Do it the DJ way
Last night I found myself on Hiroshima FM radio with my wife, Hideko. We had been invited to be on Vibe On Music. They have an interview slot which features local people. Initially the focus was to be on Hideko and what she did. Before the program they telephone interviewed her for around 50 minutes and from that created a very tight plan. I was just there as a piece of spare lead in a mechanical pencil.
The DJ, Michita Kimura, changed this. He departed from the prepared script. He actually listened to what was said. He threw some questions to me and even got me juggling. I’d taken three balls with me - I always like to juggle before doing a presentation as I find it calming. I’ve no idea what juggling sounds like on the radio but getting me to juggle was a great idea.
Better than playing Sting(!)
The program has a musical interlude in the middle and originally the idea was to play a Sting song. Hideko had said she liked Sting. When I was asked the answer that popped into my head was The Doors. However, we had brought a selection of Wise Hat Songs with us and after listening to them before the show the director decided to go with The Weather Song - better than playing Sting he commented.
While the song was the DJ chatted to us and found out that we made our own games and then got us talking about that in the second half. I mentioned Fugitive Games, a business I’d started with some friends long, long ago. Actually, Fugitive Games was one reason I first got to Japan, but that’s another story.
I think language teachers would do well to emulate DJ Kimura. It’s fine to have a plan but in many senses a plan is only as useful as you are able to depart from it. Teachers who manage to stick to their plan for the whole lesson probably aren’t being aware enough. The more teachers can be aware of what is actually happening and interact with awareness the more students will respond and become involved. Put down those plans and fly!