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プリンのおやつでショー
We were delighted to receive these snacks from one of our elementary school students. They look delicious!
Oh, and Ichika (our Saturday assistant) your's is in the refrigerator (if Paul hasn't eaten it before Saturday!!)
Angel Bites
While shopping at my local Gyomu Super (a chain of discount food shops in Japan) the other day I found these Angel Bites snacks from Greece.
No idea what they were but as over the past year we have been in contact with a school (Yes, You Can) in Greece, through Cambridge Penfriends, I just had to buy them!
Looking forward to sharing them with my students in the classes next week.
みんなの英語ひろば
Just updated our information at eigohiroba.jp known in Japanese as みんなの英語ひろば.
You can find the englishpool page at eigohiroba.jp/item/85167620 where there's a write up of the classes available from Sprouts to Adults.
A big thank you to the people at みんなの英語ひろば for the listing!
Knock them down
We have been having fun with these little Pinnochios this week in our Sprouts classes.
Great for practicing, 'Here you are','Thank you' when we pass the ball, and of course for counting the number of Pinnochios knocked down!
Goes great with 1 to 10 song, which you can find here on YouTube
英会話ナビ
Thank you to English Navi or in Japanese, 英会話ナビ, for listing englishpool on their portal site.
As Tesco would say, "every little helps" or in Japanese "どんな小さなものでも役に立つ"
Kinka Chant(2)
Again, the Kinka chant used in this week's classes (but using a different upload system.)
Media
YouTube Channel (Test)
With more and more course content avaialble online rather than on CDs we are testing a YouTube channel.
The idea is that students will be able to go to the YouTube channel to watch and listen to the songs and chants used in class.
Please take a look at www.youtube.com/channel/UCCy2-Rtl0KF6y7LzkBPt6IQ
生徒募集中: 新しい年度の始まり。
春休み
englishpool will be closed until next Tuesday, 9th April, for a short spring break.
Sorry for any inconvenience caused.
The Three Little Pigs cafe will be open as usual!
More...
My students really don't want me to win!
In the Saturday morning elementary B class we have a regular habit of starting the lessons with a 'quick' game of AGO, and usually one of the students will set the cards so I can't possibly win.
This reached new heights last week when I discovered they had created a plan, on paper, of which cards each player should start with in order for Paul to lose everytime!
Thanks children, but I would like to win just once in a while...
...oh, and by the way they think I set the timer for 10 minutes but actually it's only 8 minutes!
BrainBox AGO
I was excited to receive this new game from our textbook suppliers, englishbooks.jp, yesterday.
It's called BrainBox AGO and is a collaboration between the makers of BrainBox, Green Board Games in the UK and the makers of AGO here in Japan.
I'd never seen the BrainBox range of games until now, but the game revolves around a box of cards featuring a content rich picture on one side, and a list of eight related questions on the other. The idea is to spend 10 seconds! looking at the picture, then roll the eight sided dice to determine which question you should answer.
First impressions with my elementary students have been very favourable, even though they've complained that the time limit of 10 seconds is way too short!
Looking forward to playing it in ore classes next week.
Are you ready?
As we approach the new school year, starting in April, I've changed the cover of our pamphlets, or chirashi.
Out with the photographs of the classroom, and in with an eye catching image of a red double-decker bus.
I've also added the tag line is "Are you ready to start your English journey?"
So far the reaction has been very positive.
All aboard!
You can find the chirashi at this link: englishpool Spring 2019 (PDF 297KB)
What's 'Origami' in English?
Yesterday one of the students found my stock of origami paper, and naturally wanted to make something. So I challenged her and the other members of the class to create something using only their memories and imaginations (no instructions!)
The above photo shows the results, we have a clover, a mother and baby fox, a paper bag and a crane. The whole activity was very calm and we managed to use a lot of English while doing it.
Sure beats using my normal game type warm-up which can descend into fight of who is winning and losing.
Oh and one question from this activity "What's origami in English?"
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