Conversation Conversation
At our conversation school we
have four kinds of conversation classes.
ENGLISH CONVERSATION CLASSES
How do your classes work?
English conversation classes at Universe Academy
emphasize the speaking of English rather than the study of it in
the form of written text. These classes are meant to give
students greater fluency in their speaking abilities and also to
increase their listening comprehension. Native English speakers
are employed in these teaching positions so that students are
exposed to a more naturally spoken English than they would be
with a second language speaker. Also, very little translating, if
any at all, is used in these classes for the express purpose of
letting the students build their own schema as to the meaning of
what they are learning. The intended result of this is to give
the students a more fluid quality in their English by reducing
the amount of translating they do in their thinking while they
are speaking or listening.
What kind of students do you
teach?
In our English conversation classes we have a very
diverse student population. Our students range in age from young
children of about four or five years, up to middle- aged adults,
and their English abilities are as varied as their ages. In our
school we have broken down these classes into three basic
categories. These three categories are: kindergarten graduate
classes, juku conversation classes, and private conversation
classes.
What are kindergarten graduate
classes?
The kindergarten graduate classes (K.G. classes)
are, as implied by the name, for graduates of our English
immersion kindergarten. These students are all elementary age
children (first to fifth grade) and attend their own respective
elementary schools during the day. They come to Universe Academy
in the early evening for a fifty minute class, either once or
twice a week. Since these students have already had a full day of
school by the time they arrive here, teachers of these classes
have to work hard to plan lessons that will hold the students'
attention. The best way to do this is to make it fun! Our
teachers usually make their lessons fun by including many types
of game playing, songs, creative activities, and any other type
of activity that contains a definitive English content. The
levels of English abilities that these students possess range
from upper level beginner to intermediate. One major bonus for
teachers of these classes comes from the students' extensive
exposure to English during their time in our kindergarten.
Because of this exposure, the majority of these students do not
exhibit the shyness of speaking English that other Japanese
students often demonstrate. In the long term, this lack of
shyness is a great benefit for both the students and the teachers
and makes the classes very enjoyable for both.
What are juku conversation
classes?
Our juku conversation classes are for middle
school students and are meant to supplement the normal English
studies that every Japanese adolescent must undertake during
their regular course of studies. In their regular English classes
at their own schools, these students primarily study English in
the written form and get very little meaningful experience using
it in the spoken form. This is the reason that our juku
conversation classes focus on the speaking and listening portion
of English and have no formal grammar studies except where it
pertains to the spoken word. Another advantage that our students
have is that most of them also attend our formal English grammar
classes. These classes are taught in Japanese by our Japanese
teachers and they provide the students with a good understanding
of the mechanics of English. When these two classes are combined
into one program it generally results in our students having a
great advantage over their peers who do not attend our school. In
short, we are very proud to say that students who take advantage
of our well-rounded program of study often show greater
improvement, in shorter periods of time, when compared to other
students in their respective schools.
What are private conversation
classes?
Our private conversation classes are probably our
most diverse classes where age and ability are concerned. A
teacher might be teaching beginning English to a group of four
year olds in one class, and the next class might be a challenging
conversation with a middle-aged adult about world politics. The
one constant in these classes is that they are never dull and
they are always a challenge since each class is designed for the
levels of the students being taught. And, although we try to keep
the same philosophy for these classes as we use in our juku and
kindergarten graduate classes (spoken language over the written),
we sometimes have to modify our teaching style to accommodate the
wants and needs of our students. For example, a former private
student of ours was writing scientific papers in English and his
specific request was for instruction in the grammar needed for
his work. In this case it meant the teaching of active and
passive voice, transitive and intransitive verbs, and a number of
other grammatical forms considered preferable in scientific
writings. On the whole, these classes are valuable not only to
the students, but also to the teachers, in that they provide
experience that will last throughout a teaching career.
This text was written by former conversation teacher, Lowell
R. Hastings Jr.; 1998-1999
International Education
Center
Universe Academy
3038 Miyamaru Miyakonojo, Miyazaki
885-0078 Japan
Tel:(0986)26-1874 /Fax: (0986) 26-1878
E-mail
Copyright (c) IEC Universe Academy