Gakuin Dayori No.

18
This Month Motto: Be nice to your friends.

Message from the Principal
It has passed one month, since the new school year
started. By now the new students must have been
acquainted with their teachers and the classmates enough to
be able to enjoy studying Japanese language. Or is this just
my wishful thinking. Amazingly the children in the
Preschool participated in the class showing no sign of
hesitation from the first day of the class. Some of them are
showing remarkable signs of growth even, compared to the
last year.
The higher graders seem to have built a good
teamwork for studying Japanese together. The Life Culture
Class for the higher graders is the continuation of the
Japanese Language Class in the first hour, and they are
studying what they cannot do in the first hour due to
shortage of time, namely to learn how to use Chinese-
Japanese dictionaries, how to write compositions, or
studying the structure of Kanji, etc.
The lower graders have Japanese Language Class
in the first 50 minutes, and in the second 50 minutes they
apply the four basic skills of Japanese language to various
activities (which are not identical to just crafting). For
example, the pupils of the First Grade make bubbles
through science experiment. 1. Listen to the instruction on
the way to make bubbles. 2. Understand the instruction
thoroughly, then take actions. 3. Play with what one has
made. 4. Students are encouraged to have imagination in
the play, and to recall spontaneous words they had in the
imagination. (Please read the comments that the First
Graders made on the bubbles.) Write down on cards
sentences that are made with the imagination words.
Finally play Karuta with these cards. Those four basic
skills of Japanese language are applied to these serial
operations. Since there is a limit of endurance among the
lower graders we must use different kinds of teaching
materials for them in order to enhance their language ability.
The Life Culture Class for the Second and Third
Graders is engaged according to their age.
What our school aims at with the Culture Class is
in general speaking to become able to learn Japanese with
fun, because learning would be more fun, if the students
understand what they are doing; coming to the school
would be more fun, if the school is a fun place; and when
they come to the school, interesting Japanese study is
waiting for them.
If you have any questions or opinions in regard to
the Japanese education or the school life in general, we
would appreciate to hear from you directly. Pleas contact
the class teacher, Takaki or Kasahara.
Contact:604-619-6221/604-856-6765 Alice Takaki
604-437-1481 Osamu Kasahara

Congratulations to Naoki-kun
We were told at the beginning of this year that
Naoki Kitano, Grade 10 student, of a weekday class student,
has achieved the highest mark of 99% in the BC Provincial
Examination, which was held last June. We believe this is
the result of his strenuous effort in studying Japanese since
he came to Canada when he was six years old. This is good
news that would encourage other students in our school as
well. Congratulations to you, Naoki-kun.
Osamu Kasahara, Grade Nine/Ten Class Teacher

Our Classes
This time we would like to introduce Preschool,
Grade One, Grade Two-A and B classes.

Preschool Class
In the Preschool class children are instructed with
rhythmic, Hiragana (reading), and crafting as the three
major pillars. These children are fond of singing and
dancing so much that it is rather chaotic in these activities.
We use picture cards and work sheets, but they are only
supplementary to raise their interest. We hope we can
make it a fun class through playing with the children.
Rieko Ishii, Preschool Teacher

Grade One Class
In this class every body is working on the study of
Japanese with fun and friendliness to each other. In the
Japanese language class we are studying the basics of
Japanese Alphabet. Some of the pupils are already able to
write them, but I am instructing them to pay attention to
places where stretching, sweeping-up and stopping
strokes are required.
In the Life Culture Class the emphasis is made on
enriching their Japanese language skills, by adding
curriculum science, social study and music for the Grade
One. I look forward to seeing their eyes brightened for
further growth.
Issued on Saturday, October 4, 2003
By Vancouver Academy of Japanese Cultur e
info@vajc.com ph./fax: 604-437-1481



In the Life and Culture Class we are making
Karuta. Let me show off some examples of their work:

A for Aisukuriimu Doko-doko Nee Doko (Tou)
Sa for Sakura-ga Suki Kodomo-wa Sakura-ga Suki
(Tyrus)
Se for Sekken-wa Aoi-kara Sora Mitai-yo (Midori)

1These are simple expressions of their honest feelings. It
is planned to complete with the las t letter n of the
alphabet by the end of November.
Hitomi Takagi, Grade One teacher

Grade Two A
This class is consisted of four students: energetic
Yuta-kun who is skilful at Kanji and gives a great effort in
reading, an exemplary student Kenzo-kun who always
deals with the tasks aggressively, Kia-kun who surprises his
classmates with unique ideas, and Leena-san who
vigorously treats the tasks with fine hand-writing.
Takashi Sugawara, Grade Two A Teacher

Grade Two B
Uwa-a, Dorae-mon is here, said one joyous child
when he opened the textbook. I will read, volunteered a
child in the game of Kanji Karuta. Another child was
concentrating all her attention into the writing, after she
declared to make herself able to write new Kanji without
copying. I sincerely hope that they keep learning with
these attitudes and treasuring these feelings. As goes a
saying What one likes, one will do well, they will grow
rapidly when they keep being interested in learning
Japanese.
Ikuko Kawai, Grade Two B Teacher

Soroban
Reading, writing and Soroban (calculation) are the
most fundamental skills that one has to master during the
childhood. The more one studies Soroban, the higher the
ability of ones calculation with or without abacus rises.
Soroban is also effective in nurturing ones mathematical
mind, logical thinking and concentration as well as
memorization. In our Soroban class of this school I would
like to guide the students with two basic axes, namely
instruction on how to move fingers and training of the
finger movement through repetitive practice.
Understanding and cooperation of their guardians will be
greatly appreciated.
Takashi Yamaguchi, Soroban Instructor

Calligraphy
A saying goes, The style is the man, but when
one examines what children write, it is fun when one can
see their character and their feelings through the
handwriting. While maintaining the priority of the joy of
writing for the children, I would like to instruct them
further, so that they can utilize the strength of the brush to
express powerfulness and carefree mind.
Osamu Kasahara, Calligraphy Instructor
Baton and Pompon Club
We started instructing this club in September. Our
instruction may be different from the last year instruction,
but we intend to make it a fun club adding to it pompon as
a new discipline. At first we do light stretching, then
practice basic skills of batons every Sat.. In the pompon
practice, held only once a month (the last Saturday of a
month), we begin with skipping and stepping. These basic
movements are so fundamental and important that we want
the students practice at home as well in order to fasten the
improvement. We believe that everyone in the club will be
familiarized with baton movements gradually. We
appreciate the help and cooperation from the guardians in
advance.
Miho Takeuchi & Kyoko Muramatsu, Instructors

From Mobile Library
We started lending books on the second week of
September. Books are available between 12:30 and 12:55
before the class as well as 3:15 and 3:40 just before class
end. In September we asked Mrs. Machiko Tajika,
Nanami-chans mother , to take charge of lending books as
well as other reception desk jobs. On behalf of all the
teachers we thank you very much for this. For the October
we asked Mrs. Naomi Takahara, Ryota-kun and Yoshiki-
kuns mother, to volunteer to take charge of lending books,
which she kindly accepted. Thank you very much in
advance.
If you are willing to take charge of lending
books, please contact Takaki or Kasahara. Thank you.

Request!
We are experiencing shortage of Soroban in the
Soroban class. If you have Soroban around you that are not
currently in use, could you kindly allow us to use it? If you
could donate it to the school, it will make us much happier.

Year Events

Oct. 11, Sat. Holiday for Thanksgiving Day
Oct.25, Sat. Mid-term Exam*
Nov. 01, Sat. Mid-term Exam*
Nov. 15, Sat. Parents-Teacher Consulting Day*
(Preschool, Grade One, Grade Two-A, Lev. 2)
Nov. 22, Sat. Parents-Teacher Consulting Day*
(Grade Two-B, Grade Five, Grade Six, Lev. 5)
Dec. 13, Sat. Class Presentation Day
Dec. 20, Sat. ~ Jan. 03, Sat. Winter Break
Jan. 10, Sat. Resuming Classes
Jan. 24, Sat. The End of the First Term, Report
Card
*In case the schedules changes, we would inform as soon
as possible. Please be advised that some of the Lower
Grade classes will put the marks of the students through
small tests that are held on every Saturday, instead of
having mid-term exam.