Recently there have been some articles written on the Soapbox about different approaches to homework. I agree with the other Smith’s Ekaiwa Franchise スミス英会話teachers about the importance of a little practice each day to maximise the students who are studying English in Japan.You can read about some of the other homework suggestions here….
Something that I am trying to do in my Smiths Ekaiwa Nakamozu スミス英会話 なかもず校and Smiths Ekaiwa Sakai Higashi スミス英会話 堺東校is build small library’s of story books for my students to take home and enjoy. I recall my parents telling me when I was a student how important it is to read books. Now I am the teacher, and I laugh when I catch myself passing on the same good advise to my students as my parents did to me. Regular reading will increase ability in general language proficiency言語上達, including listening, writing, vocabulary and importantly speaking. If your students are enjoying their reading, it will also help with their attitudes and motivation to learn.
One set of books that I find great are the Oxford Bookworm publications. They are graded from “starter” being the easiest to 6 being the most difficult level. If the students are interested in buying their own books, many of the bookstores will provide a TOIEC score guide to help find the suitable level. All of the titles published are well known English stories. Each book has “before reading” and “after reading exercises for the students to complete as well as a glossary of vocabulary.
These books are just another tool that helps me teach English in Japan.
Tim Musgrave.
Smith’s School of English Franchise – Sakai Higashi and Nakamozu
G’day Tim,
I believe that reading is one of the best ways to build up vocabulary. I like the Ladder Series of books which are graded using levels from 1 to 5.I too have been building up a library of books which I lend to students. In fact as thank you gifts I like to give a book to students who have been attending classes at my school for 2 years.
Ken
Smith’s School of English Koenji
スミス英会話高円寺
Ken,
That’s a great gift idea.
Cheers,
Tim.