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英語で電気工作教室 Week 2
A quick report on week two of our English and Electronics (英語で電気工作教室):
We had a quick review of the content covered in week one especially the names of the various components (switch, light, wire, battery etc) and the idea of an electrical circuit needing everything to be connected in orde for it work. This was helped by completing a worksheet to identify the valid circuits.
We then looked more closely at LEDs, I had a selection of red, green, blue, orange, yellow and pink LEDs for us to use. But what do LEDs need to keep them happy? That's right, a resistor. So we looked a various resistors and using a color code chart were able to read the values. For example red, green, brown bands indicate it's a 250Ω resisitor, brown, black, brown band equal a 100Ω rsistor and brown, black, black bands will indicate a 10Ω resistor. We used a magnifying glass to help see the bands!
We then moved on creating a bank of buttons to control the various colour LEDs. For this we used an electrical breadboard, so firstly we looked at how the breadboard is wired before using nippers to trim the buttons, LEDs and the all important resistors before placing them in the breadboard to create valid circuits.
Once we had checked that the various LEDs were inserted the right way round, and all the circuits were working we proceeded to push the buttons to light up the LEDs. We either called out colors and the children had to press theright button or we made up modified color songs and they had to follow along!
We finished by discussing what we had learned today, and packing the completed circuits in a bag so the children could take them home and play. Next week we will be attempting to automate those buttons by connecting everything to an Arduino.
You can also watch a short video clip of the LEDs lighting up as a student pushes the buttons following my commands (more or less...)
https://youtube.com/shorts/mwYyK7sEMEE?feature=share
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At the Park
Here is the video for the At the Park book we are currently using in our Saturday Kinder class. As is usual with the Potato Pals series it's one of those catchy tunes that soon has the children up and dancing along!
As a side note, this year we discovered if you turn the 'ride on the see-saw' page upside down Chip appears to be at risk of plummeting into the abyss
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英語で電気工作教室 Week 1
A brief report on week one of our English and Electronics (英語で電気工作教室) class:
We started with introductions and a safety talk then we looked at various components we will use in the course, for example switches, lights, LEDs, motors, batteries, wire etc. After trying to remember the names of these components in English we completed a worksheet about the symbols used to identify these parts in a circuit diagram.
We then looked at how electricity flows around a circuit. We identified the positive and negative ends of different batteries and measured their voltages using a multimeter---good chance to practice numbers. The idea of a complete circuit was a little difficult to grasp...all the components must be connected to each other to form a circle...with no gaps!
To reinforce the idea of a complete circuit we used the Snap Circuits board to quickly create a circuit using a battery and a light. We then expanded this to include a motor, push switch, on-off switch and an LED.
We then finished the lesson reviewing what we had learned so far, and looking forward to week two!
What's this Spider Called?
This spider is a relatively common sight in englishpool, and also in my home, but what is it called?
Well up to last week I had no idea of what kind of spider it was but then one of our elementary students brought one into class with him. Normally this would have the effect of the other students jumping around and making a commotion but not in this class! In fact one of the girls proceeded to tell us all about this kind of spider:
It's Japanese name is haetorigumo(ハエトリグモ) known in English as a 'Jumping Spider'.
As the name suggests it can jump. The surprising thing is that it jumps in order to catch its prey, literally jumping on the potential meal and catching it. Because of this method of catching prey it doesn't need to make a trap so you never see spider webs.
A big thank you to the student for enlightening us all, and needless to say we let the spider go! Especially as they live off a diet of flies, mosquitoes, cockroaches, stink bugs, and ants so not only are they clean but they also provid a vital service!
The 5 Senses: What Can You Hear? (Or, how to create a crackling campfire sound using bubblewrap!)
In this video Paul shares with you an amazing sound effect one of his students created while they were looking at the five senses (sight, touch, smell, hearing and taste.)
Did you know that by popping the bubbles in a sheet of bubblewrap you can create a realistic crackling campfire sound?
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What Sound is this?
As part of today's elementary school class looking at the five senses (sight, smell, taste, touch and hearing) my students discovered this sound:
What can you hear?
Do you know what it is?
Cream Tea
Here is something to brighten up your weekend. Watch as Paul shows you how to, eats and finishes a Cream Tea in just over 1 minute.
A 'Cream Tea' is a kind of Afternoon Tea, usually two scones served with clotted cream and jam, all washed down with a pot of tea.
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Robot Time
As part of our English and Electronics course (英語で電気工作教室) I've had great fun building these mini-robots using only an Arduino Uno, Sparkfun's Pan/Tilt Bracket and some connecting wires.
While the bracket build can be little complicated for young students, there is a real sense of acheivement once completed. Hooking the bracket up to the Arduino is as simple as making sure the servos have got power and then connecting the control wires to the correct ports on the Arduino.A few cable ties help keep everything tidy! The pan/tilt bracket really needs to be mounted on something or it will just keep falling over. In this case I used a piece of wood to mount both the pan/tilt bracket and the Arduino Uno.
On the software side, the stuff that controls how the robot moves, we would usually use the mBlock application. This is a block based coding system which is easy for young minds (and old!) to understand. Although in this video, which is intended as a demonstration, I used the Arduino Servo Library and modified the basic sweep program.
The slowly pulsating LED lights are not controlled by the Arduino, they have their own 'chip' and were salvaged from a children's toy. As this is intended to be used as a demonstartion I thought the lights added a bit more excitement!
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At School
Also in our Satuday Kinder class we've started on the second book in the Potato Pals series, At School.
Here is a video from the books creator, Patrick Jackson, so you can practise at home.
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The Pinocchio Song
Today I introduced our Kinder class students to The Pinocchio Song from Super Simple Songs.
This song has been a staple of our young learner classes for years but today was the first time since the Corona pandemic that I've used it in class. Great song, and after a little hesitation, all the children joined in and had a great time!
Hishashiburi or as we say in English, 'it's been a long time'!!
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More...
A big thank you for the 141,234 views and 600 likes!
I was a little shocked to see that a YouTube video I made two months ago called Whiteboard Marker Magic had had over 130,000 views and received over 580 likes. In the short video I demonstrate how to use a standard whiteboard marker pen, a plate and some water to create a dancing figure.
Aside from the number of views and likes I was also surprised at how countries around the world it had reached. At the last count the video had been viewed (10 times or more) in 95 countries! So I decided to make a thank you video, in which I name the 95 countries alongside a picture of their national flag.
Just in case you are wondering the 95 countries, in order of most viewed are:
India, Russia, USA, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Philippines, Indonesia, Brasil, Turkey, Malaysia, Mexico, Pakistan, Poland, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Germany, Myanmar, France, Italy, Great Britain, Kazakhstan, Cambodia, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Ukraine, Iraq, Spain, Canada, Argentina, Nepal, Egypt, Taiwan, Morocco, Romania, United Arab Emirates, Mongolia, Kyrgyzstan, Japan, Kyrgyzstan, Czechia, Uzbekistan, Korea, Netherlands, Greece, Australia, Peru, Hungary, Israel, Bulgaria, Belarus, Dominican Republic, Chile, Serbia, Azerbaijan, Moldova, Albania, Ecuador, Hong Kong, Sweden, Portuga,l South Africa, Belgium, Armenia, Lithuania, Guatemala, Syrian Arab Republic, Denmark, Singapore, Switzerland, Bolivia, Slovakia, Croatia, Honduras, Tunisia, Oman, Venezuela, Bosnia and Herzegovina,Mauritius, Palestine, State of Kuwait, Austria, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Georgia, Costa Rica, Jordan, Ireland, Qatar, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Finland, Namibia and Norway!
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ポール先生の英語で電気工作教室 (English & Electronics)
電気工作が得意なポールと一緒にロボットを作ってみませんか？
工作しながらプログラミングも英語も習えちゃうお得なコースです。通常の英語教室と違い、年間を通してのプログラムではなく、2か月間で全6回のプログラムになっております。1回目を修了した後は、次のレベルのプログラムに進めます。もちろん1回のみの受講もOK！プログラミンってどんな事？英会話のレッスンってどんな感じ？と思っている方には是非！体験して頂きたいプログラムです。
レッスンは【STEAM教育】の考え方を基に構成いたしました。
S：Science科学
T：Technology技術
E：Engineering工学
A：Arts芸術
M：Mathematics数学の要素を英語レッスンにとりいれています。
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In the Morning
As part of our Saturday Kinder class, which started last week we are using the ever popular Potato Pals to help us learn English.
And if we are using Potato Pals that can mean only one thing...we'll be using the "In the Morning" song as our first TPR activity.
Enjoy!
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Pushing a Pencil through a Freezer Bag full of Water
Watch, and find out if he manages to push the pencil all the way through the polythene bag without springing a leak! Things could get rather wet....
If you'd like to try this at home, all you need is a sharpened pencil, a freezer bag and water.....Oh! And your mother's permission!
This was originally used to get the students talking in one of our Junior High School classes (Paul will do almost anthing to get his students to talk!)
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