Tuesdays at 7

(Names left to right: Kenya, Takeru, Hirokata, Takeru, Hiroki)

Tuesdays at 7:00pm is the final hour of a long teaching day. By this time, I’ve already woken up for my 6:15 morning prayer meeting, taught 3 classes, planned 3 lessons and have done chapel for on of my adult classes. But when 7:00pm rolls around, I need to match the energy of my five, 12-year-old boys! Luckily I have Hiromitsu there with me who is able to be the Japanese ambassador and help keep control. He is a huge help during the class, and then does chapel with them after class.

Whenever I ask them how they are doing, at least two or three of them claim to be sleepy, but I don’t buy it. This class is challenging, but also very fun. Imagine trying to keep control of five boys that age…not to mention, they have just completed a long school day as well. There are SO many distractions, and it’s so easy for them to get off topic. Sometimes I can just see that their brains are just so jammed full, anything else new will make their brain start seeping through their pores. Well, it has taken me a while to figure out how to get them in the mood for learning, and my methods are still being refined. In a nut shell, this is how my class is run:

First, I try to put myself in their shoes. How would I feel at the end of a day, after spending who knows how many hours at school? If I were in their shoes, I for sure would not want to be sitting still, learning a new language. I feel that if I were to spend the whole hour teaching them new material, trying to get them to pronounce words correctly and say sentences naturally that they will burn out of my class very quick. So what do I do? I try and mix in some creative Kraakmo spice.

Each class is started with a YouTube video. The videos usually consist of people doing stupid things, or videos of people getting hurt. I try to find anything that will get them laughing. Once we do that, I like to work on conversational material, we call them “Question cards.” They need to answer questions like, “What is your favorite TV program?” or “When is your birthday?” things of that nature. Depending on the week they need to ask each other the questions, or I’ll ask each student different questions. Recently I have found making this into some sort of game is effective. After the first 15 min we stop and take a game break and either play a round of Uno, Go fish, Hang man, or any type of game that involves speaking English. Sometimes we play paper football or coin soccer. The last three quarters of the class go about with the same structure. I tell them that we will work hard for 10-15 min, and then we will play a game or watch another YouTube video.

My thinking is that they will be able to learn more in each section if they know that they get to have a break, or doing something that doesn’t feel like learning. If the hour class were to be filled with just learning English, I think it would be overwhelming for them and they will leave not remembering very much. Once 8:00 roles around, their energy has given me a little boost of energy too, so we are all feelin’ great! After class, 3 of the boys hang around and play in the classroom, most of the time they play some variation of “King of the Couch.”

Whenever I plan this class, the challenge is, “How can I keep them entertained, and interested in learning English?” That, and keeping them focused during class. The fun part is the class itself. Once we get rolling in some sort of rhythm, the time fly’s by. The boys are a lot of fun, and a few of them remind me of when I was their age. It’s fun to think back and imagine the days of playing soccer on the Blue Bullets with Coach Mitch, or playing baseball with the same Maplewood gang, aka, The O.G.E.!

Original Gangstas of Edmonds
(Names left to right: Andy Steves, Drew Eli, Me, Alex Matteson, Alex Eli, Garret Brown, Patrick Boyce)