Countries

INTRODUCTION

Review the key phrase and countries on the handout. All of the countries shown are within theEigo Noto books, though Spain is in Eigo Noto 1, and Canada, Norway, Greece, and Ecuador are all in supplementary areas of Eigo Noto 2.

INTRODUCTION

Use the map of the world (one globe per group is also possible) to find Japan. Find various other countries, e.g. Jamaica, South Africa, India, UK, etc. This is useful to gauge what they already know from social studies class.

INTRODUCTION

I did a lesson on Australian animals, where I introduced the vocabulary whilst reading the famous Australian children’s story Possum Magic by Mem Fox. I also had a copy of the same book in Japanese (ポスおばちゃんのまほう) which was read by the Home Room Teacher (HRT ).

ACTIVITY

1. In groups give the students a map of the world in jigsaw pieces.

PREPARATION:

Find 5 large, clear pictures of common places (e.g. park, my friend’s house, beach, school, station) or famous cities (New York, London, Tokyo, Seoul, Toronto) and 5 large, clear pictures of common activities (watch TV, listen to music, eat ice cream, etc). If possible, label each picture clearly and legibly. Print out 2 sets.

ALT draws a large 5×5 grid on the whiteboard/chalkboard.

Set up the x-axis for places and the y-axis for activities.

I made this for the 6th lesson in Eigo Note 2, but you could use it for review with older kids.

Tell them you're going to call your friends in [home country] through the internet at the end of class. Get them worked up.

Perhaps the only thing that kids love more than bingo and board games is a FUSION of both!

I came up with this idea because in some classes the classroom was too small for moving around in and the kids got too rowdy during exciting games. And the kids. Love. Bingo. And board games. SO. MUCH. (Not to mention that it's more about luck than skill, so even kids who aren't good at English have a chance at winning.)

A lesson devised to build upon the suggesting finished activity for Eigo Noto 2‘s “I want to go to Italy.” topic, in which students learn to express desires, and reasons for having them.

Rather than choosing an existing country to visit—as suggested by the textbook—students work in groups to imagine a new country, name it, design its flag and map, and reasons for visiting their country in the process.

This lesson is best used as a fun team activity. Assign the class into teams however works best, and give each team a large card that says "TRUE" on one side and "FALSE" on the other.