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Elem Topics    Greetings    Teaching Suggestions                                                                                                 日本語

 

Greetings

Teaching Suggestions

 

Gestures:

  • Adding gestures to 'how are you' responses will help reinforce the new words -- throw your fists up in the air for 'great,' thumbs-up for 'good,' etc.
 

Golden Rule:

  • "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."  Explain to the students they should ask the question back to the person who asked them.
 
Robot Responses:
  • Starting in junior high school, students are brainwashed to respond to 'how are you' questions with, "I'm fine.  Thank you.  And, you?"  In English speaking countries, while we might see this question as a mere greetin, doesn't preclude the fact Japanese students should be given the same option.  Try to avoid robot responses by encouraging the students to answer truthfully -- happy, sad, mad, sleepy, etc.  Also, after the student responses to the inital question, when they return the question, encourage them to ask the full question rather than the shortened, "And, you?"  This might help ward off future headaches of trying to teach JHS students that "And, you?" is not a sentence in written grammar form.

 

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