formgroup

Logistics of forming an English Blast Group

See English Blast G uidelines: Read about the philosophy and goals of
the English Blast program.
Find participants: Seek out English-speaking participants via other
playgroups, colleagues, international centers, religious institutions and
postings in local publications. Join the English Blast listserv (e-mail
group) to share ideas and find other people interested in forming English
Blast groups. Write to us for information.
Establish class size: The ideal number of children and parents varies
depending on the meeting space and personalities and ages of the
children. There should be enough members that an absence or two
doesn't drastically affect a class, and enough members so that the
teaching load for the parents is not overwhelming; 10-12 children with
about 8 families is ideal. Fewer than six families means teaching duties
for each adult become greater.
Select a meeting place: Investigate the types of public spaces
available that would be central and accessible to all members of your
group. Consider city and town public meeting rooms, churches,
preschools, public rooms in condominium complexes, and vacant
classrooms in public schools.
Determine meeting time: A once weekly 90 minute meeting is
recommended depending on the ages of the children: about 30 minutes for
language skills and about 60 minutes for the Unit of Inquiry. Whether
weekday or weekend depends on the schedules of parents and children.
For pre-elementary and early elementary grades, day-time is preferable;
for older children early evening may be easier.
Determine the yearly schedule: A schedule of three terms
corresponding to the Japanese public school calendar works well -- April
through July, September through December, January through March,
with no meetings during the summer break. This system allows parents to
plan one term at a time.
Establish fees for the program: Fees depend largely on the cost of
renting a space for the class. Costs are often minimal averaging about
1,000 yen per child per month. In addition to the costs of renting space,
there are also occasional workbook and materials costs, fees for gifts or
honorariums to guest speakers, occasional fees for basic equipment such
as microscopes or clipboards, and field trip fees.
Organize the group: English Blast groups do not require a leader,
however there should be a contact person as the group is forming. A
treasurer should be appointed to handle the minimal monthly accounting.
A secretary can be appointed to type up minutes, schedules and contact
information. One person will be needed to act as the Scholastic Book
Clubs order representative if the group uses Scholastic as a means of
purchasing affordable books and software. All other tasks can be
informally shared.
Hold the first planning meeting: An initial meeting should include
discussing the above matters, brainstorming Unit of Inquiry ideas, roughly
outlining a twelve-week term, deciding which parents will teach which
units, and determining what materials will be used for the Language Skills
section of the class (workbooks, notebooks, journals, etc.).
Begin the class: Start holding classes. See Roles of Parents. Be
enthusiast and insist that all members use English at all times. Be sure to
share with the children the upcoming Units of Inquiry and encourage them
to start thinking right away about areas and topics they would like to
explore. Parents should encourage each other in teaching and leading
and be supportive even when classes don’t go as well as expected.
During classes, parents should be involved as learners as well as
teachers; even when a parent is not the teacher, that parent should be
involved in the class as an active participant. Encourage all parents to be
focused on the class during the class.
Hold regular planning and evaluation meetings: Groups should
hold planning meetings at least once each three-month term in order to
plan the next term. Meetings can be held at the end of a class; one
English Blast group brings in dinner and some educational videos for the
children in order to hold meetings at the end of a class. To save time
during the meeting, prior to the meeting communicate and discuss some of
agenda issues by e-mail. Use the planning meetings to encourage each
other, to determine which areas of the program are going well and which
areas require improvement, and to organize the next term’s Units of
Inquiry.