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グローバルに
２０１６年もよろしくお願いいたします。
・・・ご挨拶が遅くなりました。
暖冬暖冬と言われていたのに、寒い日が続きますね。
１８日には、東京でも、久しぶりの積雪で、交通が混乱しました。
１０センチの積雪でも、”大雪”となり、
２時間駅の外で並んで、３時間かけて、会社に行くとか、
まじめな日本人ならではですよね。
欧米だったら、むしろ、前日に雪の予報を見ただけで、
ラッキー、明日は休み♪ とほとんどの人が自主的に判断しそう。。。
お国柄というのは、本当におもしろいと思います。
自分の国では当たり前のことが、他の国では全く違う。
いいこともあれば、悪いことも。。。
うちの息子は、ヨーロッパの某小国に住んで、
人々の、（よく言えば）おおらかさに”触れ”、、、というより、”刺激を受け”、
というより、むしろ、”とばっちりを受け”、、、
やっぱり日本が一番！という思いばかり強くして帰国しました。
例えば、、待っていたバスが来ないとか、スクールバスがルートを間違うとか、
水道が故障の一大事でも約束通りには修理に来ないとか。。
大人（私）は、最初はとまどっても、相手がいい加減なら、こちらもいい加減でいこう！
そう割り切って、適当にやり過ごすことを覚えましたが、
思春期ぐらいの子どもでは、なかなかそうはいかないですね。
新宿に住む子ども達は、学校や地域で、自然にいろいろな文化に触れる機会があります。
多様性を受け入れる下地が十分養われると思います。
イングリッシュプールにも、いろいろな国のお子さんや他の国に住んでいたお子さんが通ってくれています。
日本人のお子さんにもとっても刺激になります。
せっかくのこの地域の特性を生かして、みんなが、グローバルに成長して欲しいです。
これからもよろしくお願いいたします。
知らない鳥...
As part of our Elementary Class A lessons (小学生A) we are currently learning all about animals. From describing how they look, to what they can, and can't, do.
Our first and second graders (1年生＆2年生) know so much about animals, it feels sometimes as if they are teaching me! For example, did you know that a giraffe can sleep while standing?
Although this picture had me stumped. During February they each child will produce a piece of written work introducing their favourite animal, similar to the previous years work over on the gallery. So I asked them to start thinking of an animal they'd like to wriite about. One girl decided on a bird. So far, so good but of course birds come in all shapes and sizes..'What bird?' I asked. She replied, 'A yellow one, with an orange mouth.' She didn't know the Japanese name, and seeing that I was still confused asked for a pencil and some paper so she could draw it for me.
Can you guess what it is?
生の音楽の力
週末に音楽をこよなく愛する大学時代の友人が結婚式をあげました。
彼女のWedding Partyでは、彼女が20代から通い続けたシャンソンバーのシャンソン歌手のご友人が、ピアノとアコーディオンの生バンドで素敵な歌を披露してくれました。
久しぶりの生ライブに聞き入り、心が豊かになりました。
最近では、スマホでいつでもどこでも世界中の音楽をダウンロードできる時代になり、昔よりも音楽に気軽に触れる機会も増えました。ライブ音源も、ライブに足を運ばなくても、Youtubeで楽しめるようになりました。いい時代になりました。
しかし、生のライブの感動を100%味わうことはなかなか難しいですよね。ダウンロードした音楽やYoutubeとは全く別物です。
結婚した友人がこんなことを話していました。
『生の音楽や歌にもっとたくさんお金を使って良き循環で日本を良くしてほしい』
皆さんは生の音楽や歌を最近聞きに行きましたか？ お子様に聞かせたことがありますか？
ラッキーなことに、新宿では生の音楽や歌を聞ける機会がたくさんあります。
さあ、外に出て生の音楽や歌を聞きに行きませんか！
皆様の心も豊かになり、日本の未来も明るくなるかもしれませんよ。
Youtube Star!
Regular visitors to our cafe The Three Little Pigs will no doubt recognise the Buddist priest in this video.
He's one of our cafe regulars and can be found most days transcribing the sciptures, over a cup of coffee and a packet of Ormskirk Gingerbreads.
He has an impressive 376 views at the time of writing, and his previous videos have gained figures of over 1000 views per video.
That's why he's our local Youtube Star!
Watch out Hikakin!
Media
明けましておめでとうございます
7日から授業が始まりました。
冬休み明けで久しぶりの授業でテンションが上がり過ぎて大騒ぎのクラスや、ママと一緒でないと出来ないとママと離れないキンダーさんもいました。
今年も一年ポールと一緒に楽しく英語を学びましょう。
さて、キンダークラスでは『服』をテーマにした単語を学びます。
coat, sweater, shirt, boots, sneakers, mittens, scarf, pants
これからの寒い日のお出かけの時に使える単語ばかりです。
お子様に What is this? What are they?とゲームのように問いかけてみてはいかがですか？
Frozen アナと雪の女王
Thank you to one of our students for the donation of Frozen, Book of the Film to our ever expanding school library.
I must admit that when I watched Frozen, known as アナと雪の女王 (Ana to uki no jo-ou) in Japan, I fell asleep. So maybe I will be the first to read this!
Body Part Dice
Towards the end of last year, when we were learning body part vocabulary in our Kinder Classes, I came up with the idea of using a dice to introduce some fun to the vocab learning.
I'm not sure what was more fun, rolling the dice and saying the body part name, or the children laughing while I was trying to draw on the dice!
You can find a fail-safe dice template here:
"It tastes terrible!"
Do you know what this is?
Yes, it's a cow. Or more specifically, it's a liquorice cow. And it became one of the best teaching aids I've ever encountered.
In our elementary classes （小学生B＆小学生C) they had the target of describing various items."It looks beautiful." "It looks soft." "It's loud." etc...
Well for the target "It tastes delicious" or "It tastes terrible" this little liquorice cow worked wonders.
I offered each student one of these little liquorice cows, and some students said "It looks delicious", some even went as far as to take an initial bite and say "It tastes delicious" but 100% of students finally said "It tastes terrible!" before spitting it out into the bin!
(For the record, I am yet to meet any Japanese that like liquorice. It must be an acquired taste!)
Thank you to my friend Mr.S who provided the liquorice after a business trip to Denmark.
Decorated Gingerbread Men
We used this idea at our Christmas Parties, and I thought I'd share it with you.
I prepared a gingerbread man for each child and set a selection of different coloured 'chocopens' on each table. The children were then free to create their own designs.
It was a lot of fun and something I can see us doing again.
(Apologies for the picture, the sharp eyed will notice I only used one colour! It was a test! )
Christmas Party Photos
Forgot to post this before the Christmas/ New Year break but the photos taken at the Christmas Parties are online.
As usual, you'll need a password to access them, check inside your child's bag...or contact me direct.
Thank you to all the students who attended the Christmas Parties, they were a lot of fun and I hope you enjoyed the gingerbread men!
More...
Happy New Year
From myself, and all the staff at englishpool,
明けましておめでとうございます, or Happy New Year!
Hope you have a good 2020.
Happy Christmas (メリークリスマス)
Wishing you all a very Happy Christmas and a Great New Year, from Paul and all the staff at englishpool.
Pleae note we will be closed for winter holiday from today today, 25th December, until 6th January (冬休み12/25~1/6)
Happy Holidays!
.
クリスマスパーティー2019
Following hot on the heels of the Halloween Party, it's the Christmas Party!
This year's party will be held on Sunday, 15th December. Same format as other years, all children to bring a little somthing to eat, and a present to exchange (of about 500 yen value.)
Please respond by December 7th.
Eiken Perfect Score 英検満点
One of our Junior High School (中学生) students was very pleased with himself recently.
He was unsure as to which level of eiken test (英検) he should take, so he took grade 5. Imagine his surprise when he achieved a perfect score of 850. Not a single question incorrect!
Hopefully he'll now feel confident to challenge the higher levels!
And remember, at englishpool we may not specifically teach for exams but all our students will more than capable of passing any exams and have confidence to use English in the wider world.
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