Center shiken Listening details

UPDATE (Jan 24, 2009) : I have created a new blog exclusively devoted to Center Shiken English and English Listening, for more information on the Center Shiken English please go here from now on ---> Center Shiken


The center shiken listening test is made up of four parts. Center Shiken Listening first part is the easiest. there are six questions with each four possible answers. Part one has four pictures from which only one is correct. students listen to the conversation or description, read the question above the picture and choose the picture which answers the question best and mark their answer on the answer sheet. The pictures are simple and the questions too.
Center Shiken Listening Part two, a dialog will be played and the students have to choose how this conversation is going to continue. The challenge here is to figure out who is going to say the next sentence, the man or the woman. For example, if the man asks a question, the correct answer to choose is the answer to this question. some times the man or the woman will say something like "well..." then we have to find and think how this sentence is going to continue. Part two of the center listening test has usually seven questions.
Center Shiken Listening Part three is divided into section A and B. In section A students listen to a conversation and have to answer the question on the answer sheet. These conversations are of medium length and can be answered without much effort if the students are exposed to native English on a weekly basis. There are three separate dialogs with each four possible answers.
Center Shiken Listening Part three section B is usually something like a schedule or a room layout. under this there are about six pictures. There are three questions combined here and there are six possible answers to choose from. Again the students listen to a conversation and have to match the correct picture with the correct date or place in a room. Sometimes these questions can be confusing since most of the six pictures would be mentioned.
Center Shiken Listening Part four section A, are three questions. For each question they listen to one story, report, interview etc. This is where the questions start to get trickier and quite difficult.
Center Shiken Listening Part four section B. Now this will be one report or story with three questions. This is very long and unless the students are geniuses they should be taking notes while listening and should have read the questions before the section starts playing.

More reports and advise is coming soon!!

Teaching Japanese to speak English

At my current Japanese high school I am the only foreign or native teacher. It is my job to instruct the students on how to improve their pronunciation, intonation, and rhythm of English. It is a fact that Japanese people in general don't have many opportunities to use their English abilities. Japan is an island nation and foreigner visitor concentration is mainly in big cities like Tokyo, Kyoto, and Sapporo. Therefor the motivation level to study spoken English might be lower than in other Asian (mainland) countries. Here in Japan, focus of teaching and studying English is on passing exams with lots of grammatical questions. Acquiring a (more) practical English speaking ability is not considered to be of much importance. Besides teaching spoken English I practice lots of listening exercises with my students so that they are able to understand what is being said in conversations. These listening exercises let students focus on eliciting or being able to catch important keywords in sentences, so that they can almost guess the meaning of what is being said without knowing the meaning of all words. Other exercises ask students to match a sentence they hear with a picture. But most difficult for them is to listen to a longer dialog after which they have to answer a few questions. These questions usually have multiple-choice answers.

I am able to speak three languages and have experienced how useful it is to have these abilities while traveling the globe. Here in Japan I am trying to explain my students the importance of being able to speak English by sharing my experience. Having tried many approaches to get the students to speak English, I found that if there is no pressure, that the students won't really cooperate. I have tried to give them simple interview hand-outs so that they can walk around and interview their classmates, but it is difficult to control the class and almost impossible to check if they're all actually speaking English. Also I have tried whole class activities where I had them line-up and interview each other with a competitive element in it. However, If only a few students refuse to participate, the whole activity just doesn't work properly and very little is learned.

Now the only thing I do is "speaking tests". Students practice short dialogs from a textbook by repeating after me. I explain the meaning of the sentences and proper pronunciation of words. Next is sentence rhythm and intonation. Then the students find a partner they feel comfortable with and practice reading the dialog a few times. The last thing I do is have them repeat on more time after me the whole dialog and then I give them time to memorize their part of the dialog. This is usually only a few sentences and could be done in about twenty minutes if done seriously. The following lesson the whole dialog is review one more time. Most students have practiced at home the day before or in the morning. During the lesson I have all pairs come to me and act out the dialog from memory. I give them points for their pronunciation, rhythm and intonation, and correct memorization. Most student pass the test the first time because if they don't, they have to take it again after school. This they do not like, so most students prepare for the speaking test properly.

I have applied this type of lesson for about a year now and am still very satisfied with the results. Students complained in the beginning but now they are used to it and find ways to make it more amusing for themselves. I stimulate them to use gestures which most of them enjoy very much.