Here’s a link to a wonderful website where you can see the drawings and hear the fifth graders in Sendai, Japan thanking the rest of the world for all of their assistance in March and April 2011 after the earthquake and tsunami. The children, under direction of their excellent teacher, Sakari Sensei, learned the English pronunciation from a voice recording of a fifth grader student from my school. I think that they did well!
http://web.me.com/sakaripapa/サイト_2/Photos.html
Click on the image twice to start the short videoclip of the student’s project created in Scratch and recorded with iShowU. Refresh the page or click on download to see the clip again.
Last night I was relieved to hear that Sakari Sensei, the teacher who I correspond with in Sendai, Japan and his students are safe after the devastating earthquake. He wrote:
My students & my family are safe.
We feel shake 1 hour , 1 hour 1 hour
Since 2007 Sakari Sensei and I have corresponded so that he can practice English. He was one of the teachers who participated in ‘The Circle Song Project.’ He came to my school for one day back in October 2007 so that he could learn about my school and how I teach. He also wanted to find out if I was interested in continuing our collaboration so that his students could practice English in the virtual classroom. We agreed that I would be able to meet virtually with his students. We have continued meeting since 2007. We have lessons where we practice vocabulary about the weather, food, sports, clothes, and school. The children and Sakari are enthusiastic about learning English.
decemberfile
I never imagined that I would be corresponding with Sakari Sensei about an 9.0 earthquake and a tsunami.
My thoughts and prayers are with Sakari Sensei, his family, his students and everyone in Sendai, Japan as they deal with this devastating loss.