Adapting to limited resources
Teaching overseas is a fantastic experience, as one must step outside of their comfort zone as you travel to different countries and immerse yourself in a foreign culture while doing one of the things you love, teaching. It has been a short but rewarding experience so far to be able to work in Japan, The size of classes and the facilities, as well as equipment, interest and students are some of the factores that we have to deal with everywhere.
Before i go any further on my experiences, i should briefly give an idea of my situation. I am currently teaching two grade 1 classes with 18 students each; two grade 2 classes with 20 students each; and one grade 3 class with 21 students in an international school in Tokyo, Japan. There is one kindergarten PE teacher, a lower elementary PE teacher and a upper elementary/middle school PE teacher, and we all share the same equipment and facilities. Our timetables are basically congested due to the amount of times we have to teach PE to each class (4 times a week). I am in a country where education is well respected and there is a strong focus on academics.
Our facilities include a standard sized classroom, that we use when we have to share spaces; a outdoor soccer pitch with basketball posts and soccer goals, and a small sized gym. Facolities play an important part to any PE program. Ideally anyone teaching PE would enjoy a full-sized gymnasium that is set up to meet the moment needs of our students. Unfortunately, not all international schools have been blessed with the same facilities. Close to our school, we see some schools that have pitches that would meet the training needs of Olympic athletes. As teachers, we must adapt and be flexible. Making the most of what we have and making it an enjoyable and meaningful experience for the students we teach. Creativity and imagination play an important part of my everyday planning. By engaging my students' creativity, my fundamental skills training is growing in this type of environment. My current small gymnasium has given me a chance to really focus on spatial awareness and concepts of self and general space. Moving within such a confined space has given my students an opportunity to reinforce those concepts and to work on safety as well.
EXAMPLES
I hope some of these examples can be helpful to those teachers who are struggling in terms of available space and limited equipment.
- Our school doesn't have much equipment and the gym is too small to have 20 students working inside. One way i've found to cope with this situation is to keep your students on-task everytime, so for example. We only have 10 hockey sticks, so apart from doing the normal relays, we would often work on passing in pairs; and while one group was working on passing, the other group would be working on a different skill. Same can be said on fitness skills. While one group would be performing sit-ups, the other would be running outside. This type of rotational activities has allowed to keep my students on-task and at the same time minimizing or completely stopping any type of misbehavior.
- I try to give my students a routine for starting the class, warm-ups, transitioning to other activities within the same lesson. This allows me to save a lot of time spent on explanations of activities. In the beginning of the unit, i spent 1-2 lessons covering just on warm-up and routines to be taken at every lesson, so that students know exactly what to do and what is expected from them. For example, when i was teaching my grade 2 students basketball, i didn't want to spend a lot of lessons on dribbling, so i made it part of our warm-up and this way, i could correct each student at every lesson, and still play modified games with them.
- Outdoors, we adapt our lessons in a different sense. I have big sized classes that range from 18-23 students. And my classes are taking place on a soccer pitch for a one 45-minute block only. Generally for these classes, i restrict the general space with cones or use pre painted lines on the field when i have time. Then i proceed with the class within that space. The games are generally not what you would expect to see since the space is too small for 20 kids to be playing at the same time. For example, one time i was doing capture the flag with my grade 3 students. So i managed to split the class into four groups of 5 students each. Then i made a round robin type of tournament in which 2 teams would face each other while the other two teams would have different jobs. One team would be responsible for umpiring the game, while one would be split into two groups that would act as coaches ( 2 stars and one wish) and provide feedback to which group at the end of their performance. This proved to work really well with the students and it was very productive in terms of allowing students to do some peer assessment.
I know these aren't overly specified examples, but it is hard to pick some out and just say that these are great to do if you have limited space or equipment, because every case is different as we all know. What i can say is that being flexible and creative is the best thing to do. Do not hesitate to try new things and make up games or modifications that children might complain about first. Some of my most successful games so far for me have been ones that i have changed slightly and added my enthusiasm to when i describe them. The children will enjoy most everything we offer them in our lessons as long as we believe in it as well.
Since moving to Japan, i have had to adapt on many levels. Personally, i'm adapting to a new culture. I just left Hong Kong a few months ago where the lifestyle and norms as a lot more easier in terms of adaptation than those here in Japan. Furthermore, i am adapting to a new educational environment. Getting to know my colleagues and who they are and what they expect from the students helps in making my job a bit easier. Being on the same page allows us to set clear and concise expectations across the board.
It's about being a contortionist...
