Incorporating a skit in the classroom Eiko Isogai

Incorporating a skit in the classroom Eiko Isogai Williams University of Miami

Why do students need to work on a skit? Benefits Students… • Understand create situations in which dialogues possibly occur. • Have opportunities to work with other learners and complement each other. • Overcome the fear of speaking and acting in public. • Review all the vocabulary, structures and expressions learned so far. • Become aware of the learning outcome • Reflect on their objective of learning the language. • Have close connection with other learners and have fun, productive time together.

What is the downside? • • Students need to work on scheduling Time consuming Unfair workload distribution Reading a cheat sheet

How do we integrate a skit into the Japanese courses at UM? Ø Instructor Present a skit as the final course assignment. Students present their work and evaluate others during the class time (the penultimate class) Ø Instructor Suggest or decide possible settings/situations in which students can use learned structures and extend stories(approximately 2 -3 weeks before the last class). Ø Students work on a script in a group (Google drive, Skype or meeting) and submit it to the instructor for suggestions prior to final submission. Ø Proceed to videotape a skit.

Students check list Our skit includes 90% of the grammar structures and the vocabulary covered in the semester. Our skit is presented within the time allotment (5 minutes). We received NO help with our script from outside the class. Each one of our group has about the same amount of lines. The sound is clear and audible. Our script is typed and complete, and no translation is added. Yes No

Post skit presentations -Students watch other groups’ skits and write comments/evaluations anonymously. -Their evaluations do not affect actual grades. https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=x. Ri_6 Znt. G 9 A