The Ministry of Foreign Affairs

~Fun and Games Division~

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I've been a member of the JET Program(me) since July 2005, teaching English to elementary and junior high students in Japan. At elementary schools, I essentially design and teach entire classes, with the Japanese teachers deciding on the target material. My usual pattern is to teach the target vocabulary, drill until it's set in short-term memory, and then play games for the rest of the time remaining. At junior highs, I'm more of a backup. I do warmups, demonstrate pronunciation, and run the occasional longer game or activity as a time-filler.

The most important part of my job is to provide a friendly, English-speaking presence to get the students in an international frame of mind. I watch and sometimes join club sports, hang out after school, play with them during recess, and join in school cleaning and other activities. For the in-class part, though, I've been assembling a list of the games I've tried, with notes on their effectiveness, and I've decided to share the most successful ones. I hope that any fellow ESL teachers, in the JET Programme or elsewhere, find some of these useful.

If anyone would like to comment on these or offer additions, please write me and let me know!

Elementary School Games

The main characteristics of Elementary school are an emphasis on vocabulary and use of simple sentences. Most Japanese kids know quite a bit of English, including the alphabet, how to count, basic greetings, and animals and fruits. However, many of them can't read or write Roman characters. Currently there is no set English curriculum at Japanese elementary schools. If you can, try to work one up on your own. Also, there are no designated English teachers. Each class has a homeroom teacher that you'll have to work with. The biggest challenge of elementary school teaching is often not the kids, but learning to deal with a different style, level of control and discipline, and different goals and educational theories for each class. Both the kids and the teachers will deprive you of your last shred of decency, so it's best to leave that at the door and just try to have as much fun as possible.

Junior High School Games

These kids get really serious really fast. English is now a matter of lectures, drills, homework and tests; it's your job to keep it as fun as possible. The Japanese system is monolithic and slow to change, so it's best to get your "yey language" hooks edgewise into the cracks. The biggest challenge in this case can be to face down a tired, apathetic class that would rather sleep than study; there are few things more discouraging than thirty blank stares if you let it get to you. Here you have one or two English teachers per school, so developing good relations with the teacher is vital to your happiness and job satisfaction. Junior high is usually less physically tiring but more mentally draining than elementary, but for me, the rewards are higher too. There's just something magical about teaching a grammar point and hearing someone use it later.