富沢小学校 Tomilishブログ

Last week in Tomilish Time we had a special guest. Ms. Satsuki Okura from Tottori Prefecture visited our school for a week to watch our English classes. We used Tomilish Time in order to tell her more about Sendai and learn more about Tottori, too.

We started with our usual greeting questions about the day, date and weather.
"How is the weather today?"
"It's sunny!"

Then we all chanted the starting words together.
"Let's enjoy..."
"...Tomilish Time!"

Ms. Satsuki told us that she has never visited Sendai before.
"It's my first time!"

Ms. Keiko and Ms. Emily introduced some of the famous foods from Sendai.
"We have gyutan, sasakama and oysters."

Next, Ms. Satsuki gave a quiz about famous foods from Tottori.
"It's spicy. It's crispy. Carrots and potatoes."
"It's Tottori curry!"

We gave the students 1 minute to talk in groups about what the teachers had talked about.
"I heard the words `fresh` and `fruit`"
"I hear the word `pears`. I think Ms. Satsuki talked about pears in Tottori."

Ms. Satsuki told us that she didn't know what souvenirs to buy so the other teachers introduced some ideas using adjectives.
"How about Haginotsuki?"
"What's that?"
"It's round. It's sweet. It's soft."
"Oh, nice!"

Next, we practiced the adjectives that the teachers had used.
"It's fresh!"

The students practiced the pronunciations in their classrooms with gestures.
"It's crispy."

"It's sweet."

After, practicing it was time to say goodbye.
"Have a nice day!"

Thank you Ms. Satsuki for taking part in Tomilish Time!

Every Monday morning we have reading time. Ms. Emily, Ms. Mayumi and Ms. Keiko often go to class to read English books for everyone.

Recently, Ms. Emily read to class 2-4. She read the book `Little Owl Lost` by Chris Haughton.
It's about an owl who falls out of his nest and has to search for his mother. The other animals listen to his description of his mother and try to find her.

"My mother has big ears."
"Oh! I know your mother! Let's go!"
The squirrel tries hard to find the right animal.

Everyone enjoyed listening to the owl describe his mother and guessing what animal the squirrel would suggest next.
"My mother is big."
"Maybe he will suggest a bear!!!"
It was a very fun book.

Ms. Keiko read to class 2-3. She read the book `What's in the Witch's Kitchen?` by Nick Sharratt.
The students read this book in English class last year, too. The students can pick whether to open the containers in the kitchen up, down, left or right. Depending on the way each container is opened it either contains something nice or something nasty.

"Shall we open it? Up? Down?"
"Up! Up!"

"I wonder if it's something nice..."
"Oh no! It's spiders!!"
It's a very intersting book.

Everyone looks forward to English reading time!

Recently 1st grade students had their first English class of the year. In this class we focused on how to have good communication (eye contact etc.) as well as the numbers 1-10 and the question "How many?". 1st grade students had really been looking forward to English class so everyone had a lot of fun!

First, after greetings, we did a silent greeting game. We talked about how making eye contact and smiling is important to communication. The students had to greet each other without saying anything.
Good eye contact!

After the silent greeting game it was time to try anything, and this time the students could say "Hello!" and "See you!" to each other. As well as the main key words `eye conact` and `smile` we also added another important key word: `listen`. The students had to take care to listen to what the other person said to them.
Nice smile!

Good eye conact!

The teachers picked some students to give a good demonstration.
Everyone had to watch and think about the demonstrations good points.

After the greeting game, we sang the `Hello Song` as a class and in pairs.
"I'm good! I'm good! I'm good, thank you and you?"

Then, the teachers talked to each other and the students tried to catch some English words that they knew.
"Wow! You have many pencils! How many pencils?"
"How many? Let's count! 1, 2, 3..."

We practiced the pronunciation for the numbers 1-10 in English.
After practicing we sang the `10 Steps Song`.

Everyone enjoyed singing together.
"1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7!
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7!
8, 9, 10!
8, 9, 10!
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7!"

Next, we played the nakamatsukuri game. The teachers hit a tambourine. The students had to count together and make groups of that number.
"1, 2, 3, 4, 5! Let's make groups of 5!!"

After everyone had made their groups we checked each group together by counting.
"1, 2, 3, 4!

"1, 2.."

Lastly, Ms. Emily read the book `Spot Can Count`.
"Look! It's a horse! How many horses?"
"1!"
"That's right!"

We counted all the animals together.
"How many cows?"
"10!"
"Let's count! 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10! 10 cows!"

The students enjoyed listening to the story and counting together.

Lastly the students reflected on the class. They talked about what they learned in the class as well as what they want to study during English class in the future.
"I want to study the seasons in English!"

Good job 1st grade students!

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!

3rd grade students have been studying Let's try!1 Unit 4 `I like blue`. This week they had their fourth and last class on the topic. In this class they researched the most popular colors in their class in order to pick colors to decorate the signboard for our school festival. Some teachers came to watch the class, too.

After our usual greeting questions and doing the chant we had `Teacher Talk`. Ms. Emily talked about festivals in her country. The homeroom teachers told her about our school festival in Tomizawa.
"3rd grade students have to make a signboard for the festival but it's just plain white letters...do you have any ideas?"
"Let's interview each other and find out the most popular colors in the class! Then we can make the signboard with those colors!"
"Nice idea!"

Next, we reviewed the English names for colors.
"White!"

Then, the teachers gave a demonstration of how to do the interview.
"Do you like red?"
"No, I don't."
"Hint, please!"
"Lemon!"
"Do you like yellow?"
"Yes, I do! I like yellow!"

The students first guessed what would be the most popular color in their class. Then it was time to interview everyone!
"Do you like orange?"

"No, I don't!"

"Hint, please!"

"Sky!"
"Do you like blue?"

"Yes, I do! I like blue!"

"Thank you! See you!"
Great smiles!

After checking with the students about what was the most popular color out of the people they interviewed, everyone wrote their feedback cards. The teachers asked some students to annouce what they wrote.
"I want to use the English I learned to go aboard."
Wow! Nice dream! You can do it!

3-1 and 3-2's top two colors were green and blue.
3-3's top two colors were blue and yellow.
Here is the completed signboard:
Nice signboard!
Good job 3rd grade students!

5th grade students have started a new topic. They will study a mix of Let's Try!1 Unit 4 `I like blue.` and Hi,friends!1 Lesson 4 `I like apples.` They have already studied `Do you like~?` a little as 4th grade students so we will only study it briefly this year. Since this phrase is not new to the students we decided to teach them some new vocabulary as well, the names for seasons.

As always, we started class with a greeting game.
"Do you like blue?"
"Yes, I do!"

After that, we sang the song `Do you like broccoli icecream?` from Super Simple Songs. First, the students just listened to the song. Next, during the second playing, the students tried to sing along and do gestures, too.
"Do you like ice cream?"
"Yes, I do."

"Do you like broccoli?"
"Yes, I do."


"Do you like broccoli icecream?"
"No, I don't. Yucky!"

Next, we had `Teacher Talk`. Ms. Mayumi showed Ms. Emily some pictures.
"Last week 5th grade students boiled vegetables for cooking class."
"Oh, it looks delicious!"

"What vegetables did you eat?"
"Carrots, cabbage and broccoli."
"Do you like carrots?"
"Yes, I do!"
"Do you know 旬? It means the `best season` for vegetables. What is the best season for carrots?"
"Hmm...maybe winter?"
"That's right!"
"Do you like winter?"
"Yes, I do! I like snow!"

The teachers used vegeables to introduce the names of the different seasons.
"Watermelon is best in summer!"

Next, the teachers demonstrated a conversation to the students.
"Do you like autumn?"
"Yes, I do. I llike autumn."
"Why?"
"I like imonikai."

After practicing first with the person sitting next to them, the students stood up and interviewed many different classmates.
"Do you like summer?"
"No, I don't."
"Why?"
"I don't like hot weather."

Half-way through the activity the teachers picked some students to give a good demonstration.
Great reactions and gestures!

Next, everyone tried again keeping the good demonstration in mind.
Great reaction!

Finally we ended with another good demonstration from some students picked by the teachers.
Good gestures!

Everyone enjoyed learning the English for seasons. It was an interesting class!

This week in Tomilish Time we have continued studying adjectives. The 6th grade students also helped us to interview some of the teachers and student teachers.

First, after greetings, we reviewed what we studied last week. Ms. Keiko and Ms. Emily talked about what they ate at the weekend.
Ms. Emily ate sour reimen again. She really likes reimen.

Ms. Keiko ate spicy tteok-bokki.
She likes spicy Korean food.

We gave everyone one minute in their classrooms to think and talk about what the teachers said.
"Did you catch any English words?"

Next, some of the 6th grade students helped us to interview the teachers.
First was one of our students teachers, Ms. Hiroko.
"What's your favorite food?"
"Guess what?"
"Hint, please!"
"Soft and sweet."
"Do you like pancakes?"
"Yes, I do! I like pancakes!"

Next, our other student teacher, Ms. Taeko was interviewed by one of the 6th graders.
"What's your favorite food?"
"Guess what?"
"Hint, please!"
"Long and spicy. I like Taiwan."
"Do you like Taiwan yakisoba?"
"Yes, I do!"

Mr. Toda, who is new to our school this year, was also interviewed.
"What's your favorite food?"
"Guess what?"
"Hint, please!"
"Yellow, sour, round fruit."
"Do you like grapefruits?"
"Yes, I do !"

After listening to the interview, we practiced the adjectives that we had heard for the first time.
"Long! Long!"

Everyone practiced, too.
　"Long!"

Thank you everyone for helping with the interviews.
"See you! Have a nice day!"

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.

This week during Upper Grades Tomilish Time, 5th grade students did some listening activities based on their current English studied. 6th grade students used the time to prepare `Who is he/she?` quizzes about their friends that we will use in English class this week.

5th grade students have been studying Hi,friends!1 Lesson 3 `How many?` and just recently had their last class on the topic. We started class by doing our usual greeting questions.
"What time is it now?"
"It's 8:30 A.M."

Next, we did two different set of chants. In class the students have been doing the chant from Let's Try!1 Unit 3 `How many?` however this time we also did the chant from Hi,friends!1 Lesson 3 `How many?` .
First, the students listened to the chants carefully.

Next, everyone stood up and tried to do the chants together while doing gestures.
"How many pencils?"

After the chants, everyone did the `Let's Listen` activity from the Hi, friends!1 textbook.
The students listened to people from different countries counting and had to match the counting to the correct country.

6th grade students have been studying We Can!1 Unit 5 `She can run fast. He can jump high.` In this Tomilish Time, the students prepared quizzes about their friends. First, the teachers explained what to do.
They had to pick a friend to introduce and make 3 hints (2 hints using `He/She can~.` and 1 hint using `He/She is~.`) in order to make a `Who is he/she?` quiz.

The students could draw a picture of their friend and cut out cards from the textbook to complete sentences about their friend.
The teachers did a demonstration, too.

Everyone thought carefully about who they wanted to make a quiz about.
They copied their friends name onto their worksheet.

Everyone looked carefully at the different cards in the textbook to find good hints for their quiz.
"Hmm...what should I pick..."

The students cut out the cards their wanted to use and stuck them to their worksheets.
"My friend can swim so I'll use this card."

The teachers were there to help the students with writing.
They wrote out anything that the students wanted to write for the students to copy.

Here is one example of a worksheet:
Most of the students will finish preparting their quizzes in English class. Through using Tomilish Time in this way we could save a lot of time in English class that will give us more time to ask and answer the quizzes instead.

Good job everyone! You worked hard!

5th grade students had their third and last lesson on the topic, Hi, friends!1 Lesson 3 `How many?`. In this class they introduced their favorite kanji to their friends through a quiz while using the question `How many strokes?`.

As always we started class with a greeting game and the teachers did a demonstration with one of the students.
"How many stars? Let's count!"
"1, 2, 3..."

After watching the demonstration, everyone else greeted each other and tried to ask questions using the phrase `How many~?`.
"How many stars?"

"How many letters?"

Next, we finished the janken activity in Hi,friends!1 Lesson3 `How many?`. The students did janken ten times with their first during the first class on this topic. This time we changed their pairs and they did janken another ten times.
"Rock, scissors, paper. 1, 2, 3!!"

"Yes, I won! I'll write a circle."
The students counted the number of circles and triangles they had written today and during the janken game overall, raising their hand when Ms. Emily asked, "How many circles? 1 circle? 2 circles?".

After that, the teachers did a demonstration of our main activity. They each wrote their favorite kanji on a piece of paper and had to guess the other person's favorite kanji.
"How many stokes?"
"9 strokes."
"Hmmm. The `mi` (美)　in Ms. Mayumi?"
"Nice idea but no."
"Hint, please!"
"Zzzzzzz" (It's a sleeping sound.)

"Do you like 眠?"
"Yes, I do!"
"Why?"
"I like sleeping!"

After watching the demonstration the students took some time to write out their favorite kanji and think of some hints. We had told the students the previous day to think about the kanji they like so they were prepared for this activity.

Next, the students gave their quizzes in pairs.
"How many strokes?"
"9 stokes."
"Hint, please."
"Flower...like this."
"咲?"
"That's right!"

Then, the students got into groups and did their quizzes together.
"What's your favorite kanji?"

"How many stokes?"

Lastly, the students walked around the room freely and talked to many people about the kanji they like.
It was interesting to hear about the different kanji and the reasons that people have for liking them. Many students like a kanji that is in their name the best.

Good job, 5th grade students!