富沢小学校 Tomilishブログ

Today, we introduced our friends to our classmates and teachers.

Many teachers came today.


We greeted them and interviewed other teachers and friends, practicing "can you..?"





It was a lot of fun!
"I can play volleyball, how about you?"



Then, we leveled up our activity...
"This is my friend. She can dance very well! She can play volleyball.
Can you play volleyball?"


We spent a lot of time only speaking English!


Teachers also enjoyed the activity.


Last, some of us introduced a friend to the whole class. We were nervous, but it was fun.


See you next time!

6th grade students had their fourth and last lesson studying We Can!1 Unit 5 `She can run fast. He can jump high.` In this class they gathered together as a grade to give each other the `Who is he/she?` quizzes that they created about their friends.

As usual we started class with a greeting game. Two of the students gave a good demonstration using the phrase `Can you~?`.
"Can you fly?"
"No, I can't. But, I can run!"

After watching the demonstration, everyone had to talk to at least two boys and two girls while trying to ask `Can you~?` questions.
"Hello!"

"Can you swim?"

"Yes, I can!"

After the greeting game, we did the chant together. The 6th grade students have become very good at doing this chant.
They did gestures, too!

Next, we reviewed the different words to describe someone's personality.
"Smart!"

The students repeated the words to practice the pronunciation.
"Smart!"

We also asked students questions to check the meaning.
"Who is smart in this grade?"
" ~ is smart!"

Next, the teachers gave two demonstrations. They gave a good demonstration and a bad demonstration for giving quizzes.
They asked the students which demonstration was better and why.

Then it was time for the students to give their quizzes. First they gave their quiz to the person sitting next to them (we made sure that everyone was sitting next to someone from another class).
Nice eye contact!

Good gestures!

Nice smiles!

After practicing in their pairs everyone was free to give their quizzes to anyone from the other classes.
"He can play basketball."

"He can cook."

"He is friendly."

"Who is he?"

Good job everyone. Your quizzes were very interesting!

6th grade students had their third lesson this year studying We Can!1 Unit 5 `She can run fast. He can jump high.` In this class they made `Who is he/she?` quizzes about their friends. They had started preparing the quizzes during the Upper Grades Tomilish Time. We used class this week for the students to finish preparing the quizzes and to start asking and answering quizzes with their friends.

We started class with some of the students giving a good demonstration for the greeting game. The students focused on asking `Can you~?` questions as well as trying to link their conversation naturally.
"Can you play soccer?"
"Yes, I can. I like soccer."
"What's your favorite soccer team?"

After watching the demonstration everyone else did their best to continue their conversations for as long as possible.
Nice gestures!

Good eye contact!

Boys and girls making pairs! Good job!

Nice smiles!

Good job everyone!
After the greeting game the teachers checked with different students about who they talked to and what that person said. We are trying to make students aware of the importance of paying attention and listening well when they are having a conversation.

Next, after doing the chant for this topic, we reviewed the different ways to describe someone's personality.
"Repeat after me!"

After reviewing the pronunciation for the words we also reviewed their meaning by asking the students which of their friends can be described in that way.
"In this class, who is friendly?"

"In this class, who is brave?"
The students who were picked by their classmates were happy!

Next, the students took some time to finish preparing their quizzes.
The students all did their best to make good quizzes.

Here are some examples of the quizzes that the students created:
"He can play Japanese chess."

"She can cook."

"He is interesting."

"He can run."

"She is cute."

After preparing their quizzes, the students gave their quizzes in pairs.
Everyone took care to listen to their friends 3 hints before trying to answer.

Next, the students got into groups and gave their quizzes to more people.
Clear voices!

Nice eye contact!

Finally, the teachers picked some students to give their quiz to the class.
"Oh, I know!"

In the next class the 3 classes will get together in order to give their quizzes to more people.

6th grade students had their second lesson this year studying We Can!1 Unit 5 `She can run fast. He can jump high.` In this class they made `Who is he/she?` quizzes about their teachers in order to prepare to make similar quizzes about their friends in a later class.

At the start of the class some of the students gave a demonstration for the greeting game. They made sure to ask many `Can you ~?` questions.
"Can you play the recorder?"
"No, I can't."

After watching the demonstration it was time for everyone else to try.
Good eye contact!

Nice gestures!

Next, we listened to the chant from We Can!1 Unit 5. Everyone tried their best to do gestures along with the chant.
The students have been able to learn the chant very easily because they did a similar chant last year.

After that, we did a listening activities. We did `Let's Watch and Think 2` from We Can!1 Unit 5.
First the students listened to a boy describing what two of his friends can do. They tried to catch some of the words and take notes. They didn't have to understand everything.

Next, they watched a video of those two friends talking and describing directly what they can and can't do.
"If they can do it, draw a circle. If they can't, write a triangle."

Everyone checked their answers from the first part by completing the second part.
We actually did this same activity last year. The students found it really difficult at that time. This year, it was still a little difficult but everyone found it much easier than before.

Next, the homeroom teachers introduced someone to the students through a quiz.
"He can sing. He can dance. He can act. He is cool. Who is he?"
"Hint, please."
"He can dance like this!"
"Oh! Hoshino Gen!"

The students enjoyed listening to the quizzes.

Next, we reviewed the adjectives that the students learned in the previous class.
We also introduced some pictures of the teachers at the school. The students had to make quizzes using those teachers.

After some thinking time the students got into groups and gave their quizzes to each other.
"He can play soccer."

"He is cool."

"Who is he?"

After doing quizzes in groups the teachers picked some of the students with interesting quizzes to give their quizzes to the whole class.
"She is funny. She can play the piano."

"I know! I know!"

Good job 6th grade students! Let's make more quizzes in the next class!

6th grade students had their first lesson studying We Can!1 Unit 5 `She can run fast. He can jump high.` They also partly studied this unit last year so this time we will focus on improving on what they already know such as adding descriptive words such as `well`, `high` or `fast`.

We started class with our usual greeting game. The students could use any of the English they have studied so far to try and make natural conversations. Some of the student volunteered to give a good demonstration to everyone else.
Good gestures!

Nice smile!

Everyone did their best to link their questions together naturally.
"I like red. Do you like red?"
"No, I don't but I like blue. Do you like blue?"

"Do you like music?"
"Yes, I do."
"Can you sing?"
"No, I can't but I can play the recorder. Can you play the recorder?"

Next, we listened to the chant from We Can!1 Unit 5. The chant was new to the students as we didn't use it last year. However, since the phrases were familiar to them everyone could easily do the chant after listening to it a few times.

After doing the chant the teachers asked some students to introduce their friends in the style of the chant and talk about what they can do.
"He is my friend. He can play baseball."

"She is my friend. She can play the recorder."

After that, we introduced some words describing a person's personality. The students will also study this topic in further detail in Unit 9 `Who is your hero?` however we wanted to introduce some of the words now so that they are spread out more, making it easier for the students to remember.
The teachers gave hints and did small skits in order to introduce the different words.

Next, we introduced famous people, characters and teachers and asked the students to match them with the different words.
"Is she kind? Is she funny?"

The result looked like this:
The students think Mr. Takeyuki is very cool!

Finally the students filled in their feedback card.
"I was happy to learn words to describe my friends good points."

Nice work everyone!

On December 6th, we had our open school event (公開研究会). Close to 500 people from all over Japan came to watch our classes. Thank you for coming! Thank you to everyone who helped with the preparations and smooth running of the event, too.

The 5th grade students had their fourth class on the topic "He can run. She can sing". You can see the previous three classes here:
Hour 1
Hour 2
Hour 3

After doing our usual greetings, we did the Hi,friends!2 Lesson 3 chant.
"Can you swim?"
Everyone did gestures along with the chant.

Next, we did the karaoke version. Ms. Keiko pointed to the flashcards for everyone to chant.
"Can you play tennis?"

After that, we played the `Animal Card Game` in order to make groups.
"Can you dig?"
"No, I can't. I can't dig but I can climb."
"Are you cat?"
"Yes!"

All the students with the same animal cards made a group.
"Cards, please!"

After making groups, we checked the goal for the class.
In order for the students to introduce what their friends can do, first they have to ask many questions.

After the teachers gave a demonstration the students asked each other many "Can you~?" questions in their groups.
"Can you play the piano?"

"Can you play baseball?"
"Yes, I can!"

Once everyone had sat down again the teachers gave a demonstration.
"Let's watch!"
"She is Ms. Yayoi. She can do aikido. She can dance. Wonderful!"
"Thank you!"
"You're welcome. It's your turn!"

Next, Ms. Yayoi introduced the next person in the circle to show that each person introduces the person next to them.
"He can play baseball. Nice!"

Then it was the students turn to introduce each other.
"He can play basketball."

"She can play the recorder."

"He can swim."

After everyone had introduced each other, the teachers picked some students to give a good demonstration.
"She can do martial arts. Wow! Nice!"

We read the same picture book that we had read during hour 1 of the topic.
The students could realise how much English they had learned because they understood the book much more this time.

Lastly, the students wrote their reflections on the class and the topic in general.
"I learned about using `He` and `She`."

Some students read their reflections to the class.
"There were many things that surprised me about my friends. It was interesting."

We finished the class with greetings again.
"Have a nice day!"

Great job 5th grade!

5th grade students had their third class on the topic `He can run. She can swim.` In this class we introduced the words `He` and `She` for the first time.

We started class with the Hi,friends! chant "Can you swim?". We split the students into two groups to ask and answer the questions in the chant. Then the students swapped roles to do the chant again.
"No, I can't!"

After the teachers did a demonstration we played the `Animal Card Game` in order to make groups.
The students exchange cards after speaking to each other.
"Can you swim?"
"No, I can't. I can't swim. But I can climb!"

After the game the students got into groups.

"Dolphins, raise your hands! Make a circle!"

The teachers did another demonstration. This time they added information about something they are good at.
"Can you dance?"
"Yes, I can and I can play golf."

We reviewed the English for different things people can do.


First, the students asked each other questions in their groups.
"Can you play basketball?"

Next, they walked around and talked to many people.
"Can you play the recorder?"

After that we had a quiz. Ms. Yayoi and Ms. Keiko gave hints about different teachers.
"He can play baseball."
"Mr. Kakinuma?"
"Yes!"

"Quiz number 2! She can play basketball."
"Ms. Haruna!"
"Did you notice anything about the quizzes?"
"You used `He` for men and `She` for women."
"That's right!"

The students used worksheets that had what they can and can't do. They shuffled them in their groups. Each student had to introduce the person whose paper they had. The other students had to guess.
The students used `He` or `She` to introduce their friends. It was a good hint for everyone.

After doing the game in groups we shuffled the papers between the groups and played again.
"I know! I know!"

We finished the class with feedback time.
Good job everyone!

5th grade students had their second class on the topic `He can run. She can sing.` . In the previous class they had pretended to be animals and answered questions about what they could do. In this class they answered questions about themselves.

After the chant, we played the `Animal Card Game`. This time, if their answer was negative, instead of just answering "No, I can't." the students had to add another sentence "But, I can swim.".
We used the game to make groups of students. "All cats come here. Make a circle."

Next, we checked how to say the new phrases.
"Can you play the recorder?"

Ms. Keiko asked the students many questions and they answered using gestures.
"Yes, I can!"

After the teachers demonstration, the students asked each other questions in their groups about what they can do.
"Can you play the piano?"

After talking in groups the teachers asked the students to nominate some other students to give a good demonstration.
"Can you jump?"
"Yes, I can!"
"Nice gestures!!"

After speaking in groups the students were free to walk around and ask anyone questions.


They even asked some teachers who came to watch the class.
"Can you play baseball?"

Mr. Ushiro from Tsukuba University also came to watch our classes. The students enjoyed talking to him, too.
"Can you swim?"
"Yes, I can!"

Lastly, the students gave their feedback on the class.
Good job everyone!

This year 5th grade students have been studying some topics that are not in the current Hi,friends! textbook. They had their first class on the topic `He can run. She can sing.` In this topic they will study how to talk about what someone else can do.

After our usual greeting game, we read a picture book.
The title was `What can you do？`.

The teachers read it together doing gestures and acting like the animals.
Mr. Suda is being the dolphin.
"Hello bird! I can swim! Can you swim?"

Next, we did the chant from Hi,friends! Lesson 3 `I can swim.`
The students tried hard to use clear voices and do gestures.

Next, we practiced how to asked and answer the question "Can you ~?". We used the animals from the picture book and the things they could do.
"Can you dig?"
"Can you fly?"

After practicing the teachers show us a demonstration of the `Animal Card Game`.
Each student got a card with an animal from the book and a picture of what it could do. They had to walk around and try and guess what animal card other students had by asking `Can you~?` questions.

"It's English Only time!"
The students did their best not to speak Japanese.

Good eye contact!

Nice smiles!

Good job everyone!