幼稚園生活
今年度の入園試験も無事終了することができました。コロナ対応が緩和され、今年度は多くの方に対面でお目にかかり、説明会、園庭園舎見学会などでお話しさせていただくと同時に、コロナ禍で便利さを体感できたzoomを引き続き利用しての園長面談や個別相談でも保護者の皆様からのご心配やご質問を共有させていただきました。
そんななか、ネイティブの先生と園児達のかかわりや、園児達がどのように英語を身に付けていっているのか、というご質問が結構ありましたので、今回の「たいこばしくん通信」では、ネイティブ講師のジェイミー先生の視点でお伝えすることにしました。
シャイな子どもでも、日々の生活のなかで（特に英語活動で学んだ単語やフレーズでなくても）英語を身に付けていく、子ども達の「英語を使ってみたい」という気持ちが育っていっている様子がおわかりいただけるのではないかと思っています。
Kindergarten Story Ⅲ
After years of masks and limited social distancing, the kindergarten finally had the pandemic rules lifted. This meant the students could see my face, watch how I pronounced words in English, hear my voice more clearly, and make more meaningful interactions. This made such a difference in the students abilities to use and understand English.
Every morning I stand with the principle at the entrance way and greet the students. This has really helped each student to get a little bit of one on one time with me. One of students would always say in a quiet voice “good morning” and I would say “good morning! Your outfit today is so cute!!” She always dresses so colorful and stylish. When I compliment her, she always smiles. Over time, she started showing me her outfits when she came in. And I would say “it’s so cute!”
One day while teaching a world culture lesson, she looked at my poster and said “Jamie sensei…it’s so cute!” I looked right at her and said in surprise, “so cute? Really??” She nodded yes. I said in Japanese to her “hontou kawaii?” She nodded again and said back to me in English “so cute!” I was so proud of her picking up this gentle and thoughtful English just by day to day interaction.
Another fun story I had with students was during the after school English program. During the lessons, the kids learn both formal vocabulary and phrases in tandem with useful and helpful classroom English. Because this is the only time they use this English consistently, I am never sure if they will use it outside of the classroom time. While working on the projects for the art festival, I hear multiple students say to each other “tape please” while sharing a roll of tape. I was not helping with these projects nor standing close enough for them to feel the need to use English. Rather they were choosing to use English while interacting with each other. Not a catch phrase or something from TV, but actually classroom English.
These are just two of the many stories about the wonderful little students.
I could spend pages telling stories about how amazing these kids are, but if you are reading this, you probably already knew they are amazing!
