Archives for Elementary

Voicethread & Collaborating With 西町 & ASIJ

By Imada-sensei, Yokohama International School
Japanese Language Teacher 

今現在、8年生のネイティブのクラスで、ブログを活用しています。各生徒がブログを持ち、様々な課題をそのブログのページにのせています。例えば、故事成語をインターネットで調べ、その熟語の意味、例文、どのようにしてその言葉が生まれたか等をブログに載せています。

その他、小学校のクラスでは、Voicethreadを始めました。4年生のクラスで2分間スピーチの練習をし、それぞれがVoicethreadを用いて、録音しています。今後、1年生3年生のクラスでもVoicethreadを使う予定です。

先日、西町インターナショナルスクールから、堀井先生が、アメリカンスクールインジャパンからは、はこね先生がYISにお出でになり、情報交換をしました。各学校で様々なテクノロジーを使った授業が行われており、勉強させて頂いております。これからもこのような場を是非、定期的に設けて頂きたいと思います。

Currently, the Grade 8 students taking Japanese as a Native Language are researching Japanese proverbs and blogging about the history of the proverb they chose.

In the Japanese classes in Elementary, I am exploring Voicethread with the Grade 1, 3, and 4 students. Each of these classes have or will record their voices to their respective Voicethreads: Grade 1, Grade 3, Grade 4.

In the last few months we had the honor to meet Horii-sensei from Nishimachi International School and Hakone-sensei from American School in Japan. We shared Japanese class materials and how technology is used in each of our schools and hoping that this type of collaboration and sharing sessions could take place on a regular basis.

Collaboration with a difference!

Wow.. the first blog entry! I want to share the experience of working with Christine on a IT project that linked to Grade 2′s Unit 3 “Stories can be shared and experienced in different ways”. Tired of slideshows with written comments, I wanted a fresh way to share photos and student reflections of the Grade 2′s day trip to the Ghibli Museum in Tokyo. We worked together on creating a Podcast to Animoto to exporting to YouTube and posting to Facebook. Christine introduced the idea of using mp3 recording for audio of student reflections, which included interviewing each other before, during and after the trip. The students were shown how to operate the mp3 recorder by themselves. This then allowed great independence for authentic student reflection. Photos were taken by both the students and myself as a visual recording of the trip and of sketches students did for written reflection. Using a website called Animoto, these photos and an edited version of the mp3 sound recording were created into a video. Grade 2 Trip to the Ghibli Museum was then exported to YouTube where it became part of the YIS channel. It can now be viewed by the world! Please check it out and leave a comment…