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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!
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!
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)
More...
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?"
英会話教室のアシスタント募集（金曜日だけ！）
新年期に向けて新しく教室アシスタントを募集します。
子どもクラスで働いてくださる日本人アシスタントを探しています。
仕事内容は主にレッスンのアシストですが、簡単な事務、電話対応もしていただきます。
児童英語教師になる勉強をしている方、経験者は優遇します。
日常会話程度の英語力必須。
子ども好きの方、よろしくお願いします。
勤務地：〒160-0022東京都新宿区新宿7-3-36-102 イングリッシュプール英会話
勤務時間：金 １５：００～１８：００
勤務期間：長期
雇用形態：パート・アルバイト
交通費：なし （近所の方お願いします^^）
時給：￥１０００
Penfriends in Serbia
Towards the end of last year students in our Elementary B classes worked on writing letters to exchange through the Cambridge Penfriends system. We were matched with the Busy Bee Centre for Foreign Languages in Novi Sad, Serbia, and agreed to base the topic around sports.
Busy Bee decided to actually post their letters to us (rather than scan and e-mail them) so it was a huge surprise when we opened the package from Serbia. Inside were twelve beautifully written letters, all in their own envelopes and with some of them containing little gifts of stickers, balloons and other items.
It was such a pleasure to see the efforts the children in Serbia went to, that the next time we swap letters we might have to raise the bar on our won efforts!
I have posted the letters our children sent to Serbia over on the gallery page, enjoy!
Vintage Teaching Puzzles
When we took over the cafe next door, which became The Three Little Pigs, we inherited these two vintage teaching aids.
Until now they have been gathering dust at the back of englishpool, but during a recent clean-up I decided that they would be better on display.
So here they are, enjoy!
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