Items filtered by date: 4月 2021

A short video, over on twitter, from the folks at Ozobot Japan showing just how easy it is to use ozobots and get started programming!

https://twitter.com/i/status/1383377700186845185

Find out more about programming and English at 英語でプログラミング

 This week in our adult classes I tried using this short news item from newsonjapan.com

 It's about Coca Cola Japan starting to offer a subscription service at its vending machines. The video is in Japanese so after using some lead-in questions to set the topic, the challenge to my students was tell me what it was about.

 We then discussed the pros and cons of various subscriptions.

 It was a good topic setter and because the news articles on newsinjapan.com are usually short,relevant and in English, I'll be looking to use more arcticles in my classes from now on.

  As part of our Kinder class (キンダークラス) text Potato Pals by Patrick Jackson and Rie KIimura, there's a section where we learn the phrase "I walk the dog."

  So what better chance than to give all the students their very own dog...not a real dog...but an invisible dog tethered to a dog lead!!

  Walkies!!  Sit!!  Jump!!  Lie down!!

  (Big thanks to Blackpool's Golden Mile in the 1980's for this idea!)

  New passports ready for our 1st, 2nd and 3rd graders (小学生1年生,2年生&2年生)

  I started using them in our elementary classses (小学生クラス) a few years ago, and while a little time consuming to make, the children really enjoy getting their stamps!

 As a member of the Cambridge English Penfriends (ペンフレンド) programme we were delightd to be able swap cards with Colegio Rural Agrupado (C.R.A.) Javalambre school in rural Spain.

 It was great to see the enthusiasm of my students creating their cards to send to Spain, and we had a lot of fun deciding what to write. It really felt that after a year of various Covid-19 restrcitions etc, that my students were desperate to communicate with children overseas and I was really proud of their work.

 But it didn't prepare me for the replies from CRA Javalambre; the children in Spain had answered each student's letter personally and it has been a source of joy all week seeing my students faces light up as they read the letters addressed to themselves.

 So thank you CRA Javalambre and Cambridge English Penfriends (ペンフレンド) for creating a truly fantastic experience for my students.