Here With Us

April 21, 2020April 21, 2020 by internationallanguagehouse ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Good morning! It’s been a while! 🙂

Lately, times have been tough. There are many things we cannot control. It can be difficult to stay positive. But at International Language House, we are still working hard to be able to provide good English opportunities for you and your family!

In March, our students practiced an original song with Timo Teacher and it sounded very good! We decided we wanted to share the song with everyone at home, so please enjoy this YouTube video we made just for you!

Together, you and your child can sing as if you are Here With Us 🙂

With love,

ILH Kindergarten

Happy Graduation 2020!

March 23, 2020 by internationallanguagehouse ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

*Mercuries proudly display their diplomas outside.*

On Saturday, International Language House held our graduation ceremony for the Mercury class and their parents. Unfortunately, due to the Corona virus situation, our audience was smaller this year. Despite the setback, we were still able to celebrate together and have a beautiful ceremony.

*The class singing farewell to the kindergarten*

To impress the parents with everyone’s English, the class had prepared speeches in separate groups and performed in front of everyone. All the kids did really well!

Teachers also gave speeches to the students. There were many tears! We will all miss everyone so much.

*ILH president Kurobe teacher giving some words of advice and encouragement*

After the ceremony finished, all the Mercury parents threw us a party at the kindergarten! It was a wonderful chance to show how thankful we are for each other.

Of course, all things must come to an end, but our class of 2020 is always welcome to come back to play with us anytime!

さよなら！また会いましょう！

Our Final Auction!

March 16, 2020 by internationallanguagehouse ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Last week, we held our last BOB Buck auction of the year!

Towards the end of the school year, our students begin using our BOB Bucks system at ILH to further improve behavior before moving up to the next grade.

What is the BOB Bucks system?

BOB Bucks are a paper bill form of currency we use to reward kids for good behavior and punish kids for bad behavior. It is also a good tool for teaching management of money!

We hold two auctions at the end of the year. The first one is full of more explanation, while the second one is where all the kids know the system and get better at buying what they want.

In the meantime, we asked parents to bring in old, used, or even unused toys to donate for our auctions in the days leading up to the event. Thank you to everyone who contributed!

*Thom Teacher supervises the kids from the front as Mikey Teacher acts as auctioneer and Timo Teacher acts as the banker.*

We love doing auctions with the kids because it helps them make the connection between how good their behavior is and how many toys they can buy. Most of the time, everyone has more BOB Bucks the second time around because they tried harder to have good behavior at school.

We are looking forward to everyone moving up a grade next year! Just a few more days!

All Girls Are Princesses!

March 6, 2020 by internationallanguagehouse ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

It was so exciting to celebrate Hina Matsuri this week with our beautiful doll display! We were happy to have March 3rd on a weekday this year so that we could celebrate at school together.

One way we celebrated was by eating some rice puff sweets while listening to/ singing to Hina Matsuri songs.

Another way we enjoyed the holiday was by taking boy/girl pairs and dressing them up as princes and princesses!

Here are some shots of our handsome pairs:

I Love You!

February 14, 2020 by internationallanguagehouse ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Happy Valentine’s Day!!

It’s been a long few months of hard work together! After a lot of work, the best thing to do is to appreciate each other and spread some love 🙂

It’s important for a child to communicate their feelings from a young age. Maybe this weekend you and your family can practice saying some phrases together to show your love!

Here are some popular lovely phrases we like to use in English:

I love you!
Thank you for ____with me.
You are special!
I love your_____.
You are so cute!

From all of us at International Language House…

WE LOVE YOU!

Hello, World!

February 13, 2020 by internationallanguagehouse ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

*Families were given a guide to help them travel the “world”*

Thank you to everyone who came to look at the final product of all our crafting at International Language House!

ILH’s 2020 Art Show’s theme this year was in honor of the Olympics. Since Japan is the host this year, we wanted to make an art show to celebrate the world through art!

Here’s a look into how the day went:

Our floor transformed into a world map, filled with colors and flags. We had chosen six different cultural icons to make and divided them up between our three classes. It went like this:

Mercuries made The Arc de Triomphe from France, as well as Christ the Redeemer from Brazil.
Saturns made Matryoshka dolls from Russia, as well as a pyramid from Egypt.
Jupiters made Niagara Falls from Canada, as well as Tokyo Skytree from JAPAN!

In a separate room, our kids and their parents made 2020 Olympic Ring glasses out of pipe cleaners. They all looked so cool!

What was your favorite part about Art Day?

Crafts, Crafts, Crafts… part 2: Art Show

February 6, 2020February 6, 2020 by internationallanguagehouse ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Hello, World! Can you guess what our theme for Art Show is this year? Here’s a hint: these are some more ways we used all our collected cardboard at Language House:

Have an idea yet?

How about now?

It’s tricky to tell from the beginning stages, isn’t it? Each class has had two specific projects they have been focusing on, as well as some things everyone has been working on to piece everything together.

Art Day will be this coming Saturday from 10:00am. We are excited to see what you think on Saturday! In the meantime, enjoy our cryptic progress pictures….

Crafts, Crafts, Crafts… part 1: Oni

February 6, 2020February 5, 2020 by internationallanguagehouse ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Our school has been consumed by cardboard!

No, really.

Leading up to Setsubun, we have spent a lot of time creating our own version of oni: masks, puppets, and even full body creations bigger than ourselves!

We successfully warded off the terrible oni with our chants, bean throwing, and bravery.

Now that Setsubun is over, it’s time to take home our crafts and focus on the next event at hand! Coming soon in part 2…

Marathon 2020!

January 17, 2020January 20, 2020 by internationallanguagehouse ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Winter Sports Day was a success today!

Every morning at International Language House, we do running practice after our morning taiso routines. But this past month, we have been doing a little extra running to get ready for the big day.

It was a little chilly in Shin-Yokohama park, but we warmed up quickly after our first few meters.

As all our volunteer mamas and teachers ran alongside the kids, we saw so many runners trying their hardest! Thank you to everyone who came to cheer us on throughout the course.

Our top winners from each class were announced after arriving back at the kindergarten, receiving a trophy per winner, as well as badges for the rest of us.

We are so proud of all our kids today for doing their best!

Welcome to 2020!

January 7, 2020 by internationallanguagehouse ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Happy Holidays!

How was your Winter break? Did you travel anywhere or visit relatives?

Some of our teachers spent the holidays in their home countries with their families, while some of us stayed in Japan to celebrate the Japanese way.

Over the break, our teachers sent everyone a New Year’s card. We also received a lot of New Year’s cards from you all, and it made us very happy!

Today was our first day back from break, and all our Language House friends were SO excited to reunite with each other!

During our Opening Ceremony, we talked about New Years traditions, other special days coming up, and expectations for the third term. There are a lot of expectations we have that we hope to reach together.

What are your new year’s goals and resolutions?

明けましておめでとうございます！今年もよろしくお願いします〜

International Language House Kindergarten blog

Located in Yokohama, Japan