The Agree or Disagree Lesson

Tuesday, November 07, 2006

For the past two years, I`ve been asked to help at the various junior high schools with the "Agree or Disagree" lesson. I think this time around, I got it right. Out of the six questions that were asked, two were pretty much split down the middle. The Japanese are too big on the consensus therefore one will decide as the other does which makes for a lousy lesson. I decided to get rid of some of the supplies that I have around the house and picked out 30 sheets of 2 different colored paper and had them hold them up for their decision. Then I decided to come up with some "soft" questions basing it when comparing Japan to other countries.

Here is how it went with JHS 3rd year students (9th graders):

1- In the US, you can not smoke inside most restaurants. I think it should be the same in Japan.

Agree- 28
Disagree- 1

2- In the US, you can not ride your bicycle on a busy sidewalk. In Japan, I think you should get off your bicycle and walk your bike until it isn`t busy.

Agree- 15
Disagree- 13

3- On sunny days when the weather is nice and pretty, I think we should hold the English class outside.

Agree- 4
Disagree- 25

4- For classes such as Science, Math or Computer Lab, I think that those classes should be taught in English.

Agree- 0
Disagree- 29

5- In Canada, there are two official languages which are English and French. For example, in Vancouver, a box of cereal will have English on one side and French on the other side. I think that in Japan, there should be two official languages which would be Japanese and English.

Agree- 0
Disagree- 29

6- In Korea, English is a compulsory course taught to students beginning in the ES 4th year. I think it should beginning sooner that JHS 1st year in Japan and the Japanese should follow the model that the Koreans are following.

Agree- 16
Disagree- 12

A good way to take up 10-15 minutes if given the chance.

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