After graduating Carnegie-Mellon University (Pittsburgh, PA) with a BFA in Violin Performance and an MFA in Music Education, I began teaching general and instrumental music in Hartsdale, NY, a suburb of New York City, at a K-8 school where about 30% of my students were Japanese children. The children enjoyed teaching me too. At the end of the year all of the first-graders performed the songs "Suzume no Gakkou" and "Shou Jou Ji no Tanuki Bayashi" for the Spring Concert. In hindsight, I realize that this was my first exposure to the Japanese people and culture.
After many years of "hobbying" i.e. reading one textbook after another, listening to Japanese music, and watching "terebi dorama," I took my first college Japanese class in 1994. In September 1995, I made a career change to develop a program teaching Japanese in a public elementary school in the East Harlem section of New York City. I used what I knew best - lots of songs! Along with that, I also used games and puppetry and whatever commonsense I had developed as a parent of two children.
Ten years later, I have completed 46 college credits in Japanese earning NYS Teaching Certification in Japanese grades 7-12 with a PreK-6 Extension. Due to job changes and NY State and NY City licensing and certification requirements, I also wound up becoming certified in ESL and Elementary Education.
I have taught Japanese at the elementary, middle school and high school level in New York inner city and suburban schools. I currently teach Japanese to 9th and 10th graders in a public high school in the Bronx section of New York City. Although it was not my original intention to do so, I created and use my own textbooks and materials at each level.
I still use the same types of activities and "commonsense" that I brought to my first position combined with newer skills and techniques taught to me by many wonderful and far more experienced teachers. At our benkyoukai, I will try to share some of these with you along with suggestions on how to structure them into an effective and fun lesson.
For more information, please visit my website at: http://home.att.net/~robertayoung/jessi/
When I first began teaching Japanese to Kindergartners and first-graders, I relied heavily on my musical background and my knowledge of Japanese children's songs. Beyond that, I often translated into Japanese many of the games and activities that I myself had played as a child and then later played with my own children. To be honest, my strongest quality as the teacher of inner city school children may have been my ability to maintain acceptable behavior within the classroom.
Thanks to many wonderful and experienced teachers, I have since developed a broad repertoire of effective activities along with a better sense of how to structure these activities into effective lessons. In this benkyoukai, I will share my favorite activities focussing on ideas that are flexible enough for teachers to use as supplements to their regular textbooks and discuss how to scaffold these activities into effective lessons.
Roberta sensei's paper is at http://home.att.net/~robertayoung/jessi/jpnactivities.html
So read the paper above and go to TAPPED IN. There, you will be able to discuss this topic with Roberta sensei and others from around the world. TAPPED IN is open to everybody and the presentation will be done in English.
This event is open to anybody who is interested in the topic. It will be at After School Online Room at http://ti2.sri.com
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