Ayumi
I could spend very good time with the students (I met two pen-pals) at Cheney High School. There was quite different atmosphere compared to Japan in the school. I took part in the Language Arts class and my partner was a girl whose name is Kayla. After the class, the other my pen-pal came and joined us. She was Zara.
The class I observed was more interactive than I expected. I’ve already learned the style is different, but it was first time to attend such kind of class. There were a lot of things which we don’t often see in the classroom in Japan. For example, the teacher and students’ interaction was very quick. The students answered their teacher’s question by raising their hand as quickly as possible. I saw another example while some of the people in the class did short presentation. After the presentation, the small poster which they used was shared with all of the classmates by passing the poster between students to students. Not only these interaction, I also saw a very highly motivating activity which was quiz with mini-golf game. People who chose correct answer on the quiz could get a right to obtain more points by playing mini-golf. I thought it was great idea because students can work hard to get a higher score, but it’s not so simple a step, so they need to select their answer very carefully. As for my pen-pals, I got little bit nervous before I met them, but finally I really enjoyed talking with the girls. If I had more time, I wanted to talk more. However, I sometimes asked them “Pardon?” or “What?” because they spoke fast, but I don’t think that was a big problem.
I enjoyed lunch too. I didn’t eat too much, and the pizza was delicious :) During lunch time, I could interview my cultural comparison and got two people’s answers. Fortunately, one of my pen-pals is Jewish, and the other is Christians, so I got some different opinions about my topic especially Christmas. The Jewish people rarely celebrate Christmas on a large scale like Christians in the U.S. For example, they just go to movie with their friend. It may be only in my pen-pal’s case, but I’ve never heard about it, so I thought I got some new information from them. I felt happy to get two pen-pals. However on the other hand, it was difficult to speak to both of the girls equally. I couldn’t speak face to face to both of them at the same time. I could be a good friend with them and I heard they’re on facebook. I also could give them my presents I brought from Japan.
I could spend very good time with the students (I met two pen-pals) at Cheney High School. There was quite different atmosphere compared to Japan in the school. I took part in the Language Arts class and my partner was a girl whose name is Kayla. After the class, the other my pen-pal came and joined us. She was Zara.
The class I observed was more interactive than I expected. I’ve already learned the style is different, but it was first time to attend such kind of class. There were a lot of things which we don’t often see in the classroom in Japan. For example, the teacher and students’ interaction was very quick. The students answered their teacher’s question by raising their hand as quickly as possible. I saw another example while some of the people in the class did short presentation. After the presentation, the small poster which they used was shared with all of the classmates by passing the poster between students to students. Not only these interaction, I also saw a very highly motivating activity which was quiz with mini-golf game. People who chose correct answer on the quiz could get a right to obtain more points by playing mini-golf. I thought it was great idea because students can work hard to get a higher score, but it’s not so simple a step, so they need to select their answer very carefully. As for my pen-pals, I got little bit nervous before I met them, but finally I really enjoyed talking with the girls. If I had more time, I wanted to talk more. However, I sometimes asked them “Pardon?” or “What?” because they spoke fast, but I don’t think that was a big problem.
I enjoyed lunch too. I didn’t eat too much, and the pizza was delicious :) During lunch time, I could interview my cultural comparison and got two people’s answers. Fortunately, one of my pen-pals is Jewish, and the other is Christians, so I got some different opinions about my topic especially Christmas. The Jewish people rarely celebrate Christmas on a large scale like Christians in the U.S. For example, they just go to movie with their friend. It may be only in my pen-pal’s case, but I’ve never heard about it, so I thought I got some new information from them. I felt happy to get two pen-pals. However on the other hand, it was difficult to speak to both of the girls equally. I couldn’t speak face to face to both of them at the same time. I could be a good friend with them and I heard they’re on facebook. I also could give them my presents I brought from Japan.
Ayumi,your observation of the class is great! It includes a lot of details and examples, so I can understand what you saw in the class easily.
ReplyDeleteFrom Miyuki