Muna Baby/Toddler English Circle
We held our Muna Baby/Toddler English Circle Easter special lesson on March 28th. We had a fun lesson with cute smiling kids with bunny ears.
Lesson Time
Toddler kids worked hard with singing and dancing by copying older kindergartner siblings. In story time, kids guessed who the baby animals were hiding in eggs. We heard the kids’ voices a lot and it became a really interactive lesson. During game time, kids played an egg game with special guest Nam. Kids practiced colours and numbers with colourful cute eggs. As we enjoyed the egg game, it became time to finish the lesson.
Free Time
Today I would like to share a question one of the mothers asked me during free time. During this time, other mothers started to join the conversation and it got bigger and bigger. It was also a great time for me to share my opinions and ideas.
The question: “I want to send my kindergartner daughter to an English school. What’s a tip in choosing a school?”
My answer: ① It is very important if kids can get along with a teacher for young kids to learn English for the first time. Even if the school has amazing textbooks, it will be hard for kids to learn actively if the kids can’t feel comfortable with the teacher. You can ask how many years the teachers normally stay at the school (native English teachers often stay for only 1 year) and if kids will get the same teacher or not for each lesson.
② Native teacher or not doesn’t necessarily matter. The importance is if a teacher has the skill or not. You speak Japanese, right? Then can you teach Japanese to a foreigner? Can you explain the difference between “kore wa ringo desu” and “kore ga ringo desu“? I believe many Japanese people will have difficulty with this. Like this, you can’t tell who a good English teacher is just because they are a native English speaker. Although having a license isn’t everything, knowing if a teacher has a proper teaching license or not can be one factor in deciding on a teacher.
③ Regarding the textbook, having a proper curriculum is very important, however the more important thing is the teacher’s ability. If the teacher has good skills, they can use any normal kids reading book effectively to review colours or numbers, for example. They not only use the book for reading but can also use it as a tool to communicate with kids. It’s probably hard to tell after seeing one trial lesson if a teacher has these skills or not. But if you can see that a teacher has flexible skills depending on the kids and the situation, this is a good sign that they are a skilled teacher.
I hope these ideas help some people! And we’ll work hard on our school curriculum to prepare for the opening of our school in 2019!
Kids and parents doing fingerplay to “Little Peter Rabbit”
Kumiko will be taking a break from running the Muna Baby/Toddler English Circle lessons until further notice.
