Overview
May was another busy month at BumbleB English. We had several trial students, some of whom became regular students. We also had siblings of current students join the school.
We still have space for elementary and junior high school students. Please contact us directly at: staff@bumblebenglish.com for information on the availability of lessons.
General Notice: Our teacher does not wear a mask in school, and we will strongly encourage students to remove their mask during the lesson. Of course, students who are ill or have pollen allergies may continue wearing masks in class.
Group Lessons - Kids
In our group lessons, we focused on developing our students’ vocabulary. Each week they are given 25 vocabulary words to learn, and we have a short test the following week—most students who practice at home during the week score above 80%. For our advanced classes, we ask the students to make a sentence using the vocabulary words, and though many of the sentences are simple sentences, it is good practice for them to think and be creative in English. We will progressively encourage longer, more complicated sentences, which advanced students enjoy and are challenging.
Our Beginner-level classes are going well; the students are regularly attending and are progressing through the alphabet and can say it without much support. We are introducing phonics to help students understand the beginning sounds of simple three and four-letter words. Phonics training at the early stages of English learning is essential for non-native speakers, and we encourage parents to use other resources like apps and Youtube videos for further reinforcement.
Regarding attendance – it is essential to attend lessons regularly. Thankfully nearly all of our students attend the weekly lessons, and based on their efforts in class and at home, many are progressing well. However, the few students who miss classes and don’t regularly do their homework fall behind in their classwork, and in many cases, they need help to catch up or end up getting too far behind. We encourage students to attend weekly lessons and, if available, a make-up lesson. We also offer online tools that can supplement lessons. In the future, nearly our whole lesson plan will be accessible online so students can access materials and study at home.
Private Lessons - Kids
The private lessons for the two high school students (student K and student M) who will study abroad in Canada and Europe, respectively, have focused on reading comprehension, vocabulary development, and expressing one’s opinion. These students have an intermediate English level (Eiken Pre-2 and Eiken 2 level), so they can provide basic replies. Our goal is to help them logically develop their responses. Student M Eiken Level 2, can reply well to questions. Student K is less confident and not as outgoing. However, they both are eager learners and are not afraid to say when they don’t understand something – an important skill for students!
We have also held a trial lesson for a Chinese 1st-year junior high school student. This student attends a private junior high school and is the brother of one of our current students. We enjoy teaching siblings and noticing the differences/similarities of each student. The junior high school student is academic-type and is a careful learner. His personality differs from his younger brother’s; our goal is to develop his speaking ability. The student has good grammatical knowledge but needs to gain more vocabulary and experience in using English verbally.
Private Lessons - Adults
For our advanced adult students, we have been reading and discussing articles. A great source is from DMM English. Especially the Daily News section. In this section, articles are available based on the English difficulty level, so we can choose an article that is an appropriate level for each class. A few articles we have read this month have dealt with Japan’s work-life balance, ANA starting a new low-cost carrier, and a town in Italy banning selfies in certain areas. The topics available are interesting, and they get students to think about something they typically don’t come across in their daily life.
One of our students is a doctor, and in May, he had several presentations to give in English. During our lessons, we practiced the presentations, and though we did not advise on the slide design, we made suggestions on the content and how to make the presentation smoother. It was a good experience to develop a presentation that presents the material in an easy-to-understand manner.
For our student entering a European MBA school in September, we continued reviewing MBA-level case studies and weekly business review from the Economist magazine. This student has been busy finalizing the moving process and completing work projects, so we did not assign difficult homework.
Summary
In our kids’ group lessons, vocabulary development was a key focus. In the future, we will incorporate spelling, as spelling becomes important for students entering junior high school. Beginner-level classes progressed well, with progress in alphabet learning and phonics. Reading comprehension, vocabulary development, and expressing opinions were emphasized in private lessons for high school students preparing to study abroad. Advanced adult students engaged in reading and discussing articles on interesting topics, while focus was given to helping a doctor prepare for presentations.
Although our Spring 10% Off Campaign ended, students paying by SetaPay will receive a 5% point discount until September 2023. We encourage anyone interested in our school to contact us for a free trial lesson. Online lessons are available to students not in the Yoga vicinity.
As always, please get in touch with us directly for information about our school: staff@bumblebenglish.com
