Pop Culture in the Classroom – The Handout!

1. Golly Gee. I love handouts! PopCulture in the Classroom – The Handout! I love Mario Kart! Pop Culture related activities – further explanation: Mario Kart MATERIALS: Mario Kart characters to post on blackboard, power up cards (optional, but makes it fun!), dice, game questions THE GAME: Of course, after making teams and distributing characters, and drawing a race track on the blackboard 1. Ask the target question aloud (listening practice) or item to be translated, etc. 2. Give the kids X minutes to work out the answer to the problem. (writing, reading practice) 3. After X minutes, call time, and have a group member from each group come to the teacher(s) with their answer written down. 4. Check the answers. I have the kids read me the answer (speaking practice) then I read their written sentence, correcting in red the mistakes while explaining the mistakes quickly. If necessary I have them go to the JTE for a more thorough explanation. 5.Students with incorrect sentences sit down. They and their teams are done for this round. 6. Students with the correct answer wait in a designated area. 7. Once all sentences are checked, the kids with correct answers janken (Rock/Paper/Scissor) to find a single person who will eventually draw a power-up card. 8. Make the Janken winner roll the dice last. Other than that the order of the winners rolling the dice does not matter. 9. Everyone who answered the question correctly rolls a dice once, including the Janken winner. This is how far their character advances on the board. After that team's character has been moved that student sits down, until only the Janken winner remains. 10. After the Janken winner rolls the dice once and their character moves, just like everyone else with a correct answer, he/she draws a power-up card from the item box. 11. The Janken winner uses the power-up card After the card has been used, the Janken winner sits down. 12. The game moves into the next round, which simply means it's the next team member's turn. 13. Keep playing until the end of class or right before to allow prize time. NOTE: Depending on your students' level, the power-up cards could make things complicated so if you decide to leave it out, just have the winners roll and advance on the racetrack normally. This is just the general idea of the Mario Kart game. For a more thorough explanation and materials for characters and power-up cards, please go to the Englipedia website and look for the Almost Mario Kart explanation. * Taken from Englipedia (see resource links), submitted by Scott Foss/Anne Recinos. http://jhsenglipediaproject.com/JHS_Textbook_Game_AlmostMarioKart.aspx World Music Game MATERIALS: Some way to play 20 to 30 second clips of music from various countries around the world. THE GAME: After playing a short 20 to 30 second clip of music, the students will guess what country the music is from. Students can be given a work sheet with countries to choose from. This is great for a short warm up, or to aid in any class focusing on foreign culture. Music Order Game MATERIALS: The lyrics of a song cut into pieces and put into an envelope out of order. Also a way to play the students the song the lyrics are from. THE GAME: Students will be put into groups and given the envelope of lyrics. As the song is being played, they will try and put the lyrics back in the correct order. Hello Kitty, otherwise known as Kitty-chan in Japan. Japanese Idol group, AKB48 Beyoncé 1

2. Using Pop Culture in a Reward System Using popular culture in some sort of reward system is a good way to get your students interested in the participating in the classroom. Examples of this are purikura you take yourself , collectable stamp cards with English descriptions of various celebrities, and so on. Pop culture can be used to help students both become more motivated and to enjoy English class. Show your students that you are interested in what they are interested in. Never be afraid to share your own popular culture as well. We are more than just English teachers while in Japan, so always encourage your students to learn about other cultures and experience them themselves! Thank you very much for listening to our presentation. The most important thing is to enjoy teaching! Resource links: Englipedia – a great source for lessons for all schools and grades. www.jhsenglipediaproject.com/ DramaWiki – a resource dedicated to the Asian dramas that students may be watching.www.wiki.d-addicts.com/ AsianMediaWiki – a resource for various popular medias (movies, TV, and so on) in Asia. http://asianmediawiki.com/Main_Page SEN Teacher, Photo Cards – a great resource that finds pictures for karuta cards automatically.http://www.senteacher.org/Worksheet/6/PECS.xhtml National AJET – the official site for all AJET alumni and support information. http://ajet.net/ The Japan Times - keep up with the current news in Japan with this great source. http://www.japantimes.co.jp/ Music played during this presentation: “Aitakatta“ by AKB48 “Seikai ni hitotsu dake no hana” by SMAP “Sangatsu Kokonoka” by Remioromen “Wake Me Up When September Ends” by Green Day “Arigatou” by Ikimono gakari Lovable and tasty, Anpanman Japanese boy-band, HeySayJump! Korean pop group, Girl’s Generation, or 少女時代 (Shoujo Jidai) in Japanese K-pop group, Kara Insanely popular boy-band, Arashi 2