Author: Angelo Morales

Angelo started teaching at MY in 2022.

Small Change, Big Effect

“Why don’t you stand on the other side of the room?”

“Why don’t you stand on the other side of the room?” Lisanne asked after observing my Kindergarten High lesson one Saturday. Lisanne is a teacher at MY English School. Prior to her observation, I usually stood on the side of the classroom where my back was to a glass window facing the lobby. That meant the children saw their parents, who were usually standing outside of the room watching their children. That also meant the children had more distractions because they could see all sorts of other things happening outside of the classroom.

The following week, I made sure to follow Lisanne’s advice. I positioned myself on the other side of the room. Almost immediately, I noticed a significant change in the classroom dynamics. With nothing but a plain wall behind me, the children had almost no distractions. It felt easier to catch their attention. It still wasn’t 100% full attention, but at least I no longer had to compete with a parent who was waving to their kid urging them to behave, or with whatever colorful distraction behind me that may catch the children’s wandering eyes.

The tiny change—in this case, the place where I positioned myself—led to a better situation both for me and the children.

“Why did you have only 2 lines?”

More recently, Alina, another teacher, observed one of my first-year elementary-age lessons. In our post-observation discussion, she asked, “Why did you have only 2 lines for Dice Bucket?” That was how I saw other teachers run the game; that was what I saw in a training video that I watched. Alina’s suggestion to create more lines only came to mind during our discussion.

Again, with the tiny change of making a third or even a fourth line during the game, it instantly led to some noticeable changes. I tried it in my other first-year class. First, the students got more oral practice of the target language (in this case, CVC words). Second, the waiting time between turns for the children was reduced. As a result, students were not as distracted.

Sometimes all we need to address a particular issue in the classroom is a small tweak in how we do certain things.

Following these two conversations and looking back on previous lessons, I realized that sometimes all we need to address a particular issue in the classroom is a small tweak in how we do certain things. I sometimes fall into a routine regarding how I do lessons. Feedback from fellow MY teachers on what changes I can carry out, big or small, is helpful.

How about you? What tiny change(s) have you made that led to a big change in your classroom? Are you able to get helpful feedback from colleagues? For those experiencing a classroom issue at the moment, have you tried reflecting on what changes you can make? If you have, what change was it?

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Sports Day, English Day!

“3, 2, 1…GO!” yelled fellow MY teacher David. Our team, Blue Team, were on our feet to find the first clue in our Scavenger Hunt list. It was a gloomy Sunday morning, but neither the light drizzle nor the gray clouds were enough to dampen the mood of some 40 kids who joined MY English School’s 2023 Sports Day event for the Higashine and Tendo schools.

Events like Sports Day are more than just an opportunity for the kids to be out of the classroom, to run around, and to play games.  Events double as venues for students to use meaningful, communicative English.

Here are some examples from Sports Day:

“Sticker, please.”
Even before the games begin, students start using English during registration time. Teachers ask students to look for their names on the sticker sheet. Kinder-age kids practice useful classroom English such as “May I have my name sticker, please?” or simply just “Sticker, please.” Name stickers color-coded by team are also an opportunity to review colors. This part of the program alone already includes reading and speaking practice, plus some vocabulary review.

“What’s your name?”
To get to know other team members, everyone asks, “What’s your name?” Follow-up questions include “How old are you?” and “Where do you live?” A warmup activity like stretching is a chance to review body parts and movements–“Touch your feet. Stretch your arms up.”

“Two steps backward. Throw.”
At the same time as students test their throwing and catching skills–and most probably get wet from bursting balloons–the leader’s instructions (“Two steps backward.” “One big step backward.” “Throw!” “Catch!”) challenge students at listening and following directions in a water balloon toss game.

“What’s the secret message?”
Our Scavenger Hunt offers more than just a treasure hunt activity for students. Kids practice listening to instructions like “Run” and “Walk.” They have to decipher new vocabulary and prepositions.  Upon finding the clue, students practice what they have learned in the classroom–ask “What is it?” or “What number is it?” Older students get a chance to read the clue. “Go to the flag poles near the park sign.” Little by little, our clues fill in a secret message.  Once the secret message is complete, it is a chance to use language to ask for something. In our case, it was “Candy, please!”

How about in your school? How do you do your Sports Day event? What activities outside the classroom provide opportunities for students to use meaningful and communicative English?

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It takes a village to raise a child MY teacher

The first month of the new school year is over. New teachers are finished with their monthlong training and are now teaching classes on their own. I was in the same boat around this time last year, but it is only now that something became vividly clear to me – “It takes a village to raise a MY teacher.”

Looking back, one aspect of MY that significantly helped me get through the first year was the training and support from experienced teachers. It certainly took more than one person to ensure I was capable on my own in the classroom, which on some days felt like a battlefield and on other days the happiest place on earth (second to Disneyland).

It takes a team of teachers coming from varying teaching experiences and united by a shared goal to prepare a new teacher.

It takes a team of teachers coming from varying teaching experiences and united by a shared goal to prepare a new teacher. The way MY trains its new teachers is one thing that separates it from other English language schools.

Pre-MY training experiences bring to mind a three-day or a weeklong intensive training session, lots of handouts, roleplays…and then I was on my own. Occasionally, another one-day training session was conducted.

With MY, the training from the onset was immersive, experiential, and communicative.

With MY, the training from the onset was immersive, experiential, and communicative, to say the least. One of the things I learned early was MY’s principles, starting with “We start with questions.”

It wasn’t clear to me what “start with questions” meant until I saw MY teachers putting it into action during my training. Teachers I trained with all had questions. With Parisa, “What skills do we want them to practice during the lesson?” With Aaron, “How do you get the students to play with the language?” With Alina, “How can you make those pages into a task?” With David, “What language do you want them to produce by the end of the school year?”

Not only were the teachers asking questions, but the advisors as well. When planning activities for open lessons, then-Higashine advisor Yuki also asked me: “How can the parents be part of the activity?”

I knew that I could always approach any MY teacher and they would be more than happy to give a piece of advice.

April 2022 zoomed by so fast. The period with teacher trainers was over, and I was on my own. I don’t know how this year’s new batch of teachers feel, but, for me, it was a nerve-wracking time. However, I knew that I could always approach any MY teacher and they would be more than happy to give a piece of advice.

MY’s commitment to learning also helped. Monthly trainings organized by the Professional Development Team, rolling observation days, and external conferences were sources of ideas and learning opportunities.

The first month of the new school year is over. Once again, I saw a “village” of MY teachers raising…preparing new teachers for their classes. There will be “yay!” moments. There will be rough patches. Knowing that one can turn to any MY teacher for advice will surely help new teachers in their first year.

For past and present MY teachers, how was your MY training experience?  For teachers elsewhere, who is the village that raises your teachers?

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Struggling with letting them struggle

“Let them struggle.”

Three words. One sentence. A concrete piece of advice that I have heard one too many times from experienced MY teachers who observed my lessons and whose lessons I have observed.

Three simple words that I continue to utter to myself whenever I plan a lesson and as I enter a classroom.

Several months into teaching with MY and I found myself struggling with “letting them (the students) struggle.” Since joining MY in the spring of 2022, I noticed that one thing I started doing more often than before is to reflect on my lessons, whether it turned out the way I had planned or had gone astray from the path I had intended .

And one question that I found myself reflecting on was “Why am I struggling with letting them struggle?” Is it the big brother side of me? Is it because silence in the classroom makes me uncomfortable? Is it because my idea of an efficiently managed classroom is one where things run continuously just like a Broadway musical where one scene almost always moves seamlessly onwards to the next scene? All of the above I guess.

Towards the end of the previous school year, I noticed some tiny changes in myself: I consciously (and patiently) tried harder to wait for one student to figure the situation out and ask the question I was waiting for or say the target language we’ve been studying. I told myself it was okay to see the students have a confused look on their faces.

Students successfully overcoming a hurdle made me see that letting them struggle does more good than harm.

I started seeing how letting them struggle is a way not just to learn about English but also having that skill to think and to make a decision on what to do in an unfamiliar, uncomfortable situation outside the four walls of MY. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a class of elementary first graders or junior high third graders. Students successfully overcoming a hurdle made me see that letting them struggle does more good than harm.

Through continued conversations with fellow MY teachers, the monthly trainings, reading up on language teaching on my own, and consciously making the effort to let the students struggle, I’d like to think that I am getting more used to seeing the students in unfamiliar and, at times, uncomfortable situations where they are struggling. And as I start my second year of teaching with MY, I also hope that, in time, I no longer have to struggle with letting them struggle.

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