Sign Language Christmas Event

Today the sign language group took a trip to a day care center in Aoyama. Our audience was a very attentive bunch of about 30 pensioners.

We began with all the members of the group singing and signing some Christmas songs along side some old favourites such as "Zou san" and "Inu no Omawari san". Mrs A performed three more complicated enka songs by herself and we read a story called "The Rainbow Zebra". A big hit was singing "Furusato" and everyone joined in with the signing and singing.

Mince pies!

Mince pies are a traditional British Christmas sweet.  The name means ミンチパイ, but there is no meat inside the pies.  Instead there is fruit and spices and brandy.

Every Christmas we eat them and children often leave a Mince Pie for Santa (or Father Christmas as he is known in England) on New Year's Eve before they go to bed.

This year Nicola cooked and sold over 200 Mince Pies at Zenrinkan, so everyone was able to try a taste of a British Christmas.

English Speech Contest

Today we had the pleasure of watching the Iwate Elementary School English Speech Contest.  There were as many as 40 participants, 6 of whom where from Zenrinkan.  

There were three sections.  The first was for kindergarden and elementary 1st to 3rd grade students and was a short memorization about the changing colours in autumn.  The second section was a longer memorization piece for the older students.  They recited a story many of you may know, "Freddie the Leaf".  Then the third section was free composition.

During the break, the students performed a dance routine to entertain the audience.

Out of the six Zenrinkan students, 3 were awarded prizes, but everyone tried their best and gave wonderful speeches.  Well done to all those who took part!

Christmas Party

Today we had the annual Zenrinkan Christmas party.  About 40 guests gathered in the large hall and were treated to an evening of good food and entertainment.

The evening kicked off with an introduction to the British custom of Christmas crackers and everyone got a chance to pull one and put on their hat and enjoy an English joke (although some explanation was needed sometimes!).

Next the guests enjoyed a snack while being serenaded by the niko group.  As always, Hiroko provided a wonderful meal, this time of an assortment of cakes.  Her famous stollen was of course delicious.  The sign language group taught everyone how to sign "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" and "Silent Night" in sign language.  We were happy to see everyone pick it up straight away!

As the meal came to an end, the "let's sing" group treated us to some Christmas carols and the Tuesday Reading Class had everyone take part in a few games.  First we had to close our eyes and sit down when we thought 30 seconds had passed.  Then we had to try to create a one meter length by tearing paper into a long strip.  The most accurate person got a prize!!  It was amazing to see some people were able to get one meter exactly.

The English staff did a reading with mime performance of "The Night Before Christmas".  Alicia's amazing PowerPoint presentation skills and Santa performance were by far and away the hit of the evening!

Finally Alicia led everyone in a sing along of three traditional Christmas carols. On the tables were various castanettes and noise makers and a pianist joined in too to finish the evening off in musical style.

Merry Christmas everyone and Happy New Year!!!