The weather has been really burning up and many of us are feeling the heat!
Not even the rain has been able to cool everything down.
Many have shown their displeasure at the rising temperature in class.
One of my students, "M" was so so hot she basically told me she felt like she was being boiled.
"Teacher, it is so hot today, I feel like I am cooking" It was such a hilarious moment,
because it was said so randomly, while in the interactive room. It caught me off guard!
I was actually really impressed with her English as well in that moment.
It shows great improvement, to be able to make subtle jokes in a different language!
So even though she was cooking, her English was on fire!
- Khanya (Kay) Sensei
This week my Tuesday P4 class was extra excited!
All four of them are wonderful high energy students who love to talk to me, but this week especially they were on the ball with their English practice!
Most surprising to me was `M`, she is the only girl in the class and is often quiet in the face of three rowdy boys, but this week she very firmly reminded them, in English, to wait when she was talking, and she started warming up before class all on her own by listing things she likes, starting with foods and colors, and continuing through TV shows, Games and sports, I was very impressed with how many longer sentences she put together!
Her classmates started to follow her example after a bit so I hope that they can all keep having fun practicing their English together!
-Jordan Sensei
Many students this week have been practicing for the upcoming interview tests for Eiken.
Some students have been a bit nervous and worrying about how well they will do!
I have been trying to reassure my students who have their tests this week that they
will be great and do a good job! I am proud of them no matter what!
Many fear they will either say the wrong thing, or worse still not be able to say anything.
To those, I say, it's okay. Trying your best is good enough. Trying for an answer, even if it's wrong is okay.
Sometimes students worry too much!
I wish all our students the best of luck! I know you all will do your best!
- Khanya (Kay) Sensei
It`s Raining, It`s Pouring
This Week, we have had so much rain!
In my own country it doesn`t rain very much, So I was very surprised by it, but my students have all been very calm talking about it.
Some of the students have had simple comments, "it is raining" or "I like/don`t like the rain", but some of my students have had far more complex ideas they`ve tried to express "It is always hot when it rains" or, perhaps the funniest of them all "this rain smells like wet dog!" This line, from my older student, had me just about rolling on the floor laughing, I was not expecting it at all when asking her how her day was!
It has reminded me that even the simplest topics can turn into interesting conversations, I hope our students will continue to be creative like this in the future!
-Jordan Sensei
Recently, The scores for the Eiken test have been released and many students passed the 1st round of testing.
One of my students, "R" took Eiken Pre-2nd for the first time and Aced it! He did especially well with his writing scoring 82%!
another one of my students, "M" got 88% for her 3rd Grade writing! I am so proud of them!
"R" has been working very hard and we have been practicing his writing since the beginning of the year in preparation for it.
His overall score was almost 80%. This is a wonderful result for his 1st attempt.
Now he just has to wrap up his interview! I know he can do it!
"M" has also been working to perfect her reading and writing and it has shown with her results!
She is always writing letters and notes, building her vocabulary and sentences.
She is bright and bubbly and will no doubt pass her interview as well!
- Khanya (Kay) Sensei
It`s no secret at Amity that w love to talk to our students.
Sometimes we English teachers don`t understand everything they say, and sometimes they don`t understand everything we say, but that never stops us!
This week I got to see one of my P4 stodents who has made enormous leaps in progress. When he started studying with me Not all that long ago, He spoke almost no English, and would get frustrated and distracted in lessons. But Lately he has come to truly love his lessons, he always shows up very early so he can sit in the classroom and finish his homework while I set up our activities. this student, `T` is very talkative, a real chatterbox, but he always spoke to me in very fast japanese so I couldn`t understand much.
This week he surprised me! He sat down and started chatting to me in English as much as he could! He noticed one of his classmates` names missing and asked "where is_____, Is he sleeping?" and wanted to know all about the other lesson I had been practicing on the screen.
This behaviour continued in class too, When reviewing different foods, I would ask them "what is this?" and he would laug in with not only the vocabulary, ubt the full sentence! "I`d Like Apple Pie Please!" I`m so proud of his progress! I hope our students can continue to show their best like this!
-Jordan Sensei
みなさんこんにちは！
今日は小学校低学年クラスの参観日についてお話いたします。
元気いっぱいのこのクラス。
前回のレッスンは保護者様がたくさんいて、最初少し緊張している姿が見られました。
しかし、レッスンが始まって、単語を覚えるところでは、大きな声で発表することができていました！
また、今回のアクティビティは生徒vs保護者だったので、それぞれのチームで何かアイディアを出し合いながら答えを見つけていました。
みんな笑顔で頑張れて、良かったです！
そして、前年度から変わったところもいっぱい見せることができ、特に単語が読めたり、文章で自発話できているところをよく見せれました。
また後期の参観日ではより正確に文章も読めているところを見せましょうね！
福田
Our parental observation lessons have ended on a very high note!
We are so grateful to all the parents that made the time to come out and
join us during class these past two weeks!
It has been so much fun having all parents there, participating and supporting
their children as they study. It was even more fun having the parents learn a few
phrases and challenging themselves with some vocabulary!
Thank you to those parents who have already sent thtough their feedback. We appreciate all of it
and will deffintely take them to heart to better our lessons! For those that haven't yet,
please don't forget to give us your impressions of the lessons you were in!
We hope all the parents enjoyed being in our classes, as much as we enjoyed having you there!
Until the next visit!
- Khanya (kay) Sensei
One of my littlest students has made the biggest steps this week.
when `R` started taking lessons he was quiet and unsure, the activities were confusing, the storybook was scary, and the teacher was a stranger. `R` would spend his lessons curled up on mom`s lap mumbling his responses and trying not to look anywhere.
Now it is entirely different in class! `R` stomps into class in his dinosaur socks, tells our Dinosaur toys they need to sit down for class to start, and calls out all of our feelings cards and vocabulary as soon as he sees them! He stomps and roars like a T-Rex while we sing our songs, He speaks loud and clear, and Just this week, While we practiced our colours, he stopped the lesson so he could point to his socks and tell me "the T-rex is Yellow, The Triceratops is purple, The pterradon is Red" Mom and I were both very impressed!
I always feel so amazed when I see how far some students can come in such a short time! I am privelaged to be part of their learning journey!
-Jordan Sensei
Parental Observations have been happening this week and so far they have been a great success!
My P4 class, especially was fun, lively and so energetic. I was pleasantly surprised that none
of the students had stage fright with their moms in the room and behaved the way they norally do during our lessons.
We were able to get through all our vocabulary, sentences and activities with ease.
It was so exciting watching how the Moms lit up watching their kids engage and speak English.
My P4s are a very curious bunch and always ask me questions, either in English or Japanese.
I was so proud to see them show off their skills. Our moms participated in asking them questions
and one mom was our activity helper for the lesson. She even won one of the games!
It was so much fun and I so glad that the moms had some fun too!
- Khanya (Kay) Sensei
