Starting Fresh

April is the time for new hiring and new jobs in Japan, as its the height of the sakura season. After four and a half years, we’ll be saying goodbye to Nakatsu City and moving across the prefecture to Saiki City.

As with all undertakings, it is busy and stressful, but a chance for new challenges, new growth, and new inspiration!

We hope that you find something new and fun with us, as we begin to post all of our lesson plans from our previous four years, as well as any new ones we’re making with this new challenge of teaching both Elementary and now Jr. High in Japan.

Fresh fish and an ocean breeze awaits!

Maru-Batsu 〇✕ Games

True or false games, or “Maru-Batsu” games, are really, really popular group games in Japanese schools.
Since the students already know how to play, these make great additions to your lessons as assessments for comprehension.

〇 “Maru” (circle) is if its true
✕ “Batsu” (X) is if its false

Students often hold their arms up making a circle or cross their arms as an X for their answer. This is where those emoji come from!

Masks as Creative Teaching Materials

It seems like most ALTs rely only on flashcards to teach vocabulary. While they’re a great resource, they lack something fun and tactile for kids to interact with. This is especially true when teaching Kindergarten or early Elementary School lessons, where you need to be interesting as well as educational.