These are a collection of free flashcards I have used with the Eigo Noto lessons. I hope you find them useful...
Do remember that you are allowed to use them in your Eigo Noto classes but the images remain copyright of...
The ENB's very own home-made special ESL worksheets that will hopefully promote, well, ...Japanese kids working on ESL worksheets...
Remember to try and get a "feeling" for your classes before you hand these out. So, don't forget to tell the kids, "It's not a test, it's practice."
Here is another mini-site type set of flash scratch quizzes. Feel free to use them for your classes if you've got a big enough pc screen hooked up to the net...
Koomakids.com is now actually NaturalGenius.jp and is made up of a husband and wife team. So, who's the boss?... I don't really know but they are Chris and Suzana based out of Hiroshima at their language school called PIIC. It's very posh and stylish. Well, I really like their videos and they're great for your younger graded lessons. By the way, I think he's the programmer (techie) and she's the illustrator (design-nut). But no kidding, you can see their really nice designs at "piic.jp" in the about page.
Click here to get to see many more of their Koomakids.com videos on ENB TV...
The ENB
pdf/Eigo Note Book 1 Lesson 9 Interview Sheet for Breakfast Foods and Eating Habits by the ENB.pdf
It's quick and easy and can be done in 5 minutes. Ask 4 students and circle their answers. No complaints. Just ask the kids to write their names in English for a little challenge.
The ENB
Just one set of flashcards... this time.
But they do say "I want to be a ..."
Eigo Note Book 2 Lesson 9 Big Jobs Flashcards with the words - I want to be a - by The ENB.pdf
Three sets of flashcards in just one package!
There's the 4 little stories on the first page of Lesson 8. The characters for "The Big Turnip" story. The "Skit Memo Guide" from the QTW section in Flashcards so you can drill the kids well into the "Oscar Nominee" level before they do their performances. There's even a big turnip flashcard... just to have handy in case you don't have a daikon on hand or in... or should I say "in your pocket". Well, either way, just have fun! But just a thought here... Could you imagine your HRT handing you a daikon and saying "Here's a big one for our lesson..." (Because turnips in that size are so hard to find these days...)
Eigo Note Book 2 Lesson 8 Big Flashcards Set - Stories Skit and Characters with words by The ENB.pdf
By the way, a message to the Turnip Boy... if you are out there somewhere... anywhere... You had me at "hello."
Here they are... The last items up for Book 1. You'll find 3 sets of food flashcards here.
I hope all of the above has made your life a lot easier. It sure has made mine a lot more simpler by just making a set for every school I go to. And it'll perhaps make you look very busy and "prooofeeeessionaaalle."
Here is a mini-site type set of flash quizzes and some 3-hint quizzes I used for my classes last year. Feel free to use them for your classes if you've got a pc screen hooked up to the net...
Click here to get to the mini-site...
Here is another mini-site type set of flash quizzes I used for my classes last year. Feel free to use them for your classes if you've got a really big pc screen hooked up to the net... Give only little bits of hints to the kids to give them a real challenge!
Click here to get to the mini-site...
Here are two sets of flashcards I use for my classes. One for the chant and the other for when the kids, the HRT, and I discuss our daily routines. I prefer using the second set since it is more simple and all you really have to do is change the "teach" to "study" but I usually stop it there and just let the kids give me their "get up" and "go to school" or "eat breakfast" to give more kids a chance to speak up. It's quite fun actually to see all the different schedules the kids have and some can be very surprising to hear like "going to bed at 7:30 and getting up at 5:30." I couldn't believe it...
Eigo Note Book 2 Lesson 7 Lets Chant My Daily Routine Flashcards by The ENB.pdf
Here is a picture presentation that will help the kids to finally consolidate "want to go, eat, see, and play" and to help them prepare for their presentations for lesson 6-4.
I usually leave this picture presentation for the last part of class after doing the quiz and a repeating session with the bingo flashcards using eat, see, and play.
At around this time, your kids may be going to their Kyoto trips or such other places for Grade 6 students all over Japan. Ours went to Kyoto so we prepared them for "In Kyoto, I want to see..." and such other items using eat and play. If the kids, don't speak up, just call out some random student numbers. Allow that first student who does speak up to dare the next student by giving him rights to choose the next number and so on...
Hint: Kids will usually speak up if dared by their peers rather than an ALT at some times. Congratulate the kids for accepting dares and tell them... You are strong! You are my hero! Even the corny stuff works sometimes.
Here is a set of all the flashcards with the flags for each country that could be used for reviewing.
Eigo Note Book 1 Lesson 8 School Subjects Flashcards for Testing-no words by The ENB.pdf
I've just prepared these cards for reviewing the number names first before heading into the "ordinal" way of speaking. This is just to get the kids on the right track and to show them the difference between numbers and ordinals. A set of "ordinaled" flashcards will be coming soon...
Eigo Note Book 2 Lesson 3 Numbers 1-31 for review first (not ordinals) by The ENB.pdf
Eigo Note Book 2 Lesson 6 Bingo Flashcards for Review or Games by The ENB.pdf
These flashcards will help you get started for the "bingo game" and that "put these cards in the order that I say on your desk" practice game that was in the Teacher's Book.
These images have been blown up and put into quarters for an A4 sheet. If you make a few sets you could have a few challenge games in groups and the kids could also post them up on the blackboard for a "finals" match for that "put these cards in the order that I say on your desk" game.
As for Bingo, it could be played individually, but if you had 8 sets of cards, the kids' could play as groups (in lunchgroups) so that they could have a little "communication" time between, before, or after any of the activities in these lessons. Prizes work well in this latter case since the whole group ends up as winners instead of just a single bingo winner. Don't forget to bring your best stickers or if you really want to splurge, giving a few pennies or small change from abroad will really get the kids head over heels for you.
These are meant to be used as a warming-up activity for the target language and to review the country names.
Eigo Note Book 2 Lesson 6 I want to go to these countries - with flags - by The ENB.pdf
Eigo Note Book 2 Lesson 5 Buildings and Places Medium-Sized Flashcards with words by The ENB.pdf
I usually use these at the beginning of the lessons to review or teach the building and place names. They can also be used to put up on the blackboard as a map like the same one in the textbook to teach how to give "directions" in English. Also, it's very useful for previewing and checking the quizzes if the students get confused by it.
You will have to make your own Ken, Julia, Bob and Mai figure cards by yourself for now. (Although Ken is not really on the quiz...)
Actually, I've just made them... They are not really good scans since they were very small to begin with but the kids will know who they are.
Laminate, cut, then stick and tape them onto a pair of chopsticks from the staff kitchen with some strong tape and have fun walking them around your town map on the blackboard.
If you are very adventurous with the kids, show them a random route (that you've already written on a memo) on the blackboard with one of the figurines. Then quiz the kids with these 2 questions.
1. Where did he/she go?
2. How did he/she get there? Please give me the directions!
It's a surefire way of getting the kids to practice their directions before one of the exercises or quizzes in this chapter.
Eigo Note Book 2 Lesson 5 Mai Ken Bob and Julia figures for the town map with words by The ENB.pdf
"I am tutoring a boy with special needs and have been pulling my hair out trying to think of ways I could teach the vowel sounds. This is wonderful. The cue's, and fun way you have this lesson set up is going to be very enjoyable for him. Thank you SO MUCH!" were one of the most recent comments on this youtube page by "akpace305"
So, how many of you out there are also pulling out your hair trying to figure out a neat way to teach the kids some vowel sounds?
However your techniques may be I'm sure you'll agree this video is worth a look...
Well, I don't really have a lot of time... but here are some excerpts...
"Learn how to teach the short vowels - an easy way to learn the short vowel sounds. Learn how the short vowel sounds are on your body. Explained by Bonnie Terry, LD Specialist, c/o http://www.bonnieterrylearning.com"...
"If reading came naturally, teaching reading would be a much easier job. Children would learn to read as readily as they learn to speak..."
"The communicative approach to language teaching has given instructors a different understanding of the role of reading in the language classroom..."
"Phonics is the most widely used approach to the teaching of reading and spelling...
"The study of short vowel sounds is vital to students' early reading and writing skills. Short vowel sounds are typically introduced to children before long..."
Some free online lessons... if you sign up though... at: www.learntoreadfree.com/
The ENB
As continued from the "original" post...
"With the remainder of the time, we used that to prep them for Activity 2 on
page 29 and had most of the kids practicing with their partner:
1. Hello, everyone! (everybody)
2. My name is ...
3. I like ... I like... I like...
4. Thank you!"
What we did do however was to let the kids relax a bit and work on making their pictures easier to see by tracing over the pencil lines with a black name marker pen (name pens) or with some coloring pens.
Also, we did a presentation review so the kids could have some time to practice in pairs before doing the real thing.
After the whole class had finished, we played a guessing game by gathering about 8 random textbooks open to the pages that the kids had drawn. Then I would have to pretend I was the presenter and read from the pictures but without saying the student's name. All the other students could then try to guess who it was that I was talking about. I couldn't believe it but the kids only missed twice out of about 40 students. I guess they were really listening.
To keep things in better order, just ask the student in the back of a row to collect a group's textbooks. Don't forget to award the guesser (the person who guesses who's book it is that your are reading from) the textbook as one point. He or she will be surprised to get another person's textbook but you could just tell them that it can be given back at the end of the lesson. Some students can get up to 4 textbooks if they are really gung-ho about this game.
Another point as to why I award other student's textbooks is that I want to promote trust and sharing in the classroom. I also want students to feel comfortable with handling things that belong to a student of the opposite sex. I really hate seeing students acting so childish about this, so by Grade 6 it never becomes a problem. I just tell them its "really uncool" or as they say in Japanese... "kako-warui, ne!"
Also, in my schools, the Eigo Note is the most borrowed textbook. (But I don't know if that's a good thing... the kids always forget their textbooks at home!)
Well, this kind of of guessing game can help you kill that dead space even more that usually remains after the presentations in your Eigo Note lessons. Otherwise, your HRT might just send you back to the teacher's room. Or if you have an electronic blackboard, you can show the flickr galleries to the kids or play the examples below.
After the repeating practice and a few rounds of "I like ..." practice, it was time to build up towards their presentation. Now, just to ease the tension a little bit a "speed call" game was played in rows. That meaning the first row of students would all stand up and as I would flash them a card the fastest person would say "I like...." and that card's name, would get to sit down first. The other students in the meantime would play as judges and judge who would be first based on their speed, rythm, and pitch or how loudly enough they could speak. (Great, I don't have to pressure the kids into into speaking loudly enough, their friends can do that for me in this game. It works really when they work together on it.)
This is a space type game that brings back some fond memories... Fight for the survival of the universe in this epic space shooter.
Here is a list of countries and their respective photo and picture galleries. These galleries will always update themselves so you can always come back and visit them to see what the most recent pictures are from your favorite country or place. The "jquery lightbox" or rather the pop-up effect for looking at pictures in more detail has a blow-up button on the top right-hand side. Flickr.com does not add photo description details to this type of photo rss feed so you will only see a title under each photo as you click on them to activate the lightbox. But, Flickr does provide the twenty (20) "most recently uploaded photos" chosen for public viewing by their respective owners for each keyword, or rather in this case, "tag" word. What that means is that you will really be looking at what people are doing or taking pictures of these days in those countries. Have fun exploring the world for your favorite pictures and get to know each country one by one. Enjoy!
Oh, yeah... before I forget... these photos are still copyright of their respective owners so they aren't mine and they aren't yours for keeps, but they are available for public viewing. Feel free to visit flickr.com anytime and check out their "creative commons" section of photos of which you can use for your class presentations depending on their respective licenses. It's a great site!
"Eigo Noto news around the web"
This is basically a set of current "Eigo Noto" headlines grouped into a news reader for your convenience.
It's basically the same thing as the news reader for "ESL" that uses PHP, iframes, and all that other stuff your browser loves to do for you while you read news on the web."
"Eigo Noto doesn't bite the dust yet."
The education ministry has decided to continue free distribution of "Eigo Noto" (English Notebook) teaching aids for primary school English classes even after fiscal 2011, although discontinuation after that time was decided in last year's budget screening, it was learned Tuesday.
Primary school English classes will be compulsory for fifth- and sixth-year students from the 2011 academic year, which starts from April next year, but it will not be regarded as a "subject" that requires student evaluations. Each school year, 35 classes are held for each grade.
The primary school English classes, conducted as part of "foreign language activities," aim to give pupils an opportunity to learn about different languages and cultures as well as develop basic communication skills.
Eigo Noto supplements use abundant illustrations. Greetings and how to count can be learned through games and quizzes...
Well, there's more and you can read it all here if you haven't read it already: http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T100907004437.htm
These are basically for showing the kids AFTER the quiz. You can show them before the quiz, although it will make the quiz very easy. You can show them after, although that will make the quiz a little difficult without the proper review of "I can".
Decisions, decisions, decisions...
Or you can just show them next week, as a warm-up, to see if the kids can remember the unit's target language.
"ESL news around the world"
This is basically a set of current "ESL" headlines grouped into a news reader for your convenience.
With all the different activities in the Eigo Note, this might be a concern with a few teachers so feel free to add your comments via the contact form. Please reference this article.
It has been a bit late but better late than never since Jesse requested for this so here goes...
I usually give a copy of this .pdf to most of the kids that I teach by Lesson 2 or 3 as a supplement on the flip side to a QTW p.. p.. "purinto."
Also, if I have the electronic blackboard available with a LAN hook-up, I usually show and demonstrate to the kids points 1: Alphabet Hunter and 4 (http://www.starfall.com/n/level-k/index/load.htm?f).
Alphabet Hunter by bubblebox.com is a great game for...
This year, 2009, Japan's Ministry of Education (MEXT) will have a new English Program and a new "English Notebook" called "英語ノート" or "Eigo Noto" for 5th and 6th grade students of the schools that have decided to use it. The program and textbook are not compulsory and the program is set to start nationwide in 2011, but for the school year starting 2009, many cities' Boards of Educations (BOE's) have opted to start the program early and get a head start. This experience blog may help you in understanding or teaching with the Eigo Note 1 and 2 Text books. If you are a teacher that will be using the Eigo Note in the near future, this Eigo Note weblog may give you some insight and ideas into the program and put together a resource of games, lesson tips and activities for you if you are teaching with the Eigo Note.
The Eigo Notebook posts on these pages are meant to be observation based and objective. There have been many comments, positive and negative, on the web about the Eigo Noto, and I have seen so many even before the program actually got started. The purpose of this site is to stay focused on building up the lessons and keeping the criticism constructive to make this site useful, helpful, and a source for some teaching ideas for the Eigo Noto 英語ノートif you are stuck in a tight spot as an ALT. Keeping your lessons and in-class ESL games fun, exciting, interesting, and enjoyable yet learner-based will really benefit the students. After all they are just kids, and like all kids, or rather all children alike, when you teach ESL to these kids in the best way that you can, they will love your lessons and especially you as their teacher.
Now, there of course may be other programs out there being used in Japan’s Elementary School English Pilot Program and I’m sure they are all good and great, but as of yet I’m only a worker and an Assistant English Teacher or ALT in my schools and this is what I’m doing. I guess its safe to say I’m hired to do what I’ve been ordered to do, and that is to use the Eigo Note English Curriculum. "How to teach with Eigo Note?" may be a question many other teachers may be asking themselves. If that is the case, the Teacher’s Book may provide a good insight and help with the Eigo Notebook, although it is basically in Japanese with the ALT’s in class comments or dialogue in English. As an ALT, trying to discern what it is you are required to do in these lessons may prove a little difficult, but you might just only “get by” by reviewing the Eigo Note Students Book as well as the English comments under the heading ALT in the lesson plan breakdown in the Eigo Note Teachers Book. So, check out the ALT notes from the publisher if you haven't done so already. (There is a link in the middle menu bar.) Maybe it has been well known perhaps for quite some time that it had been available to the public but I found the link just by searching-googling the publisher's company name and the textbook's name in kanji and clicking through their site so I don't think I am doing anything wrong with sharing that information since it had already been available on the website for downloading.
Of course, good communication and a good working relationship between the JLT (homeroom teacher) and ALT (Assistant Language Teacher) will be vital for the success in lessons on how to make these Eigo Note English lessons more fun, interesting, and lively for the children.
Good luck...
The Eigo Note Blogger
(a.k.a. "The ENB" on these posts)
This Blog is Privately Customized
and Maintained and is for Interested Readers only.
This site contains news & information content related to ESL, English Teaching, and working with the Eigo Note textbook.
It may come from from various sources and resources. The sources of such posts other than this site's author are duly credited.
The stories, articles, sound, and picture files in these pages are copyright of their respective authors.
We have taken due care and attention in compilation of data for this site and hope not to offend anyone.
Information has been obtained by us from various sources which it considers reliable.
However, we do not guarantee the accuracy, adequacy or completeness of any information and we are not responsible for any errors or omissions or for the results obtained from the use of such information.
This site provides an insight into 英語ノート Eigo Noto experienced based lesson plans and teaching notes and materials in English for teaching English to Japanese Elementary School children with the MEXT English Notebook, Eigo Note, ESL Textbook. Of course, this is only a blog and it is not mandatory to use this site's style of teaching and methods of teaching English with the Eigo Noto. We encourage everyone to be original and creative with their own lessons.
Please use this "Submit News" button at the top if you want to contribute tutorials, news, tips or any other related stuff. Your comments and submission of articles is highly encouraged.
Digital video and digital pictures will be highly appreciated. "Arigato, ne!" (Thanks so much!)
This site uses valid HTML and CSS. All content Copyright © 2009-2010 www.eigonoteblog.com
If you like what we do, please don't hestitate and subscribe to our RSS Feed.
