Teacher Seminar in Ibaraki Prefecture

I had a 5-hour seminar with 127 junior high school teachers today in Mito City, Ibaraki Prefecture. This is the second year of a three-year project where all junior high school English teachers in the prefecture brush up their English to meet the recent demand for them to conduct their lessons all in English as designated by the new guideline issued by the Education Ministry.

The program of the second year is three-fold. The first is a kick-off seminar done by CEO of my company. The second is a follow-up seminar done by me. And the last is also a further follow-up seminar also by me.

The five-hour seminar today consisted of seven parts:
1) Training Review
2) TOEIC Reading Training
3) English Newspaper Training
4) TOEIC Listening Training
5) Daily Textbook Training
6) English Movie Training
7) Planning

Overall, most participants actively engaged in all activities, though from time to time some teachers looked tired from hard work that they had done before. I did my best to promote their active participation by asking questions, doing pair work, asking someone to come to the front and show a model for an activity with me.

They enjoyed acting out conversations after seeing my animated models, listened attentively when I gave theoretical explanations, and had good laughs when I joked.

The seminar finished ten minutes earlier than originally scheduled as requested by the organizer who needed to make a few important announcements before the participants were scheduled to leave at 4:00 p.m.

At the end of my session, four teachers who spent more hours on self English training than others were asked to come up to the front and make speeches regarding how they made time in their already super-busy schedule. The other teachers were impressed and some said in their questionnaires that they were inspired by their speeches to cut lame excuses and just do it! I was so glad to see them positively influencing one another.

One of the organizers handed me the questionnaires that were collected, and offered me a ride to the station in his air-conditioned car as it was still hot outside. I accepted his offer with tremendous gratitude. If I had walked there, I would have been drenched with sweat life a scuba-diver who dove in a business suit.

On the express train back home I quickly ran through all the questionnaires. Most were positive, with a few constructive criticisms. I appreciated both. Good ones make me feel rewarded. Critical ones allow me to grow.

The last of the series of three seminars takes place on September 13. I look forward to meeting the teachers, and hearing reports of how they made good changes over the course of a month and a half following the second seminar.