Almalang_Newsletter2022_EN_WEB

Praise for Ibunka

er reason was that it was very structured in the language that the students were ex pected to use. But then, as I was doing the recording, I noticed that the content was very inter esting. Firstly, from the point of view of the people who are being interviewed, be cause the responses you got to your sur vey were from people living in Japan just like me, and that have very similar prob lems. And the other thing is I thought, well, you know, this would be fascinating to stu dents because it’s something which they probably have never thought about. A lot of them want to live or travel abroad anyway, so of course they would be really interest ed in that. But those who don’t want to live abroad would still be interested in that be cause it just sort of makes them reflect on their own culture. And so that came from the recording. I de cided I will try to use it. I was a bit wor ried about using it, to be honest, because I thought, this is not my style, you know, this is a bit too structured and a bit too rig id. But I was very surprised when I used it, because it worked! The reason it worked is because the format helps slow things down. Students do the warm-up survey, and that works like a charm. The students just open the book and they know what to do with that. It’s obvious. But then after that, before going around the class interviewing classmates, they have to write out their answers. So they actually have to think about their answers. One of the challenges with Japanese stu dents is that they do need time to think

about things, they can’t just come out with an answer right off the bat. And so you find a lot of discussions just die. They just don’t take off. But because these students had time to write things down, then when they got into groups they could just read out their answers to each other. And then I tried to get them to respond to those, by either agreeing, disagreeing or whatever. And it was kind of like putting petrol on the fire, you know. It ignited it. The discussions kind of took off. It was enough of a founda tion, enough of a scaffold to keep it going, if you know what I mean. The result is that they will be able to put together some kind of discussion with that guidance. So with that, you know, it’s very, very easy to teach this book. And what about the second part, where there are lots of responses from people who have lived abroad? NR: Okay, so the way I use that part is that instead of having students read the con tent, I play the audio tracks and go from the listening. I find it more dynamic. And also more challenging because you know it’s much harder to listen. And they all get the information because they read it in the end, after listening to the audio tracks. NR: I would say that the best ones are at an intermediate level, and the worst ones are probably low-intermediate. But I don’t think it really matters so much. You could use that textbook with anybody. The rea son why anyone could do it is because, you know, the basic level of English they go through in school to get into universities is What’s the level of your students?

"Using culture as a theme to explore while learning English is unique and interesting for students. I like that the text takes a topic that is quite complex and simplifies it into an easy to teach and digestible course."

Matthew Potter, Hakuoh University

“Ibunka gives students an intuitive and interesting introduction to intercultural communication topics. I love how it makes use of authentic data - the voices of a very multicultural pool of respon dents. The material is designed to pro mote reflection and raise awareness of cultural differences in thinking and life style, while engaging students in commu nication and discussion. There is a nice balance of opportunities for speaking, lis tening, reading, and writing.”

Henry Foster, Bukkyo University

“Very well conceived, structured, executed, resourced, and received by students. Thank you!”

Frank Berberich, Tsukuba Expo Center English Training Program

“I think Ibunka is a very good textbook choice for students in the intermediate level, as my students were. They signed up for the class with the purpose of improving their English communication skills. Many of them said that speaking was their weakest skill, and they would like to develop this in preparation for study abroad and for interaction with English speakers. The format of the text book allowed them to practice different skills through repetitive training, and after several weeks, I noticed that the students demonstrated more ease and confidence in asking and responding to questions, and seemed much more comfortable in discussing their ideas and exchanging opinions with each other.”

Warm-up Survey

Preparing to interview classmates

Joy DeVera, Meiji University

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