Another exciting school year has started and the English team at Nishi Elementary School has made their lessons even more fun for students!

新学期も始まり、西小学校の英語チームは、子どもたちにとってよりわくわくするような授業を作っています。

The grade five students recently had their "Birthday Shopping" activity where they practiced speaking in English while buying different items that they want for their birthday. They were given play money to budget among the things they would like to buy. Not surprisingly, most students spent their play money on smartphons and toys while some chose other things like pets, clothes and books. It was a great experience for the grade 5 students to practice English expressions while having fun shopping!

5年生は最近、「バースデーショッピング」活動を行い、誕生日に欲しいさまざまなアイテムを購入しながら、英語で話す練習をしました。子どもたちは自分が買いたいものの中で予算を立てるために遊びのお金を与えられました。当然のことながら、ほとんどの生徒は遊びのお金をスマートフォンやおもちゃに費やしましたが、ペット、服、本などの他のものを選ぶ児童もいました。5年生の生徒さんが楽しく買い物をしながら英語の表現を練習できたのは、とてもいい経験でした!

The Face Making activity was a hit among the grade 3 students! They learned about different emotions in English such as wonderful, great, hungry, and thirsty. They were able to respond to the question “how are you?” with confidence. The Face Making activity gave them the chance to express their feelings and creativity by choosing from among the many pairs of eyes and mouth that express different emotions.

フェイスメイキング活動は3年生の生徒の間でとても好評でした！子どもたちは、素晴らしい、いい感じ、空腹、のどが渇いているなど、英語でさまざまな感情について学びました。「お元気ですか」という質問に、自信をもって答えることができました。フェイスメイキング活動は、さまざまな感情を表現する目と口のペアの中から選択することで、彼らの感情と創造性を表現する機会を与えました。

    It's almost the end of the school year. Students at Nishi had an exciting and fun way of learning English through a Pizza Making activity!

　もうすぐ、今学期も終わりが近づいてきました。西小学校の子どもたちは、ピザ作りの活動をとして、楽しく、わくわく英語を学習しました。

    The 4th grade students learned and mastered the names of different fruits and vegetables in English and played games. They also had "market day" wherein they played the roles of market sellers and customers. It was like a market setting and they were able to buy fruits and vegetables by saying useful English expressions. As a culminating activity, they made their own pizza by buying the fruits and vegetables that they want as toppings for their pizza.

　4年生では、英語のゲームを通して、様々な果物や野菜の名前を学習しました。「マーケットデイ」の活動では、買い手や売り手の役割をしながら遊びました。実際のお店のようにセッティングをし、英語表現を使いながら果物や野菜のトッピングを買いました。楽しい活動をとおして、子どもたちはピザのトッピングとして欲しい果物や野菜を買うことで、自分たちのピザを作りました

    The grades 1 to 3 had their pizza making too! They learned different names of shapes in English and they were able to identify the shape of several objects perfectly. They too decorated their own pizza with shapes in various colors and they used simple English expressions to communicate.

　１から３年生もオリジナルピザ作りの活動をしました。子どもたちは英語でさまざまな形の名前を学び、いくつかの物体の形を完璧に識別することができました。自分たちのピザをさまざまな色の形で飾り、簡単な英語の表現を使ってコミュニケーションを取りました。

　These pizza making activities sparked the students' interest and ignited their creativity as well. The English team at Nishi Elementary School try their best to make their lessons fun and exciting as always.

　これらのピザ作りの活動は、生徒たちの興味を刺激し、彼らの創造性にも火をつけました。西小学校の英語チームは、いつも楽しく、わくわくするような授業をするために最善を尽くしています。

It's winter time and the students at Nishi Elementary School are finally back to school! Having spent 2 weeks of winter vacation, they are all recharged and ready for the last term of this school year! The English teachers prepared their much-needed icebreaker class to start the term. Students were able to share about how they spent their winter vacation.  The ALTs were amazed at the Japanese culture and traditions that were shared by the students. 
They also played games like Karuta, Memory game and Pyramid Cup game. 
Finally, the students listed down their hopes for this year. This activity made them feel hopeful and positive for this year ahead.
As this school year approaches its end, we, teachers at Nishi Elementary School commit ourselves to continue nurturing the growth of our students in all aspects. Happy new year everyone!

冬も深まり、ようやく西小学校の子どもたちが学校に帰ってきました。２週間という冬休みですが、子どもたちは３学期に向けてしっかり休み、準備ができている様子です。英語の先生達は新学期のアイスブレイクの授業を準備しました。子どもたちは、それぞれどのように冬休みを過ごしたか共有することができました。ALTの先生達は、子どもたちの話しを聞いて、日本の文化や伝統を知ることができて驚いていました。

子どもたちは、カルタ、メモリーゲーム、ピラミッドカップゲームをししました。

さらに、今年の抱負を書きました。この活動は子どもたちに、希望や前向きな考えを感じさせるものとなりました。

今年度も終わりに近づき、西小学校の先生は、あらゆる面で児童を育んでいきたいと考えています。あけましておめでとうございます！

    In today’s world, it is necessary and a lot helpful to use technology especially when it comes to education. That is why the students at Nishi Elementary School embraced the technological advancements that are made available to them like their tablets/Chromebook. The students have been using their tablets/Chromebooks in their different subjects including English.
    The English team (JTE, 2 ALTs and Japanese teacher aide) have made their classes even more fun by integrating technology in their lessons. Students have been enjoying playing educational online games that make them master English concepts all the more. In the initial stage of using the tablets, the students used them for their reading activities and final output presentation. For the reading activities, they use their tablets to check and improve their pronunciation of English words and sentences. It was challenging and a great learning activity for the grade six students. The grades five and six students also make use of the Powerpoint application to present their final outputs in front of their classmates. They learned more about changing the font styles and animations through this activity and just recently, the English team has introduced educational online games that the students truly love. They compete with each other online by answering different English questions related to their lessons. They also do some QR code activities that let them scan QR codes scattered in and around the classroom using the camera of their chromebooks to acquire information and English concepts that they need. This make their mastery level higher while at the same time have fun in their English classes.

    Students’ life is undoubtedly challenging. However, with the help of technology like the internet and tablets, their learning journey is made easier and more profound. Having these in mind, the English team of Nishi Elementary School commit themselves to making their English classes ever exciting and never boring!

Nishi Elementary School’s “Spooktacular” Halloween!

Nishi Elementary School students celebrated Halloween with fun and interesting activities last Friday, October 29, 2021. The JTE, ALTs and Japanese English Support prepared exciting games that the students enjoyed.

Upon entering the English classroom, students were in awe of the colorful Halloween decorations that made them feel the happy Halloween vibes. They sang and danced Halloween songs as a fun warmup. They learned different Halloween-related words backed with illustrations. Surprisingly, a lot of students are familiar with some words already! The students played Memory Game, “What’s In The Box?”, and Frog VS. Spider Game. Classes were divided into groups so they can all enjoy the activities simultaneously. Students had a great time playing the games and they were very happy to get cute and colorful stickers as prizes!

As for the schoolwide activity, all students made and drew on their own origami pumpkin in various colors. They were taught to say the popular expression during Halloween season, "Trick or Treat!". As a treat, each student was given cute Halloween cards!

To cap off the Halloween special class, the students showed their creativity and artistic side by drawing their own monsters and coloring Halloween posters. The Halloween celebration was filled with fun and laughter and the students along with their teachers felt so happy about the opportunity to celebrate this spectacular event together!