富沢小学校 Tomilishブログ

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 6th grade students from class 6-3 had their third class on the topic "Junior High School Life". You can see the previous classes here:
Hour 1
Hour 2 (Class 6-1 Open School Event)

We had a special guest teacher, Mr. Yosuke, from Tomizawa Junior High School. He is an English teacher. He came to talk to the students about the clubs at Tomizawa J.H.S.
We started class with our usual greetings.
"Hello everyone!"

After the greetings we had `Teacher Talk`. The teachers had a `time slip` to become 6th grade students again. They showed us pictures of themselves when they were in 6th grade. Doing a `time slip` allows the teachers to talk about themselves in elementary school without using the past tense.
"What club do you want to join?"
"I want to join the baseball team."
"Nice. Can you play baseball?"
"Yes, I can. I am the captain of my school team."

One of the students really looks like Mr. Takeyuki's 6th grade picture. He became mini-Mr. Takeyuki.
"What club do you want to join?"
"I want to join the soccer club."

After the demonstration, we double checked all the clubs that are in Tomizawa Junior High School.
There are so many interesting clubs!

Next, it was time for everyone to ask each other.
"What club do you want to join?"
Nice eye contact!

Good gestures!

Half-way through the activity the teachers asked some students to give a demonstration. Everyone watched and thought about the good points.
Great smiles and gestures!

"Let's be careful about these good points while we continue the activity!"
Good eye contact!

Nice smile!

Great gestures!

The teachers picked some more students to give another good demonstration after the activity.
Good job!

Next, Mr. Yosuke talked to the students about life in junior high school. He had many interesting things to say in English.
The students tried hard to listen and ask questions.

Finally, the students reflected on the class in pairs.


They talked about what they had realised about their friends.

Everyone did their best! Well done!

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 6th grade students from class 6-1 had their second class on the topic "Junior High School Life". You can see the previous class here:
Hour 1

After the usual greetings, the class started with `Teacher Talk`.
"This is K Junior High School. What club do you want to join?"
"I want to join the baseball team."
"I'm sorry. We don't have a baseball team."

K Junior High School has these five clubs:
The teachers showed the students some short videos and pictures of the sports. It was very interesting to see these sports.

"Let's research what clubs everyone would like to join!"
First the teachers gave a demonstration and after that, some students demonstrated, too. More that one demonstration helps the students to check what they have to do.
Good job!

After the demonstration it was time for everyone to try for themselves.
"What club do you want to join?"

"I want to join the cricket team."

Nice eye contact!

Half-way through the activity the teachers asked some students to give a demonstration. Everyone watched and thought about the good points.
Great eye contact and smiles!

"Let's be careful about these good points while we continue the activity!"
Great eye contact!

Good gestures!

After the activity the students talked about what club was most popular. We finished the class with the usual student reflections and greetings.
"Have a nice day! See you!"

Good job 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!

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 4th grade students had their fourth class on the topic "What time is it?". You can see the previous three classes here:
Hour 1
Hour 2
Hour 3

The class started with greetings and some simple questions.
"How is the weather?" "It's sunny."
"What day is it today?" "It's Wednesday."

After that, the students played `Time Bingo`.
"What time is it?"
"It's 9:30."

"What time is it?"
"It's 11:30."

After that we did the karaoke version of the chant.
Ms. Atsuko pointed to the times for everyone to chant.

Next, the teachers talked about their favorite times.
"What time do you like?"
"I like 7am."
"Why?"
"I like the sunrise. It's very beautiful!"
"Oh, wonderful!"

Next, we checked the goal for the class together.
"Let's read together!"

The teachers gave a demonstration for the first activity. Everyone had made schedules for winter vacation. They covered the times so other people had to guess.
"It's lunch time. What time is it?"
"It's 11:30a.m."
"No."
"It's 1p.m."
"Yes. That's right!"

The students quizzed each other in pairs.
"It's snack time. What time is it?"

"It's bath time. What time is it?"
"Hmm... It's 8p.m."
"That's right!"

After the activity the students talked about the good points their friends had shown. Then, it was time for the second activity. Everyone picked up their schedules and moved to the back of the room.
Ms. Atsuko and Ms. Mayumi did a demonstration.
"What time do you like?"
"I like 10p.m."
"Why?"
"I like bed time."

After the Teacher-Teacher demonstration, Ms. Atsuko did another demonstration with one of the students.
A Teacher-Student demonstration helps the review what they have to do without needing Japanese instructions.

Then, we had a Student-Student demonstration to really check if the students had understood.
"What time do you like?"
"I like 4p.m."
"Why?"
"I like snack time."

After the demonstrations it was time for the students to try for themselves.
Clear voice!

Nice eye contact!

Half-way through the activity the teachers asked everyone to nominate some students who had done well.
"Who did a good job?"

The teachers asked those students to give a good demonstration.
Nice eye contact! It's important!

Clear voices! Good job!

Next, the students tried again without using their schedule paper. This made it easier to make eye contact but they had to remember what they wanted to say.
Good job!

Nice smile!

After the activity, the teachers picked some students to talk about their favorite time. Everyone asked them questions together.
"What time do you like?"
"I like 6p.m."
"Why?"
"It's dinner time."

The students wrote their feedback cards since this was the last lesson in this topic. We only use feedback cards in the first and last lessons for the upper grades.
The students wrote about what they had learned over the topic.

The teachers picked some students to read what they wrote.
Good job everyone!

It was a fun class. Well done 4th grade!

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 3rd grade students had their fourth class on the topic "This is for you". You can see the previous three classes here:
Hour 1
Hour 2
Hour 3

We started the class with our usual greetings.
"Hello everyone! Let's start English class!"

Next, we did the `Greeting Game`. The students had to give good reactions and to praise something about their friends.
"How are you?"
"I'm happy, thank you."
"Nice!"

"Nice shirt!"
"Thank you"

Next, we reviewed the names for shapes in English.
"What's this?"
"It's a diamond."

After reviewing shapes we did the "What do you want?" chant.
"What do you want?"
"A star, please."
"Here you are."
"Thank you!"

Then, we reviewed how to ask and answer what someone wants.
"It's a fried egg. What do you want?"
"Soy sauce, please."

"Potato chips. What do you want?"
"Cheese, please."

After reviewing we had `Teacher Talk`.
"Look. Cat cards. This is for you! What do you want?"
"A black cat card, please."
"Here you are."
"Thank you."

We reviewed the goal for the class together and then the teachers did a demonstration of the main activity.
"What do you want?"
"A green card, please."
"OK! What do you want?"
"A triangle, please."
"OK! What do you want?"
"A cat, please."

The teachers had prepared many shapes, stickers and different colored cards for the students to use.
"Let's make cards!"

The students made pairs and ask each other many questions in order to make cards.
"What do you want?"
"A pink card, please."

"What do you want?"
"A heart, please"

Half-way through the activity the teachers asked some students to give a good demonstration.
Nice eye contact!

Next, everyone tried to think about the good points of the demonstration as the pairs swapped roles.
Nice smiles!

Good eye contact!

The students covered their eyes as their friends finished the cards and wrote a message to them in Japanese.
"I wonder what my card will be like!"

After everyone completed their cards they gave them to their friends.
Everyone was excited to open their cards and read the messages.

The students talked about their cards and why their friends made them.
"I like green!"

"How did you feel to receive your card?"
"I felt happy!"

We finished the class with the students reflections on the class and saying goodbye.
"Have a nice day!"

Good job 3rd grade! Your cards were great!

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 2nd grade students had their seventh English class of the year. The topic was "Do you like penguins?". It was the first time for the students to study about aquarium animals.

We started the class with our usual greetings.
"Hello everyone! How are you?"
"I'm happy!"

Next, we played the greeting game. The students tried their best to greet many people.
Good gestures!

Nice smile!

The teachers asked the students to nominate some people who had done well during the greeting game. Ms. Ayaka asked those students to give a demonstration for everyone.
Good eye contact! Well done!

After the greeting game, we sang the `Hello Song` in pairs.
The students took turns to sing and answer "How are you?" to each other.

Next, we had `Teacher Talk`. Ms. Ayaka showed everyone a picture.
"Look at this! What is this picture?"
"It's Uminomori Aquarium!"

"We visited Uminomori Aquarium. Have you ever been there?"
"No, I haven't. What animals are there?"
"Ms. Emily doesn't know what animals are at the aquarium. What should we do?"
"Let's teach her!"
"Nice idea!"

Ms. Ayaka brought out some pictures that the students had made in art class.
"What's this?"
"Iruka."
"That's right! Ms. Emily, how do you say iruka in English?"
"Dolphins!"

As well as learning the names for the animals in English, Ms. Emily also taught us a gesture for each animal. It helped everyone to remember.
Can you guess what animal this is?
"Crabs!"

How about this animal? They are clapping their hands
"Seals!"

After learning the words we used them to ask "Do you like~?" questions. Ms. Emily and Ms. Ayaka asked each other questions. Then, Ms. Emily asked all the students. After that, the students asked Ms. Emily.
"What should we ask Ms. Emily?"
Ms. Emily closed her eyes while the students were choosing so it was a surprise what the students asked.

Next, we played the `Nemo Game`.
The students swam around in a circle while the music played.

When the music stopped they had to listen to Ms. Emily and do the gesture of the animal she said.
"Crabs!"
Everyone tried hard to repeat what she said, too.

Everyone had to listen very carefully because if she said `sharks` they had to hide like Nemo.
If Ms. Emily caught a student then they became a shark, too. It was so fun!

Our last activity was reading a book together. We read the book `Curious George at the Aquarium` by Margret & H.A. Rey's.
"How many penguins?"

The book was a little small so Ms. Ayaka brought a big George toy to use, too. He visited the students' pictures in the same order as the story in the book.
"George saw pengiuns!"
"Look! Penguins! Hello!"

George saved a baby penguin who couldn't swim.
"Thank you, George!"
"See you!"

Finally, we ended the class with the students giving their reflections on the class and talking about what they want to study in the future.
"I want to study other ocean animals, too."

Great job 2nd grade! Well done!

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 1st grade students had their eighth English class of the year. The topic was "Do you like Fukuwarai?". The students had already studied the English for body parts in the previous class. You can see that lesson here:
Hour 7

The class started with the usual greetings between the teachers and the students.
"Hello everyone!"

After that we did the greeting game. Everyone walked around and greeted many different people.
"How are you?"

"Good gestures!"

After greeting, everyone was excited to start the class.
"This line is very good! You are sitting nicely!"

First we sang the song `Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes`.
"Let's sing together!"

The song slowly got faster and faster.
It was very fun to sing!

Next, we played the `Please Game`. The students had to listen very carefully and only touch the body parts if Ms. Emily used the word `please`.
"Touch your mouth, please."

"Touch your ears, please."
"Touch your mouth!"
Ms. Emily didn't say please!! Did anyone move?

After the game, the teachers did `Teacher Talk`. Mr. Ryuta asked Ms. Emily if she liked many different kinds of Japanese New Year games.
"Do you like kites?" "Yes, I do!"

"Do you like karuta?"
"No, I don't. The kanji is difficult!"

"Do you like fukuwarai?"
"I don`t know. What's fukuwarai?"
"Ms. Emily doesn't know! Let's teach her!"

The students showed Ms. Emily how to do it.
The other students shouted instructions in Japanese.

"Wow! That looks fun!"
"I want to try! I want to try!"

Ms. Emily couldn't understand the Japanese instructions.
"We have to say them in English!"

After practicing the English words everyone tried very hard to give Ms. Emily instructions in English.
"Up! Up!"

"What's this?"
"Ear!"
"Thank you!"
"Right! Right! Stop!"

"You can do it, Ms. Emily!"
The students were very helpful! Thanks to them, Ms. Emily could do fukuwarai!

We used the new English we had learned to play the `Up, Down Game`.
The students had to listen to Ms. Emily's instructions and do what she said. "Down!"

Then, we read a book together.
The students really enjoy reading English picture books.

We read the book `What's in the Witch`s Kitchen?` by Nick Sharratt.
It's a lift-the-flaps picture book.

You could chose to open the flaps up or down, and left or right. You would either get something nice or something nasty.
If you open this flap down, it was a skeleton.

If you open it up, it was canned food.
The students thought hard about what direction to chose.

"What should we chose? Left? Right?"
"Right! Right!"

Lastly, the students gave their reactions to what they learned in the class and what they want to study in the future.
"I learned how to say `right` and `left`!"

Good job 1st grade! What a fun class!

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 Minori students had their fourth class on the topic "What do you like?". You can see the previous three classes here:
Hour 1
Hour 2
Hour 3

Here is the schedule for the class:
As well as the schedule, we put the key word cards (smile, listen and eye contact) on the blackboard.

The class started with greetings.
After greeting as a class the students did their usual greeting game. It helps everyone to get ready to study English.

After the greeting it was time for Teacher Talk. The class had a special visitor. Who is he?!
"Hello! My name is Santa Claus!"

He had many different cards with pictures.
"I will give you a Christmas present."
"Christmas cake! What do you like?"

The students could hear the question "What do you like?" over and over again. They also heard a lot of Christmas vocabulary.
"Christmas dinner! What do you like?"


Santa also brought many different decorations.
"What do you like?"

"Look! Let's use the decorations from Santa to decorate our Christmas tree!"
"That's today's goal!"

Ms. Hitomi and Ms. Emi showed a demonstration. There was a list of instructions, too.
Everyone watched and understood what to do. First they had to ask about color. "What do you like?"

Then, they went to the table with that color of decorations and ask again.
"What do you like?"
The students had to pick the decoration that their friend liked and give it to them.

After the demonstration it was time for everyone to make pairs and try it themselves!
"What do you like?"
"I like white."

"What do you like?"
"I like ribbons."

"Here you are!"
"Thank you!"

After receiving their decorations the students put them on the tree.
"I like blue ribbons!"

"I like white!"

The students changes pairs and did the activity multiple times so they could receive many decorations. The finished tree looked like this:
"Wow! So beautiful!"

Lastly, the students gave their reactions and sang a Christmas song together.
"Today's class was fun!"
Good job everyone! You made a beautiful tree!

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 first event of the day was Tomilish Time. Every Wednesday morning we start the school day with 15 minutes of English activities. This Tomilish Time was the last part of the topic `Do you like~?`.
You can see the previous Tomilish Time classes on the same topic:
TV Broadcast introducing the new phrases : here
Practicing with students in the same grade: here
Talking with students from a different grade: here

The students mixed with students from a different class than the previous Tomilish Time. We like to give the students the chance to practice their English with as many different people as possible. This makes it more interesting for everyone.

The older students were great leaders during Tomilish Time. They gave a demonstration so everyone knew what to do.
"Let's watch!"
Great eye contact!

Next, it was time for everyone to ask each other a lot of "Do you like~?" questions.
This group used two rotating circles so that everyone had someone to talk to. Good job!

This group practiced first in pairs and then everyone was free to walk around the room talking to many people.
Good gestures!

Ms. Naoyama from the Ministry of Education came to watch the classes and give advice.
Thank you for your time!

Older students worked hard to help the younger students to speak English.
Great gestures!

"Do you like soccer?"
Nice eye contact!

The teachers asked everyone to nominate some students who had done a good job. Then, those students gave a demonstration and everyone thought about the good points.
Nice eye contact!

Great gestures!

Good job everyone! I'm sure everyone watching also enjoyed Tomilish Time, too!

Minori students had their third class on the topic "What do you like?".

After doing our usual greeting game we reviewed what we had learned in the last class.


The teachers gave a demonstration of the main activity and practiced the names for shapes and colors.
"White!"

First the students asked about colors.
"What do you like?"
"I like red."

Next, they went to the area with those colored stickers and asked about shapes.
"What do you like?"
"I like star."

The finished trees look like this:
There are many decorations with different shapes and colors!

Here are all the trees the students and teachers made:
Beautiful! Good job everyone!