April 2025

 Welcome Back

to another school year!  Congratulations to all those who have graduated and are moving on to a new stage in their life.  We wish you and everyone else a successful academic year!  Here is the calendar for the first half of the new school year:

新学期スタート！ご入園、ご入学、ご進級、おめでとうございます。皆さまにとって、新学年が実りあるものになることを祈っています！新学期前半のカレンダーはこちらです。

 

Here is the new lesson schedule:

Teacher's Corner

    As we begin a new academic year, I would like to ask all the parents reading this to sit down with their child / children and talk about setting study goals for the year.  It's always a good idea to have something to aim for while studying.  It could be one big goal that's broken down into smaller goals along the way (for example: Being able to speak for 5 minutes in English without using any Japanese being a big goal and trying to speak two or three sentences without stopping being a smaller goal, moving to four or five, etc.) It's also possible to have a number of small goals to work toward (for example: a monthly goal o being able to spell 10 new words from the text book, being able to list 20 words in one vocabulary group, or trying to use only English during the lesson).  Whatever the goals are, they should be achievable and tenable.  When learning English (or anything, really), one has to continually work toward it.  There really isn't an END to it.  We are always learning, so the more effort we put into what we are learning, the more desirable the result will be.  It's not always an easy task, but if were easy, then everyone could speak English perfectly without the need for study.

    I myself have goals set for myself for this new year academic year, to make my classes more meaningful and (hopefully) more fun for all of my students.  I promise to work hard to realize my goals!  I hope you will do the same.  

    My new philosophy toward English education is that each class is a team.  By helping our classmates to do better, we all become better and EVERYONE wins! I'm excited for the upcoming school year and I hope you will be, too!

    新学期が始まるにあたり、この記事を読んでいるすべての親御さんに、お子さんと一緒に座って、今年の勉強の目標を立てることについて話し合っていただきたいと思います。いつも何か目標を持って勉強することは良いことです。１つの大きな目標を立て、それを成し遂げるために小さな目標を立ててみましょう。例をあげますと、日本語を使わずに英語で５分間話せるようになること（大きな目標）、​​２～３文を止まることなく話せるようになること（小さな目標）、さらに４～５文と増やしていく（小さな目標）などです。他にも、小さな目標をいくつか持つこともできます。例えば、教科書に載っている新しい単語を１０個綴れるようになる、１つの語彙グループの単語を２０個挙げることができるようになる、授業中は英語だけを使うようになるなど、毎月の目標を立ててみてもいいかもしれません。目標が何であれ、達成可能で継続可能なものでなければなりません。英語（または他のどんなことでも）を学ぶときは、継続的にそれに向かって努力しなければなりません。本当に終わりはないのです。私たちは常に学習しているので、学習に努力を注ぐほど、より望ましい結果が得られます。それは必ずしも簡単なことではありませんが、簡単であれば、勉強しなくても誰もが完璧に英語を話せるようになります。

私自身、この新学期に向けて、自分の授業をより有意義なものにし、生徒全員にとって（願わくば）より楽しいものにするという目標を設定しました。目標を実現するために一生懸命努力することをお約束します！より有意義な時間にするため、お互いに頑張りましょう！

英語教育に対する私の新しい哲学は、各クラスがチームであるということです。クラスメートがもっと上手くなれるように手助けすることで、私たち全員がより良くなり、全員が勝利することができます！私は次の学年を楽しみにしています。皆さんもそうであることを願っています！

    Discussion Corner

Recently I have been reflecting on the topics of discussion over the past year and a bit.  I have decided that for this academic year, I want to discuss topics related to self-improvement.  Nobody's perfect, no matter how hard we try (I myself have many flaws that i would like to improve upon)! So let us share in a mini journey toward being the best versions of ourselves that we can be.  I believe the topics we will cover will be interesting and fun!  I hope you enjoy them!

最近、過去 1 年ちょっとの議論のトピックについて考えていました。この学年度は、自己改善に関するトピックについて議論したいと決めました。どんなに努力しても、完璧な人間などいません (私自身も改善したい欠点がたくさんあります)。ですから、私たちができる限り最高の自分になるための小さな旅を一緒にしましょう。私たちが扱うトピックは、興味深くて楽しいものになると思います。楽しんでいただければ幸いです。

Here's the link to this month's video: How To Stay Calm Under Pressure

*I recommend adjusting the video's playback speed to 0.75 in the video settings.

Questions about the video: 

1. What is "choking"?

2. What kind of people are affected by performance anxiety?

3. Why do people choke under pressure?

4. Who are susceptible to choking?

5. How do we overcome choking?

Discussion Questions:

1. Have you ever "choked"?

2. Are you someone who gets nervous easily?

3. What do you think about the advice on how to overcome "choking"?

4. Have you ever witnessed someone "choke"?

5. Do you think you are calm under pressure?

6. How can we take advantage of choking?

7. What is the worst part of choking?

Key Words / Expressions: It's a good idea to check the meaning of the key words and phrases BEFORE watching the video, to help the viewer understand the topic with more clarity.

• choking - when someone fails to perform well in an important situation, because they are under pressure or feel too nervous
• pressure - a feeling of being overwhelmed or stressed due to demands or expectations
• anxiety - feeling worried, nervous or uneasy about something
• subconscious - thoughts, feelings and actions that happen in your mind that influence you behaviour with realizing it
• focus - to concentrate on a specific task
• performance anxiety - "stage fright" where a person feels overly nervous before or during a performance that leads to distress
• anxious - the verb form of anxiety
• self-conscious - feeling nervous or embarrassed about your appearance or actions, or what of what other people might think of you

ABC Sports

Here is the calendar for ABC Sports for April, May and June.  Please note the time change for the new academic year - both Saturday Sports Training and Sunday Ball Hockey will begin at 11:00 am.  

4月、5月、6月のABCスポーツのカレンダーはこちらです。新学年度の時間変更にご注意ください。土曜日のスポーツトレーニングと日曜日のボールホッケーはどちらも午前11時に始まります。