As we are moving into summer a lot of students might be gearing up to take the Eiken test.

Which means that a lot of times we as foreign teachers might be asked to tutor or assist them with it.

For those who do not know the Eiken test has an in person or online interview test. This interview test consist of a reading comprehension section, picture describing section and two opinion questions. 

While most students can do the reading comprehension with not much issue. The biggest hurdle for them comes from picture describing and opinion questions. One method I like to use to help tutor students on passing these two sections is breaking down what exactly they need to answer in order to hit all the points. 

With the picture description, the best method I tell the students to do is start with the prompt sentence, then describe how many people are in the panel, what actions they are doing and (if there are) stating the dialogue. Repeat this process for each panel. To help the students keep track of these three points I provide them with a checklist, so they can check off if they were able to properly hit all three points. By having the students use this checklist when they are practicing at home, it can put them into the habit of answer like so for the test.

Next the opinion questions. This section is usually the section that most students struggle with. A lot of students will tend to over-complicate the answer to the question. However, if you look at the sample answer that the test gives, it’s very basic. In order to successfully answer these questions again the student has to hit three main points. First, answering yes / no or agree / disagree. Second, their reason. Finally lastly, an example to support their reason. I find that the best way for students to practice this without over-complicating it is to strictly follow a checklist. Also making sure that they use simple English to answer. 

If the student has their cellphone on them, you can have them record themselves answering the opinion question and then having the student listen back on it. This will make pointing out what they did good in and what needs improvement much easier for the student to know.

If you are looking for more information about Eiken and how to teach it at a private secondary school in Japan, please check out these videos by our former Chief of English Services and Senior Advisor Peter Ackerly:

As we are going into the new school term, for any teachers in elementary school an activity I loved doing with the students when I taught at elementary school was business card exchange.

It’s a good way for the students to introduce themselves to each other and to by pass the awkwardness of a new class and new classmates.

For this activity the students need a piece of paper, some colored markers, and scissors. On the teacher’s part you just need to prepare a list of professions and a sample dialogue. Normally I start by teaching the students about different professions. To make it fun I would add in really obscure professions. This can range from normal jobs like doctor, teacher etc to more out there jobs like famous actor, president, astronaut, athlete etc. Be sure to give the Japanese name of these jobs so that the students can easily understand.

First, I would have the students practice the pronunciation of the jobs and to check understanding of what kind of job it is.

Second, give the students time to make their own business card. Their card should have their name, what their job is, and any other information that the student wants to add. Students can also decorate their cards anyway they want.

Third, to get the students to practice the name of the jobs and speaking, I make sure that the students make 3-4 different business cards each with a different job.

Fourth, beforehand I would have a sample self introduction dialogue that would allow the students to say their name, their job, how long they’ve worked at their job, age, and birthday.

Fifth, students would walk around the classroom and using the sample self introduction and their own business cards, speaking and exchanging cards with their classmates.

I wanted to thank everyone at Project Genius for their hard work this year at their schools, especially considering the many difficulties the world has faced these past few years. I hope our team can enjoy their holidays, whether it is here in Japan or abroad.

For the last several years at the junior high school where I teach we do a crafts activity in the last class junior high school first grade class of the year. I am from California, so I never experienced a "White Christmas" until I came to Japan. The few instructions needed to explain how to make a snowflake using just a pair of scissors and a piece of paper (cut, triangle, fold) is well within our student's English ability. I am also pretty bad at crafts myself, so once students understand what to do they inevitably create much more elaborate snowflakes than I could even imagine.

And while the two instructors from Project Genius at my school are from the west coast of the US, our school's JET instructor from Australia. She described what having Christmas in Australia was like while also having our students listen to an Australian version of Jingle Bells.

I also learned some new words through this lesson, such as ute and swaggie.

We are also entering our recruiting season. If you are interested in working for us please check Craigslist or Gaijinpot for our latest openings or send us your resume directly via this form.

Please have a safe and enjoyable holiday season!

I was told to be ready to have a self introduction lesson when I first came to Japan. It was 1998, I couldn’t just look up online for some photos to insert into a powerpoint and show that in class. I couldn't google anything that summer of 1998, let alone to get ideas for self introduction lessons. I did, though, go around my hometown and took some snapshots to bring. With the developed photos in my bag I got on the plane with plans to do my best in class. The self introduction lesson I remember most clearly now was the one that failed. I went into the class at this small junior high school in the mountains, one where a few months later would be surrounded by 3 meters of snow. As I started talking I could sense the kids had no idea what I was saying, and maybe not much interest, as well.  Finally, when the class was over, I thought the JTE would give some advice at best or be upset at worst, but all he said was, let's do it again in our next class.

I recently observed a veteran teacher who we just hired and he did this lesson quite well, though I wonder how I would have done with the ability to create a powerpoint and show it to the class. So, yes, even though it is possible to successfully do this kind of self-intro lesson I have known some teachers who think self-introduction lessons are, successful or not, not important and a waste of time. I disagree, however. A mentor of mine once mentioned that the teachers most remembered were those who shared some bit of themselves with their students. So I always think it is good that students know a little bit about me.

But how can I guess what they want to know? Although I know I can do a much better job with a self intro lesson today today than I did in 1998, just like what I found interesting in my hometown probably was not interesting to my students in rural Japan at the time, what I find interesting today might not interest my junior high school students today. I realized the way to ensure students find out something they are actually interested in, and also make this a much more interactive activity, was to have the students ask questions about what they want to know about me rather than me telling them what I think is interesting about me to them.

To me, this has several benefits. First, since it is more interactive it keeps the students in the class more involved. Even if they are only listening, they are much more interested to see how I answer their classmates' questions rather than just talking to them. Second, it lets kids ask questions they are interested in. 

Third, and maybe the most important point, is it allows me to talk to the students at their English level.  One of the disadvantages of asking EFL students to ask questions is they are not going to be able to ask all the questions they may have but if they can’t understand me in English from the start it will be difficult to build a trusting relationship in English. By keeping the first class in English and asking and answering questions at their level lets them make a direct connection with me right away with information they are interested in learning in English 

This lesson also acts as a quick level check for the class as a whole and for individual students.  Depending on the size of the class, I try to get every student  to ask a question, which allows me to quickly learn if they are shy or outgoing, if they are strong at English or weak, etc. If it is a one off substitution that isn’t a major concern, but if I am their new teacher for the year, it lets me learn a lot about the class in a short amount of time.

Although I mainly now do this lesson with junior or senior high school students, I have done it at university classes and even small group adult business English lessons. Below are a few examples of some questions and what I do with the questions.

This is from a high school class where I was the substitute for the day. I made it into a quiz and gave students two choices per question.

This was at a class for university students planning on going abroad, so this activity also doubled as a way to prepare students for small talk when they would meet new people. After I answer the questions I put students into pairs and/or small groups. Each group has a small game board and some dice. They roll the dice and when they land on a number they have to answer the question that corresponds to that number.

This is from the first class of this year with the second year students I teach at my junior high school. I do sometimes tell students, especially older students, that they can't ask Yes/No questions but not this day.