富沢小学校 Tomilishブログ

This week's Tomilish Time was a TV broadcast. We learned a new song.

First we did greetings.
"Good Morning!"

Next, we had a short `teacher talk`. Ms. Emily talked about her dancing in Aoba Matsuri and Kizuna Matsuri.
We all learned that the word for matsuri in English is `festival`. We can use it to talk about our school festival, Aozora Festival, next week!

Then, we learned some of the words in the new song.
"Everyone, let's watch!"

Ms. Mayumi and Ms. Emily showed us some pictures of famous characters.
We could see the reason why the characters felt that way. The Queen is angry because the mirror said Snow White is beautiful!

Look at Dory and Marlin!
They are scared of the jellyfish! Oh no!

After learning the new words, it was time to listen to the song!
"Let's listen!"

The song is called "If you are happy". It's a simpler version of the song "If you are happy and you know it, clap your hands".

First, everyone listened to the song while Ms. Emily and Ms. Keiko did the gestures. Then, everyone tried to do the gestures and sing the words they knew.
"If you're happy, happy, happy..."
"...clap your hands!"

Do you know what emotion comes next?
It's angry! "If you're angry, angry, angry..."
"...stomp your feet!". The students really enjoyed stomping their feet and pretending to be angry!

What emotion is this? Can you tell?
They are not cold. They are scared!
"If you're scared, scared, scared..."
"...say `oh no!`".

What is the last emotion?
Sleepy! "If you're sleepy, sleepy, sleepy..."

What do you do?
"...take a nap!!"

It was a very fun song! We are looking forward to singing it again soon!

"Have a nice day! See you next time!"

English classes started this week for both 3rd and 4th grades. For the first class we had orientation.

First we did the activity that we had learned from Ms. Kasuya. Everyone stood up and Ms. Emily asked about the kanji in the students names.
"Who has river (川) in their name?"
First Ms. Emily didn't show the kanji card so everyone had to listen every carefully! We are all trying to practice listening!

If the students had the kanji in their name they raised their hand and said "Yes!".
Then Ms. Emily asked them "What's your name?" and they answered "My name is ..." and sat down. It was a good way to learn everyone's names!

Next the homeroom teachers talked about the important things when studying English.
This is the same powerpoint that we introduced when talking about 5th and 6th grade orientations. You can see it in more detail here.

Next the students made their English name tags. The homeroom teachers had written their names in light pencil beforehand so the students just had to trace the letters. The 5th and 6th graders had used black pens to write their names but we realise that the color could be seen on the back of the nametag, too. 3rd and 4th graders used black crayons and the color didn't bleed through the paper.
Here is the back of one student's nametag. You can't see their name through the paper! Success!
The students had to draw their favorite sport, fruit, animal and color. We will use these nametags for activities in the future.
Here is another example:

Good work everyone! We are all looking forward to our next English class!

We previously told you that 5th grade students did Tomilish Time by themselves because 6th grade students were on their school trip. However, 6th grade students actually did Tomilish Time, too! How?!
They did Tomilish Time on the bus! Wow!

First, they had a bag check. All students had a list of things that they were supposed to bring. The teachers checked this in English.
"Do you have a guide book?" "Yes, I do!"
"Do you have comic books?" "No, i don't!"
After the teachers did a demonstration the students also asked the person next to them two questions using `Do you have~?`.
"Do you have a water bottle?"
"Do you have a handkerchief?"

Next, the teachers tried using some new English. They interviewed students about the school trip and asked "Where do you want to go?".
"Tsuruga Castle!"
"Oh! You want to go to Tsuruga Castle! Me, too!"

Great job everyone! It is amazing that you did Tomilish Time on the school trip! We are so impressed with 6th grade students!

This week 6th grade students are on their school trip so only 5th grade students did Tuesday Tomilish Time. Recently we have been doing a lot of writing and chants in Tomilish Time so it was time for a change. This time we had a communication activity.

5th grade students have recently finished studying Hi, friends!1 Lesson 5 What do you like? so we used that English for a greeting game.

First the teachers reviewed the colors. What color is this?
It's pink! I like pink!

After a demonstration the students had to find other students who had the same favorite color as them by asking "What color do you like?". They had picked a card with their favorite color in the classroom before the activity.
"I like purple!"


Halfway through the activity the teachers picked some good students to give a good demonstration.
The students who like purple were very good. The boys group and the girls group joined together. It's important to speak to everyone! Well done!
The boys especially had very good reactions:
"I like purple." "Me, too! Yeay!"

Next the students started again trying to remember what they learned.
"Me, too!" Nice reactions!

Good eye contact!

It was still a little difficult for boys and girls to talk together. The teachers will try and create activities to improve this in the future.

Lastly the students talked about how they felt about the activity.
"I was happy when my friends said `Me,too!`". That's great! Everyone realised that reactions are very important.

This week we had a very special guest come to Tomizawa Elementary School! Ms. Kasuya came to teach class 5-3. Many teachers came to watch the class. We'll show you two great activities that we learned from this class.

After introducing herself to the class Ms. Kasuya asked the students about the kanji in their names. First, all the students had to stand up.
"Who has a mountain in one's name?"
The students who have the kanji 山 raised their hands and Ms. Kasuya asked each one their names. Then they could sit down. The students listened really hard Ms. Kasuya's English. Everyone want to hear their kanji.
You can use this activity with anything:
"Who is student number 15?"
"Who is wearing pink?"
"Who gets up at 6 o'clock?"
It's a great idea that all the teachers who were watching wanted to try in their own classes.

Another important thing was using words and materials in context. Ms. Kasuya taught the students the English for some feelings and emotions. Instead of just showing a picture of a face she used materials that showed the reason for the emotion.
The boy in the picture is scared because he on a high diving board. This picture allows the students to link the English word and the situation.

The class was very interesting for all the teachers watching but the best result was this:
The students smiling faces! They really enjoyed the English class.

Thank you, Ms. Kasuya!

This week students had their last lesson on Hi,friends!2 Lesson 1 "Do you have `a`?". This class focused on using the phrase "Do you have~?" without asking about the alphabet.

Let's interview our classmates! If they say yes, write a circle. If they say no, write a cross.

After the teacher demonstration two students volunteered to give a demonstration.
This is a great way to check that students understand the rules without using Japanese.

There were many questions so students could spend a long time using English and talking to many different people.
Let's talk to the teachers, too!
"Mr. Kimura, do you have a dog?"
"Yes, I do!"

Great eye contact! It's difficult to remember to make eye contact when you are holding a paper. Nice job!

Great job everyone! There were many teachers watching but everyone did their best!

Recently we have shown lessons where 5th grade students have been using English to design class flags for sports day. Read again by clicking here and here.

After the English classes the students knew the top 3 shapes and colors for their class. Then they all chose an English word to represent their class. The students then used the shapes and colors, as well as the English word, to design their class flag.

5th grade students used the flags at Sports Day during their `Cavalry Battle` (騎馬戦).
The students all gathered with their flags!

It's a little hard to see in the sports day pictures so we took some close-ups. First we'll introduce class 5-1's flag. Their class color is red so the main color is red. Here are the results of their English class survey:
Top 3 colors:
1. Blue 2. Yellow 3. Green
Top 3 shapes:
1. Stars 2. Circles 3. Diamonds
The most popular color and shape are used in the center of the flag. The chose the word `fire`. It goes well with the color red! Nice design!

Here is an action shot!
Before the `battles` each class gave a cheer. The students waved their flag strongly.

Next is class 5-3's flag. Their class color is yellow so the main color is yellow. Here are the results of their English class survey:
Top 3 colors:
1. Purple 2. Blue 3. Green
Top 3 shapes:
1. Diamonds 2. Stars 3. Circles
They chose the word `passion`. They wanted to compete with passion. It's a nice flag!
During each battle some 6th grade students held the flag so the 5th grade students could `battle`!
The `horses` and `riders` are ready to fight!

Last is class 5-2's flag. Their class color is blue so the main color is blue. Here are the results of their English class survey:
Top 3 colors:
1. Green 2. Purple 3. Red
Top 3 shapes:
1. Diamonds 2. Stars 3. Circles
The students chose the word `victory`. It showed their strong desire to win!
Class 2 students won the battle! They did a victory lap.
Their Queen held the flag during their victory lap. Well done!

The students will take the flags with them on their school trip. They will climb a mountain and take a picture with the flag at the top. Making the flags was a great way to use English! Great job everyone!