Self Introduction Lesson/Boy.pockets Experience

Overview

So far I have done about 7 Self Introduction Lessons in a classroom setting. My first attempt was really bad. But I have improved since.

Details

Here are the numbers:

• 3 in Junior High (1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd years) - about 30min plus time for questions,
• 2 in Elementary (5^th and 6^th years) - about 20 min plus time for quesitons,
• 2 in Pre-School - about 5 min.

My first attempt was to the first years at Junior High and it was really bad. There was no interaction on their side and the first half I was just drawing pictures and writing on the board. I don't think they understood most of it. The second half improved when I put on my slide show (just a pdf).

After this first attempt I ditched the idea of drawing on the blackboard and just kept it all in the presentation (well almost all). Other things that I did to improve:

• wait until I had finished my presentation before handing out the wikipedia:realia. This meant there were less disctracted people in the class (they could listen to me instead of being absorbed by the props).
• Ask more questions:
  • What country is this?
  • What flag is this?
  • What animal is this? What is it doing?
• Talk less about history

My best props were:

• Foreign Money
• My wallet, passport and driver's licence
• Native animal book

Pre-School (Hoikuen)

This was really short - just showing pictures really and saying keywords. I could still ask questions to the olders kids (4 and 5 years). It was like reading a story book to them.

Lessons Learnt and Advice

• The kids were really eager to answer questions in my self introduction lessons - it was fun.
• The more pictures I could talk about the better.