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There are no formal tests in the Eigo Noto classes, but there are times when checking students' work is necessary.

After doing a listening activity in the Eigo Noto workbook is an example. Here is a simple way for students to check their own answers.

Simply asking the students to check their answer with their seat partners before listening to the CD again and/or checking the answers with the whole class accomplishes many goals:

• Students are self-directed. Successful language learners, or any learner for that matter, display an ability to learn independently.
• Students check their answers in a (usually) non-threatening atmosphere, reducing their anxiety about testing. Keeping the anxiety level low in the Eigo Noto classes is paramount in achieving the goal of preventing students from learning to not like English.
• Paired students get an opportunity to communicate together in their native language. One of my HRTs today said her students need practice in this skill. The Eigo Noto lessons are not only about communicating in a foreign language, but also about improving the students' ability to communicate in their own language.
• Higher level students get a chance to teach what they know; lower level students get a chance for peer-level error correction. This is actually one of the great advantages of the mixed-ability classroom; use it to your advantage with group work.

Error Correction in foreign language classes is something every teacher must do at one time or another. After all, there is a right way, and countless wrong ways, to say something.
Like almost everything else we do in the classroom, it's not always what we do (in this case, correcting incorrect student production), but how we do it. This post will give several examples and a brief explanation of Error Correction or Feedback for individuals (Teacher-> Student), and at the end give an example for Error Correction with the whole class.  A more thorough discussion of Error Correction and Feedback will follow at a later time.

There are 2 major divisions in Error Correction in published literature:

Eigo Noto classes are not to discourage students from further English study, nor are the lessons meant to be Conversation Lessons. But what about students who CAN and WANT TO speak English?

Do you, or the HRTs you work with, ever insist that the Eigo Noto students interact in English? I sometimes hear Home Room Teachers exhorting kids to speak English together.
There are times when we want a student to speak English in the Eigo Noto lessons, to be sure- when listening and repeating words and phrases, or when checking accuracy in pronunciation, for example. And looking at the workbook itself, you could easily get the idea that the kids are supposed to be speaking English.
But as for student-to-student interaction in English,

In my studies I read a researcher who stated: ‘Error correction done wrong turns students’ attention to form, not meaning.’
I think we can never be too careful about maintaining a meaning-focused attitude when talking and interacting with our classes and students.