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Need some quick strategies to increase your profile in the school? Try these strategies.
Need some quick strategies to increase your profile in the school? Try these strategies.
Strategy 1 : Fridge advertising
Strategy 1 : Fridge advertising
After working with some primary schools, I realised that 2 key issues could be solved with one strategy.
I had heard that parents :
· questioned what could be achieved in a 30 minute language lesson each week
· wanted to help but didn’t know how as they didn’t speak Japanese
· had little understanding what was being taught in the primary lessons
To solve these problems we designed a simple A4 flier that we sent home at the beginning of each term. Each flier :
· listed the key vocabulary or phrases for that term
· had a cute photo of the class (have the students wear masks eg setsubun masks if this is an issue) – the photo means they will want to look at it
· had a simple Japanese recipe on the back eg oyakodon, yakitori – to increase the likelihood of it being kept and not recycled
· printed in colour and laminated – again to save it from the recycling bin
This increased the awareness of parents and the classroom teacher about what was being taught and had the potential to greatly increase the time spent on language if they referred to the sheet at home. Parents told me they were more likely to call out a phrase as they went to the fridge than if we had posted it on the school website or pasted it in a workbook.
Strategy 2 – Real estate warfare
Strategy 2 – Real estate warfare
If your Japanese lessons are held in a less than desirable location in the school, claim back valuable advertising space in the better areas of the school. During school renovations we were located to a demountable in the classroom. We had the school uniform of our Japanese sister school framed in a glass box frame explaining what it was and had it hung outside the teacher’s staffroom and the main meeting hall to remind the rest of the school of our existence every day.
Strategy 3 – Mine’s bigger than yours!
Strategy 3 – Mine’s bigger than yours!
School reception areas are notoriously full of trophy cabinets gloating over recent sporting achievements. We began our own interschool speech contest with several local schools and asked our sister city to donate a perpetual trophy. They sent over a trophy cup so big the rugby and soccer trophies hid in the shadows behind our Japanese trophy in the cabinet. It sent a clear message that was hard to ignore though!
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