Teaching Journal

Class: 40 students of 1-1 in HSHS
Date: November 8th, 2005
Textbook: Brushup your English grammar p/b CHART INSTITUTE
Allotment: Comparative (1) (2) pp.62-5

Lesson objectives

1. To review what Ss have learned in junior highs.
2. To introduce new expressions on comparatives.
3. To focus on various types of superlative degree:
(a) Mt. Fuji is the highest mountain in Japan.
(b) Mt. Fuji is higher than any other mountain in Japan.
(c) No other mountain in Japan is higher than Mr. Fuji.
(d) No other mountain is as high as Mr. Fuji.

Teaching objectives

1. To make Ss keep concentrating on the lesson by giving all Ss something to do at every moment.
2. To give Ss as many clues for answers as possible by writing them on the board.

Outline of the procedure

1. To answer exercises on page 63 and 65, writing clues for the answers on the board.

Post-class reflections

'Comparative' includes a lot of items to memorize, rather than to understand. In this sense, comparative tends to be a typical Grammar lesson: teaching Ss what to memorize monotonously, one-sidedly. For this and next lessons, I test two new methods. One is my way of silent way: instead of teaching everything, T just writes down the clues on the board, and makes Ss guess the answers. The other is to use the sample sentences on the left side of each unit as a test. So far, I explained the sample sentences on the left page, and taught Ss how to solve questions on the right page, which has proved too much for Ss from the questionnaire. That is why I ignored every explanation on the left-hand page, and focused on how to solve questions on the right-hand pages.
From my viewpoint, the class seemed successful; most Ss stayed awake, and looked busy taking notes and checking answers. At least, it was fur better than just listening to my monotonous explanation. They kept having something to do. Since my explanation was at minimum, I always interacted with Ss, such as asking them the answers, giving them clues of questions and so on. While one student was answering me, other students were busy taking notes. Though the whole period was just a routine work of answering the questions on the left page, I think it has worked.
However, Ss impression was quite different. I talked with three of Ss after the lesson about the impression of this lesson, they said, "ひどいですよー。黒板うつしてたら、答えどんどんゆっちゃうし、なにやっているかわからなくなりましたよー。" Since this is the new way, I may need some adjustment, but still, I believe that this was better than my previous way.
In the next lesson, I will start with a test on the sample sentences on the left page. I want to check the students' reaction.