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I really believe that having student-centered learning is so much more powerful than the teacher standing in front of the class giving information in a lecture form. It’s a lot more meaningful for students to figure it out on their own and for the teacher just to be a facilitator — to be there as a resource and to direct their learning.
– Leslie Birkland
YEAR AT A GLANCE
Yesterday
School
School Subjects
Sickness
Shopping
New Year’s Lesson
Lunch Time
Birthday Parties
Self-Introduction
School Rules
Driving
Leslie Birkland teaches Japanese I-VI at Lake Washington High School in Kirkland, Washington, located one mile east of Seattle. The city of Kirkland is home to a largely professional community, with an increasing number of new residents moving to the area for its high-tech industries. It is also a very stable community; most students attend school in the district from kindergarten through 12th grade. Lake Washington serves students in grades 10-12. The school’s 1,400 students can elect to take French, German, Japanese, or Spanish. Due to the state’s strong Pacific Rim economic ties, and to the fact that Ms. Birkland teaches Japanese in one of the junior high schools, Japanese is Lake Washington’s fastest growing language program.
When designing her lessons, Ms. Birkland refers to the Standards and the Lake Washington School District Curriculum Frameworks (see Resources), and considers the thematic sequence established by her textbook series. She also tries to include in every lesson opportunities for interpersonal, interpretive, and presentational communication, as well as cultural understanding. Because her class includes students from different cultural backgrounds, she regularly encourages students to make comparisons between Japanese, American, and other cultures during lessons.
Every year Ms. Birkland schedules the Japanese New Year’s unit to coincide with the celebration of this culturally important holiday. In this lesson, students moved between different stations where they learned about Japanese New Year’s customs and tried several traditional activities, such as making cards and playing New Year’s games. In previous years, Ms. Birkland had the assistance of volunteers who gave instructions for the activity at each station. However, because volunteers were not available for this lesson, Ms. Birkland gave instructions for each activity herself in a prior lesson. She also organized the discussion of cultural aspects in a jigsaw, giving every student an opportunity to learn about each of the products and practices. The jigsaw also ensured every student would have a chance to speak during the lesson.