Japanese+Art-Based+Activities

For each chapter of the textbook, there are a list of "Daily Aims" that the students should be able to do. For example, students should be able to count to ten in Japanese or give appropriate greetings depending on the time of day. My mentor teacher had this great activity where the students could make their own poster or book to show that they comprehend those daily aims. Students need to pick and choose which ones they want to answer and put it on a ten page book or ten panels on a posterboard. On each panel, students need to have at least two lines (e.g. a question/statement and a response to that question/statement). They must use vocabulary that they have learned. If they are first year students, you don't have to make the panels follow a storyline because that might be too difficult. By keeping it fairly loose, students really get creative with their pictures and statements. For example, one student drew a panel for "greetings." He drew two students bowing with a moon in the background. The first person says, "Good morning." Instead of having the second person give the same greeting, he drew the second person pointing at the moon and saying "No it's not!"
 * Daily Aims Book/Poster**

After the students turned in the assignment, I had them peer conference each other's project. They had to write what is good about the project and any changes that needs to be made (I make them write the good comments BEFORE writing any changes). This works out well because the students are checking each other's grammar and spelling errors. Also, I think it gives students a great sense of entitlement by letting them determine what makes a good project.