富沢小学校 Tomilishブログ

5th grade students have been studying about different subjects and the question "What do you study on Monday?". Everyone was doing very well so we decided to try something more difficult. We introduced the English phrases: 1st period, 2nd period, 3rd period etc. (一時間目、二時間目、三時間目など). This meant that the students could ask more specific questions.
"What do you study on Tuesday, 3rd period?" "I study science."

We used the information gap worksheets from Hi,friends!1.

This activity is usually done in pairs but we decided to make it an interview activity so everyone could talk to many different people.

Each person first had to ask "Are you A/B?" in order to find a pair. Two A students cannot ask each other questions!

"Are you A?" "No, I'm B. Sorry! See you!"

Next they could each ask one question.
"What do you study on Wednesday, 3rd period?"

I study math.

If you didn't hear, let's check!
What do you study on Monday, 1st period?

1st period?
Yes!
I study Japanese.


Everyone asked a lot of questions.

Let's speak to many different people.

Some students even spoke to Ms.Emily's parents!

Speaking clearly was extra important! Nice job!

Doing this activity as an interview means it takes much longer than in pairs. We split the activity over two different lessons and did some other activities as well so the students didn't get tired. The students got a lot of practice doing this. Well done!

Recently 4th grade students finished their English classes for the year. Previously, during the open school event (学校公開) we showed lesson 9 (of 10). They tried to guess what color, sports etc. their friends liked with an interview game. For the 10th class they made short presentations in groups about their likes. We have shown the main activity on the blog before:click here to read again. This time we would like to talk about the lesson as a whole. This was Class 4-1's final English class of the year.

After greetings, we sang two different chants. We sang "Do you like apples?" from Hi,friends!1 and also an original "What do you like?" chant (created using the karaoke version of Hi,friends!1 chant "What do you want?"). Since everyone has become very good at these chants we only sang the karaoke versions.

No one knew what we were going to sing until Ms.Emily pointed to it during the song. This made it exciting. Everyone had to pay attention!

Nice gestures! The chants were a good time to practice our gestures, too!

After chanting we did the Echo game (also mentioned previously: click here to read again). This time students were free to chose their own answers.
Do you like soccer?

Yes, I do! No, I don't!
We also did the same thing with "What do you like?" questions. You can choose any answer. This made it much more interesting.

Next, the teachers and some students demonstrated the activity.

Everyone asked together, "What do you like?" and the person presenting talked about their favorite sports, colors, fruits and animals. Then each person could ask a question.
After watching the demo, everyone got into groups to try it themselves.

Nice eye contact! Everyone had to try hard to look at the person speaking and not at the pictures. It was very difficult!

It was also very interesting to learn about our classmates.

Hmmmm. You like soccer. What question should I ask?... "Do you like basketball?"

After the activity everyone shared what they learned about their classmates. It was a great way to end the last English class of the year!

We've previously talked about our Monday Morning Reading Time: click here to read again.

Today we'd like to show you the books we read in class 1-1 this morning.

First we read the book `Blue Hat, Green Hat' by Sandra Boynton.


The students enjoyed saying the colors and animal names in English. We also listened to the names for clothes.

Ms.Emily asked us some questions.
What color is this? What animal is this?

Also she used post-it notes to cover one of the characters.

The students guessed what color hat he would have. Purple? Yellow?

Let's check!

It's yellow. Oh no! His hat!! He's silly!


Everyone listened carefully and laughed a lot.

The second book we read was called `Spot Bakes a Cake` by Eric Hill.

There are many different books about the character `Spot`.


The students enjoy them very much! Ms.Emily read these books when she was an elementary school student.


The books have flaps that you can lift.

What's inside the cupboard?
The students enjoy guessing what will be behind the flap.


It's a mouse! Cheese, please!


Listening to the story was very fun!

Everyone looks forward to English Reading Time!

Last week we had some very special guests come to our school.

Our ALT is Ms.Emily MacFarlane. Her family came to visit her!
They went skiing in Yamagata, Zao for four days. After that, they came to visit out school.

First, they took part in our weekly English morning activity, Tomilish Time. We broadcast an interview with Ms. Emily's parents to the whole school.

The two students tried hard to speak clearly. Ms. Emily's parents said they were very impressed with both of them. Her parents talked about Ms.Emily when she was an elementary school student. Everyone was very surprised that she used to be shy!

Next, they visited many of the classes.

The students had many questions for them.
How long does it take to get to Sendai from Scotland?
What time is it in Scotland now?

The students tried to use the English they have learnt, for example 2nd grade students asked "Do you like~?" questions.

They enjoyed answering many different questions.
Do you like yogurt? Yes, I do!

Ms.Emily's father was very popular with the students.

Yeay!
The students were very happy that their English could be understood.

Next, Ms.Emily's parents took part in two 5th grade English classes. They became special guest teachers!

The students tried very hard to listen to their pronunciation.


It was great to practice with 3 native speakers!

Also, we did an interview activity. Ms. Emily is used to the Japanese accent but her parents are not so the students had to do their best to speak as clearly as possible.



After English class, they went to class 5-3 to have lunch.

They really enjoyed eating in a classroom. They said that it felt like a family atmosphere. The students did their best to explain about the different foods and were very welcoming.

Everyone had a great time!

Thank you for coming to visit!

This week 6th grade students have been making presentations about their dream job. It is their 5th and last class on Hi, friends!2 Lesson 9. The previous class (4 of 5) was shown during our open school event (学校公開). During that class the students interviewed their classmates about their dream job. In this week's class, we mixed students from different classes so they can speak to new people.

First, classes 6-2 and 6-3 split in half and went to two classrooms. There were two teams of teachers.

Class 6-2 homeroom teacher Ms. Kana and our English teacher Ms. Keiko took one class.


Class 6-3 homeroom teacher Mr. Takeyuki and our ALT, Ms. Emily took the other class.

First, the teachers modelled the sentences we would use in class by talking about what animal they want to be.

I want to be a panda. Why? Because it's cute!
I want to be a bird. Why? Because it can fly.
In this way, they introduced the words `why` and `because` which were new to the students.

Then, the teachers demonstrated using the two new words in a conversation about their dream job.

"What do you want to be?" "I want to be a teacher."
"Why?" "Because I like children and I can help people."

Next, after practicing the sentences as a class, the students got into pairs to practice again.

After speaking in pairs once, they changed pairs a few times to practice again and speak to new people.

After refreshing everyone's memories, the main activity was presentations in groups. First the teachers used one group of students to show everyone a demonstration.


Let's ask! What do you want to be? Why?

Next the students got into groups and presented their dream job and their reasons for chosing it.

The students made sure there were students from both 6-3 and 6-2 in each group.
It was very interesting to hear about all the different dream jobs! Well done everyone!

This month the Display Committee (掲示委員会）have made posters about the viking festival, Up-Helly-Aa. Have you ever heard of it?

Our ALT, Ms. Emily, is from an island in the north of Scotland called Shetland.

This is Shetland!

They have a festival every January. It celebrates the island's viking history.

The festival has been taking place for over 100 years. It's the biggest fire festival in Europe!


Men called 'Guizers' dress as vikings and parade through the town. They pull a viking longboat made especially for the festival. They also carry big torches.


At the climax of the parade everyone throws their torches into the ship. The ship burns and looks very beautiful.


After the parade everyone goes to many different halls. Everyone sings and dances until morning.

It's a great festival!