Getting Your EFL Students to Speak in Japan

Name: Getting Your EFL Students to Speak in Japan
Rating: 5.0 (13 reviews)

Teaching Foreign Languages in Japan

Created byBruno Vannieu | Teacher trainer for Japan

Last updated 9/2025

English

What you'll learn

Get Japanese students to speak during class
Understand the cultural dynamics at work
Create a good class dynamic without fail
Minimize your effort to keep your energy for what counts

Course content

9 sections • 25 lectures • 1h 21m total length

Introduction - Is this course for you?4:17
Discover a practical, low-tech seating card system to break inertia, spark conversations, and energize pair work with Japanese students in basic speaking classes.
How to get a Japanese class moving: The Magic Wand4:01
Use the progress sheet as a powerful classroom tool to track attendance, participation, and performance, enable quick on-the-fly testing, and foster a proactive, culturally aligned class dynamic.
The cultural reason why this works3:02
Transform class participation in Japan by reducing social pressure with a points-based contract and progress sheet that awards points toward the final grade, boosting speaking and engagement.

Setting your class up for success: the first class of the term3:03
Set up the class on day one with a progress sheet, seating card, and early testing to establish a non-optional participation contract, then run quick tests after pair work.
Setting your class up for success: the second class of the term2:37
Kick off the second class with a quick vocabulary test, then use 2–3 on-the-fly tests after paired practice, and end with a longer test.
Nuts and bolts of the Progress Sheet3:52

On-the-fly testing: overview3:42
Discover on-the-fly testing with quick oral checks after class activities, using progress sheets and stamps to assess a few students on targeted skills like pronunciation and quick replies.
A few practical tips for on-the-fly testing5:21
Apply on-the-fly testing in a high uncertainty-avoidance classroom by clarifying instructions, printing them, summarizing in Japanese, using a mic from day one, and offering second chances with two-stamp grading.
Examples of on-the-fly test formats that work well in low-intermediate speaking3:33

The "scripted conversation" test3:44
Explore a scripted conversation test for low intermediate learners, where pairs write a daily-life dialogue, then perform it for real-time teacher feedback.
A tip for the “scripted conversation” test2:27
Use a two-sheet scripted conversation test: students write English dialogue while partners keep a Japanese translation, reducing cognitive load and increasing testing speed, validity, and practicality for group exams.

Three approaches to marking3:36
Explore three marking approaches: holistic grading, rubric-based criteria such as fluency, accuracy, and interest, and open ended marking with nontraditional totals. Emphasize motivation, fairness, and practical experimentation with marking schemes.
Example Rubric
Open-ended marking5:04
Open-ended marking enables on-the-fly, real-time tests and open-form speaking assessments, scoring sentences with points and a general impression, then mapping totals to letter grades such as S or C.

A few tips to be efficient from the get-go - and avoid becoming bored4:10
Gain traction in early classes by setting clear procedures and a fair pedagogical contract, then tweak methods to prevent boredom and raise the bar smartly with textbooks.
Cultural factors that influence the outcome of a class in Japan4:38
Examine how cultural factors in Japan shape classroom outcomes for EFL learners, guiding longer answers, personal talk, and authentic two-way conversations in daily-life speaking practice.
Intercultural communication and neuro-divergence2:47
Explore intercultural communication in Japan, where group pressure and uncertainty avoidance shape classroom interaction. Learn gentle, inclusive strategies to liberate neurodiverse students and simplify instructions with varied tasks.
Resources + Ask your questions3:04
Explore practical resources to help your EFL students speak in Japan, including a Q&A section, an online Autumn workshop, and four student tutorials with Japanese subtitles.
Student Tutorials0:26

Requirements

No teaching experience needed. You will learn everything you need to know.

Description

Many years ago, when I went from teaching at language schools in Japan to my first university classes, I experienced a huge shock. The dynamics were completely different. Students seemed reluctant to speak, classes were not lively, I was failing. Fortunately, a colleague taught me the cultural secret to unlocking energy in the classroom. It changed everything. He showed me how to get Japanese students to speak - in class - every time. I was so impressed that I spent the next 25 years explaining this to fellow teachers in workshops, articles, and books.

What you are getting in this course is the condensed version of those 25 years. I'm going to show you how to overcome that inertia in your classes, whatever your students' initial motivation and whatever the size of the group. Japanese culture directly affects the dynamics in your class, so you just have to take it into account. In Japan, there is group pressure and there is what is called uncertainty avoidance, which make it not so easy to conduct foreign language classes, especially speaking classes. But fear not, those cultural features can be managed! In this course, I'll show you a practical class procedure in each video, and you’ll get downloadable cheat sheets and templates.

This course is designed for beginner teachers, but over the years, many veteran educators have told me that the ideas presented here have inspired and refreshed their own teaching practice.

Who this course is for:

Foreign language teachers who teach at a high school or university in Japan

Getting Your EFL Students to Speak in Japan

What you'll learn

Explore related topics

Course content

Introduction3 lectures • 11min

Setting your class up for success during the first two classes3 lectures • 10min

Testing to motivate and guide your students1 lecture • 3min

Vocabulary testing for review and preview3 lectures • 9min

On-the-fly testing3 lectures • 13min

Testing conversation2 lectures • 6min

How to mark easily and efficiently3 lectures • 9min

Bonus points and homework2 lectures • 6min

Tips to start strong and keep going5 lectures • 15min

Requirements

Description

Who this course is for: