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Comments from former participants of the program "I used the MAT Method every single day and I truly believe in its effectiveness. It's hard to keep students genuinely involved and interested, but the MAT Method allows me to do it with greater ease. The gestures are the biggest hit with my students. They all love doing gestures and acting out English in class." (B.H., Workshop 1, 2013) "My favorite and most used aspect of the MAT METHOD has been the 'TALK' aspect of getting the children practicing more with each other instead of with myself. It honestly took them some time to get used to speaking more with each other but I have seen a real change in attitude to English from the students since they started having more peer to peer practice. They really enjoy playing with the language and once they get confident often make funny or ridiculous sentences using language they have learned before and the structure we have learned in the class. Above all, speaking to each other has become fun for the children; they are learning and enjoying English which is something I am delighted with." (C.W., Workshop 1, 2013) "Through the Skills practice, I was really able to feel the importance of speed and rhythm of teaching to make the lesson energetic. ...Also I was reminded that I should not try to have them memorize but find a way to actively stimulate their memory in an active manner." (Y.M., Workshop 2, 2013) "Before taking the MAT training, I was the teacher who rely on games and music in order to have attentions by younger students whose concentration is so limited. Now that I learned the 6-second DRILL and gestures, the class relation got easier and smoother. ...Gestures are another tools I found good for students. At first I couldn't understand why they are good for children. But I learned that gestures activate the right side of the brain, "visual" part, causing to remember the information better." (T.F., Workshop 2, 2013) "I found it an eye opener to hear that the best visual aid in the classroom is the teacher. My facial expressions, also my tone of voice, relay the importance of what I have to say. Therefore the teacher is a role model, an example of what the teacher expects his students to be. In other words an exciting teacher who portrays excitement will encourage the students to become excited, too." (A.H., Workshop 3, 2013) "Before learning MI, I thought some students learn quickly while others learn slowly because of their aptitude. Basically I thought some students are sｍart while others are slow learners and this is something that cannot be helped. However after attending this workshop, I realized that all students have strong learning points, and it is my job to discover what they are. I plan to run a questionnaire to gather information about my students." (Y.S., Workshop 3, 2013) "I was very impressed by the MAT Vowel Action. I thought it would be very difficult for the Japanese children to distinguish between "a" sound and "u" sound. However, if we use the MAT Vowel Actions, the hand movements are so different and obvious that children will immediately recognize the differences between them. This is very useful when reading, writing and dictating words and sentences. " (K.M., Workshop 4, 2013) "I have found that since the workshop, my teaching of phonics has changed quite a lot. Whereas before I was simply teaching phonics, reading and speaking separately, now I am teaching all of them together. ...Something that has worked well with all my students is the categorizing of consonant sounds. This is something that even my adult students who have reading trouble have taken to. They enjoy the puzzle element of working out the letters at first (something which I often challenge them with) and they have been pleased with their own quick improvements." (C.W., Workshop 4, 2013) "I believe the more effort and time I put into preparing for the lessons, the better and more effectively students can learn. It seems that students can tell if their teacher is working hard or not. Changing a little bit of my lesson process leads to this big result; therefore, I would like to keep using the MAT METHOD. In order to use the method more efficiently, I need to practice more how I proceed my lessons." (K.S., Workshop 5, 2013) "I agree with the importance of using Classroom English. By using expressions such as "Here you are" repeatedly, I speculate the students' willingness to express their feelings in English will be largely enhanced. I feel I have to be careful to incorporate the lesson more to be student centered. I'm afraid that 80% of students' speaking time hasn't met yet in my classes." (T.F., Workshop 5, 2013) "I decided to review again and again in different ways. I thought it will take months to review and let them learn it, but in three weeks, they began to say many different sentences in almost natural speed. That was amazing. This really worked and they are improving a lot. I also tried Role Play and all the students had fun with it. They sometimes forgot or said the sentences in wrong way, but they did it with their perfect facial expressions. I felt happy listening to and watching them." (N.M., Workshop 6, 2013) "The Practicum at the end of each lecture was very practical and could be used right away. As a starting teacher the small tips of how to hold the cards or hold the cards upside-down when it's "no", really made me start thinking creatively and made me aware that teaching English could be fun for both teacher and students. Getting students talk 80% of the lesson is a really good goal for the lesson planning and I will always keep it in mind when trying to teach English." (K.M., Workshop 6, 2013) |
