Month: September 2021

Leader Board

Leader Board

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One of the biggest changes in second semester is having Jupiter class being added to our unique ILH Leader Board.

What is the Leader Board?

Our school goes through a rotation every week, and a few students are chosen at a time to be that week’s leaders. The leaders are broken up into categories: Group Leaders, Teacher Helpers, Room Leaders, Daily Leaders, News Leaders, and Outside Leaders.

Under each category, the leaders each have various responsibilities.

Group Leaders

Lead Radio Taiso every morning and head up the lines

Teacher Helpers

Bring the role call sheet to the teacher, take care of the lunch box coolers, and help feed the fish

Room Leaders

Set up chairs for lunch, wipe off tables, and sweep floors

Daily Leaders

Lead morning and afternoon greetings and Show & Tell, and organize the library

News Leaders

Announce weather, the day, month, and day of month in the morning

Outside Leaders

Water the plants, pick up leaves or flowers, and clean up the sandbox toys

Teachers help make sure each Leader knows what job they have, and give commands in both English and Japanese. This helps Leaders each week to practice using everyday phrases in both languages.

Because Jupiters had all of first term to watch Saturn and Mercury classes take on Leader Board responsibilities, they all should know what is expected of them as they join from second term.

Not only does this help Jupiters participate more in our daily life at school, the Leader Board teaches life skills to also use at home, and brings out a stronger sense of responsibility from within.

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Reuniting After Summer Break

Reuniting After Summer Break

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Welcome back to second term!

We have been back at school for one whole week now! Our teachers have been so happy to see some familiar faces again at the kindergarten! Some kids have gotten taller, some kids have gotten faster at getting ready in the morning/afternoon, and some kids have gotten new haircuts!

Jupiters have been working on how to hang their uniforms on their personal hangers.

Teachers have also made a lot of changes for the new semester. First, our school also has a new sanitizer station, included with a thermometer to measure everyone’s temperature on their wrist. Second, we have also asked students to make sure they stay home even if they feel only a little under the weather. None of our students have gotten infected up until now, and we intend on keeping it that way while the virus continues to spread.

  • Our new sanitizer / thermometer station
  • Socially distancing during our Opening Ceremony

After welcoming everyone back to the kindergarten, we took some time in our individual English classes to talk about what everyone did over summer break. Everyone brought photo collages and hand-drawn pictures to show their friends what they were up to.

L-R: Jupiters, Saturns, and Mercuries showing off their summer memories

From second semester, many programs are added to our normal daily structure at ILH. Jupiters will be included in Show & Tell and also will be given the same Leader Board responsibilities as their upperclassmen. Project BOB will also be added from the middle of September to help supplement everyone’s daily English learning.

  • reading Curious George phonics books in Mercury class
  • Saturn class reviewing Project BOB Books

Besides additional English, everyone will be busy getting ready for our various fall and winter events. It may turn into a busy time, but with a lot of support from our teachers, it will be a fun, fast, exciting couple of months!

Stay tuned for more updates this fall as things get started!

Emergency Drills

Emergency Drills

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Every month, we practice emergency drills at International Language House to prepare us for any potential natural disasters that may occur during the school day.

Types of emergencies we have drills for are fires, earthquakes, and intruder drills. Everyone acts out the situation as if it were really happening. We allow the kids to feel fear or surprise in the moment since they may feel the same way during an actual disaster, but also encourage them to use courage despite what they may be feeling.

After going through with the simulation, we make sure every one knows the incident is over and have a talk with everyone. Teachers make comments about what went well and what we need to work on for future drills with the kids. We also review some important steps to emergency reactions:

No running!

No screaming or panicking!

Don’t go back inside the school after you’ve left!

If it’s a fire, don’t breathe in the smoke. If it’s an earthquake, put on your shoes and cover your head!

Once we review the rules, we are ready to return to our normal school day.

Every year in September, we conduct a simulation of a large earthquake similar to Kobe 1995 or Fukushima in 2011.

  • Kobe 1995 earthquake
  • Fukushima 2011 earthquake/tsunami

On this day, we display a video of what those earthquakes looked like, talk about it, and hold a simulation.

When it’s time to go home, all parents must come to pick up their kids on foot. This is because if an actually big earthquake comes, the roads and train tracks will not be safe enough to ride on.

waiting to get picked up after our large earthquake drill

The more we practice for an emergency, the more prepared we will be in the future. Here’s to everyone’s safety moving forward!