Tag: social distancing

Reuniting After Summer Break

Reuniting After Summer Break

by internationallanguagehouse ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

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!

Advertisement
Book Review: My New Normal

Book Review: My New Normal

by internationallanguagehouse ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Welcome to our new series: book reviews from our teachers at ILH!

This book we recently ordered online after hearing about it on the American news.

A 7-year old girl from Michigan, U. S. A. named Mackenzie wrote this book. She struggled with being a child living through the COVID-19 outbreak, and wanted to share her experience to other kids who may also have a tough time adapting to daily life.

We read this book to our students this week and it was easy for them to understand the message of the book. Some parts of the story only applied to the current American school system, so it wasn’t completely relatable. But having a book written by a kid was amazing to share with our students!

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Our overall rating is 3.5 stars!

Do you have any book recommendations? Leave a comment!

Best Wishes

Best Wishes

by internationallanguagehouse ♥ 0 Leave a Comment
Shinohara Shrine

After a chilly walk to the nearby shrine, International Language House kids went two by two praying to the gods for our good health and for the Coronavirus to go away.

Winter walks may be cold at first. But, after some movement, your bodies warm up and it feels amazing! It’s also important to still get sunlight, no matter what temperature!

As cases are rising in Yokohama and Tokyo, it’s important to think about our health and how we can help others stay safe. This includes wearing masks, washing our hands, and not standing too close to other people.

Our teachers prayed to be able to keep playing together with our students through 2021.

What did you pray for this year? What goals and wishes do you have?

A New Start

A New Start

by internationallanguagehouse ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

We are almost done with our first week back with all our students. Our morning greetings are with Saturn and Jupiter classes downstairs, while Mercury class does their upstairs. Each child sits on taped marks on the floor that is far away from their friends.

English class has been divided in half for each grade level. While one class is with the English teacher, the other half has free time with another teacher.

During lunch every day, our kids sit down facing the same way. When they are finished, they each have one picture book to look at to prevent too much interacting with the kids next to them.

After all students have returned home, our teachers all clean together for half an hour every day. Here is a detailed description of our daily routine in video form:

We are so happy to have all our kids back at school, but understand how stressful it is for each child’s family. It is our responsibility to keep our space clean and we are it very seriously.

Thank you for your continued support as we step into our new normal together.

Our New Routine

Our New Routine

by internationallanguagehouse ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

How have you been social distancing lately?

At the kindergarten, we have invited our students to come and join us for half a school day the past two weeks. Everyone has been checking their temperature and washing up often.

We also have had English class and craft spread out as much as we can.

It’s sad to be away from each other, but we are still happy to spend time together.

Even though a lot of things in our schedule are different, we have made as much of our daily activities as normal as possible.

Yesterday, our teachers each spent an hour calling everyone in their class who decided to stay home. It was so nice to reconnect with each other and we hope we can do it again another time.

We also have been making YouTube videos for everyone staying home to make sure they can still learn with us!

Right now, everyone has a lot of extra free time with their kids. Try to practice anything they’ve learned in school, whether it’s old Project BOB books, our YouTube lessons, or just talking with teachers in our video calls.

We miss you and hope we can return to our new normal soon.

This is Our World

This is Our World

by internationallanguagehouse ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Today is Earth Day! Do you know how to celebrate Earth Day?

Three things:

  • Reduce
  • Reuse
  • Recycle

“Reduce” means to make less waste. Every day, we throw away so much trash! So we want to do things that create less trash.

“Reuse” means to use again and again. We want to buy less things that get thrown away. Instead, we want things that last a long time!

“Recycle” means to use something you already own for a new use. An old T-shirt can be used as a rag, or an empty box can be cleaned and hold something new. We also can send our plastic bottles and cardboard away to be recycled.

singing at our school’s soft reopening

This week, we learned a new song with Timo Teacher and Thom Teacher called “This is Our World.” We sang about picking up trash and helping our world.

Another way we can help the world this month is to stay safe from the virus. If we can limit our trips outside, cover our mouths, and wash our hands, we will be helping each other 🙂

Let’s be considerate of each other and the Earth! Happy Earth Day!