TOOLS OF THE TRADE
Ashley Greenidge
Kyotanabe-shi, Kyoto-fu
2008-2010
Getting Organized
Whether you are teaching Elementary, Junior High, or High School the most
valuable skill to have in your arsenal is good organization.

Keep all of your resources in one place.

Have a good supply of inexpensive materials (hint: shop through your local
100-yen store when you arrive).

Binders (clear file pages to organize lessons you’ve done/printed)

Flashcards and clear cover sheets for flashcards

Stuffed animal or puppet or ball for activities

Prizes – stickers, pencils, erasers etc
LESSON PLANNING

Classes are usually 45 minutes

Class structure will vary on age/level but
basically follows 

Warm Up can also be combined with
Review period depending on the lesson

Always have an extra activity (5-10
minutes) planned in case your lesson
ends early.
Typical Class Structure
5 Minutes
Greetings/Warm Up
10 Minutes
Review from Previous
Class
20 Minutes
Main Activity
5 Minutes
Review of Main Points
5 Minutes
Closing / Goodbye
Types of Lessons
Pair work
Reading
Warm Up
Introductions
Writing &
Listening
Self Introduction

Prepare this before you arrive in Japan

Pictures of your family, friends, local town etc

Activities you like

Prepare LOTS of visuals

Move around

It gets easier
Warm Up Activites
Short Activities: Lots of Class Participation
• Warm Ups can be related to the previous
lesson or the upcoming lesson but do not
have to be.
• Uses English in a fun way
• Let students “play” with English
5 – 10 Minutes
Word Tag
True / False (Maru/Batsu)
Telephone
Shiritori
2 Truths + 1 Lie
Reading
Textbooks will have reading excerpts but if your teacher asks you to prepare
something:
• Write your own “short stories” for class
• Make a fake newsletter with different articles
• Have a short story with descriptions and then have the students put
corresponding pictures in order
• Fill in the blank or quiz to test for comprehension
WRITING & LISTENING ACTIVITES
Many JTEs prefer to use their school texts instead of creating a lot of new materials.
This helps because the students are familiar with vocabulary in the books. However,
holidays are great to share new cultural information and vocabulary and there are
plenty of ways to keep it fun.
Fill in the Blank
PAIR WORK
Pair work allows students to practice English. It is great for learning new
sentence structures or new vocabulary.
• Discuss with ALT beforehand as they most likely have done this before and have a system
for dividing into pairs
• Don’t be afraid to use “Rotating Pairs” but make sure your JTE understands what’s going on
• Worksheets help keep students on point
• Simple 2 person board game like worksheets go over well
• “Describe the picture”
• Students create a conversation using grammar points
GOOD RESOURCES FOR TEACHING
Flash cards, lesson ideas, games, songs, on-line stories:
GENKI ENGLISH – www.genkienglish.net
DLTK KIDS – www.dltk-kids.com
NICK JR – www.nickjr.com
ED HELPER – www.edhelper.com
ESL Specific
ESL KID STUFF: http://www.eslkidstuff.com/
PRINTABLE BOARD GAMES: www.esl-lounge.com/board_gamesindex.shtml
ESL Kids: http://www.eslkid.com/index.html
ESL Partyland: http://www.eslpartyland.com/
DAVE’S ESL CAFE: http://eslcafe.com/search/index.html
ESL LESSON PLANS (ALL LEVELS): http://iteslj.org/Lessons/
MAKE YOUR OWN PUZZLES/WORD SEARCHES ETC:
http://puzzlemaker.com/chooseapuzzle.html
LESSON PLANNING
Activity to commence after short break.