This Week in NELP
This was a busy week in NELP. Here are the latest pictures!
The First Graders have started doing cooperative writing. This means that students show their writing to another student. They check each other's writing, give suggestions, and hopefully learn some new writing techniques from each other.
Here are some pictures of the First Graders engaging in a discussion about their first reading. Their first reading was "The Wayfarer" by Stephen Crane, a part of his larger work "War is Kind".
Here is a picture of the Second Graders during reading time.
I don't have a picture of the Second Graders' discussion time, but their first reading was the poem "Opportunity" by Edward Rowland Sill.
Here's this term's class picture of the Third Grade.
Here the Third Graders are having a discussion about their first reading: "Ulysses" Alfred Lord Tennyson.
This term, all three grades began doing formal debates. Here are a couple pictures of the First Graders preparing for their first debate.
The First Graders' debate topic was "Should the Media Stop Reporting Negative News about the Government?"
Here are pictures of the Second Graders preparing for their debate.
The Second Graders' debate topic was "Should Young People Be Required to Give One Year of Compulsory Public Service in Japan?"
Here are some pictures of the Third Graders preparing for their debate.
The Third Graders' debate topic was "Should We Pass a Law Requiring Elderly People to Have Supervision or a Person Appointed to be Responsible for Them?"
Second Term Begins
Second Term has begun, and I have some new pictures of the first graders.
Here's the first grade class.
And here are some pictures of the first graders having a discussion.
This year I'm reducing the amount of overall homework so that my students can focus more time and attention on their library reading. As well, over time, we're going to introduce a lot of new activities, including regular debates for all students, and maybe some discussions of science, art, history, music, geography and so on.
I think we'll be able to do a lot more with the new curriculum.
I'm also working on confining the curriculum to my own works and those works that are in the public domain so that when I do decide to put the curriculum into a real textbook, I can do so without worrying about copyrights.
19:35｜Author：markFinal Pictures from First Term
Here are the final pictures from First Term.
Here is the first grade class.
Here are a couple of my first grade students.
Here are a couple of my students playing with my rubick's cube before class.
Next term, the first graders are going to work on a class video for our special projects class. Here are some pictures of the students working on ideas for the video.
Here are the first graders shooting their teacher ... again!
Here are the second graders playing Jenga. We play Jenga a little differently in NELP. In NELP, when you take a block, you have to ask somebody a question. The second graders like to play with TWO stacks of blocks.
Here are the final pictures of the high school first grade class. From September, two of my first grade students are going to America for a one year homestay. I'm really going to miss them.
Here's a rare picture that one of my students took of me.
Every day after school, I have what I call the "English Open Room". My students can come to the NELP room to study, do homework, do research, and so on. For years, almost nobody came, but this year I've had a lot of students coming and I really like it because it not only gives me more opportunities to see my students, but it also gives me the opportunity to help them more.
Pictures from High School First Grade
Here are some pictures of my high school first grade students preparing for tomorrow's big debate!
We're way overdue for an update
This Saturday, my high school first grade students are going to have their big debate, so I've been really busy, but today I finally set aside some time to update the blog and show what we've been doing the last ten days.
First, on the 17th, my students participated in our in-school speech contest.
Next, my junior high school first grade students had a debate, and I'm sorry I didn't videotape it. It was AWESOME!
Here are my first grade students in their reading class.
Here the first grade students are talking with students from our sister school in Blair, Nebraska. My students made presentations about Japanese culture.
Here, the third grade students are talking with the students from Blair, Nebraska as well as our students from our other sister school in San Jose, California.
Update for NELP
Here are some pictures from last week and this week in NELP.
First, here are some of my first graders in writing class doing their brainstorming for an essay.
Here are the first graders working on computers to research information for a presentation.
Here are the second grade students talking with some students from our sister school, Blair High School. The Blair, Nebraska students and one of their teachers are here for a two week home-stay, along with students from another of our sister schools, Notre Dame San Jose in California.
At the end of the class we spent a little time playing Jenga. In NELP class, when you take a piece, you also have to ask a question!
Finally, I've received a few more letters from my second grade students.
I'm up to about 160 letters since the beginning of the term. Well ... at least they're writing in English ...
This Week in NELP Reading Class
Here are some pictures from this week's reading classes!
Here are the first graders:
Here are the second grade students.
Here are the third grade students.
Writing, Superlatives and Prepositions
I haven't updated the blog in two weeks because we had mid-term examinations. I'll write more on THAT later. For now, here are the latest pictures from the program.
First, here are the first grade students in our writing class.
Here, the first graders are studying about prepositions.
Here, I let one of my first graders take a picture of me. You can see another first grader hiding behind me.
Here are some pictures of the second graders studying superlatives. I gave them a list of people, places and things to study, and here they are researching those people, places and things on the internet to determine why they are important for our class.
Fun, Letters, Quizzes and the English Open Room
I caught one of my students having a little fun after school.
Some of my junior high school second grade students have started writing me love letters but signing OTHER students' names on the letters. So far I've received DOZENS of these little notes. I'd discourage them, but I know they don't mean any harm, and at least they're writing, right?
Here are my third grade students taking one of our many quizzes.
Finally, here are some students coming for after school study. My junior high school second grade students often come after school for help with homework, studying for tests, or sometimes just to talk.
This week in NELP!
A couple of my second grade students were making notes into paper airplanes before class.
Here are two of my second grade NELP students and a SELP student in the English Club.
Here is my NELP 3rd Grade class right before today's discussion.
Here are a couple of first grade NELP students playing before class today.
Finally, my second graders had to teach the class a dance today. Here are pictures from our annual 'Dance Lesson'!
This group gave a little history for their dance.
We read an article about people in New York who are trying to repeal the Cabaret Laws that make it illegal for people to dance in establishments that don't have a Cabaret License. This group very cleverly tried to get out of giving a dance lesson by saying they didn't have a license!
