We played this outside~ and it gives even those kids who are having a hard time reading a lot of motivation.  

Make 2 teams.  They group on one side of the field (mine was about 10 X 8 meters), 

group  1  here                                                 group 2  here









                                             teacher   here                                

Now, the teacher has two little whiteboards (or anything to write on) and writes one word on these (something they can find in the area): "tree", "stone", "rock", ...;  same word on both whiteboards.

The groups decide for a runner each.

On "Ready GO!" the runner sprints to his team's whiteboard, reads the word silently, runs back to his team and sounds it out (loud enough to hear, but silent enough the other team won't hear it), and his teammates quickly race and touch this thing.

Point for the team being fastest!


The kids loved it and wanted to go on and on.

Next time I'll try a "beginners version" with only first sounds, so if they read "s" they have to touch something with this sound.

What do you think?

Yesterday was the Festival of our area's shrines.

"Kandajinja" (lit: The shrine of the field of gods)

is the shrine you've seen in many of my photos and also videos, when I'm showing games with my students, outside.

Shrines are often mixed up with temples, but they're different.

It is not an easy thing to explain, and before I say something wrong here, please check it up on the net.

One basic thing is that they are far far older here in Japan.  Still they haven't changed that much.  Even if shrines are rebuild, they have the same architecture than before.

There is not one god  living here, and not one god to worship.

There is god in everything.  That's why for example, we tell kids not take tree branches or stones outside of the shrine area.  It all belongs there and needs to be put back.

Well, anyway, this festival is a long procedure of worshipping and everyone carries these little shrines around the village for 2-3 hours.
The shouting of "Wasshoi!" is like a cheering and goes on for this whole time~nothing else said in between;  but there are a few breaks for Sake, little snacks and juice.

Hope you enjoy!

Before it is completely out of time:
A few cherry blossoms for you!

Our "Hanami" (=Cherry blossom viewing) was at perfect timing.

A day later most of the blossoms were gone.

Having a "Hanami" is something you just can't skip when you are in Japan.

People meet with lunch boxes and sake, or like we do every year: BBQ.
There are often different groups in one park but many times it ends up as a big "coming together".

A few of you wanted to see me in Kimono~ so here you go!

I thought to make a little clip with an English text for my students as a listening exercise.  

I hate to "waste" lesson time, talking about myself.

So, here is my 4+ minute video of our trip.

Hope you like it.  This is in Japan.

Hi there.

I am back. We had a short but very great vacation.

It was rather hot and the sea was endlessly blue.

We had delicious food wherever we went.

And: I finally tried stand up paddling.

I don't know why, but it fascinated me when I first saw this sport. Now I really would like to have a board to drift along on the lake near our home.

Well, tomorrow a new school year is starting. More then!