Halloween: I don't get it

 Call me a killjoy, old and boring or just English...I really don't get Halloween. Actually, it should be Hallowe'en. Erm. Or in full, All Hallows' Eve.

For me, the real autumn party is November the fifth - Guy Fawkes; bonfires, fireworks, toffee apples -oh, my first kiss (in Endcliffe Park) too!

If we want to to do witches and stuff, then surely that has to be autumnal equinox - preferably somewhere nice and remote like Pendle Hill or Salem County, chuck in some bad weather...or just a fab location like Stonehenge or a Mayan pyrammid?

We are a long way from Luna! Compared to life in Japan 20+ years ago, things are a lot more multi-cultural (on the face of it). Kids don't point and shout 'GAIJIN' anymore for a start, like they did when I first landed on the moon (Suzaka). Christmas starts in October. I can get real Guinness...When my friends & I went carol singing in Christmas Eve 1990, the police were called.

Kokoro and Kyoichiro dressed up for our play lesson this morning...for once mums not in matching garb. But, both families featured in this month's life & style magazine...so maybe some teacher envy?! Nooooo. We have the best train set in town!



A few links:

• All Hallows' Eve from the Beeb
• All Saints' Day images from the Grauniad
• An 'out there' link
• What does Wikipedia say?

Introducing our pre-school teacher - Eriko

 It's about time we talked about Eriko!

Who is she?

She's our very own, properly qualified teacher who has joined us to co-teach our immersion pre-schoolers this year. How come you haven't heard about her yet? She's very good at avoiding the limelight, and very good at looking after our tiny ones. No drama, no shouting, no panic...sensible, organised, and lovely (cute!)

So how are our young gentlemen responding? As you can see, they are already picking flowers! What else are they up to? Well, more or less stopped crying as soon as they enter the building - Eriko's shoulder has been a damp place so far. We have been building stuff - but bizarrely more intent on cleaning stuff up (must be a world first that Super Simple Songs' most popular song is the 'clean up' one?)

We've tried the big guns - our rather large case of Lego: Zoo of Champions! The even larger 'castle' - we can build it like Bob the Builder and it comes down even quicker (and harder!). Magneto things - half the room long.

How about reading a book or doing some drawing, tracing, colouring? Uh uh?! No thank you! Diving into every box that we have within arm's reach and flicking every switch (fan, fish tank, PC, CD player etc? Oh Yes! Chucking things (projector on the wrong shelf) and eating lunch as fast as possible? Grabbing the camera and taking control of the DVD player?

Eriko is super patient and quietly in control of things; it is very reassuring for us that she is very good indeed with little children and does not panic. Her teaching background is quite obvious, too. Quick nappy change? OK. Spilt a drink? OK. Lego everywhere? OK. Having her nose pulled? OK.... I think we got lucky! Why not come and have a look for yourselves?

Pre-school 2011 starts

Magnetic train

It is a massive shame that we had to let our first intake of immersion pre-schoolers graduate!

More tea, vicar?

They grew out of our schedule, and are now immersed in a mono-lingual environment. Of course, I still see them every week, but no longer free of time restraints.They impress me with how much they can now recall, and their ability to sight read some common words and have a good stab at decoding words phonetically. Clearly, we did something right. I hope the legacy withstands the bombardment of less than great English they will be forced to endure in their more formal educational careers...We did more than 'play with blocks' here (my daughter's stock response when I ask her what she did in her school now).

Building a gate

Eriko-sensei is a very cheerful and charming new member of our team this year. She replaces Naomi, who we wish well and thank for her commitment to "Season One". Eriko will introduce herself here soon, promise.

Eriko has been sat on, cried on, cuddled and dribbled on so far - not, I hasten to add, by me! Our very young recruits are experiencing time away from mummy for the very first time, and we know this is very disturbing. This year, we have more boys than girls, and we expect the dynamic to be quite different. For example, lunch time is already a completely new experience. Everything munched down quickly, no messing or dancing about! Wow, we get an extra 45 minutes to play with...I think games will be more physical than tactile, toys will be tested for their tensile strength rather than admired. I could be wrong - and it is going to be a lot of fun finding out.

Bench jumping

Once the tears subside, we will be able to 'do' more, rather than trying and missing with 'cheer up' activities. Fortunately, going for a walk and exploring our neighbourhood appears to calming. We've already gone on our first butterfly hunt (we found a lot of chrysalis in a holly bush), explored the shrine and trawled the hardware store.All good!

Mr Sausagehead

Hina & Sota had a lot of fun putting this character together on Grabba Beast!

Full size avatars & beginner electricians

Apprentice electricians

 I was digging in boxes this morning before pre-school - you do that a lot when you've moved - looking for something or other, and instead found a cool bit of kit that I've never used. It's kind of hollow, neon spaghetti...with various kinds of connections to make interesting shapes with. I wondered if this might entice S away from mummy more easily this morning - worked a treat! He was so engrossed in it, mummy leaving was an inconvenience to his great tubing connecting plan! Boo hoo mummy!

Where's Morph?!

After a good night's sleep I knew I wanted to exploit the board some more (addicted!) - and this brilliant picture has me laughing still. Any fans of Tony Hart will recognise a "Morph" aspect to this shot. Classic moment, though I do say so myself. S was so thrilled with his life-size avatar he demanded a set, which he called his older & younger brothers. Naomi-sensei & I looked like slugs, and H drew two goats (not sure why!). On paper, S will not engage. Standing up & face on to his medium, imagination run riot :)

Wonderwall - A to Z at head height

Because we often have exams at the school, I don't want to plaster the walls with posters which we'll have to take down (and damage my fab paint job). While we were having lunch I realised I could probably just about squeeze our very nice A-Z flashcards across the wall, if they were on hooks. I was about half a centimetre short, but Y and Z are usually very close together, who will notice? I don't like big cards on the floor because if a kid jumps on one, they can squirt out from underneath and cause a nasty crash. They also get tatty very quickly. Head height is a very nice angle to work at.

H checks a vowel sound

The game we played? Matching initial vowel sounds of other words we know (and some new ones) with the samples left hanging up. Next time we mix up the order.

I wanna hold your hand

Birthday bonanza - three times three, plus one

Today we celebrated four birthdays all happening within a week, within the pre-school, and invited friends to come and join us for the afternoon. Altogether, twenty little & large ones made up our birthday bash.

Our preparations were very disrupted as Yuki couldn't join us - Hijiri caught a bug he doesn't want to share - and therefor couldn't take care of food & 'crowd control'.

Our mums stepped up to the task but a flat battery saw lunch stalled in Jusco & the cake in danger of melting; indeed we all melted with the heat, even with the extra shade we put up along the riverbank. It was impractical to try & play the games we intended.

The food did make it just in time, and we had a lovely chatty lunch with the children sharing nicely and asking for things politely. I culture shocked my own daughter eating grapes, skin & all. Why wouldn't you?!
We found relief from the blazing sun in our great big main room, teaching our visitors a couple of our favourite songs and getting mums to roll around on the floor singing "ten in the bed"/get chased around the room playing "Mr. Wolf"! The splendid chocolate cake, with a nice pink 3 on it, met with approval and stuck to fingers & faces just right!
Check out all the photos on our Facebook page right here!
Of course we had a good sing for Naomi, Hinata, Eleanor and Sota - a great big  

Happy Birthday  

What's the time, Mr. Wolf?

The Fat Controller?!

Our introductory pre-school 'warmer' class is a delicate balance between trying to do something 'useful' (actually do a bit of learning) and something fun (probably not a lot of language produced). Case in point here is a Thomas the Tank engine-a-holic; just LOVES trains, and as soon as he spied our big set would not do anything else until the entire layout was done to his satisfaction!

Obviously, the "wheels on the bus" song & dance I had in mind was tweaked, which was met with approval. Thomas snack box. Thomas water bottle. I'm prepared to bet on Thomas pyjamas too!