda" in their first semester of 1st year, then gradually move up through books for elementary school students, to books for junior high school students. Right now, our 3rd year students are reading "Never Let Me Go" by Kazuo Ishiguro. They start with children's books, and in the end they work hard to read normal Western novels.
--At the beginning of the class, Mr. Lerner wrote five words on the whiteboard, didn't he?
We have them read two sentences every time, and the ALT will offer several keywords from the significant parts of these sentences. This time Mr. Lerner gave five keywords, so students split into five groups, read the parts related to each keyword, and wrote even more related keywords on the board.
Next, each group made presentations on the content related to each keyword section. By answering instructor questions about this students deepen their understanding of the material.
--What sort of strength do you wish to give to the students using Western books in team teaching?
They can experience expressions you only find in novels, not textbooks or grammar books, as well as experience having to read from context. I want them to become people capable of using English to flourish in the future, and I think that having these students experience real English is extremely important.
--Both teachers and students speak completely in English during lessons, but do students understand questions asked to them by ALTs?
Yes, they understand. Mr. Lerner has the fastest speech patterns of Kokusai High's ALTs and speaks at a natural pace. But even students that were confused in the beginning will even laugh at what he says now. Still, when students have trouble understanding the teacher's question, I'll step in and put it into simpler terms, allowing them to understand the intent of the question.
