Tips

Big Classes

You can’t always expect the variety that you get with bigger schools—you may not have ‘the smart kid’ or the ‘moodmaker’ or ‘the one who takes pity on the teacher and gets involved,’ so be prepared to help a bit more
Worksheets, board games, card games (e.g. karuta, memory, go fish), and pair games (e.g. guess who, battleship, true/false bingo) work well
Team games (e.g. jeopardy, description guessing, wheel of fortune, the bakudan game) are easy to do in small groups or pairs and foster competition
For elementary school, active games (e.g. running karuta, janken game, flyswatter game) can be played on a smaller scale—students usually like having more turns

Sometimes it’s necessary to use katakana, but remind them that it is not English
Tease them gently about ‘katakana English’— Junior High knows better
Young students like caricatures—show katakana English and overemphasize mistakes, then compare it to natural pronunciation

Ignore it—simple and can be effective, but sometimes it doesn’t stop
Roll with it—laugh with them, repeat it goofily on purpose, over-eagerly try to engage them in English conversation. Make students laugh more with you than at the joke

Competition always wins—even if they don’t care about English, they care about winning and prizes (stickers) if you have them
Music listening or video watching activities are good for review—it helps with their listening and comprehensive understanding, but it’s fun and doesn’t seem as much like studying
Include easy activities that reinforce their confidence—for example, instead of regular karuta, describe the cards without saying the word. They can do it easily, it’s competitive, and it still practices their listening skills.

Structure in younger grades (1st–4th) is often more wibbly-wobbly than not, but it’s good to have some kind of plan as well as flexibility
Games, all the games! Keep English class fun, even if it’s a bit unruly and they’re not learning it perfectly.
Don’t underestimate them, they learn quickly and aren’t afraid to speak
Have a good, smiley poker face—for the inappropriate unfiltered questions as well as those panicky moments where you have no control over the class

Students who study English outside class vs. those who don’t

Some students already know the answer and their eagerness can keep others from learning, so it’s important to regulate their speaking in class
Have them raise their hands to answer—some of them like to yell out it out, but you just have to remind them
Institute a policy where only people who haven’t spoken can answer

Don’t get discouraged! It will be a struggle, but it’s not impossible
Junior High teachers should have enough English to communicate the role they want you to play, and if you want more or less responsibility, test the waters first with small requests or offers to help
For reference, usually the teacher plans the lesson and I only bring activities that fit the grammar point & amount of time they specify. Occasionally they would rather my activities take the entire lesson. Whether you have a lot of responsibility or a little, finding new and creative activities are a good strategy for working together with your teacher.
Elementary school is difficult because most teachers don’t understand much English and don’t feel comfortable taking control of teaching it—to get them involved, plan in advance and talk to them about the lesson, turning to them during class to help demonstrate conversations or explain topics and activities