Thinking Tools use cases in English Language Arts

Key Points for Utilizing English

English Education and Thinking Tools

The fundamental goal of English lessons is not only to understand and use English but also to be able to do something using English.

Students use the English skills they acquire in class—listening, reading, speaking, and writing—to construct new ideas and communicate them outwardly. Thinking tools can support children's thought processes in these scenarios

Therefore, regardless of the language material handled, thinking tools can be very effective even in simple expression activities in foreign language/English learning.

Basic Concepts for Using Thinking Tools in English Education

When utilizing thinking tools in English education, it becomes clearer by focusing on these three steps:

1. Information collection and reception

2. Organizing thoughts such as diverging and converging

3. Communicating ideas

Incorporating thinking tools in lessons with these steps in mind helps students organize their thoughts and facilitates smooth activities using English for expression.

Key Points for Using Thinking Tools in English Subject

Examples of Using Thinking Tools in English

Information Collection

Using thinking tools to organize known or researched information can visualize thoughts and make them easier to organize.

Organizing Thoughts such as Diverging and Converging

Using thinking tools can also smooth the process of diverging and converging one’s thoughts based on collected information. Moreover, presenting perspectives during thought organization can effectively converge thoughts.

Communicating Ideas

Even when expressing one's thoughts using English, creating materials with thinking tools can make ideas clearer and easier to communicate.

Advanced Application and Refinement Points

The function of "creating thoughts" is the same in other subjects, but in English/foreign language learning, students create thoughts in a language that is not their mother tongue, which is unique compared to other subjects. Being aware of the following two points can help you design better lessons:

1. Be mindful of the students' developmental stages and language proficiency levels

When using thinking tools, it's necessary to plan whether to use English or let students think in Japanese, depending on their developmental stage and proficiency level.

For example, at the stage of information collection and reception, gathering necessary information by reading websites written in English is a very advanced activity. The help of thinking tools becomes more important than when collecting information in Japanese.

Also, in communicating ideas, for instance, if creating a presentation, attention must be paid to the unique way of structuring talks in English. Here again, using thinking tools to build content in small steps can support the construction of new ideas.

2. Be conscious of increasing "doing something using English" lessons

In English lessons, it is not an exaggeration to say that all subjects and fields can be covered, such as sharing impressions after reading a story, discussing solutions after researching a social theme, broadcasting a Japanese food recipe internationally, summarizing disaster prevention knowledge based on disaster experience for foreigners in Japan, or creating an introductory movie for a shop to attract international customers.

Being conscious of enabling students to have more experiences of "doing something using English" will allow you to design lessons where students can actively use English.