Teaching - and assessing - Young Learners

Calling all teachers of Young Learners in Kanto...here's a great opportunity for you to share your teaching skills, add some internationally recognised PD to your CV. And top up your bank account from time to time. Bingo?!

Cambridge Assessment English's most active Centre in Japan, Kawaijuku JP026, needs YOU! Training for Speaking Examiners to deliver & assess the Young Learners suite of speaking tests is only being run once this year in Tokyo over the July 11-12 weekend - so get cracking with signing up before all the seats are snaffled up > details https://lnkd.in/gH_-Fte3 Please check you meet Minimum Professional Requirements - applicants must reside in Japan & be eligible to work ie have the relevant visa....and enjoy teaching children!

Breaks my heart to have to say that Luna is no longer a Cambridge Centre for Young Learners (nor any other exam) as we basically saved this brand in Japan. 

No, I'm not fine!

"How are you? ""How are you."

Try again. "No. How are you?" "Oh. I'm fine."

How's he? 

And that's the end of the conversation for most Japanese students - get out of the conversation as quickly & as 'safely' as possible, with a generic response & no fuss. Certainly no extension, or attempt to broaden the scope - like enquire after the speaker's health. It's SO frustrating! Especially when I hear the inquirer react with "Oh good". Agghh!

So, I love unit 1 of Everybody Up 2, because we can break that mould. Here we meet 10 different emotions/feeling, none of them "fine" (which has lost all meaning). After this, require a 'proper' answer, every class, and a 'pass it on' reflex...either return the question, or turn to the next student as a round the room drill. Also, insist on different responses. And add a negative ( eg "I'm happy. I'm not sad."). Extension for bonus points in ay Cambridge speaking test!

Doing the same thing again...but it's a game?!

And sit down. Coats off (it's winter), rehydrate (in summer), blow noses (hayfever season)...

Teacher switches the grammar into a memory challenge; "How's Yuki?" Listening to other people? Becoming flexible with grammatical structures? "She's happy. She's not sad." 

And...every time, insist on meaningful, melodic intonation across utterances; prevent false starts/heads down...avoid 'speed of the slowest' answering as a group.

Mood meter

Personalise this - draw pictures into the back cover of the workbook is my favourite ploy. As a class, make a mood meter for the doorway (reminder, entrance routine etc).

Check spelling? In a way - but use the picture dictionary to start more extension.

Drill it to bits (pardon the pun) - another job for wordwall, again doing more with less. Embedding learning so it becomes a reflex, not an allergy!

A rabbit talks!

 Koharu wrote about her favourite animal, and talked about it/recorded herself using an iPad app (chatterpix) - as you can hear, her pronunciation is very intelligible with intonation across longer uttereances under control, and word stress + individual sounds clearly enunciated. All of which should add up to success in a #younglearners #CEFR_A1 #CambridgeMovers speaking test

 

Talking about chores - YLE speaking activity

Something to play with for the weekend!

Our teachers have been using Wordwall quite a lot lately, as it's provides a superbly flexible collection of easily created games/quizzes/activities. These can be played in class collaboratively, or at home...or together online - WIN WIN WIN!

This version from a class today, talking about chores. I wanted my students to get their heads up and 'fill in the blanks' ie stop mundanely reading with flat/non-existent intonation, and frequently not getting to the end of a question 'in one go'.

What do you think?

https://wordwall.net/resource/4086244

"It's examining, but not as we know it, Jim"

Speaking Examiners at arm's length

Cooperating SEs

A couple of months ago, we were able to run a Cambridge Speaking Examiner certification session in Chikusa, Aichi, with participants very aware of the need to be safe - wearing masks throughout, being socially distanced and not sharing materials, as well as sanitising hands etc.

With recent spikes in Nagoya and Tokyo, we've unfortunately had to cancel a couple of these workshops - sensible, if inconvenient, and reassuring to all that safety is at the top of our considerations.

We are hoping that we'll be able to provide all our examiners with the professional support they'll need to safely deliver speaking tests in the next couple of months, as we try our best to run the exam sessions we are commited to. 

For JP004/Luna's YLE open sessions in Tokyo, Nagoya & Matsumoto >> 

https://luna-jp004.jp/cambridge/exam

For JP004/Luna's A2:Key & B1:Preliminary sessions in Nagano >> 

https://luna-jp004.jp/cambridge/exam

For JP004/Luna's B2:First sessions in Tokyo & Nagoya >>

https://luna-jp004.jp/cambridge/exam

What do you need - YLE chefs' recipes

A follow up exercise, to a follow up game, to a textbook activity!

Difficult to conceptualise countable/uncountable items in a classroom without going to the office fridge on a raid...and most young learners, certainly here in Japan, do not linger very long in their kitchens & can barely cook instant noodles.

Orchard Toys' Crazy Chefs works to fill that concept gap very nicely, as players take turns to fill their recipe...asking "What do you need?" or "What do you want?" and replying with "I need/want a..." or "I need some ...." if they've turned over a card on their list. Wrong card = "I don't need a ...." or "I don't need any ....."

Now I know this seems obvious, but how often can you get an activity to occupy & excite five players at once and keep the language learning drilling away? We even managed to include a player Zooming in to the class :)

Support for this writing task with unfamiliar vocabulary (spelling - we asked each other during the game) on Quizlet = autonomous work possible and another game on the end of that (Match).

Sockpuppets on inventions

To celebrate getting to the end of our text book, we had some fun with one of my favourite older apps "Sockpuppets". The free version works fine (but I seem to have lost a load of purchases/usability) and the outcome for Miyu & Aoi was very satisfying! Round of applause!

In the Morning...

Wanted to share an activity we enjoyed this afternoon at Luna, reading one of Patrick Jackson's excellent Potato Pals little readers "In the Morning" - all about routines, so why not bring out the inner child in us all?!

We enjoyed ourselves; hope you do too!

Thanks for the inspiration (end permission/encouragement!) Patrick.

I want to be...Rui's ambition

I want to be a soccer player, because I can run fast and dribble very well.

I want to be....Sota's ambition

 I want to be a cook, because I can cook eggs.

Speaking Examiner training for Japan

下記の日程にて、ケンブリッジ英語検定のA2 Key/A2 Key for Schools (KET)とB1 Preliminary/B1 Preliminary for Schools (PET) のSpeaking Examiner（スピーキングの試験官）トレーニングが実施されます。


https://cambridge-university-press.jp/events_news/cambridge_speaking_examiner/


In 2019:

June 29: Key (KET A2) + Preliminary (PET B1) in Sendai
July 20: Key (KET A2) + Preliminary (PET B1) in Tokyo
Aug 17: Key (KET A2) + Preliminary (PET B1) in Kagoshima

Aug 24: Young Learners (YLE Starters, Movers & Flyers preA1 – A2) in Tokyo

Sept 29: Preliminary (PET B1) + First (FCE B2) in Tokyo
Nov 2: Key (KET A2) + Preliminary (PET B1) in Tokyo
Nov 9: Key (KET A2) + Preliminary (PET B1) in Nagoya
Nov 30:Key (KET A2) + Preliminary (PET B1) in Tokyo

In 2020:

Jan 18: Key (KET A2) + Preliminary (PET B1) in Nagoya
Jan 25: Key (KET A2) + Preliminary (PET B1) in Tokyo
Mar 21: Key (KET A2) + Preliminary (PET B1) in Tokyo
Mar 28: Key (KET A2) + Preliminary (PET B1) in Nagoya


申し込み・お問い合わせはこちら：

お申込みフォーム

ケンブリッジ英語検定東日本センターJP004
Speaking Examiner Team Leader
Jim George
oyajim@gmail.com

Cambridge English Qualification: Explaining results

About my sister I

Visiting Grandma in the woods

Karen’s Golden Week holiday report

Monstress self-portrait!

Monstrous self-portrait!

New Young Learners - Certification workshop

Quick announcement for any Cambridge YLE speaking examiners who need to re-certify with 2018 materials - certification workshop being held in Matsumoto Jan 28th

See link for details

NB Only available to SEs who have already trained for YLE and examined within the last 2 years

Contact Jim to register (free to JP004 SEs)

Revised Cambridge English: Young Learners tests – an overview

Important news for all YLE teachers & schools out there - suggest you pay careful attention to the changes & plan accordingly.

Please don't ask me for new sample or practice materials - the ink is still very wet!

Likewise, SEs, I'm trying to find out when the new materials will be available & implications for certification before the 2018 changes take effect. See the section from 22'35 - 25'00 & a comment at 47'

Postcard from...Yamagata, Japan

It was a pleasure to spend an afternoon with Ryan Hagglund's experienced staff at MY English School in Yamagata on Tuesday. It IS a long journey from Matsumoto, whichever way you slice it, but being able to hit the ground running makes the day easy to prepare for. Throw in a couple of pizzas and the odd donut...

SEs using Quizlet Live

Using Quizlet Live has proved to be a really enjoyable tool to get teachers working together quickly, and discussing aspects of eg performance feedback that might ordinarily not strike much of a cord. Getting examiners to argue the toss on courtesy or security for example, usually takes quite a lot of doing.

Grateful that even a teacher on paternity leave would give up some of that time to keep his credentials current, and for everyone's time in a week obviously crammed with interesting PD. Kudos to Ryan on pointing his school & staff in a very professional direction. Delighted we can continue to contribute to that bench-marked success with Cambridge Young Learners.