The other day I was teaching
students who had begun learning English 7 weeks before.
The students were speaking
English. They were playing our Communication Game. They
chose their own questions to ask. They picked out who to ask.
They decided if the reply was appropriate. They wanted to
speak and they spoke for 25 minutes.
Next they played our Reading Game
(Dominoes) for 20 minutes. They checked their cards, they
chose the right word, they concentrated for 20 minutes.
They all wanted to speak and
spoke. Their English was not perfect (only 7 lessons in
their whole lives!) but they concentrated and spoke complete
sentences because they were enthused and attracted by YES.
I was reminded once again ‘this
really works, and it works right from the start.
Why don’t you have a look? Look at
the same class, lesson 8.
Absorbed in
reading!
Real Speaking
after 7 lessons!
See the absorption in the English.
The relaxation. The confidence. The MAGIC.
You can glimpse the magic of the
kids who are desiring, persevering and succeeding in speaking
and reading English after ONLY 8 LESSONS.
Is this a particularly unique
class?
Good question. Only to be answered
by independent results.
Cambridge Young Learners Test is
the only major kids test in Japan that has an oral section
with an external examiner coming in.
And here are our students’ average
scores in the Cambridge Young Learners Test as compared
against average for all Japanese children who take the text.
Very good scores in Speaking and
Listening and average scores in Reading. Very satisfactory for
a system that concentrates on speaking (we are an Eikaiwa
school, after all).
