Coming Back from Winter Break

Coming Back from Winter Break

Today was our first day back at school after a nice, long, winter vacation.

Each class sat in a circle and talked about how everyone spent their time. Some kids stayed home, others went to spend the holidays with their grandparents, and some kids stayed at hotels or went to attractions.

Before teachers went home for break, we invited anyone to come look at our Christmas lights in front of the school for a small light up ceremony. The lights looked beautiful at night!

Before teachers went on break ourselves, we enjoyed looking back at International Language House Kindergarten (+ Preschool) Christmas show.

Here are the links to both our concert portion and theatrical portion of the Christmas show on YouTube:


Every year, we choose a Christmas themed story to follow along in English as a winter performance. This year, our theme was Home Alone! The story follows a young boy named Kevin who gets forgotten by his big family during the holidays. While everyone spends their Christmas in Paris, Kevin spends it alone and has a lot of adventures!

It was a lot of fun making the scripts, creating backgrounds, and our favorite, setting up the traps for the robbers! Everyone was able to take part in show, giving a sense of pride to the project.

Now that it is time for the new year to begin, our teachers set up our 年賀状 picture to prepare for the Year of the Tiger.

Wishing everyone a Happy New Year and a safe and healthy welcome into 2022!

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Wintertime at the Kindergarten

Wintertime at the Kindergarten

The temperatures have dropped drastically, autumn leaves have fallen, and everyone is bundling up under layers and layers of clothes…

You know what that means: Winter is here!

December is now in full swing. We have welcomed in Christmas cheer early this year as we started practicing songs and English lines for our Christmas show on the 10th. The school also has been looking extra festive with our indoor and outdoor decorations.

Our new snowman makes a great addition to the school entrance

Another way we have been welcoming in the winter season has been planting and growing some new tulip bulbs in our garden.

Tulips are a special winter flower. If you plant the bulbs in the soil in the colder seasons, they will be fully ready and bloomed in the springtime. Now is the perfect time to start growing these tulips!

Last but certainly not least, preschool kids came to the kindergarten for song practice leading up to our Christmas show.

For the concert part of our show, the preschool had a bunch of their own songs to perform, and so did the kindergarten. Both schools also shared a performance of “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” in between our class performances.

It’s been a great start to the winter months so far. We are excited for our last few days before Christmas break!

Using English in Performances

Using English in Performances

November Speech Day (on Zoom)

The past few eventful weeks have been full of memorizing English speeches and scripts for recent big events at the kindergarten. From the beginning of November, our selected Speech Day kids practiced their speeches every day with the English teachers. We started by reciting each word together and then practiced on the stage leading up the the big day.

On the 25th, we celebrated Thanksgiving by performing a short skit. Jupiters played turkeys, Saturns played Native Americans, and Mercuries played Pilgrims. Each class spent time learning some basic lines, then we performed all together while wearing our specially crafted Thanksgiving hats.

Our Native Americans gathering their harvest

As December approaches, our focus shifts to the upcoming Christmas show. This year’s theme is Home Alone, a story about a boy who gets left behind by his family on Christmas Eve and has to protect the house from burglars. Everyone has a lot to remember, especially Mercury class, so we’ve all been working very hard!

Mercury boys playing Kevin in Home Alone

When getting ready for a big event like these, whether it be a short skit, a speech, or a big holiday show, there are certain things we always work on with our kids.

  1. Getting them able to speak loudly in front of a big group of people
  2. Remembering certain words and phrases without teacher help
  3. Adding the right pronunciation and inflection to what they’re saying
  4. Showing them how to use their whole body for their performance

All these points are what makes a normal presentation into a great one!

We are so proud of our kids at the kindergarten for slowly becoming more confident in their English skills and performance skills!

Back from Break

Back from Break

Welcome back to ILH, and Happy New Year!

Our teachers were so happy to receive New Year’s greeting cards in the mail. We hope you received a card from us as well. 2021 is the year of the cow, so we added a little cow surprise in our picture 😉

Looking back on 2020, it was a very tough year. But we are so thankful for all our kids to have stayed safe and healthy the entire time. We are also thankful to have made happy memories at the school despite a scary pandemic.

Please take a look at our Christmas Show, which was performed on Zoom for everyone’s parents. We have complied footage from the show to make this video for everyone to watch at any time. Enjoy!