If you are coming from secondary setting and teaching primary for the first time, the lower primary classes can often seem quite intimidating. I personally love teaching primary, and the lower primary students offer the chance for playful and fun activities, songs, games, use of imagination, silliness and creativity. I have recently had a number of conversations with colleagues asking for tips when teaching this age group, which inspired me to write this post.
Be mindful of their energy levels: I like to remind myself that this age group of students have shorter attention spans and need to move around, a lot. Instead of expecting them to sit still, allow for regular breaks, shorter activities and movement opportunities to help them refocus and get the wriggles out. I try to do ten minutes on the floor and then give them an activity that has them moving around the room straight after. Half way through the lesson we may do a ‘brain break’ activity depending on how they’re going.
Regroup when necessary: If I sense that the class is losing focus, gather them in the centre of the room to regroup and refocus their attention, using a song, game, or short activity. As soon as I feel control slipping away I stop whatever they’re doing and remind them of their responsibilities in the classroom.
Use positive reinforcement: I try to mostly only acknowledge positive behaviors and accomplishments in the classroom, such as praising a student who is sitting quietly or a group that has packed up efficiently (and then watch them copy the student I called out!). I think this is true of most P-2 cohorts, they seem to respond particularly well to the positive reinforcement rather than constantly calling out negative behaviours.
Monitor interactions and adjust seating: I am constantly keeping an eye on student interactions and being sure to be proactive in moving students if I notice negative behaviors or lack of focus. This helps prevent conflicts from escalating or arising in the first place and maintains a positive classroom atmosphere.
Implement a group reward system: Use a special toy or reward that multiple students can share, encouraging them to work together and support each other in maintaining positive behaviors. They also will be sure to police each others’ behaviour so that they get to share the reward so that I don’t have to. I have a Totoro toy that is a big hit in my P-2 classes and they all want Totoro to sit on their table! As soon as Totoro comes out, they are on their best behaviour,
Be prepared to throw your lesson out: some days you may have planned an amazing lesson and you’re really looking forward to teaching it BUT X comes into the room upset, A hits someone, D makes a bad choice and distracts those around them, Z pushes someone, Y starts crying…sometimes I just have to be prepared to only do one part of my planned lesson and change everything else depending on the mood and I have to be OK with being spontaneous. Pushing through and forcing my beautifully planned lesson always ends worse than if I change things up and improvise on days like this!
Foster positive relationships: I think for me by far the best thing has been building strong, positive relationships with my P-2 students and maintaining a positive mindset about the cohort in general even if they can be tricky to manage at times. One of the ways that I do this as well is by encouraging positive behaviors by acknowledging them in front of the whole class and addressing negative behaviors discreetly to avoid drawing attention to them.
So – what does a typical class look like and what activities do I tend to run each lesson?
Note: I have taught in settings where I had 1 hour, once a week for each class, 2 x 40min lessons per week for each class and now I teach each of my classes for 50 minutes once a week. Whilst the below structure may not work exactly for your situation, the activities can each be adapted for any lesson length.
A typical class that I teach looks something like this:
- Set the tone: have students stand, bow and say the appropriate greeting “sensei konnichiwa”, “sensei ohayougozaimasu”.
- Mark the role: having students answer in Japanese with ‘hai’ and ‘imasen’ or answering a question such as ‘Genki desuka?’.
- Sing a song (or two or three!): I always do the greetings song. If you don’t know this, I will post about it under the resources tab, and then another song that relates directly to the topic at hand.
- Play a game: snap, pacman, I Spy, a board or dice game based on the current topic’s vocabulary
- Do an activity: students at this age love activities that involve cutting and glueing, tracing and a bit of colouring. I try not to have activities that are too reliant on colouring but it is something that they enjoy so to have it as an element in a worksheet is always engaging for them.
- Brain break: If I see that the students are getting a bit restless and fidgety, I stop the lesson at the halfway mark or whenever it seems appropriate and do some ‘rajio taisou’ with them (there are many kid friendly versions of this with pikachu, anpanman and other fun anime characters that kids love)
- Always have an ‘early finisher’ activity on hand: this may be a game, a short assessment check in (generally speaking/listening check ins work in this situation), having picture books on hand for students to look at, a mini-whiteboard activity such as writing hiragana or numbers, an iPad activity
- Ending the class: I have all students on the floor at the end, then we stand and say ‘sayonara’ and bow. Then, I often do an ‘exit pass’ where students have to answer a question on their way out or tell me a word in Japanese from our target vocabulary…the options are endless!
Additionally, it’s important to incorporate cultural elements into your lessons. This can include teaching about Japanese holidays and traditions, as well as introducing students to Japanese foods, music, and art. Consider having a cultural exchange with a Japanese school or inviting a Japanese speaker to come and talk to your class to give students authentic opportunities to speak Japanese and try their skills with a native speaker.
Another helpful tip is to use visual aids and props to reinforce language learning. For example, you can use flashcards with pictures to help students learn vocabulary, or use props such as origami paper to teach about Japanese crafts. P-2 kids love colour and images, so it is important to use lots of both when introducing new topics and teaching.
Finally, remember to be patient and flexible with your students. Language learning can be challenging, especially for young children, so be sure to offer plenty of encouragement and support. With these tips in mind, you can create engaging and effective Japanese lessons for P-2 students that will inspire a love of language learning for years to come.
Teaching Lingo 