One of my students told me that she has been struggling to keep up with the lessons and that she wanted me to explain every single detail of the target language. Although it has not been easy to pay attention to the understanding of 14 students in the conversation-based class, I tried to analyse why she found it so difficult to learn. There might be other students who feel the same way. It might be something I’m lacking.

For the other class, I give much information without using slides and I take time for each activity. I will also try to teach her class more slowly next time, and prepare a reference of grammar explanation and activity materials. Like I felt in the last semester, this has two sides. I would like to help their learning as much as possible but it actually requires a huge commitment.

There are five more weeks until I finish all of the lessons. I will try my best because it would be wonderful if they found it interesting to learn the language!

Little by little, I have been learning how native English speakers learn and understand the Japanese language. I also found that I need to slow down the pace of lesson and make sure that students fully understand the content of the target language. As a consequence of intentionally spending more time on each activity, I think that the students grasp the grammatical structure of phrases and sentences, which might be an essential part for adult learners.

The classroom usually has a U-shape desk arrangement for 20 seats. But today, there were two column arrangements for each 10. We used one column for ten of us. It actually worked very well. I was able to stand and talk closer to the students than usual. They looked more relaxed, and I was a bit surprised about how desk formations affect the class environment.