Your Self-Introduction Lesson: where to start
Ed. note: This article has been reposted. The original publication date was July 24, 2007.
So right now you are sitting on your hands, wanting to do something to get ready also and to let you procrastinate from packing, right?
I recommend thinking about the things you will be teaching about in your Self-Intro Lesson; since I had only a vague idea of what I was supposed to be talking about. The two most useful things for me were 1) Sergio’s talk last year at the orientation workshop and 2) seeing another JET’s slideshow.
Here are some topics to think about treating:
* your name, age, country.
* your family
* pets you have
* things you like and dislike : sports, foods–anything concrete, really. “I dislike gratuitous violence” is not a good choice. “I don’t like beets”–with the translation for ‘beets’ in hiragana, is good. (Emphasis on the positive, though!)
* your house
* your friends
* Why you like Saga prefecture (or your town)
TIPS
– Make your lesson interactive. Consider building a mini-quiz into it. Ask the kids questions and let them ask questions, because it’s a lot of sitting for them.
– DON’T make the jiko shoukai the whole period long! Twenty or twenty five minutes is good. If your JTE is good at English, let the kids ask questions in Japanese through him/her. Otherwise, tack a mini-lesson and game onto the end. I did fruits and then played fruitbasket. Today, I taught greetings and we played Duck Duck Goose with “hello” and “goodbye” (these were 6 year olds.)
– Hang onto your self intro lesson. Not only will you be giving it A LOT (I think I counted over 39 times), but each time you get fresh students (i.e. new 1nensei in elementary) you will need to pull it out, dust it off, and give it again. (Which is why I am giving one today, in June)
The good thing about this repetition is that you get REALLY good at:
– timing the lesson
– anticipating questions
– integrating new vocabulary/review material.
It also gives you a break the first term, because really all you will be doing is giving the same self-intro lesson. It’s nice not to have extra lesson planning when you are still figuring out living-in-Japan things.
– the kids seem to be introduced to infinitives WAY later than gerunds. I like swimming = ok. “I like to swim” will confuse.
– Again, CONCRETE things. If you are giving the presentation to really little kids, they won’t have a handle on abstract concepts anyway, even if you gave the lesson all in perfect Japanese.
I teach kids who run from 5 years old to about 15 or 16. It might be good to have a young kids and older kids version, again, with fewer abstract concepts and brighter colors for the younger kids.
I do two versions: The High-Tech version and the Lo-Fi version.
* High Tech is a Powerpoint-style slideshow (done with the free OpenOffice.org Presentations program). It has clearly labeled transition slides, animation effects, embedded video (of my family’s dogs), and maps. There are lots of captions in simple English (not for the kids–for the Homeroom Teachers to read and explain to their kids.) and even katakana for city names and kanji/kana for certain words.
* Lo-fi is basically pictures that I put in the slideshow, but printed in color (use your school’s laser printer or the 7-11 copier) on A4 paper (though bigger is much better), laminated, and with little mini stick-on magnets on the back. You can make this at your school or BOE in August.
I use hi-tech at the schools that can accommodate a projector setup and low-fi when I forgot to ask for a projector or if the school just can’t do it or doesn’t want to.
THE JIKO SHOUKAI (Self-Intro) SPEECH
Your jiko shoukai speech is a different thing. Having that ready is actually MORE important than the lesson–especially if you do not speak Japanese. In Japan, establishing relationships is very important, and you can’t really interact with people from your school/town/etc. until they know who you are. So you will HAVE to give this speech when you meet people, from your first day in Saga.
Luckily, the ever-helpful JET Diary comes to the rescue. In the back, they have a fill-in-the-blanks version that will get you started. Feel free to ask your DR or other Saga JETs to help you embellish yours.
I recommend that you at least draft your jiko shoukai to have THREE variations:
1.
- Jiko shoukai for staff
. This one is the one you will give when you are introduced to all of the teachers in your school. Typically, you will meet with the principal and vice principal, and possibly the English Department in a little reception room. THEN, you will be marched out into the staffroom and ALL of the teachers will politely stand. One of the administrators will say a couple of words to introduce you. Then, you’re on!
* Basically, I just change the last line of the introduction to say something like “Let’s have a good year together” or “Let’s work well together”
* In a pinch, you can give this self-intro in English. Remember: These people are academics and ALL Japanese people have at least basic English education. I find that the staff–especially the younger teachers– may not talk a lot in English, but they understand most of what I say. If you can, start using your “simple English voice”: Speak slowly and a little more carefully than you speak to native speakers and try to use fewer complex constructions and multisyllabic or Latinate words.
2.
- jiko shoukai for Student Bodies
:
At some point after this, you will be marched into a gym or auditorium filled with the school’s students. This is where you get to introduce yourself to the students.
* Same jiko shoukai, but change the last bit to something like “Let’s have fun studying English together”.
3.
- jiko shoukai for enkai (work-related banquets/drinking)
:
Another time you might give a jiko shoukai is at your welcome enkai. Bear in mind that you will likely have more than one of these: one with the Saga JETs (no speech involved!), one with your BOE (Board of Education. If your town was merged, you MIGHT even have two BOE enkais–one for the big city that you officially work for, and one for the town that you actually work in.)
* Same jiko shoukai. Change the last bit to something like “Let’s drink beer together!” Obviously, if you don’t drink, you should use something like “Let’s relax together” so people don’t try to give you alcohol.
** Be aware that you might need another speech on hand besides your j.s. For example, I was invited to an enkai about a month after I arrived to celebrate the start of the school year (actually, the fall term). I made a speech (which I begged Nirav to translate into Japanese) about how the people at my base school were all so kind to me and how I would try hard to learn Japanese and do a good job this year. 