呉校 こども英語・英会話教室 | アミティー

Over the past few months, things have been going through a series of changes, ups and downs, highs and lows. With the influx of new students and the shifting of students, there has been a sense of turbulance. I find myself almost overwhelmed, however an encounter with one of of my baby students, made me realize that everything happens for a reason and that this was a step in the right direction.

Baby K, has a very particular attitude and is very insistant on the things she wants, when she wants them and how she wants them. For the most part she has been dictating the flow of the lessons, given that she tends to get very upset. Coaxing would work however, she would only repeat and engage when she was in the mood. Which is understandable, she's a baby. She was also reluctant to say please or thank you. I felt like I was failing as a teacher. Until this past lesson, she was even more chatter than usual and hugged me. We were holding hands, and she repeated almost everythig I said. Including things like "What's that?" or "So cool". She even called for me by name in the lobby. "Hat, Fish, Colours" were some of the she was saying. She allowed me to guide the lesson and she was saying "please, thank you and here you are". Her mother and I, were so pleased. She didn't jump to tears, but understood when I asked her to do something first, before we did what she wanted.

The right direction, feels very nice, I must say.

- Khanya (Kay) Sensei

Classes have changed throughout the year, that`s nothing new.
This week`s change brought with it a perspective shift.
a new student, Y, has joined my 4th grade class, taking class with R, who has studied alone so far this year.

Up until now, I had viewed R as a very good but not exceptional student, very confident but struggling in grammar.
with the addition of Y, who works very hard but is still very shy, I have realized how much progress R has made.

Topics and Vocabulary have to be simplified but R can hold a reasonably complex conversation and engages well, even listening and understanding fast spoken English for the most part.
This isn`t to discount Y, who has come into a new class with an established dynamic and a high challenge level, and is keeping up well, he speaks when prompted and joins in and gives his best effort for every challenge I set.

Both students serve as a good contrast for the other and bring in new possibilities for lessons, I look forward to seeing both grow further in the future.

-Jordan Sensei

みなさんこんにちは！
今回は小学校低学年プライベートレッスンのお話をいたします。

小2のSくん。体を動かすことが大好きで、レッスン中も積極的に体を動かしながら発話をしています。
今回はcan/can'tの文章発話で、動詞の絵が書いている紙を隠して探し出すアクティビティをしながら練習していました。
数をカウントするときの英語はもちろん、まだ隠し終わっていないときに"Not yet!"という風に発話をしてくれました！
また、"Here you are." "Thank you."は当たり前に発話しています！

これからも日常会話で使う英語も積極的に学んでいきましょう！

福田

We often overlook the small steps forward in favour of the giant leaps. These almost invisible steps get overshadowed
that we forget to acknowledge all the little bits and pieces we have accumulated along the way.
Every little bit counts, especially when learning. Over the last week, I have watched the tiny steps students
have made towards their langugae goals.

From my baby students saying their frist words like "hat, apple, banana, book or gentle". Enthusiastic Dads getting ready to learn with them: "I'm ready Sensei!" Energetic elementary school students telling me "I'm great and hungry" or the older ones laughing and saying "you are Ticky-Ticky Boom Boom, mango deluxe" (When someone is acting silly in class).

Junior Highschool students making jokes and giving eachother nicknames like "Gra-gra Fa" (Great-grand father or "Shy Boy". Highschoolers having hilarious banter while playing English card games "this game is rigged". The mature adult students explaining their views about sports popularity: "I don't really consider these types of things".

All these tiny steps keep adding up, week by week. Month by month and soon they will yeild wonderful success!

It is a truly humbling and rewarding experience, watching it all take place.

- Khanya (Kay) Sensei

Computers are fantastically useful things, but learning to use them can be difficult.

Every Wednesday I teach a computer class for elementary students, and each of them has made so much progress I`m blown away.

`M` is a proud student who doesn`t like to admit she needs help, but she has slowly warmed up to asking me for hints and ideas, and because of this she has been able to reach challenge levels with fun activities she would have otherwise missed, and these challenges have improved her typing a lot! She used to have a lot of trouble matching upper and lower case letters together or finding them on her keyboard, but now she is getting almost perfect scores on typing challenges.

next to her is `S` who is a wonderfully creative student but isn`t fond of Writing, she especially loves music activities and so we have agreed that if she can get a full score on writing challenges, she gets to play the music game as many times as she wants, she still has trouble matching some letters, but she is showing a lot of progress and looks forward to classes.

after that is `Y1` and `Y2`, Y1 has built an impressive vocabulary very quickly this year and has a fantastic memory, I glance at his notebook sometimes and see page after page after page of words, in phonic groups, or grouped by meaning. and any Spelling challenge that comes up, he completely aces, getting perfect score in typing challenges on the highest difficulty.

Y2 is clever and sweet, she is quick to understand instructions and excellent at writing, but reading still challenges her a lot, so I have been pushing her to focus on reading the instructions out loud and working with her on pronunciation, she has blown me away in the Geography challenge, pulling together some very long, difficult to pronounce country and city names.

All in all, the group is absolutely wonderful, they`re energetic and come with their own challenges, but each works incredibly hard to show what they can do.

-Jordan Sensei