Submitted by Hiroko Nagai
Objectives:
Content:
Students will...
- conduct an interview and take notes
- compile the results of an interview in written form
Cultural:
Language: Content Obligatory
Student will...
- use question phrases to complete an interview
- use the following phrases to describe the classmates:
1. こちらは、ライアンくんです。17才でメモリアル高校のせいとです。
Identifying person/ nationality, profession
2. ライアンくんは背が高くてやせています。
Describing people/ physical traits/temperament/attire
3. ライアンくんは日本語とスポーツがだいすきです。
Expressing likes/dislikes
4. ライアンくんはメモリアル高校は楽しいと言っていました。
Expressing someone’s opinion/ feeling
5. ライアンは将来スポーツ選手になりたいと言ってました。
Expressing wishes in others
6. ライアンくんは、小さい時たくさんサッカーをしました。
Narrating personal experiencesLanguage: Content Compatible
Students will…
- ask for repetition or rephrasing when the class shares the findings
もういちどいってください。(Please say it again)- ask how to say something in Japanese and write something mentioned
日本語でどう言いますか？ ( How do you say it in Japanese)- ask someone to explain what they said
どういう意味ですか？( What does it mean?)Learning Strategies / Social and Skills Development:
Students will...
- use strategies-self-management and monitoring (interview and writing)
- use cognitive strategies-taking notes, practice and manipulate Japanese, summarizing information
- cooperate with peers to complete their tasks
Time Frame:
One to three 50 minute class sessions
Materials Needed:
Overhead projector or chalkboard
Description of Assessment (Performance Project):
The teacher will need to facilitate a discussion about how people are introduced using various writing genres. The students could have available short paragraphs about authors of books or articles as found on Internet. The teacher could also create his/her own biography. This process would include showing the finished product and then brainstorming the backwards steps in the writing process.
For example, if the author's biography includes a sentence such as "She gets her greatest inspiration from her cat, Dulcy," the class could think backwards and predict that one of the questions asked was, "Where do you find your inspiration for writing?" This will be revisited later as students work to turn questions into narrative text.
Before continuing, the teacher should have a discussion about interview protocol. This would include a listing or clustering of the already created questions and determining if they are "closed" or "open-ended" questions.
Students should gather again in their small groups and make decisions about these questions. Are they more comfortable asking, and thereby later responding to, open-ended or closed questions? For groups interested in open-ended questioning, the teacher should meet with those students and create other lists that include leading and follow-up questions to responses.
Throughout the process, the teacher should be monitoring student progress so that the work time is focused on the tasks at hand and the questions generated are socially appropriate in Japan or the United States. This might be a "teachable moment" for the teacher to take a time out from the lesson to have an immediately applicable conversation about cultural similarities and differences between Americans and Japanese students.
After the students have prepared questions, each class member should have time to either individually or in a small group practice his/her responses. Writing down key words or "language chunks" in Japanese should be encouraged as a way to facilitate effective communication.
When students have practiced responses and how to ask the questions to their peers, interviews should begin. The teacher should decide in advance how the information from the interview will be saved and recorded. Perhaps the class will organize with the media center to get video equipment or individuals can bring in cassette players.
To simplify things, the students could just take notes on paper. Thereafter, the interviewer will check with the interviewee to ensure that what they said was what they meant. This will likely bring up the need for various verb tenses. This is another juncture for leaving the lesson plan for "teachable moments" and discussions of writing conventions and styles.
1) Conduct an interview to their classmates
2) Write about the classmates according the interview
3) Check their writing with the checklist
4) Review their writing with peers.
5) Rewrite the classmate introductions
Assessment:
1) Informal assessment occurs throughout the activities.
2) Formal assessments for the writing included as attachment
3) Self-Checklist for writing as attachment
References and Resources:
http://www.pi-at.com/megu/american/sensei.htm (For writing)
Attachments:
NOTE: some attachments are in PDF form (get Acrobat Reader)Rubric for the writing (about a classmate)
Check list for my writing