The School-developed Alternative Curriculum

Four Skype Sessions with a Japanese Middle School

Implementing an alternative curriculum for the seventh graders to do self-introduction and talk about their family through international video conferencing

Starting from this semester last September, we are experiencing a major educational reform. With the new curriculum guidelines, one of the most significant changes is that each junior high school must design its alternative curriculum. 

For the seventh graders in my school, my focus has been on their basic English communitive skills with paragraph writing, oral presentation, and Skype sessions,  under the theme of Introducing the Beauty of Our Hometown in English. 

1. Revise the text and complete the script

It's intimidating for most students to speak in front of the class, let alone speak in the language they only study for tests. However, if they have a script ready before the presentation, everyone, including slow learners, can at least read out loud what's in it. 

So, how do we make it easy for them to write a simple script? Unit 1 and 2 have an excellent example, especially when students have such limited vocab words and sentence patterns. Well, all they have to do is revise the reading by filling in the blanks and substituting for what describes their situations.

2. Do a mini oral report in class

One by one, students took the stage and introduced themselves and their families. For advanced learners, please encourage them to try to sound natural without reading their scripts. Also, they can practice eye contact and smiling while delivering their speech. 

I would insist on using the microphone all the time. Some students got so scared that the audience could barely hear what they said. When they made too many long pauses, I would step in and ask them to answer my questions instead. 

3. Give it a try with Skype Sessions

We had four Skype sessions with a Japanese middle school this semester. The idea was for them to experience speaking the language with foreigners. Though they were just doing a simple presentation, they were quite excited to see the Japanese students on the screen. We even had fun asking some silly follow-up questions and showcasing some talents, such as dancing, singing, and playing the flute.  

The goal for next semester is for my students to present without peeking at the notes, which means they'll have to memorize their lines and make it look they're chatting with a friend. It may sound easy, but I think only a handful of them can pull this off. 

As for the topic, I'm thinking about introducing school life for the two regular classes while the gifted can do the beauty of our hometown.  

All in all, compared to the MOE-mandated, the alternative curriculum allows teachers much more freedom to motivate students' interest in learning outside of textbooks and standardized tests. Schools also get to develop their unique strengths based on neighboring cultural significance and so on. Last but not least, teachers will enjoy the freedom to help their students put what they learned into practice in the real world. 

However, textbook publishers have ready-made lesson plans for schools to copy and paste. Schools can easily exploit the loophole and get around the oversight from the education bureau. Then, only one or two teachers in the school may shoulder the burden of devising the whole curriculum because the rest is indifferent or thinks it's unnecessary.