This was the first full lesson I did with the ６年生 after changing schools. I thought that I had everything figured out, until more than halfway through the lesson I hadn't even taught the grammar yet. I was planning only one week in advance, rather than structuring the lesson, I don't think it was as effective as it could've been.

Introduce the Places vocabulary.

Introduce the Direction vocabulary. Doing the simon says activity was really fun. :)

Put the two vocab sets together and have the kids use a map.

With the directions and places, I really wanted the students to put their new words to use to describe their surroundings. I created a map of Takayama, placed several icons on the map, then had the students navigate throughout the map.

Well, it was about time I introduced the grammar right before the end of the lesson. I eventually wanted to get back to Takayama, and have the students ask each other where places were, but that never materialized.

Instead of asking for directions in Takayama, I just made a simple map, and the students filled in the blanks.

The lesson prior dealt with Months, and given my predecessor, I figured that they didn't have a whole lot of practice. "Musical Months" is a great dumb song for the students to learn the Months of the year. It's catchy and VERY easy to learn. Most students would sing in on their own during cleaning time, and when they'd see me in the hallways.

Again, I didn't create a syllabus for the lesson until later, so I think things could've been better organized. Also, I really wanted to incorporate Takayama more into the lesson. I wanted to give the students the tools and opportunity to help any foreigners they might come across in Takayama, and be able to guide them to different places.

I was successful with at least one student in that regard, though. One day, I was trying to locate the Police station in Takayama, and he was able to direct me with the vocabulary I had given him. :)

Also, we did so much review and repetition of the vocabulary that the students never forgot it, even when I quizzed them on it months later.