日本語クラスパティーに参加しました Japanese Class Party

今回は多文化ともだちセンターの日本語クラスのパティーに参加しました。おいしいものがいっぱいあってとても幸せな気分になりました。おなかがいっぱいになるとどの国の人もとてもいい顔になります。女性ばかりのパティーで色々な国のお料理のレシピも聞き今度作ってみようと思いました。夏休みになったら小さなお友達もポテトでパティーをしましょう。
ボランテア日本語クラス

Party today! Food! Food! Food! Korean food, Chinese food, Peru food, Vietnamese food, Thai food, Japanese food...... Yummy! The food that you get here is not what you can buy at the restaurants but authentic home cooked food. After eating, it is word games time. For example, how does the pig cry? In Japanese it is "Boo Boo", in English it is "Oink Oink" and you also get the Spanish version, Thai version, Chinese version and Korean version of the cry of the pig. It was very interesting and everyone burst out into laughters. What can I say but that I deeply felt that the participants have great love for their country and put in lots of effort to prepare the food for the party. Some Japanese class students has kids who goes to kindergarten or primary school and they are all invited to join the Potato group during summer holidays. Looking forward to an even more international gathering of Potato group. You may wonder about the Japanese class mentioned here. Well the place that Potato gathers is actually the venue for a voluntary Japanese class. Class fee is 2000 yen per month. Classes are held on Wednesday and Friday morning (10 a.m. to 12 p.m.) and afternoon (1 p.m. and 3 p.m.). Child care assistance is also available. For more information, you can refer to the link below.
Voluntary Japanese Class

プール遊び Pool time

保育園の友達と遊べると思ったら涼しいので彼らは散歩にいったしまいました。プールはポテトのみでしました。小さいプールとベビーバスを出してペットボトルやジョウロで遊びました。はじめはこわごわ水に入ったがだんだんと慣れてきてお友達に水をかけたりジョウロの取り合いをしてたのしみました。終了の合図をしたが泣いて遊びたいと言いました。みんなで遊ぶ事は楽しいですね。昼食後薬を見せながら説明をしました。虫刺さされ、熱さましシート、傷の薬、大人の風薬、胃腸の薬などでした。次回のレクエストは子供用な下痢薬、風薬、破棄止め薬などでした。プリントにして各々に配りたいと思います。来週の予定はプール遊びと新聞紙で遊ぼう。
A new friend from India joined us today. Potato group is increasing again. One of the mother asked....who pays for this group to exist? True! Nothing is free in this world. No fee is collected from the mothers and kids so who pays for it? Well, our tax money pays for it actually. Atsugi city has funds allocated to assist mothers with child care and that fund actually subsidies Potato group so lucky us. Pool time today but is it too cold to play in the pool? It is not raining but the wind is kind of chilly. However, so as not to dissapoint the kids, we brought out a tiny pool and filled it up with warm water. Initially the kids were wary about entering into the water but they soon warmed up and enjoyed themselves. Before going down to the pool, we had story telling in Japanese and English and also danced to the Hokey Pokey dance. Ever had problems with what medicine to use in Japan? Today, we introduced various over the counter medicines in Japan. For example, what to use when you get bitten by insect, what to use to reduce fever, etc. Our homework for this week is to come up with a document so that it is easier for foreigners to buy medicines at the drug store. Next Thursday is pool time and playing with newspaper. Tomorrow's pot luck party is also on at 11am. We will be waiting.

児童館は何？ Excursion to the Kids Community Center

清水公園と戸室児童館へ探検に行きました。清水公園までみんなで歩きました。アジサイの花やきゅうりの花を見ながらおしゃべりしました。公園でシャボン玉遊びをしましたがうまく子供たちは吹けませんでした。お母さん達が頑張っていっぱいシャボン玉を空に飛ばしました。その後児童館に行き使い方を指導員から教わりました。幼児と保護者同士の交流場として、平日の午前中、児童館を解放しています。平日１０時から１２時までです。図書室も利用できます。私たちはおままごとをしたり、ピアノを弾いたり、児童館の庭でスペリ台やブランコをしました。帰るのを嫌がり泣く子もいいましたがまた来る事を話して帰ってきました。来週はプール遊び。水着とタオルと着替えを忘れずにお持ちください。7月１１日（金）午前１１時から多分化ともだちセンターの人たちと一品持ち寄りパティーがあります。待ってます。
児童館午前中利用

Yippee! No rain today. Our excursion is on. Today we have a new friend from India joining us. Potato group is increasing. We gathered at room 403 and left to Shimizu park at 10:30 am. We played bubbles at the park and went to the Tomuro Kids Community Center. Did you know that there is a facility called "Kids Community Center" (jidoukan) in Japan? In Tomuro, the Kids Community Center is open for small kids on every weekday from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. There are toys there, a small library where you can borrow some children books and also a small park with slides, swing and climbing frames. Mothers with small kids are welcome to use the Kids Community Center in the morning. However, for the Kids Community Center in other area, the opening hours varies. For more information refer to the link below. When it was time to go back, there are kids who wanted to play some more. It was an enjoyable excursion. Next Thursday is pool time. Do remember to bring along a swim suit, towel and extra change of clothing. We will also be having a pot luck party on 11th of July (Friday) from 11 a.m. with Japanese class students and teachers. Do come and join us. We will be waiting.
Atsugi Kids Community Center for Young Kids Information

七夕の飾り、紙芝居

2008.06.26
台風のような雨の中4組の親子が来てくれました。いくつもの星をつなげて七夕飾りを作りました。七夕は日本の季節の行事で中国もあるようです。思い思いのお願い事を家で書いて飾ります。紙芝居は「ニャンオン」で猫と月のお話です。子供たちはすごく喜んで、特に猫の絵に興味を持ったようです。次回は7月3日です。探検に行きます。目的地は戸室児童館です。雨だったら保育園４０３室で行います。お待ちしています。
Raining again today! Ever since we started the [Potato] - Let's Play Together - Parent and Child session, it has been raining... raining.... raining..... Despite the rain, 4 groups attended the play session today. A new friend from Denmark joined us for the first time. She had a hard time finding the place (the taxi driver could not find the place) but managed to make it in the end. For today, we used colored papers and made stars, drew faces on the stars and threaded a ribbon through it. In Japan, on July 7th, Japanese will make decorations, write their wish on the decorations and hang it on a bamboo stalk in their house. After everyone has completed the craft, we had a picture story telling session. The kids enjoyed the story about the Cat and the Moon. What a coincidence! One of the mother that attended actually borrowed the same picture story from the library and is reading it at her home. As usual, we read some English story books and danced and sang to the Hokey Pokey song and Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes song. Next Thursday, if weather permits, we will have an excursion to the nearby Kids Community Center (Tomuro Jidoukan). Do come and join us. We will be waiting.

おりがみ Origami

2008.6.19
おりがみ製作、初めてであったがうまく出来たと思う。我が家の笹（生）をセロテープでつけ、ひこぼしおりひめの人形を貼り付け、お願い事を書き、持ち帰った。
The craft for today is origami. As July 7th is Star Festival Celebration in Japan, the origami for today is the characters from the Star Festival story. After completing the origami, it is stuck on a piece of white paper and decorated with bamboo stalks. The kids wishes are written on the paper. After completing the crafts, the teacher told a story using board and pictures. It is a story about animals and later the animals body and head gets all scrambled up and the kids has to pick and choose the correct head for the correct animal. It was a hit among the kids.

パネルシアター

2008.06.12
パネルシアターで食べ物のクイズをしました。子供たちは喜んで遊びました。英語の本‘Bye Bye Bear’で’あいさつ、拍手、いないいないばあ、さよなら’の言葉を習いました。日本語のわらべ歌‘あめあめやんでくれ’を歌いました。傘をさしなが ら踊りました。でんでんむしの歌も歌いました。英語で‘Hokey Pokey’の踊るを踊りました。食事時韓国のはるさめとインドのカレーの作り方を教えてもらいました。お母さんどうしがとても楽しそうに話してしていま した。
Food riddle today. Using board and pictures, the teacher asked the kids questions like "What is square, brown and tastes sweet?" Do you know what it is? The answer is chocolate. The kids had a nice time trying to guess the name of the food shown on the picture. The question that all kids are stuck with is "sour plum". I guess "sour plum" is a very typical Japanese food but not many foreign children takes "sour plum". During lunch time, we exchanged recipes on how to cook a Korean noodle dish called "Chapchi" and Indian curry.

Story telling

2008.06.05
The theme for today is Story telling. Using an apron and characters from the famous Hans Christian Andersen story of the "The Emperor's New Clothes", the kids were entertained by a visual display and story telling of an emperor who unwittingly hires two swindlers to create a new suit of clothes for him. The kids were also told story from pictorial story cards and from the English books 'Thomas and the weather', 'Are Chickens Stripey?' and 'Goodnight Gorilla'. The attendants were also informed about 'Book Start' campaign in Atsugi where the library will give young children living in Atsugi 2 free books and a bag to encourage mothers to read to kids.
Library Book Start Campaign