富沢小学校 Tomilishブログ

In this week's Tomilish Time with the whole school, the students got together in their grades to do greeting games.

Since it was the first time for 1st grade students to do a greeting game, some of the 6th grade students went to their classrooms to teach them what to do.
First, they taught them the `Hello Song`. They practiced doing all the gestures. The 6th grade students also said the words of the song slowly so the 1st grade students could repeat them.
Everyone tried their best to do the gestures and sing along.

After practicing the `Hello Song` a few times we did the greeting game. The 6th grade students gave a demonstration. They made eye contact, smiled and said "Hello!" while giving each other a high five. After watching the demonstration, it was time for everyone to try.
"Hello!"

The 6th grade students also did the greeting game with everyone.
"Hello!"

"Who enjoyed Tomilish Time today?"
"Me!"
So many students raised their hands! Thank you, 6th grade students for your help!

While the 1st grade students were practicing in their classrooms the other grades got together in some of the big rooms to greet each other.
Everyone watched the teachers give a demonstration.
"Nice Addidas tracksuit top!"
"Thank you! I like blue."

The 5th and 6th grade students gathered together in the gym. They know a lot of English so they could talk about many things in the greeting game.
"Do you like natto?"
"Yes, I do!"

2nd, 3rd and 4th grade students did their best in their grade levels.
"How are you?"

Half-way through the greeting game the teachers picked some students to give a good demonstration.
Nice eye contact!

The other students announced what they thought about the demonstration.
"They had clear voices."

Everyone continued with the greeting game while thinking about the good points of the demonstration.
Great smiles!

Good gestures!

Good job everyone!

This week we had our second Tomilish Time broadcast for the year. We focused on practicing asking and answering the question "How are you?". Also, three 6th grade students interviews some of the new teachers in English.

We started the broadcast with our usual greetings.
"How is the weather today?"
"It's rainy!"

Next we practiced asking and answering "How are you?".
It was the first time for the first grade students to practice this English and it was a good review for everyone else.

Everyone watched the broadcast and practiced hard in their classrooms.
"How are you?"

The students did their best to do gestures, too.
"I'm good!"

The students will use these greetings next week to talk to many other people in their grade.

After practicing greetings it was time for the 6th grade students to interview some of the new teachers.
"Who is your favorite actress?"
"Guess who?"
"Hint, please."
"She is cute and she is a good dancer."
"Ah! It's Aragaki Yui!"
"Yes!"

"See you!"
"Thank you! See you!"

"What's your favorite anime character?"
"Guess what?"
"Hint, please."
"Big, god and Ghibli."
"Totoro?"
"Yes, I like Tonari no Totoro!"
"Wow!"

"What's your favorite book?"
"Guess what?"
"Hint, please."
"Blue, black and three boys."
"すてきな３人組?"
"Yes! That's right!"
"Nice!"

We could learn many new things about the new teachers. Thanks to the 6th grade students for your great interviews! Your English was very clear and easy to understand! It was a great example to the younger students.
"Have a nice day! See you!"

The next Tomilish Time will not be a broadcast day. Instead, the students will get together in their grades to talk with each other in English. Everyone is looking forward to it!

On Wednesday we had our first Tomilish Time this year with the whole school. It has been a while since our last English activities so we used the time to refresh our memories about greetings and to learn more about the new teachers who have come to Tomizawa Elementary School.
"Good morning!"

This was the first time for the 1st grade students to watch the English TV broadcast.
Everyone was very interested and a little nervous!

"Let's enjoy...
　...Tomilish Time!"

Some of the 6th grade students took part in the broadcast and were great examples of how to speak English while smiling, making eye contact and using clear voices.
First, we talked about the different greetings.
"Hello!"
"Did you know that Hello is a magic word? You can use it in the morning, afternoon and at night!"

"Good morning!"
"We use this greeting in the mornings."

"Good afternoon!"
"We use this greeting in the afternoon. Let's practice saying the greetings together!"

The students in their classrooms tried their best to repeat the greetings.
Good job everyone!

The 6th grade students gave a demonstration of using the greetings.
It was morning so they used "Hello!" and "Good morning!".

Next, they showed a demonstration of the greeting game. We always do the greeting game in class and during Tomilish time so it was an important thing to watch!
"What's your name?" "How are you?"

After that we all sang the `Hello Song` together.
Ms. Emily and Ms. Keiko sang this song during the Entrance Ceremony for the 1st grade students so everyone knew this song.

Lastly, the 6th grade students interviewed two of the new teachers.
"What's your favorite color?"
"I like green."
"Me, too!"
"You, too?! Nice!!"

"What's your favorite book?"
"I like comic books."
"Oh! Great!"

It was very interesting to learn about the new teachers.
They gave great reactions in English, too! Everyone laughed!

Even though we used a TV broadcast the teachers in the classrooms try hard to involve the students and ask questions.
"Do you know what classes the new teachers teach? Do you remember their names?"

We had a great first Tomilish Time of the school year. It was a success thanks to the 6th grade students who were great role models to the other students in speaking English.
Great job! Thank you for your help!

Let's enjoy Tomilish Time this year!

Recently we had our last Tomilish Time for the school year. We used this time to reflect on what we have learned this year. The students did a survey in class with their teachers and thought about what they are able to do now.

First and second graders had to color in the balloons if they felt they were able to do what it said.


Third to sixth graders had to write a circle in the box of things they were able to do.


The students listened as their teachers explained each part of the survey and completed it carefully.
"I can make eye contact. Let's color that balloon!"

It was interesting for the students to see how many things they have become able to do in English.
"I can ask `What's this?`. I can ask `What's your favorite~?`. I can do many things!"

The teachers also checked with the students.
"You circled that you can ask questions about what people like. Please ask me!"
"Do you like soccer?"
"Yes, I do! Great job!"

The students have all learned a lot this year. Good job everyone!

Here are some examples of the completed surveys:
This is a 2nd year student. It looks pretty!

Here is an example from a 6th year student. Of course 6th year students can do a lot!

Some of the 2nd year students also drew their feelings:
Yes! You studied a lot!


"Hello!" "Good Morning!" You became good at greetings!
It was a pleasure to teach you! You are welcome!

Everyone realised that they have learned many things. Let's have fun and learn more English next year too!

In Tomilish Time the students mixed with students from other grades to ask each other "What is your favorite kyushoku?". Just like last week, 1st and 2nd grade, 3rd and 4th grade, and 5th and 6th grade students mixed together. However, the students mixed with a different class than last week.

Each group started with a normal greeting game. The teachers demonstrated first.
"Hello!"

After watching the demonstration it was the students' turn. Each group had different ideas to make the greeting game successful.
These students added English they had studied previously in Tomilish time.
"What's this?"
"My glasses!"

Other groups were creative about how the students greeted each other.
These students got into pairs and had to try and continue their conversation for as long as possible only using English.

After the normal greeting game it was time to practice the phrase "What is your favorite kyushoku?". The teachers demonstrated.
"What's your favorite kyushoku?"
"Guess what!"
"American salad?"
"That's right!"

Some groups had the students take notes.
Fried chicken is popular!

After watching the demonstration it was the students' turn.
This group did the activity in two circles so everyone could talk to many people.

The older students tried hard to lead the younger students!
Nice eye contact!

Halfway through the activity the teachers got some students to give a good example. Everyone watched and tried to think about the demonstrations good points.
Great eye contact!

Clear voices! Everyone clapped after watching the demonstration.

After that, everyone re-started the activity while thinking about the good points of the demonstration.
Good job!

Nice smile!

Good eye contact!

Great work everyone!

In Tomilish Time the students mixed with students from other grades to ask each other "What is your favorite kyushoku?". 1st and 2nd grade, 3rd and 4th grade, and 5th and 6th grade students mixed together.

We started with greetings.
"Good morning, everyone!"

Then, the two homeroom teachers did a demonstration.
"Hello!"

After the teachers demonstration, we had a teacher-student demonstration.
"What's your favorite kyushoku?"

For the last demonstration two students showed everyone what to do.
"It's curry and rice."
"Delicious!"

After the demonstrations it was time for everyone to talk togeether.
After asking about school lunch, 5th and 6th grade students tried to ask each other many extra questions.
"When is your birthday?"

2nd grade students tried very hard to lead the 1st grade students.
"I like wakama salad."

3rd and 4th grade students tried to find someone with the same favorite kyushoku.
"Me, too!"

The teachers stopped everyone half-way through the activity and asked some students to give a good demonstration.
They have good eye contact!

They use great gestures!

Everyone tried to think about the good points of the demonstrations and tried again to talk with many people.
Clear voices!

Nice gestures!

If the students couldn't think of what to say in English there were many teachers to help them.

Nice smile!

Great gestures! Both of the teachers are hungry!

Good job everyone!

In Tomilish Time the students have been practicing asking and answering the phrase "What is your favorite~?". This week the students practiced asking their classmates about kyushoku.
The students had to research their classmates' favorite kyushoku.

All students watched the teachers do a demonstration on the TV broadcast. After watching that some teachers used their students to do another demonstration.
"What's your favorite kyushoku?"
"Guess what?"

After watching the demonstration it was time for the students to interview their classmates.
"Curry and rice?"
"No!"
"Hint, please!"

"It's white and green."
"Wakame rice?"
"Yes! That's right!"

"It's potato."
"French fries?"
"Yes! That's right!"

Great eye contact!

Nice smiles!

Good job everyone! We're all looking forward to talking with other students soon!

There are still a lot of students sick with flu this week so Tomilish Time was changed to read-aloud TV broadcast.

First, can you tell what the teachers talked about?
It's school lunch!

"What's your favorite school lunch?"
"I like spring rolls!"

Since we couldn't do communication activities due to the flu, Ms. Emily read us some books. The first book was about the weather.
It's a pop-up book.

It looks really pretty.
The story was about a child looking out their window at the weather and all the things they wore on different days.

"Let's look at the sky. How is the weather?"
We held the book like this so everyone could see the pop-up.

"It's sunny. I wear sunglasses and a hat. I'm hot!"
"What color are the sunglasses?"
"Red!"
"That's right!"
Everyone enjoyed looking at the pop-up book.

The second book we read had many different pull tabs. It was about birds.
We learned a new phrase, "What's up?".
We asked each bird "What's up?" and they told us what they were doing.

"Hello, puffin! What's up?"
Ms. Emily is very excited. Do you know why?

This is a puffin. It looks like a penguin but it's different. It lives in Scotland.
Ms. Emily was so happy to see a bird from her country in the book!

It was fun to see the birds move. This is a robin.
In the U.K. you can see robins at Christmas.

When we pulled the tab the robin started to fly!
It's so cute!

This was a fun book to read, too!
Everyone enjoyed Tomilish Time but we hope that we can do communication activities soon! Get well soon, everyone! Take care!

This week, due to the flu, Tomilish Time was changed to a TV broadcast instead communication activities. As a number of classes have been closed due to the flu, the homeroom teachers of those classes helped with the broadcast.

Someone is covering their face!
Do you know who it is?

"Everyone, let's ask `Who are you?` together!"
"Who are you?"

Many different teachers came to visit.
Ms. Emily asked them "What's your favorite~?" questions.

"Mr. Shuhei, what's your favorite country?"
"Guess what?"
"Hmm...hint please!"
"Hint 1. Sagrada Familia!"
"hmmm....I wonder where it is?"

Mr. Shuhei's favorite country is Spain!

Mr. Takeyuki's favourite sport is snowboarding.

Mr. Ota's favorite sushi is chutoro.

Mr. Nakamura's favourite pop group is Keyakizaka 46.

Everyone enjoyed listening to the different hints and guessing what the teachers like.
"Mr. Nakamura is funny!"

"See you! Have a nice day!"

Hopefully everyone recovers from the flu soon so that we can do communication activities again!

The weather has been colder recently and some students have been ill with the flu. In order to stop the flu from spreading we have been doing `Read Aloud Broadcasts` instead of the students mixing with people from other classes or grades for Tomilish Time. Both last week and this week we read two books during each broadcast.

Last week the first book we read was about events around the world during the different months.


Ms. Keiko read the Japanese page and Ms. Emily read the foreign countries page.


It was very interesting for students to see the different festivals and events around the world and compare them to Japan.


The second book we read last week was `The Little Red Hen`.


It was about Hen(a chicken) who had to do all the work while her friends Dog, Cat and Mouse all refused to help. In the end Hen ate the cake she made all by herself and her friends learned to help.


This week the first book we read was `Go Away Green Monster`. Setsubun is coming soon so we picked books with a monster theme.


In this book we talked about the different colored body parts of the monster.


The monster was scary so we decided to make it go away by saying "See you!" to each body part.
"See you, face!"

The students waved goodbye and said "See you!" in their classrooms, too.
"See you, face!"

The body parts that we said "See you!" to, disappeared!
It was so funny!

Everyone laughed a lot!
The monster was not scary any more!

The second book that we read this week was `Big feet`. It has been snowy this week so this was the perfect story to read.


There were very big footprints in the snow. I wonder what made them?
Was it a dinosaur? Or a monster? Or a giant?

"Look!"
It was just Dad playing a joke! How funny!

It was a good story!

`Read Aloud Broadcasts` are very fun but we hope everyone feels better soon so we can have normal Tomilish Time again!
Take care!