Monthly Update September 2024
Welcome to our school monthly update for September 2024. Our school offers lessons for elementary school-aged children and above. We also provide daily conversation and business English classes for adults. Customized and short-term lessons are also available for families moving abroad, business presentations, or students studying for English proficiency exams such as the Eiken, TOEFL, DuoLingo, and IELTS tests. Our classes are held at our school location in Yoga Setagaya, Tokyo. Online lessons via Zoom are also available.
Our monthly blog update includes information about our group and private lessons for our children and adult students.
Please get in touch with us at staff@bumblebenglish.com if you are interested in a trial lesson or have any questions about our school.
Lessons for Children
After the summer holidays, many students needed a week or two of review to get back in study mode. Typically students regress academically during the summer and in English there is a phrase called the summer slump or summer slide. According to a Harvard School of Education study, students lose an average of 2.6 months of math knowledge over the summer. Fortunately, this study was conducted with U.S. students, who have a much-extended summer vacation than in Asian countries such as Japan.
Our beginner-level classes, which we have on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, are doing well. Several students have informed us that they have passed the Eiken Level 5 exam. In addition, one student from our intermediate class passed the Level 4 exam. Though in our group lessons, we do not focus on the Eiken exam, much of the content we cover can apply to many types of English language proficiency exams, such as the Eiken.
During the last week of September, we welcomed a trial student who was studying to enter a university in the United States. This student is aiming to take the Duolingo English Test, a newer test, compared to the IELTS or TOEFL exams. The Duolingo test has some unique question types and focuses on all areas of English: listening, speaking, reading, and writing.
The Duolingo test is accepted by major universities such as Monash University, Stanford University, Yale University, the University of Toronto, and the University of Southern California, to name just a few of the thousands of universities worldwide that accept the Duolingo test. The student has decided to take multiple private lessons a week to prepare for the exam, and we have developed a learning plan that includes both activities during lessons and homework using the online English tool we have used successfully with prior students.
Since last November, we have been holding lessons for younger students (ages 4 – 6) in our Yoga classroom. A bilingual high school student manages these lessons, which focus on songs, phonics, simple phrases, and physical movement.
Lessons for Adults
As a small school, we can only offer a few adult lessons throughout the day. However, we can help adults interested in daily conversation, business English, or pre-graduate school preparation.
This month, we welcomed a student who is originally from China but has been living in Japan for over ten years. This student wants to improve his English, and his child is looking to attend an international school next year. In addition, though this student does not use English in his daily work, he does work for a foreign-related firm and may need to use English in the future.
Summary
Our enrollment is ongoing, and we welcome new students throughout the year. We do our best to assign students to the appropriate level.
We encourage anyone interested in our school to contact us for a free trial lesson. Online lessons are available as well for students regardless of location.
Please read our FAQ page for detailed information about what types of students do well in our class. Unlike a typical English conversation school, our school does not focus on an “English is fun” approach to learning and does not typically include games in our learning process.
Our goal is to develop global citizens, students who are interested in the world around them and who can express themselves. We have been teaching English for over ten years and have many happy students; quite a few have studied with us for several years. However, not all students fit our approach. Don’t hesitate to get in touch with us if you have any questions.
As always, please get in touch with us directly for information about our school: staff@bumblebenglish.com
