English Language Matters: ALT self-introductions

Are you an ALT in Japan’s schools? Introducing yourself is a staple task for Assistant Language Teachers here at all levels. It’s a bit nerve-wracking. How do you make it accessible to very young learners if you do it entirely in English? How do you engage learners so that they respond in English?

Mostly informational

At a rural elementary school, I was asked to do a self-introduction lesson for their Grade 1 class. What could I possibly do, as the kids were likely to only know numbers, colours, greetings, and maybe some nouns? I was nervous and asked the homeroom teacher (HRT) for advice. His attitude was that we should give them a rich visual and auditory presentation. Every step of the way, from presenting maps, photos, and facts in English, I asked the students to repeat back in Japanese the information they were gleaning from the presentation.

The wrap-up was a Q&A session mediated by the HRT. A tiny kid asked a zinger, “What’s the population of Canada?” This led to a comparison of Japan and Canada’s landmass (the second largest in the world) in relation to population. I was influenced by linguist Stephen Krashen’s classic demonstration of comprehensible input. Lots of repetition and clear visuals help understanding. The kids cannot produce the language, but they get enough stimulus to understand the meaning.

Mostly language

For higher grades, sure, I do much the same - visual stimulus, some Japanese-language handholding through text, but as much as possible, English stimulus. With junior high school students, I did a very brief (only five minutes!) introduction with hints about who I am and where I come from. I followed it with a questionnaire in Google Forms. Kids could ask me anything in either Japanese or English. In a subsequent lesson, I made a presentation in which I answered their questions.

A screen-grab from a Google Slides presentation for a senior high school self-introduction lesson

One idea I’m eager to try next time I’m called on to do a self-introduction to young learners is the circling approach. The idea is to present a statement and then a series of questions about the statement. For a circling self-introduction I can imagine stating:  I’m from Canada. I can follow it with questions such as “Am I from America?” and “Am I from America or Canada?”

Are you expected to do a self-introduction in teaching situations you work in? How do you do it?

See the previous posts in this series - English Language Matters: English Clubs in Schools, English Language Matters: Teaching Pronunciation, and English Language Matters: the “weird” lack of practical in Japan’s academia.