Teaching Journal

Class: 40 students of 1-1 in HSHS
Date: November 11th, 2005
Textbook: Brushup your English grammar p/b CHART INSTITUTE
Allotment: Comparative (3) pp.66-67

Lesson objectives

1. To review Comparative (1) and (2) with the handout.
2. To introduce new comparative expressions, especially focusing on the following confusing usages:

no more than / not more than
no less than / not less than
no more A than B / not A any more than B
no less A than B

Teaching objectives

1. To keep focusing on the interaction of;
(1) Ss' individual work with the handout, walking in the aisles.
(2) Ss' asking me questions about the handout while checking answers by themselves.
(3) Ss' answering my questions while checking answers for exercises on page 67
2. To try to be as interactive with Ss as possible during the explanation session, using the blackboard, eye contacts, and talks with Ss.

Outline of the procedure

1. To test on Comparative (1) and (2) with the handout (10min)
2. To make Ss check the answers by themselves by using the textbook. (5min)
3. To introduce the above confusing comparative expressions. (15min)
4. To check answers for exercises on page 67. (15min)

Post-class reflections

This was the second part of introducing various types of comparative expressions. I believe that a lot of exercises are necessary for Ss to get used to them. So, in the previous lesson, I simply introduced various expression, mainly using the blackboard. In his period, I started with the test on sample sentences on the left-side page. Since I announced on the test beforehand, Ss prepared for it enough and took the exam so hard. I walked around the aisles during the exam, and all Ss tried to answer the test, or at least sincerely checked the answers, using the textbook. Hence, I concluded that this individual study format proved successful.
Then, I introduced new comparative expressions, which seemed quite confusing, as I had shown above. I taught them how to distinguish one expression from another like this:

no more than = only
[-]x[+] = [-]

no less than = as much as
[-]x[-] = [+]

not more than > no[t] [m]ore than = at most > a[t] [m]ost
[-]x[+] = [-]

not less than > no[t] [l]ore than = at lost > a[t] [l]ost
[-]x[-] = [+]

not A any more than B = Ｂでないのと同様Ａでない。
[-] x [+] x [+] = [-]

Since these expressions are quite confusing, I believe that this sort of explanation is necessary. However, it seemed that Ss were a bit bored even though they looked busy taking notes. That was because Ss were still unconscious of how confusing they were. I might need further justification on why this explanation is necessary.