Letters and Sounds: resources for phonics

The Letters and Sounds webpage

This site is used by the teachers in the Reception classes at my school (and undoubtedly many other British schools) and provides resources to help with the introduction of phonics to 4-5 year old children and onwards. In general, nursery classes (3-4 year old children) follow Phase 1 and reception (4-5 year old children) classes follow Phase 2 & Phase 3. Phase 1 is the listening and communicating stage and Phase 2 onwards starts to introduce letters and their sounds.

Jolly Phonics sound and actions

I'm really enjoying teaching phonics to my nursery class. They follow the Jolly Phonics programme, which links an action to the letter sound. All the kids like doing them, and many spontaneously produce them when they hear the sounds alone. I think its a really good way for kids to remember English sounds.
http://jollylearning.co.uk/2010/11/03/jolly-phonics-actions/

Bilingual children in the nursery class

I have been working as a teaching assistant in a primary school's nursery for the last few months. About half of the pupils use another language that they speak at home. We need to actively help these pupils to gain new language skills and not expect that they will just 'pick it up as they go along.'

Ideas for teachers of bilingual learners at nursery 
NALDIC (National Association of Language Development in the Curriculum) 

Help your kids with school work: Sparklebox 家で英語を教える

イギリスの小学校の先生がこのウエブ・ページをよく使っています。
フォニクス、数字、理科などいろいろプリント・アウトでいるの。
使ってみて！
今娘が宇宙について勉強しているなので、Sparkleboxで宇宙を検索して、宇宙のポスター、宇宙飛行士のマスク、宇宙人の粘土マットとか印刷した。娘かなり気に入った。

http://www.sparklebox.co.uk/

Absolutely super website used by primary school teachers for ideas in Maths, English, Science...everything!!
Reinforce what your kids study at school by helping them at home too.
All kinds of resources can be printed out and they all look so good.

Right now my daughter's doing space at school, so we've printed out a space banner, astronauts for a rocket and space-themed playdough mats, just to name a few!!

Really, really check it out.

http://www.sparklebox.co.uk/

My daughter's first ever school report!!

Wow, just 2 months into her new nursery and my little girl brought home her first ever report!!

Of course, as she's only 3, it was very simple.

Positives were:

a sunny smile
sociable
wanting to do things by herself

To work on was:

writing her name
tidying up after finishing with toys (No surprises there!!!)

霜降りるのヘブデン・ブリッジ A frosty day in Hebden Bridge

It's become very cold recently. We've had snow and frost and some beautiful clear blue skies.
My daughter is loving her new nursery. There are some other bilingual kids there too, Italian/British and Mexican/British. She adores her teachers and her English is getting so good. We hope she will be able to continue there. The results of our application will be given at the end of April. Fingers crossed!!!

最近寒くなっている。雪が降って、霜も降りて、青空が広がるの最近の天気。
娘が新しい幼稚園大好きみたい。そこに、バイリンガルの子供達がいる。その子はイギリス・イタリアそしてイギリス・メキシカン。娘が先生たちのことをとても好き。英語も段々上手になっている。今のようちえん・小学校　（nursery and infant school 3-7 years old only) に続けるようにお願っている。申し込みの結果は四月末に出る。お願い！！

（イギリスのnursery(3-4歳）のはどこでもほとんどう申し込みが必要でわない。4歳になった年の9月から小学校の申し込みしないといけない。4歳から5歳のクラスはReceptionというクラス。5-6歳は小学校の1年生です。It's a bit confusing and odd procedure!）

Moving to Hebden Bridge!

My daughter has to apply for primary school (actually it's reception class just before year 1 starts)  this month. What a panic that brought us when we found out just a few months ago!! So considering her future, we decided to move somewhere a bit nicer than where we are now, with better schools and a better environment.

My daughter's English is now better than her Japanese. In just six months, she has flipped from using Japanese as her main language to English. It is totally fascinating. Now we have to make sure she doesn't lose her Japanese...or should I say, her Osaka-ben??!!

The power of her peers!! 子供同士の力

Just after one week of being at nursery in the U.K....
My little girl can sing the whole of the nursery rhyme, Baa, Baa Black Sheep!!!
And she starts to play and talk in English too. She even says things in English that her daddy cannot catch.  He's going to have to do some studying to keep up with her in the future!!! It just goes to show how much language develops when surrounded by friends of her own age at nursery.
She is free to move from room to room at her nursery. Each area of the room has a theme, such as water and sand play, painting, a pretend house, computer corner and playdough and so on. There is also a good-sized playground with toys outside, as well as a small garden with apple trees and flowers. She has a nursery journal,called a Learning Jornal, which the staff update with my daughter's photos, drawings, and achievements.

My little boy is also starting to talk. He has the most beautiful, "Yes".

イギリスの幼稚園に入って、一週間が経ったの娘が。。。
こどもの遊び歌、”Baa, Baa, Black Sheep"　を全部歌えるようになった。
そして遊びながら、英語で自分に喋ったりする。　たまにお父さんが何を言っているか分からないだって。娘に残さないように、彼も英語を勉強しなくっちゃ！幼稚園の同級生のは言葉の力になるですね。
娘の幼稚園はとても自由です。たぶんもっと日本の保育園に似ている。部屋の中いくつかの遊びテーマがあって、たとえば水遊び、砂遊び、色塗り場、ママ事コーナー、パソコン・コーナー、ねんど遊びとかある。そして外のグラウンドにも遊び道具がたくさん。リンゴの木とかお花が植えているの庭もある。自分の幼稚園日記もある。写真、絵描きのこピーとか娘の達成できた事。
ところで、最近一歳になった息子も話始まっている。世界に一番美しいの"Yes"と言える。

Getting ready for work and moving house 仕事の準備と引っ越し

reイギリスに引っ越して一か月以上たちました。
仕事決まりました。9月から小学校で、アシスタント教師になります。
そして Sowerby Bridge と言う町に、引っ越しは後ちょっとで決まりそうです。(West Yorkshire のHebden Bridge と Halifaxの間です）
することが沢山で、毎日かなり忙しいけど楽しい。

仕事は子供と一緒に働くなら、ＣＲＢチェックが必要。（Criminal Records Bureau Check）　このチェックは自分のcriminal　record があるかどうかを検討します。ずっと日本に住んでいましたなのに、日本の警察に自分 のPolice Clearance Certificate を頼みにしないといけないです。

そのために、ランカシャー本部の警察官まで行って、申し込み書に指をプリントして、次の日に、ロンドンにある日本の大使館まで持って行きました。
これから二か月かかりそうだ。

気づいたこと：
日本の早いと丁寧のサービスはすごい。大使館に入ってから自分の種類と主人の免許の切り替えの種類を出して、15分くらいかかりました。（早）　（笑）

ところで主人のイギリス銀行口座を開くまでは一か月くらいかかりました。（遅）　（怒）

It's been more than a month since we moved to the UK.
I've got a job as an assistant teacher in a primary school from September. It's just a year contract so I can get some U.K. classroom experience. I'm thinking of going to university again to train to be a U.K. teacher next year.
We are also nearly ready to move to a place called Sowerby Bridge. It's near Halifax in West Yorkshire. I can't believe how busy every day is, but it's fun and challenging.

As my new job is working with children, I need to get a CRB (Criminal Records Bureau) check. I need to prove I'm not a criminal so I can work with children. As I've been living in Japan, I need to ask the Japanese police for a Police Clearance Certificate.
So I had to get an application form from the Japanese Embassy.
Then I had to make a reservation at the Police HQ in Lancashire to have my fingerprints done.
Then I took my fingerprints in person with my passport to the Japanese Embassy.
Next I have to wait two months for it all to be checked....

London was really rainy. I spent two hours there....


I realized.....
The service in the Japanese embassy was super. I submitted my application and my husband's translation documents all within 15 minutes.

Lloyds TSB took more than a month for to open my husband's bank account here (!!)

An interview at a primary school in Calderdale やっと面接！！

すごく興味にある場所、Calderdale、にいくつかの小学校に仕事を申しこんでいる。
金曜日の夜に電話があって、最初の面接決まり！！
小学校のアシスタント先生の仕事。
Todmordenと言う場所は田舎で、すごく可愛いな町。
面接の時期に、隣町、Hebden Bridgeに家族旅行します。
写真をアップしますね。
きっと綺麗。

I'm really interested in an area of the north of the U.K called Calderdale. I've applied for a few jobs around there at primary schools for the job of teaching assistant.
I got a phone call last Friday for my first interview!!
It's in a really pretty town called Todmorden.
We are going to have a family trip to the town next door, Hebden Bridge, around the time of my interview.
I'll post the pictures.