◆Life Joy Club◆ Ms. Machiko Taguchi （Tachikawa, Tokyo）
It was 16 years ago that first learned about the MAT Method. At that time I worked at a big kids English school. They taught me about the MAT Method but they didn’t give me any details. Also they told me “don’t say anything about the MAT Method to your customers. IT is just the teaching method for the classes.” So that is why I soon forgot about the name “MAT Method.” (Photo: Let’s go 1 / 3rd grade class / Using Let’s Go Readers)
The next kids English school I worked at had a one on one teaching style. There were teaching manuals but I had a hard time teaching. Is it because it was one on one? The reaction of the students was not as good as I know it could have been. So I didn’t take any time to decide to do the Mat Method in the class. Again, it worked, even with one on one lessons. I thought “Wow! Really? What’s going on?”
Now I need to learn more about the Mat Method. It’s no use regretting it now.
After another few years I transferred to another kids English school as the manager. This was my first time to use the “Let’s Go series.” Using a store-bought textbook made me a little worried because I had never used a textbook like that before. But once reading the Teacher’s Guide I found that the Let’s Go books are wonderful. I thought, “Wow” This is a fantastic book that have I never seen before!” The books are very simple to teach. There are many cute songs, and chants. They are easy to remember and sing. Also there is a teacher’s manual which is really useful. (Photo: Let’s go 1 / 3rd grade class / Doing pair practice)
And about six years ago I was really shocked when for the first time I came to a school where there weren’t any teaching manuals. If the Japanese manager changes the lesson plans then everything changes. Then I become the manager of the Life Joy English School. I didn’t waste any time choosing the textbooks because I am a big fan of the Let’s Go series. But if I use the Let’s Go series then I should know more about this series, right? So I searched on the internet and I finally found the IIEEC program. I didn’t waste any time signing up.
On the first day of training, as time was passing, I thought “What? Is this the MAT Method? I think I have heard of it before, but where? Let me see…..Wow! This is the method I was taught more than ten years ago! Wow! At this time I was just really impressed. Because I still remember when I did the MAT Method in class, it really affected the kids.
Now my school’s main teacher is a native teacher speaker. But honestly, I really want to teach myself.
Now in each lesson the teacher is trying really hard to speak no more than 20 percent of the time. The remaining 80 percent is for the students. It helps the students make a lot of progress. It all starts with the teacher in charge of the lesson.
For the students to improve, teachers need to improve their own teaching techniques and take responsibility for the quality of the lessons. For that reason, I require teachers to have an IIEEC certificate to teach at my school.
(Photo: Let’s Go 5 / Junior high school / Reading dialogues)
Brent is also playing a large part in our school. We both agree that the Let’s Go series the best! He always tries very hard with teaching and he never forgets to keep studying for himself and for the children.
Special thanks to Brent!
＜Ms. Machiko Taguchi＞
Life Joy Club HP