After the Obon holidays, some students were away due to coughs or fever, but we were back to normal with lots of laughter and smiles.

お盆休み明けは、咳や熱などでお休みの子もいましたが、元気なみんなの笑顔や笑い声がクラスに戻ってきました。

Unit 2’s inquiry activities are quickly moving into line of inquiry #3 “Achieving Common Goals”.
As an introduction to What is a goal? and What does achieve mean? we played a game of throwing a ball into a hula hoop.
When I asked “What is a hula hoop?”, the child answered “Goal”.

ユニット2の探究活動も早いもので、探究の流れ3 「共通の目標を達成する。」に入りました。目標って何？達成するってどういうこと？の導入として、フラフープにボールを投げて入れるゲームをしました。この場面でフラフープは何？と聞くと、ゴールと答えてくれました。

Did you achieve your goal in the games? Yes, I did. No, I didn’t. Why couldn’t you do it?  We reflected on the games.
To better understand the meaning of Goal, we watched a short animation of Goal and Goal setting.
We also discussed small goals, big goals, individual goals, and team goals.
Is the goal that he mentioned a big goal? Is it a small goal?　Is it an individual goal? Is it a team goal? We discussed these things.

Then, we decided on a small goal that we could work on in school for three days and wrote it on a piece of paper. Some were excited to set goals such as “I will help my classmates.”, “I will sit nicely.”, “I want to eat lunch in 20 minutes.” Some students were confused with goals and dreams. Others were still having a little difficulty understanding the meaning of the word “goal” and had to think about it for a while.
At the closing circle, we reflected on whether we had achieved their goals or not. One student became sad because he did not achieve his goal. The feeling of frustration is the driving force that makes him want to achieve the goal he set for himself.

ゲームでは、「目標を達成できた？」「はい、できました。」「いいえ、出来ませんでした。」「どうして、出来なかった？」「どうしてできた？」など振り返りました。ゴールの意味をよりしっかり理解するために、GoalとGoal設定の短いアニメを見ました。さらに、小さい目標、大きな目標、個人の目標、チームの目標、についても話し合いました。「〇〇が言ったゴールは、大きな目標？小さな目標？」「それは、個人の目標？チームの目標？」など、話し合いをしました。

そして、3日間、毎日、スクール内で取り組める小さい目標を決めて、紙に書きました。「I will help my class mates.」「I will sit nicely.」「I want to eat lunch in 20 minutes.」など、わくわくしながら目標を決めた子や、夢と目標の違いが曖昧な子、目標という意味を理解するのがまだ少し難しくて、しばらく考える子もいました。帰りの会で、目標を達成できたかどうか振り返りを行いました。目標を達成できずに、悲しくなってしまった子もいます。悔しい気持ちが、次は自分で決めた目標を達成したいと思う原動力になりますね。

The hot weather continued this week. We went to Hirase Green Park to play and enjoyed walking and running around on the grass barefoot. The children found many dragonflies flying around.
Some ran after the dragonflies to catch them, some held up their index fingers so that the dragonflies would stop, and some ran away because they were afraid of the dragonflies.
We also played in a small river. Some students made bamboo boats and floated them in the water, or played with their friends by splashing water on each other.

今週も暑い日がつづきました。平瀬緑地公園に遊びに行き、裸足になって芝生の上を歩いたり走り回ったりして楽しみました。トンボが沢山飛んでいるのを見つけた子ども達。トンボをつかまえようと走ってトンボを追いかける子や、トンボがとまるように人差し指を立てている子、トンボが怖くて逃げる子など、思い思いに遊んでいました。小さな川でも水遊びをしました。笹舟を作って水に浮かせたり、お友達と水をかけあいっこしたり、まだまだ水遊びが楽しめそうな残暑ですが、トンボを見ると、秋ももうすぐそこまで来ているかのようですね。

We are also practicing hard for the dance for the Sports Festival. Since our theme for sports festival 2023 is “Travel Through the World“, we also painted the Hawaiian tiki totem that will be displayed at the Sports Festival.

After looking at pictures of Hawaiian tiki totems, we actually painted them. Students choose their own colors: “You can color yellow,” “XX can use blue,” “XX should be red,” and so on. We were impressed by the way they decided on their own color assignments and proceeded with the coloring.
They also showed their caring side by teaching one student who was absent and did not know what to do. That’s awesome. You are a caring person.
The finished paints will be displayed at the Sports Festival, so please look forward to seeing them.

スポーツフェスティバルのダンスの練習も頑張っています。スポーツフェスティバルで飾るハワイのティキトーテムの色塗りもやりました。ハワイのティキトーテムの写真を見たあと、実際に色塗りを始めると、「あなたは、黄色」「○○は、青色ね」「○○は赤ね。」と、自分達で色の分担を決めて、進めていく姿に頼もしさを感じました。さらに、お休みしていてわからない子に教えてあげる思いやる一面も見られました。You are a caring person！スポーツフェスティバルで会場に飾りますので、完成品をお楽しみに。

Friday was the last day of Y. Time flew so quickly and we had a lot of fun together, infusing British English into the class. At the last Goodbye party, when we asked him what he enjoyed the most at ISN, he said swimming. I wish him all the best for the future.

金曜日は、Yさんの最終日でした。あっという間の一ヶ月間でしたが、クラスにイギリス英語を吹き込んでくれ、一緒に沢山遊ぶことができました。最後のGood bye partyで、何が一番楽しかった？と聞くと、スイミングと答えてくれました。これからも元気に頑張ってね。