How Do I Get Them to Talk to Me!

[maulen]

I think it's best to start with something you know they're interested in. If you see a folder or keychain on their desk with an anime character or celeb on it...instant talking point. If you know they're in a club...talking point. Just find something on their level. Always have a smile and don't be afraid to make a fool of yourself sometimes...trying to do that marumaru morimori dance always cracked my classes up and I noticed a big difference with some of the kids.

[traigo12]

Thanks for the advice everyone! I'll definitely be giving props a try and will try to be a bit more persistent and goofy. In addition to general shyness, I think a big problem is that in English class (and maybe the others too) making mistakes is a cause for shame, but doing nothing or not trying is considered just fine so there's really no incentive to even try something like English where a mistake is probable (hence an entire country of people who studied a language for 6+ years and generally can't even make small talk *sigh*). It's sad because I know well from studying Japanese that if you wait until you can say something perfectly, you'll probably never get around to communicating at all and you just have to dive in and make thousands of mistakes and learn as you go.

On that note, one thing that seems to help a lot of the time is to try and read the kids' kanji name tags. They're always impressed when I can make out even the simple names, and get a real kick out of it when I read them with the incorrect reading．Then when I reach one I don't know I ask them to teach me the reading/meaning. Whenever possible, I also tell them what their name would be in English, i.e. 中川 = Middle River. I've had some success playing recess sports with the students as well, or hanging out at the library and trying to read the kids' books there.

[Ode to a Grasshopper]

I'm lucky in that my kids are all Osakans, and so usually less shy/reluctant to speak up than I hear most students are, but...if they're really not speaking up in class I've found that an "Oh, no! Mama Mia!" in a bad Italian accent seems to get a lot of them to try (once the general laughter stops). Thanks for the Mario assist Nintendo...

In general, horsing around and giving my very limited Japanese (I've been learning for maybe 5 months when I'm not teaching or preparing materials/lesson plans, had barely a word when I came) does pretty well for shogakko, especially if you can speak/are learning the local dialect. Again, I'm not sure how much of that is down to my students being Osakan, and/or how much is a general thing. If that doesn't work, some 100-yen shops have rubber fish that blow air when you squeeze them, take two or three of those into class and start a fish-blowing battle. If you can find a cheap pair of sunglasses and let the students wear sensei's glasses that seemed to work pretty well too, just don't do it with expensive ones.

[EricaHartmann]

Another thing, I haven't found a single student that has refused to hi 5 me. Actually do this all the time with a couple of boys in one of my classes. After class today I notice a couple of the shyer girls talking about it and laughing about it to I walk up and got hi 5s from them. I just walk up to students, put the hand out and they're either outgoing enough to reply or too considerate to leave me hanging like that.

[glibberish]

Also, if you have a smartphone, the students will invariable comment on it. "Hee, sumaho! Boku hoshii na ..." And once you've started a conversation, it's easier to talk to that student again in the future.

If you feel discouraged at all, just remember yourself in junior high and imagine how you would have felt if your foreign language teacher had ambushed you in the hall and tried to talk to you - sometimes it would have been interesting, and sometimes you would have been irritated or shy.

[Siyris]

Also, if you have a smartphone, the students will invariable comment on it. "Hee, sumaho! Boku hoshii na ..." And once you've started a conversation, it's easier to talk to that student again in the future.

If you feel discouraged at all, just remember yourself in junior high and imagine how you would have felt if your foreign language teacher had ambushed you in the hall and tried to talk to you - sometimes it would have been interesting, and sometimes you would have been irritated or shy.

Just be careful with the smartphone tactic.... I can get into trouble at my elementary school if my kids see my cell phone. At JHS my kids only see it when I use it as a dictionary to help them with words that aren't in their student-issue ones. And I avert being yelled at by saying 'Keitai ja nai, yo. Jisho desu.' I will say that it makes conversations come up at lunch time after a class where I've used it... especially my JHS 3rd years. They love the fact that I have a smart phone....

[KumePanda]

I agree with the overall belief that just being genki is the best thing you can do. I don't have a big problem with my JHS. If anything I have the rockstar life there. I will be sitting at my desk minding my business and some teacher will point out that there are a flock of students standing at the window behind me just watching me. Boys. Girls. Doesn't matter. I play around with them but since I'm a girl I don't get rough. I am big about celebrating my home holidays and always bring them into it. I suggest sitting in on their lunches at least a few times. I've been in each classroom's lunch. I've noticed that several of the students who wouldn't talk to me at all during the lunch have come up to me outside of class to tell me the answers to my questions. Some students are just shy so be careful about bringing them out in front of groups. One of my best students was a boy who wouldn't even tell me his name when we met. As for my SHS, I do similar stuff but mainly I focus on things they like. I've become a One Piece fan for their sakes and my love of pandas has become a schoolwide fact. Just to humor them I make sure to put panda related things on my desk, draw pictures of pandas on their papers, or uses pandas when playing activities such as when they were learning 'That _ is _'s.' They get a great laugh out of it and it even helps me get along with my staff! Many of the teachers have come up to me to talk just because they like how much effort I put towards the students. If you really care and put in the time people will start to notice.

[hatefulsandwich]

I know this is an ESID thing, but what might the reaction be to showing kids things on laptops or tablets? I just wonder because of the cellphone thing sounding like it can be a bit of an issue. I'm no current JET, of course. I just recently found myself in possession of a tablet and it has greatly enhanced my interaction with children, especially very young ones. I can imagine things like the Final Fantasy games in English and cartoons, photos, etc being a great way to bring kids out of their shells as well.

[Siyris]

I know this is an ESID thing, but what might the reaction be to showing kids things on laptops or tablets? I just wonder because of the cellphone thing sounding like it can be a bit of an issue. I'm no current JET, of course. I just recently found myself in possession of a tablet and it has greatly enhanced my interaction with children, especially very young ones. I can imagine things like the Final Fantasy games in English and cartoons, photos, etc being a great way to bring kids out of their shells as well.

I think that that would also be a bit of a gray area.... you would have to make sure it was okay with the school before doing it. For me, my JHS students were fascinated by my Kindle.... I hadn't really intended to show it to them, but before lunch starts there's quiet reading in the lunch room while the students on duty that day set out the lunches... and I was reading it. Sparked up discussion, but apart from that, the only time I've ever used electronics in classes or around students is with the express permission of the vice principal or in cases when I'm using them as part of that day's class (did a world music class with my ipod and speakers, did a powerpoint presentation for the lesson 'What's This?'). Again, some schools are okay with it if it's during lunch time or after school, but it's something you would want to check beforehand.