I had two lessons in Tsukumo Elementary School today. The first- to third-years started doing the numbers from 1 to 99, and I used a Powerpoint presentation about Britain with the fourth- to sixth-years. Both lessons- as is so often the case in Tsukumo- went tolerably, but not excellently.
With the first- to third-years, the biggest problem in doing the numbers from 1 to 99 was that quite a few of the children didn't even know the numbers from 1 to 9. In most cases, first-year children have at least a partial grasp of the numbers from 1 to 10 before they even start elementary school; but not here. I had intended to play bingo with the children using all the numbers, but in the end, it being more than obvious that only three or four children out of a class of twenty or so would understand fully, we had to play with a severely limited set of numbers, which of course meant that several children had the same pattern every time, and so won on the same number. Ah well- the teachers have promised(!) to make sure that their children are all perfect at the numbers 1 to 10 by the next lesson... I look forward with interest to seeing whether this comes about.
The upper years, meanwhile, followed on from talking about schools in the previous lesson, to talking about Britain generally. I had my Powerpoint presentation of 200 photos of the UK, so I took that along... to find that the school had prepared a computer that didn't have Powerpoint installed! When we finally got a computer that had Powerpoint, and the teachers managed to work out which keys to press (and incantations to mumble) to get the projector working, I was able to start the lesson. The presentation went smoothly, but I have to say that I'm glad that the preparations took up nearly a third of the lesson, because I'd have run out of things to talk about if I'd had the whole 45 minutes to use up! Honestly, I have never known a class respond with so little enthusiasm to these photos. Even the pictures of food, which normally never fail to elicit questions and comments from the children, only earned half-hearted responses. I'm not sure whether it's that the children aren't used to lessons like this where they have to think about what's going on and respond as they see fit; I think that this is a partial factor, but I think that the fact that so many of the children at this school are competitive was another part of the problem. At least half the children in the upper years, I'd say, seem to see everything as a competition, and so a discussion lesson, where people can share ideas and work together, rather than against each other, just didn't interest them.
Incidentally, the whole attitude of a large number of teachers- not just at this school- was summed up completely by a conversation I had after the lesson had finished. The three teachers all agreed that the children hadn't shown any interest in the lesson, so I asked them what they thought about the next lesson. They all looked at each other, and then, almost in unison, said, 'Well, show them some photos again.' Right. So they're suggesting I stick with a lesson pattern that they themselves have admitted doesn't interest the children. And all this time, I've been labouring under the (obvious) misapprehension that teachers are supposed to have their classes' best interests at heart! Obviously not, though- it seems very much like all they care about is what lets them get away with the minimum amount of thought or preparation. Well, if they can't be bothered to care, then I think that absolves me from any responsibility to do likewise. If they're happy with the easy, uninspiring option, then who am I to argue? There are schools, and classes, where I would put up a fight, but, to be honest, this isn't one of them.
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