June 2025

 What's Happening This Month

Here's the schedule for this month:

Teacher's Corner

For a little over a year now, the main focus of Teacher's Corner was provide parents a glimpse of what their children are doing inside our classroom. Because we are an English conversation school, we mainly covered topics in the Everybody Up series.  This month; however, we'd like focus our attention on phonics, more specifically Oxford Phonics World (OPW).  

One of the main reasons, students begin to dislike English; usually from around junior high school, is due to the sudden expectation that students need to "read" English.  Suddenly being forced to read is very counter-productive for most students, no matter their ability.  For students who have difficulty reading, it can be very demotivating, because learning to read can be a difficult task if you don't have the proper tools.  For students who do know how to read, reading in the public school English classes can be boring, because the topics in which they are being forced to read are of little relevance and / or interest to them.

The root of the problem is the fact that students in the public school system are not taught phonics.  I have worked with teachers in the public school system who had no idea what phonics is.  Needless to say, the majority of English teachers have little clue as to how to teach phonics. Students learn to read through katakana furigana of English text.  This leads to students being taught incorrect pronunciation of words, which can lead to miscommunication in conversational situations. Being forced to "learn to read" in this manner is the main cause of anxiety for most students and from where the dislike of English grows.

This is why we put a lot of stress on phonics in our classes here at ABC English Academy.  Phonics is the tool with which native speakers are taught how to read.  Unlike Japanese, English is a phonetic language; which means the letters represent sounds not meanings.  Therefore to be successful at English, one needs to be able to read the sounds that comprise a word in order to understand its function within a text.

In order for students to become successful readers, here's a little advice from Leo teacher: You need to practice, practice, practice.  When you are studying at home, try the following to help improve your reading (and writing) skills. 

Step 1: Open your notebook to a new page and write the date at the top.

Step 2: Practice writing one word at a time.

Step 3: Start by saying the word ("DAD").

Step 4: Next, spell out the word (saying each letter out loud as you write it) ("D-A-D").

Step 5: Say the word again (out loud) after completing writing it. ("DAD").

Step 6: Repeat this process from 3 to 5 times (the more, the better).

A little practice everyday is best, but at least three times a week in order to see improved results.  If you follow this advice, I guarantee you will see an improvement in your child's reading and spelling.  This is how we practiced reading and spelling new words when I was in elementary school in Canada.  Give it a try and let me know what you think!

1 年ほど続けています【Teacher's Corner】ですが、その目的は、教室で子ども達が何を学んでいるかを垣間見せ、保護者の方に知っていただくためです。毎月、Everybody Up シリーズのトピックを主に取り上げましたが、今月はフォニックス（ Oxford Phonics World (OPW)） に焦点を当てたいと思います。

生徒が英語を嫌いになる主な理由の 1 つは、通常中学生くらいから、生徒が英語を「読む」必要があると突然期待されることです。突然読むことを強制されることは、能力に関係なく、ほとんどの生徒にとって非常に非生産的です。読むのが困難な生徒にとって、適切なツールがなければ読むことを学ぶのは難しい作業になる可能性があるため、非常にやる気をなくす可能性があります。読む方法を知っている生徒にとって、公立学校の英語の授業での読書は退屈になる可能性があります。強制的に読まされるトピックは、彼らにとってあまり関連性がなく、興味もないためです。

問題の根源は、公立学校の生徒にフォニックスが教えられていないことです。私は公立学校の教師たちと一緒に働いたことがありますが、彼らはフォニックスが何であるかを知りませんでした。言うまでもなく、英語教師の大半はフォニックスの教え方をほとんど知りません。生徒は英語の文章のカタカナのふりがなを通して読むことを学びます。その結果、生徒は単語の間違った発音を教えられることになり、会話の場面で誤解を招く可能性があります。このように「読むことを学ぶ」ことを強制されることが、ほとんどの生徒の主な不安の原因であり、英語嫌いが増す原因です。

そのような事態に陥らないようABC English Academy のクラスではフォニックスに重点を置いています。フォニックスとは、ネイティブスピーカーが英語の読み方を覚えるためのツールです。日本語とは異なり、英語は音声言語です。つまり、文字は意味ではなく音を表します。したがって、英語で成功するには、文章内での単語の機能を理解するために、単語を構成する音を読む能力が必要とされるのです。

生徒が上手に読めるようになるには、レオ先生からのちょっとしたアドバイスがあります。練習、練習、練習が必要です。自宅で勉強しているときは、次のことを試して、読書（および執筆）スキルの向上に役立ててください。ノートを新しいページに開き、上部に日付を書きます

ステップ 1: ノートを新しいページに開き、上部に日付を書きます。

ステップ 2: 一度に 1 単語ずつ書く練習をします。

ステップ 3: まず単語 (「DAD」) を発音します。

ステップ 4: 次に単語を綴ります (書きながら各文字を声に出して発音します) (「D-A-D」)。

ステップ 5: 書き終わったら単語をもう一度 (声に出して) 発音します (「DAD」)。

ステップ 6: このプロセスを 3 回から 5 回繰り返します (回数が多いほど効果的です)。

毎日少しずつ練習するのがベストですが、改善された結果を得るには少なくとも週に 3 回は練習してください。このアドバイスに従えば、お子様の読書と綴りが向上したことが保証されます。これは、私がカナダの小学校に通っていたときに新しい単語の読書と綴りを練習した方法です。ぜひ試してみて、感想を教えてください。

Discussion Corner

Here is the link to this month's video: How To Make Smart Decisions More Easily

Questions About the Video:

1. What variable had a large impact on the judges?

2. Why was the time of day important for the judges?

3. What is "Decision Fatigue"?

4. What kind of choices lead to Decision Fatigue?

5. How can we overcome Decision Fatigue?

Discussion Questions:

1. Have you ever experienced Decision Fatigue?

2. What do you think about the information in the video?

3. Do you have to make difficult decisions everyday?

4. What are some difficult decisions you have to regularly make?

5. What is one of the most difficult decisions you have had to make in your lifetime?

6. Is there anything that helps you to make difficult decisions?

Key Words:

• parole - the temporary or permanent release of a prisoner before the expiry of a sentence
• judge - a person who officially decides something
• crime - an action that is considered an offence which is punishable by law
• sentence - the punishment assigned to a person found guilty by a court for a crime
• behaviour - the way one acts or conducts themselves towards other people
• variable - an element, a feature or factor that is likely to change
• decisive - ability to make choices quickly and confidently
• cognitive - process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought and experiences
• impulsive - doing something without thinking about it beforehand 
• threshold - the degree of intensity that must be exceeded for a certain reaction, result or condition to occur
• frequency - the rate at which something occurs over a particular period of time
• complexity - the degree of difficulty of something
• novelty - the quality of being new, original or unusual
• exhaustion - a state of extreme physical or mental tiredness

Here is the sports schedule for this month: