Asahi Newspaper

July 13th

All the students from class 2 in the first grade ran into the classroom
and sat down smiling.
Now it's time to learn English.
"How are you?" asked Mark, the teacher from Texas, in the U.S.A. "I'm
fine" answered almost all the kids, screaming loud enough to shake the whole
classroom.
Now it's one by one.
"I'm fine" said a girl answering Mark, considering each word while the teacher
was
watching her.
When she couldn't remember what to say, Yasuhiro, the homeroom teacher
whispered to her "How are you....".
When she finished answering everybody applauded her which made her smile
very big.
"It is so nice to see that a quiet child who usually doesn't speak
much attend a foreign language lesson without any hesitation" said
Yasuhiro, the teacher who believes that is the principle of the English lesson
in elementary school.
The children in the first grade don't have enough patience.
After a half of an hour they have started to chat with each other.
Some of the children even started to climb on and hang from Mark's arms.
"Now let's start singing!" Yasuhiro put in a music CD that is for counting.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven. One, two, three, four, five, six,
seven. One, two, three, One, two, three,....
Everybody has started to run in the classroom. Woah! "Sing while you run!"
None of the children listen to Yasuhiro.
"First graders are so energetic. What a great job!" smiled Mark, raising
his arms high into the air.
Kita Ward Office of Tokyo Metropolitan Government has started to arrange
40 hours of English lessons for all of their elementary schools using spare
time for a total educational hour.
It is the time to organize English lessons as an official curriculum in
all the elementary schools.
How will the children and teachers face it.
This was a scene in Akabane elementary school in Kita Ward public school.