How to Earn (and keep!) Your Students' Respect

There are few things that make can make or break a teaching environment like respect. If a teacher has the respect of his students, even if they aren't particularly interested in the teaching material, they will still be manageable and willing to put forth a degree of effort to learning what they have been given. If on the other hand, the teacher does not have the respect of the students, even good materials and interesting lessons are likely to fall on deaf ears. Students will seem "unteachable" and even if some students genuinely want to learn the material, they will usually be drowned out by those who care less, and eventually fall victim to the environment's negativity and stop listening themselves. While classroom environments may vary from school to school, culture to culture and age group to age group, there are a few things that you can do that will help you earn and keep your students respect regardless of the type of environment you teach in. Here are just a few.

 Know Your Students

 If stepping into a classroom full of new students, your first and #1 priority should be learning all of their names. A great way to do this is through the game, Slap, Clap, Snap, which allows you to not only learn a few of their names, but pushes them to learn each other's as well. In doing so, you show the students that you care about them as people first, and students second, and that goes a long way in getting them to listen to you when you want to tell them something. Beyond learning their names, your first day activities should also feature exercises using WH questions that allows you to learn facts about them as well. Once you learn these facts, you can actually integrate them into your lessons topics, conversation patterns or dialogs, so that they strike closer to home with the students, are more interesting and are more memorable than a generic pattern pulled from a guide book or text.

 Come To Class A Few Minutes Early

 This has a two-fold purpose. 1) It allows you to chat with students, learn things about them that you can integrate into your lessons, and generally getting them opened up and attentive to you before the lesson starts. In an ESL or EFL environment, this also means that you can getting them thinking in English as well. The second purpose for this is that it shows the students that you are prepared and taking the lessons seriously. This is especially important in Japan, where punctuality is a cornerstone of professionalism. In general, if your students see that you take them seriously, they in turn will take you seriously as well. 

Look Your Best - Especially Early On

 This point goes back to the last one. If you show up dressed professionally, clean-shaved, and sharp, your students will see you as a professional who is coming to work, and they will expect good things from you. If on the other hand, you show up unshaven, foul-smelling, unkept, or otherwise badly prepared, you can expect them to not take you seriously, and lose their focus easily at the first available distraction. This occurs because of a psychological phenomenon called the "Halo effect" or the "Horn Effect". Studies have also shown that the more physically attractive you are, the more likely you are to have positive attributes attributed to you. The more unattractive you are, the more likely to have negative effects attributed to you. As such, the better you present yourself, the more likely people are to listen to you, especially early on, when students are still forming an opinion of you as a teacher and as a person. 

Prepared Detailed Lesson Plans

 While this may seem like a royal pain in the rear, having detailed structured lesson plans actually gives you a great degree of freedom. This is because instead of having to figure out what to do as you are doing it (which can both stress you out and occasionally result in epic failures), planning them out ahead of time allows you to do it while you are mentally relaxed and not in a rush. They also allow you to take stock of the materials you have (and those things you know about your students) so that you can most effectively integrate them into your lessons. Furthermore you can go the extra step of writing out a small checklist of what you plan to do in the corner of the board, and then just check things off (or cross them out) as you go. This not only allows you to track the timing of your activities/segments, but also shows your students that you prepared ahead of time with them in mind. Yet again giving them all the more reason to respect your efforts and listen- even when they aren't super interested in the lesson topic.

 Start Off Strict

 The natural inclination for most people when they first step into a classroom is to want to be the nice or friendly kind of teacher. While this may be because we all innately think high school would have been way more fun if our teachers were cooler, there is a reason why those teachers kept the distance that they did or were strict in the way that they were. While in a mature or shy group of students, the nice teacher can do wonders for opening students up and getting them to enjoy the class, the fact of the matter is, in most other environments, the super-nice teacher is the one who is most likely to get ripped apart. This is especially true any time you are working with pre-adult age groups. If you are the kind of teacher who is nice by nature, this does not mean you have to change your personality. What it does mean however is that you have to respond to, and deal with disobedience immediately to show that you don't tolerate it. This can something as small as writing a name on the board, as long as students see you do it, and you always stick to your guns, and make good on your threats. In effect, you just have to let them low that there will be consequences to disobedience and that you are not willing to let things slide. Again, this is of particular importance early on. Once you are eatablished as the person running the show (and not the class clown) it is much easier to relax things a bit (and then tighten the reigns again if they become too wild) than to start off too relaxed and trying to become strict later. It is much easier to go from authoritarian to friend than vice versa.

 While it may not always be easy to earn your students' respect, it doesn't necessarily have to be difficult either. Oftentimes, what it comes down to more than anything is being passionate about what you do, doing it correctly, and doing it to the best of your abilities. If students see that, they will usually respond positively to your efforts and things will become much easier as you become comfortable with them, and they become comfortable with you. Especially early on, the harder you work at doing a good job and earning your respect, ultimately the easier your teaching job will become in the long run.

New Phat English Videos

 I finally had a chance to create a few demo videos for Phat English. Although originally, I wanted to do it with a group of students, due to the space constraints of the location I was filming in, (and the difficulty of securing a group of college age kids who actually know the song) the videos turned out to be a one on one treatment, but I was actually fine with that. I think they came out well. In both vids, we worked on the song, Decisions, Decisions.

The first video dealt with the first 4 lines of the song, and the second vid dealt with the next 4. This is generally how the lessons flow. Each song is broken up into 4 or 5 sections with each section consisting of 4 or 5 lines of lyrics. In doing it this way, students can can learn the songs bit by bit which is not only easier for them, it also gives the teacher a much longer run of material and a way to thread previous lessons together.

Now that the videos are completed, the next step will be seeing what I can do to create a regular video series, and also getting started on the ebook, with Apple's textbook publishing system.

At this point, it is really exciting to see how far Phat English has come along, and Im excited to see how things will continue to progress for it in the next year. Yosh!!

Slap, Clap, Snap - A great classroom icebreaker and warm-up activity

When you first step into a class full of new students, setting the stage for the kind of learning environment your class will have should be one of your top priorities. Particularly in an kind of language learning or EFL/ESL environment, you need students to feel comfortable around both yourself and the other students. As anyone who has ever tried can tell you, trying to speak a foreign language when you are nervous is much much harder than when you are relaxed. At the same time though, an overly relaxed environment can be counterproductive as well, because it can be hard to keep students concentrated, and focused on the task at hand.

 One great way to set the stage for a good classroom environment is the warm-up activity, Slap, Clap, Snap. It's a lot of fun, it encourages laughter and competition, and it helps you and your students to learn each others' names. Despite how fun it is however, it also requires concentration to do, and as such keeps students focused and trying their best.

 How to play Slap, Clap, Snap
 1. Introduce them to the rhythm:
- Slap (your thighs)
- Clap (your hands)
- Snap (your fingers)

2. Write the phrase: "My name's ________." on the board.

3. Show the students that each word corresponds to a sound.
- My (slap) name's (clap) _______ (snap).

 *This is also a great way to introduce students to the concept of reductions, and let them know that in natural spoken English no one says (my name IS _______). 

 4. Start the rhythm and keep it going. Introduce yourself in this manner, and then pass the buck onto a student. Have them go one by one introducing themselves in this manner without letting the rhythm stop or falter. Once everyone has introduced themselves...

 5. Repeat the process, this time speeding it up.

6. After they feel more comfortable, you can make the game more complex by adding in the phrase:
 This is ________.
 My name's _________.

 This way they have to remember the name and introduce the person before them, before themselves. After a round of this, things can be made even more complex by having them introduce two people before them with:
 That is _________.
 This is _________.
 My name's __________.

All in all, depending on the competency of the students, this game can take between 5 and fifteen minutes, and by the end of it, you should know at least 3 or 4 students names...especially if you play along with them. The only problem with this warm-up game is that it is much more suited to large classrooms (with at least 8 or 10 students) than smaller ones. (4 or less). If you are teaching in a larger-sized class (such as the ones that are common to Japanese universities), it is an exceeding useful warm-up game, and can do wonders for starting your ESL or EFL class out on the right foot.

Teaching English with an iPad

Just published an article for gaijinpot detailing ways to teach English with an iPad. As Phat English is now available as an ebook and all the songs are on iTunes, it was also a great chance to discuss some of the different ways that Phat Egnlish can be used to teach as well. Thus far it`s been fairly well received. Feel free to check it out! Here's the link:

http://injapan.gaijinpot.com/2012/01/02/how-to-teach-english-with-an-ipad/

Gaijinpot Article

Just published an article for Gaijinpot.com (a website for foreigners living in Japan) putting forth a systematic methodology for how to teach English pronunciation. Naturally, as Phat English is the best way out there to do it, I had to include links to a few different exercises that teachers can get for free in there as well. Here's the link! Check it out! http://injapan.gaijinpot.com/2011/04/04/how-to-teach-english-pronunciation/#

Phat English on iTunes!

Phat English Listening CD1 has finally been accepted to be sold on iTunes. With that, and the fact that the Ebook is for sale as a digital copy through lulu, anyone can now have instant access to all that Phat English has to offer anywhere in the world.

This is particularly exciting for me as there has always been a demand for it as a product in Japan, but with the combined cost and delivery time associated with international shipping, getting it to customers has always been challenging.

Now Phat is ready to move forward full steam in Japan, and I look forward to seeing how well it can do.

Hall's blog

The aforementioned article on Phat in Hall Houston's blog is now up. Here is the link for anyone who cares to check it out:

http://hallhouston.blogspot.com/2010/05/first-guest-post-chuck-johnson-author.html

On Self-Publishing...

Recently, I was contacted by Hall Houston, a University EFL teacher in Taiwan, and the author of Provoking Thought about doing a contribution to his blog about my experiences developing and self-publishing Phat English. I'm one of several authors who will be featured in the article, and he is writing it to contrast self-publishing with going through a major publisher, and the respective pros and cons of each. I'm also happy that he is giving me an opportunity to speak about Phat and hopefully continue to introduce it to people who haven't had a chance to see it and/or hear about it yet. Although I've already sent him my contribution, the it will be coming out sometime next month, and I'm really looking forward to reading the whole thing (in particular the experiences of other authors) then.

Phat Private

Was recently contacted about being the private instructor of a hip-hop dancer who is looking for a teacher to work with him privately. Was supposed to meet with him today, but he was unable to make it, so hopefully, I can meet with him soon. As he will be my 4th Phat English private student, and I've been actually teaching with it for 5 years anyway, I don't expect too many suprises when we are actually 'in the classroom'. At the same time however, as I've got all the tracks in both WAV and MP3 formats now, provided he has an MP3 player, he will be the first person to actually be able to carry them with him as he goes, and I'm interested to see if he dedicates time to learning and practicing the songs on his own, and if so, how that will affect his ability to integrate the pronunciation patterns he is learning from them into his usual speech.

This usually seems to take more time than students utilizing them on their own without prompts as they are singing the songs.

The MP3s are also nice because I can simply put it on my Ipod as well, so when I teach with it, we can practice the full listening/rapping exercises wherever we choose without necessarily making too much noise or having to bother anyone.

In general, working with him should be a fun and interesting experience, and as with each and every student, hopefully watching how he deals with Phat will give me insights into tweeking it into something even better.

Phat at Toin University

At present, I am working as an accredited English convesation instructor at Toin University Yokohama. Recently, I was given the green light to introduce Phat English as a part of their "English Challenge" (extra-curricular practice) curriculum.

Thus far, they seem to be enjoying it, and are getting it faster than I thought they would. This is encouraging because they are about as low as the students I worked with at ESP and Yokohama Design Gakuen, but without coming from the dance and vocal' majors as those students were.

These guys (and I do mean guys- there's very few women in the program I am working in), are almost exclusively athletes however, and insomuch as I've personally experienced, most high level athletes aren't exactly musically inclined. As such, I figure that if they can do it, and enjoy it, then anyone can. It's also interesting because I am doing the program with a myriad of other teachers from other backgrounds and it will be interesting to see how they interpret and use the text, exercises, and CD as well.

Phat at the BEA.

Recently, I was contacted by lulu, the self-publishing company through which I produce Phat, and they told me that Phat English was one of the books that they wanted to display on their bahalf at the BEA. (Book Expo America). As the BEA is pretty much, the biggest book show in North America, and lulu will have a large booth in a great location (right by the door) I was pretty excited about the prospect. It just goes to show just how far Phat has really come. I'm curious to see how it will be received, and given what I've heard so far, am expecting good things.

Phat in Baltimore!

Just found out that a presentation for Phat English to school administrators in Baltimore went really well, and it’s likely that it will be implemented into school systems there from either this summer or the fall. How or to what degree it will be implemented is still being worked out, but they seem quite excited about the prospect, so I’m looking forward to hearing more about this as it develops.

I'm also happy about this development as it marks the first step to Phat's working it's way into the American ESL market, where ultimately, I feel it can shine the most, and do people the most good.

As the text and story center around American characters working their way through a 'typical' American college life, it is my hope that those studying with it will not just learn how to 'sound' more American, but also gain a stronger understanding of American culture as well, and as a function of that, have an easier time integrating into American society, making friends, understanding humor, and ultimately have a more positive and fulfilling experience in the states.

That may be a bit of a tall order for one textbook... but as a great friend and fellow author once told me, "Shoot for the moon, and in the least, you will fall amonst the stars."

Tokyo Fire Department Seminar

Just finished a 4 day seminar for the Tokyo Fire Department. Much like last year, the program consisted of 14 hours of advanced language training for two groups of 6 firemen/women. This year however, as I had much more experience teaching with Phat, it was integrated much more thoroughly into the curriculum, and constituted about half of their training (the rest consisting of differences between English dialects such as GAm, AAVE and RP, oral and written presentation skills, and answering dealing with language / cultural issues that they may have to face while working with foreigners.)

Their Toeic stores ranged from about 630 to 990, so given the fact that most of my experience in teaching with Phat has been at relatively low levels, I also thought this would be a fascinating opportunity to compare and contrast the speed at which they could grasp the concepts.

As one would expect, they could grasp both the concept of the reductions and the logic of figuring out how they are applied considerably quicker than my students at ESP or at Yokohama Design Gakuen. Additionally, their reading and speaking fluency also made it considerably easier for them to grasp the songs as well, and while it might take 5 sessions to be able to perform the karaoke version of the song with my lower level students, they were able to get it in a single day.

At the same time however, even if they understand the concepts, applying the reductions to naturalize their speech still seems to be something that will require continual commitment.

Overall, it was a great experience though, and many students said that they are already looking forward to next year.

2010 Graduating Class of ESP

The class of dance and vocal students who I teach at ESP Performance Village recently completed their graduation requirements and will be graduating at the end of this month. I’d been working with them once a month or so for about a year now, and despite the fact that most of them were absolute beginners (i.e. didn’t understand ‘How are you?”) I am really happy and proud of how well they have progressed. For the last round of classes together, we went throught the song “Decisions, Decisions” and I had the students sing the lyrics of the song on their own using the ‘Karaoke’ (instrumental) track on the listening CD. (Track #4), and they all managed to not just get through it, but to actually get into it, and do it with gestures as well.

As always seems to be the case, the song practice is what students retain the most (see links at the end to to read about why), so if they do go on to continue studying English (as I hope they will) hopefully these patterns will stay with them as well.

Music of the Hemispheres

The Effects of Music on Memory

Music-Related Memory

Phat on Amazon!

Recently Amazon contacted me to let me know that Phat has been selected to sold in their online bookstore. I was pretty happy to hear it. At present, Phat is inplay at a lot of different schools in and businesses in Tokyo (Harajuku Performance Village, Yokohama Design Gakuen, 7act, etc, ) and is selling well on Lulu, but hopefully, having it listed on Amazon will give the book even more exposure. Looking forward to seeing how it does.

Essay 1: Why hip-hop music?

If someone were to ask me why I dedicated 6 years of my life to developing a way to use rap to teach English, I think some of the answers would be obvious: rap's global appeal to young people, it's use of a speaking voice instead of a singing voice, it's colorful and creative nature, it's history as a platform for storytelling, etc, the list goes on and on.

There are a multitude of other reasons however, that aren't so obvious, and those are the ones I would like to share with you in this blog. For one, as an African American myself, Phat English gave me the chance to both create and perpetuate a non-stereotypical image of an African American male through Phat's main character, "Trey" a college-educated fan of hip-hop who moves overseas to start his own business.

In addition to that, Phat's supporting cast, Nina, Brandon, and Kenta, allowed me to do the same thing with other American ethnic minorities, (who are also often stereotyped as having bad english) and more importantly, to not only respectfully portray their unique cultural backgrounds, but do so in such a way that shows that through it all, they are simply Americans.

Beyond my political Agenda however, there were also pedagogical reasons as to why I wanted to develop a way to use rap as a teaching platform.

The first of these is the fact that throughout the entirity of the human existance, music always has been (and probably always will be) the ultimate mnenomic device.

Put simply, if something needs to be remembered, the very best way to do it is to put it in a song. This is why we all know jingles like, "In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue", and "I before E, except after C" , why commercial songs tend to get 'stuck in our heads', and why at 29 years old, I can still sing the theme song to the 'Fresh Prince of Bel-Air' when I haven't actually seen the show in at least 10 years.

Further evidence of this was found in a study I recently read about that was conducted by cognitive psychologist, Dr. Daniel Levitin of the Laboratory for Music, Perception, Cognition, and Expertise. Dr. Levitin found that most people, when stopped at random on the street and asked to sing their favorite song, could hit the original tempo of the song within a 4% margin of error, and 2/3 could sing it within a semitone of the original pitch. (Which stands in sharp contrast with other memories which both distort and fade over time.)*

Why exactly this is might still be under debate, but as Dr. Levitin simply stated: "Music has got to be useful for survival, or we would have gotten rid of it years ago."*

As such, for myself, the question of using music to teach was never a question of why. It was more of a question of 'Why not?' and 'How?'

And rap, (which would allow me to set the beats at such a speed that I could perform the lyrics in a natural, easy to understand speech pattern) was my platform of choice.

Afterall... if it worked for Will Smith, it could work for me.

Iiiiiiiiiiiin West Philidelphia, born and raised!
On the playground, is where I spend most of my days...

*Source: New York Times, December 31, 2006- Music of the Hemispheres

Welcome to Phat English!

Welcome readers!

Thank you for stopping to check out our 'Phat Blog'. This is only the first of many entries to come, so please stop by regularly for updates & revisions in Phat English materials, release dates of new products, and essays about interesting 'Phacts' about American English, hip-hop music or both.

Before I say anything else, please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Chuck, and I am both the chief developer of PHAT ENGLISH, and the managing member of Quiet Flame, LLC, the company that produces it. I've been an English teacher for almost 10 years now, and at present, among other things, I work as an American English pronunciation coach for actors and singers in Japan's entertainment industry. If you would like to know more about me, please click on the ''Who is the Real Trey Jackson?' page at the bottom of Phat English's main page. (www.phatenglish.com).

As they say here in Japan, 'Yoroshiku!' ( "Looking forward to working with you!" )