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Comments from former participants of the program "It was really exciting to get to know the MAT method and I am convinced that it is the teaching method I was looking for. It is really designed to make students speak and learn English. But I was worried if It also works for my adult students. After all, it turned out to be the best lesson I ever had. Even though my students are adults, they were all excited to do the 6-second DRILL game and it increased the participation and concentration in my class. I didn't speak as much as before." (A.K., Workshop 1, 2012） "The 6 second DRILL is great to use. My students get excited when I get them to do some actions, clap their hands and say "Finished". This stimulates them and gets them warmed up. They also look rather satisfied when they can say the words by themselves when I quickly change the flash cards." (C.P., Workshop 1, 2012） "Since my students are nursing school students, once in a while I have to prepare the lesson according to the medical practice. Therefore sometimes I have to introduce medical vocabularies and sentences. When body parts came up in the text book, I thought that I can implement the MAT method here. I think implementing gesture really works for students to remember. Songs also helps students to recall. After the lesson, I heard a student talking, "I like this English lesson because this teacher makes us speak a lot!" " (A.K, Workshop 2, 2012） "Honestly, before coming to this workshop, I really didn't have any idea of the importance of stimulating the right and left side of the brain. I think this is a very useful information especially to all teachers who really want to teach children." (C.S., Workshop 2, 2012） "Now I can develop my students' talents individually. Multi-syllabi lesson like the MAT Pie Chart is a must. This will make each student's learning more meaningful and enjoyable. This workshop was a real eye-opener to me. Furthermore, Ms.Sakai's presentation about one of her students was impressive and unforgettable." (Y.K., Workshop 3, 2012） "I would have thought that letters or the alphabet might be difficult or a bit boring in the past, and that might have been true, with the wrong approach. However, using the combination of MI's completely changed that. The students were interested, remembered and wanted to do the activity again and again. It wasn't the content that mattered, but how the content was presented; what MI's were used." (A.P., Workshop 3, 2012） "The way Mrs. Nakata demonstrated how to introduce the key words in Japanese was so much fun that I enjoyed answering her. Children, of course, would love to answer. I realized that making students think and speak first is really important because they literally REALLY think and speak. If you just say and repeat it, students might just repeat from force of habit. Realizing this difference was a really big thing for me." (S.S., Workshop 4, 2012） "Most students enjoyed reading the English words on the board. It made them feel proud. At the end of the lesson, students realized they were learning how to speak and how to read English at the same time. We had a writing activity the following week, so students were very happy when I complimented the efforts they made to accomplish writing." (E.S., Workshop 4, 2012） "I learned that I should tell students which part was exactly good about what they have tried, so I tried to pick up few things. I said to a boy, "The pronunciation of "r" of "red" was really good!" He looked bashful, but became more confident to say "R" words more. To another student (adult), I said, "The rhythm of how you speak is really natural!" She was really happy and started asking me how to pronounce the whole sentence with natural rhythm and speed." (S.S., Workshop 5, 2012） "Students followed the rules we set before we started doing the learning activity. They encouraged each other to do so in order to keep the points they had gained. It was not necessary scolding the class for not doing what they were supposed to do. They were able to do the activity smoothly because their homeroom teacher used some Japanese key words when explaining the activity. It was gratifying to see all the students' happy faces when I complimented them individually after doing the activity." (E.S., Workshop 5, 2012） "I was very surprised how much students could remember all the sentences they had learned from our first lesson. Since I learned that repetition is the key to memorization, I intended to ask students questions from what we have been learning at that moment. Sometimes students could answer easily and sometimes they couldn't, though they were all giving me the information how much they are remembering. The learning activity was really effective to reinforce what students had just learned. I was amazed how much they could speak and use their own words. I truly think that MAT method helped me and the students to obtain English skills and still have a lot of fun." (A.K., Workshop 6, 2012） "Attending these workshops helped me to improve as a teacher, and in a few lessons, to gain recognition of my co-workers. They are witnesses of the change in the development of my classes and attitude in children for learning in a happy and warm environment." (M.K., Workshop 6, 2012） |
