In the spirit of the upcomming holidays, I thought I would share some fun and interesting facts about Christmas.
Some of my students were asking me about, what Christmas is like in other countries, What was the biggest Christmas tree ever seen or how many elves santa has, so I thought, hey, why not share some of these facts with everyone?
Candy canes were invented to keep kids quiet in church.
In 1670, a German choirmaster (a person who leads a choir) asked a sweet shop to make sweets (in the shape of a shepherd's hook) for the children at his church to keep them quiet during the Christmas festivities.
Father Christmas is called lots of different names all around the world.
In America, he is called Santa Clause, in Germany, he is called Kriss Kringle, La Befana in Italy, Pere Noel in France and Deushka Moroz (which means Grandfather Frost) in Russia.
The world record for a Christmas tree is 221 feet.
The Douglas fir tree was cut and put on display in 1950, at a shopping mall in Seattle, USA. The tree is as tall as 12 giraffes standing on top of one another!
- Khanya (Kay) Sensei
Finding Value (2) a philosophy
Following from the reflection of a student's experience in the Finding Value (1) post, I've thought more about a "philosophy of language teaching."
Here are my thoughts;
The philosophy resolves around how language shapes our thoughts and interactions. It emphasizes that language is not just a tool for communication but a gateway to cultural appreciation and critical thinking.
Effective language teaching encourages creativity, collaboration and contextual learning, fostering an environment where learners can explore and express their identities.
By integrating various teaching methods, educators can cater to diverse learning styles, making language acquisition a meaningful and enriching experience.
Ultimately the goal being to navigate the world confidently through the lens of a new language.
Or something like this :)
- Michael.
Often in life, People like to plan ahead to make things simpler.
We plan our school, our tests, our work, even our parties and social life days or weeks ahead of schedule so we have time to prepare and to know what we need to think about.
Some people love to have even more of their lives planned, they will plan what they will eat for each meal, and eaxactly when they will work on their hobbies, because it helps them to be calm and focused.
There are also people in the world we call "spontaneous", this means that they don`t plan, they only follow their feelings, they see life as a series of surprises and adventures, they may not always have things figured out but often they have the most exciting stories to tell later.
One such story, my own spontaneous moment, took place over the weekend. I was offered the chance only two days before "would you like to go to USJ this weekend?" what a surprise! Normally big vacations like that are something that you would plan at least a month ahead, make sure you have everything sorted out, but not this time, I didn`t know who I would travel with, nor what I would do there, only that the chance was available.
Sometimes life will offer us a surprise, it may ruin some plans, but it may also bring us a great adventure! Sieze great opportunities that come to you, and you will find even more along that path!
-Jordan Sensei
The Most Wonderful time of the year
Today is the first of December everyone! that means we are rapidly approaching the holiday season.
We all live very busy lives, so for many of us, Christmas and new Years are a great chance to slow down, eat amazing food, and see our families.
Back in Australia, this Holiday season takes place in the middle of summer, so unlike the cozy sweaters, hot cocoa and delicious roasts that we often see in pictures, Australians are firing up a barbecue, drinking cold drinks and going out to play sports, but that doesn`t change the fact that it is a time to meet up with family and friends we don`t get to see often.
One of my favourite traditions for the season is Christmas Morning, Even after I had moved out of my parent`s home, I would still spend the night of christmas eve sleeping over at their house, and in the morning we would all exchange gifts and eat breakfast together, enjoying eachothers company.
Things are quite different here in Japan, I`ve had a lot of fun, both this year and last year, hearing from my students about what they do during this Holiday season.
-Jordan Sensei
みなさんこんにちは！
今日はプライベートレッスンでのお話をいたします。
小3のSくん。
楽器にすごい興味があり、よくいろんな楽器のお話をしてくれます。
そこで！今回は楽器を使って英語を学ぶレッスンをしました。
'Can you play the instrument?' と言いながら、教師が指定した番号順に楽器を奏でることができるかチャレンジ！
最初は簡単なものから、少しずつ難しくしていきました。
できた時には'Yes, I can.' できなかったときは'No, I can't.'で答えたり、楽器の名前を確認したりしました。
英語"を"学ぶのではなく、英語"で"何かを学ぶのは、言語能力をつけていくうえでとても大切なことであり、また、興味のあるものを英語で知れるいい機会になります。
楽器以外にもアートや他国についてなど、皆さんの興味に合わせたレッスンもできるので、一緒に好きなことを英語で学んでみませんか？
教師皆で待っています！
福田
Observations and Evaluations
Parental Observations are coming to an end this week and it has once again, been great having the parents with us in class.
Many of the students were nervous about having their parents around but still did their best! Some were simply excited!
My student "S" proved to be most excited about his mom being in the room and couldn't wait to showcase his English skills for her!
from saying his alphabet loudly, writing and speaking, he was ready to show mom all he had learnt so far.
It was fun watching him do his activities and games with her and I am sure she enjoyed it too!
Thank you to all the parents that took the time to come to class and experience English lessons with their children.
From the feedback we have recieve most, if not all the parents were happy and had a lot of fun!
We really appreciate it and we are looking forward to having everybody in class with us again!
If you attended any observations this week or last, please don't forget to send us an e-mail about your
thoughts about the lesson. We would love to hear from you!
- Khanya (Kay) Sensei
Finding Value (1) a student's perspective
Adult English classes are far more focused more on expressing meaning rather than accumulating grammar and vocabulary and the teacher's role is to facilitate personal expression.
Sometimes, this can be quite startling.
I remember an encounter with a female student - a housewife - that taught me a lot.
This happened nearly 25 years ago, but stays with me like it was yesterday.
I had asked her, why she studies English? why she attends a language school?
Her answer was that "this is the one time of the week in which I feel valued for who I am and not what I do."
It was at that moment that I began to see language teaching in a different light.
I am indebted to her honesty.
- Michael.
In just a few days now, it will be December.
Many countries around the world celebrate christmas, or Yule, or some other similar winter festival in December.
and then of course will come New Years, we`re very close now to the end of another year and it will be a great chance to reflect back and think about how far we have come on our own and as a group.
December is also an important time to take care of yourself, everyone is tired from a year of hard work and the colder weather can be hard to bear, so please, Take Care!
-Jordan Sensei
The last of the pages for our writing challenge have been handed out now, and we`re approaching the finish line.
As our students hand in more and more pages, the school looks amazing! It`s so exciting to see how they improve, and to watch them point out their folder to their friends or their parents.
Once the last of the pages are turned in we get to bind it all up into books that our students get to take home and keep for themselves!
-Jordan Sensei
みなさんこんにちは！
今日は年少クラスのお話をいたします。
3人いるこのクラス。
最初はみんなshyだったのが、今は学校中に響くのでは？というくらい自信をもって発表してくれます！
このクラスは、色や形、天気、感情がとてもよく言えるので、今はその日に習う文章の答えをフルセンテンスでいうだけでなく、質問をしあえるように練習中です。
この間は参観日があり、"What's this/that?"に対し、"It's ～.”と答える練習をしました。
保護者様がいて少し緊張している様子もありましたが、クラスの子や自身の保護者様に質問をしたり、答えたりすることがとっても良くできました！
ABCの歌もとてもよく歌えており、自分でその日の文字を探すこともできています！
素晴らしい！！！
これからも言える文章をどんどん増やしていって、アミティーの外でもいっぱい英語を話してね！
福田
