Community School News

President’s Message

By Makoto Osawa

Thank you to everyone who volunteered during the Heritage Festival. With Scott’s leadership and wonderful weather, the days were a great success. We will report the sales figures after the final accounting work is finished. There are some members who have expressed their views regarding this year’s volunteer/participant arrangement and how things were done overall. The board will be discussing next year’s plans for the Heritage Festival, so if you wish to add your opinions or thoughts, please let us know.

Parent meetings for each grade started this month. This is a great communication-building opportunity, so please take the time to participate in these meetings.

Principal’s Message

By Sanae Ohki

After not seeing the students over the summer holidays, I was surprised to see how tall they have become when I met them at school this month. On Friday, September 9^th, the grade 4 students were having fun talking about their summer vacation, and I was pleased to see that just as their height grew, so did their Japanese language ability. Thanks to all of the parents for their support.

In the summer, a conference for Japanese immersion school teachers was held in the Port of Sacramento. This conference is held every year and rotates among participating cities in the northwestern part of North America. Nakano-sensei and Okamoto-sensei participated in this year’s seminars, and during this month’s teachers’ meeting, they reported on the event.

On September 16^th and 23^rd, we held class meetings at our school. Masahito Oba and I visited each meeting in order to see everyone, to talk about the school, and to listen to members’ views. Although we only had thirty minutes for each grade, the meetings were very constructive. For more information, please see the notes from the Board section.

1. Change in the Grade 2 class

Takahashi-sensei, the grade 4 teacher, has left, so after looking for and interviewing candidates, we found two wonderful new teachers. Although we only lost one teacher, we decided to bring on two new ones, one for grade 4 and one more for the large grade 2 class. After much consideration about how to arrange the large class, we decided to use a Team Teaching approach: for the first half of the class, both teachers will teach the 11 students, and for the second half of the class, 5 students will break off with one teacher and 6 will break off with the other. Team Teaching, in which two or more teachers cooperate in their teaching of a class, is an educational approach that is becoming more and more popular in both Japanese and Canadian schools. Now that our school has a class with more than 10 students, we would like to give this method a try. If we come across any problems with this new system, we will adjust accordingly. The teachers will address the issue in the October teachers’ meeting.

2. New Teachers

Our two new wonderful teachers are Tamaki Shimada-sensei (grade 4) and Hiromi Tabata-sensei (grade 2). Shimada-sensei majored in education in Japan and has been continuing her studies at the University of Alberta since coming to Edmonton. Tabata- sensei also loves teaching and is working hard to help the students enjoy their studies. Both teachers are new so they may still be getting used to our school. If any of our long-standing parents notice anything that they would like to address, please let the teachers and/or me know.

3. New Students

In September, Alec Swallow (junior kindergarten), Masuda Rintaro (kindergarten), Kevin Wong (grade 2), and Yui Takahashi (grade 2) joined our school. As the parents are also new to Edmonton, please make them all feel welcome.

4. Use of the School Building

a) We only have use of the school until 9:00 pm. After classes have finished, please try to hurry and leave by 8:55 pm. Also, please try to be on time to pick up your children. If you are going to be late, please notify the school.

b) Please use the East Entrance. For security reasons, we cannot use the West Entrance. Also, please do not leave the East Entrance door open.

c) In Canadian schools, it is expected that people walk quietly in the hallways. There are some students who have been noisily running in the hallways. Please tell these students to play in the gym.

d) There is a classroom beside the library so please refrain from talking too much in that area. Please use the staffroom for exchanging information or doing work.

Let’s all show consideration for others and the school.

From the Board

1. Gakugei-kai (Student Performances)

As was the case last year, preparation for the gakugei-kai will be done by parent groups from each grade. Thank you in advance for your cooperation. More details will be announced by the board member in charge of the event in the near future.

2. Teacher Contract Renewal

We are looking at our teacher contract system in order to check if it reflects current conditions and is accepted by the parents. We are planning to have a committee draft an up-to-date proposal by February of next year, so if anyone is interested in participating, please contact Masahito Oba or Makoto Osawa.

3. Grade Meeting News

The following is a list of the grade representatives. As the gakugei-kai is approaching, thank you in advance for your efforts.

Junior Kindergarten – Abe-san

Kindergarten – Kawamoto-san; Ito-san

Grade 1 – Shimizu-san

Grade 2 – Watanabe-san; Jackson-san

Grade 3 – Kaide-san

Grade 4 – Kin-san

Grade 5 – McLean-san

Junior High grade 1 – mitei

Junior High grade 3 – Ramsey-san

At this year’s grade meetings we received many opinions and ideas for running a great Japanese school. Here is a sample of some of the ideas that were presented:

a) The teaching of traditional Japanese culture studies, such as shuji (calligraphy) and soroban (abacus);

b) Student awards/prizes. Instead of giving awards at the end of the school year, we could motivate students with rewards for achieving short term goals. It isn’t necessary to have expensive prizes; for example, students could collect stickers, etc.

c) Field Trips (Drumheller, mushroom picking, bird watching, Japanese food cooking camp);

d) School Trip (i.e., a home stay in Japan for junior high students who have worked hard).

We plan to look at these ideas, and more, at future Board and teachers’ meetings. Thank you for your support.

Masahito Oba

Plans for the Second Term

1. Joint Teachers/Board Meeting

In September, we held a joint teachers/Board meeting. As soon as they get to school, the teachers are busy helping the students, so there are not many opportunities for them to get together and exchange ideas with the Board. At the recent meeting, we talked about the second term, especially the preparations for the gakugei-kai.

2. Visiting Teachers from Japan

As was reported in a notice on the 23^rd, visiting teachers from Japan will come to our school on September 30^th. Our teachers will have a study session in the morning and afternoon, and parents will be able to attend a discussion in the evening from 7:30-8:30. For more details, please see the notice. Also, thank you to the parents who will look after students during the model lesson.

3. Booklet of Student Work

At the end of October, we will print a collection of student work from each grade. This collection will include work such as writings about summer vacation, poems written in class, and other items.

4. Class Change

Remembrance Day is on Friday, November 11^th, so we will have class on Thursday, November 10^th.

5. Gagugei-kai

The date for the gakugei-kai is Saturday, November 26^th. Please choose the gakugei-kai contact person for each grade at the grade meetings.

6. Teacher-Student/Parent Meetings

Teacher-student/parent meetings will be held in December. Teachers will provide the times and dates in early December.

Join the Chorus Group!

We are thinking of putting together a parent/volunteer chorus group to entertain at the gakugei-kai. If you are interested in joining, please contact Sachiko Motoda (Gakugei-kai Organizer).

Parent Shifts (Toban) for October and November

09/30 – Osawa; Kondo

10/07 – Kin; Stein

10/14 – Ramsey; Masuda

10/21 – Matsumoto; Takahashi

10/28 – Hill; Idoga

11/04 – Motoda; Morita

11/10 – Ito; Van

11/18 - Jones; Yamamoto

11/25 – Oh; Abe

* If you need to make a change in the schedule, please contact Setsuko Dunwald (437-3457).

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The Community School News is printed in the fourth week of each month. If you have any questions and/or comments, please let us know.

Translated by Terry McLean

Community School News September 2005