E x p a n ding fut ure pos s ibilit ies

P.10

Letʼ s make a 4-panel cartoon
Examples of quotes
1 . Hello!
2 . Hello, Busy Bee !

14

3 . Oh, she ʼ s busy...
4 . Let ʼ s see why she ʼ s busy!

We look forward to
your ideas!
Hiraku provides useful informationand the latest news related toEnglish and childhood education.

・Your recent interests
・New content etc etc…
If you have ideas to contribute,please share these with us!
Hiraku Editorial Department
TEL：06-6135-0150
Mail： hiraku@kinderkids.ed.jp

Published in
March 2021 Vol.14
Next issue isplanned to comeat the end of May

Kinder Kids Inc.
TEL：06-6135-0150
Pulala Tenma 2F, 3-1 Ikeda-cho,
Kita-ku, Osaka-shi, Osaka. 530-0033

www.kinderkids.com

Stained・Topics you want us to cover

Art

Glass

5 . We can help!

Does your child use the internet and smartphone appropriately?
Staﬀ Spotlight

Kids living around the world

New school term s Message

Picture Diary Contest 2020

Let s make a 4-panel cartoon
日本の心と、英語の力。Kinder Kids inc.

How to use the Internet safely
Conﬁrm that the URL starts with https＊ This can be checked in the URL ﬁeld of the browser

https is a more secure Internet Protocol than http,and this reduces the risk of harm

Check "About Us (operating company)”in the website to conﬁrm thatthe website is not fake
When your child uses the Internet
set up a ﬁltering system

Expand the range of websites your child canaccess gradually as they grow up
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Project on the Scientiﬁc Study of the Motivation to Learn
Tohoku University and Sendai City Board of Education
Based on the results of detailed analysis of the Sendai City
Standardized Achievement Test for elementary school 5th
grade and junior high school 3rd year students

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In order for this generation to live in an instantaneous
information society, it is necessary for families to improveinformation literacy and provide appropriate support for
their children as they grow up. We will introduce the basic
points on how to use the Internet safely and the impact ofsmartphones on children s academic performance.

In recent years, research by neuroscientists has revealed a correlation between the amountof time spent on smartphones and academic performance. As you can see in the ﬁgure on
the right, the longer the time spent on the smartphone, the lower the average score, and theaverage score A of "children who study for more than 2 hours but use their smartphone formore than 4 hours" is lower than the
average score B of "children who study
Av e ra g e s c o r eStudy time
for less than 30 minutes but do not use(mathematics)
More than 2 hours
their smartphone". This result tells us that30 minutes to 2 hours
80
it is strongly recommended that children
Less than 30 minutes
75
use their smartphones for no more than70
one hour a day for whatever reason.
Since there are some applications on
65
B
smartphones that are useful for learning,
60
A
it is important to start thinking about
55
how to interact with smartphones at50home so that children can learn how to45
use them in a moderate and useful way.
tChildren & Netsafety

FeatureStory

Smartphones and Academic AchievementLedevices in their daily lives andstudies. Giving children the ability
to use it eﬀectively without
being distracted by the fun ofthe moment or the immense
amount of information rightin front of them.

No

Does your child use theinternet and smartphone
appropriately?

Children are getting more
exposure to information

Time spent on smartphone

Consider your familyʼs approach to browsing the net!
Children grow up watching the adults around them, so it isimportant for everyone in the family to be careful not to get too
involved with the Internet. Don't leave your child alone with asmartphone or rely too much on "smartphone babysitting". Talk
with your child about what they are watching or whether they
have or have not accessed other unexpected websites by accident.
Enjoy the time together.
Childcare Department Manager
Hiroko Takase

Decide how long your child is allowed to use their smartphone
Up tohours a day Until

Decide where your child uses their smartphone

p.m. (in the evening)
Place
2

Staff

Interview

DojimaYao

Spotlight

SchoolIn this issue, we will introduce

Dojima School Manager
Mayumi Iwasaki

Interview

Tennoji Yuhigaoka
SchoolTennoji Yuhigaoka School Manager
Makiko Takahashi“Kinder Kids International

Ne

Academies” 2 brand new schools

It has been one amazing year since our school
opened! We worked very hard in collaboration with
Tennoji Yuhigaoka School, which opened at the sametime in Osaka City. We re-examined, reviewed andrethought how to deliver our services in a new way toadapt to the diﬀering needs of families and oﬀer a new
brand of services. Drawing upon 20 years of experience,using the wisdom and ideas of experienced senior staﬀ
at Kinder Kids we built a new model and ﬁlled ourschool with the pride and love of our staﬀ members.
All of our staﬀ are highly motivated, positive, fun, andfriendly. Whenever there is a problem or when someone
is in trouble, regardless of their individual role or
responsibilities, they ﬁrst think of what they can do tohelp and cooperate with each other. This is our daily
standard. I feel that their considerate team spirit hascreated an environment that allows us to carefully
watch over each child, to provide meticulous childcare.
Since the opening of the school, we have continued todevise ways to provide care and education that support
each child in our school to reach their full potential.
One of our major projects is to provide a subject-based
lesson. The purpose of this system is to allow teachers
to use their expertise, special skills, and excellent sense
to develop unique lessons. For example, a teacher wholoves drawing and is good at it will be able to givechildren better art lessons and in greater depth. Whenthe teacher draws inspirational pictures all over theTclassroom windows, the bright eyes of the children
show they are motivated to start drawing their own.
The children are always willing to try everything.
Our staﬀ are just as enthusiastic as the children!

What is rewarding about my job?
A child who was shy started to talk a lot! A childsuccessfully using the toilet for the ﬁrst time!
A child spoke English for the ﬁrst time! etc.
It's a great moment to be able to see and feel
their growth and share that joy with their parents.
HP

Facebook

1-1-51-1F Fukushima,
Fukushima-ku, Osaka-shi, Osakahe opening year of the school has been full ofmany new things. Blending new staﬀ members
into a team has been a challenge. However, I was
greatly encouraged to see all of our staﬀ working
very hard, staying positive and ﬂexible as they
believed it is time to put all our eﬀorts into this!
even as they faced many challenges due to the
COVID-19 pandemic.
After all, our school is one of the largest schools in
Kinder Kids. We have a playground, a theater room,a library, a kitchen, a dining area, and even a large
gymnasium where the Grad Club children can exercise with all their might. We make full use of these
extensive facilities every day with all our classes. I
can hear the laughter and English conversation of
the children and teachers from everywhere in theschool.
As a manager, I try to observe the activities asoften and as closely as I can because it is important for me to be able to give parents an easy tounderstand explanation about what their children
are learning and how it helps them grow. At thesame time, it is also important for us to let parents
know that our teachers are paying close attention
to their children and always thinking about them.
Being exposed to diﬀerent cultures at an early age
oﬀers many opportunities for learning, not just for
language acquisition.

Kinder Kids has many methods and teachers to
help make our children s spirits shine brightly.
I hope that our school will always be a place thatmakes children, parents, and teachers smile when
they come to school.

What is rewarding about my job?
Watching over the growth of the children
A child who was wearing nappies and waddlingaround is now reading a picture book to their
younger friends.After they enter elementary
school, they start to tell us at Grad Club about
their new school life. And when their younger
siblings enter Kinder Kids, we feel like they too
are part of our family.
I feel fulﬁllment when the number of"Our Children" continues to increase and makes
Our Family Tree grow.
HP

3

demy
Aca wly Open!

Facebook

1-2-22 Karasugatsuji,
Tennoji-ku, Osaka-shi, Osaka

4

S-chan is learning Chinese
and will soon leave Japan!
She is looking forward to
her new life in Singapore!

Interview

Kids living
around the world

3

This time, we interviewed the family of S.N-chan who graduatedfrom Kinder Kids last year. S-chan's father was working in
Singapore apart from the family. While the family was living
apart, the COVID-19 pandemic made it diﬃcult to travel between
the two countries. This is one of the reasons why the family
decided to move to Singapore where their father lives.

er Kids
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ー What are you looking forward to in Singapore?

ー What kind of adult do you want her to grow up to be?

Considering the importance of spending time together as a family, we decided ourentire family should move to Singapore, where her father is now working.
We hope that this experience will be a good opportunity for our children to learn
another language. She has always been shy in front of others and reserved in
expressing her opinions, but as she has encountered various new experiences, she
has gradually gained conﬁdence and has the strength to tackle new things with apositive attitude. We want to enjoy exploring this new place with our children andgiving them more chances to try new things by going abroad.

We believe, thanks to the global educational environment, the teachers from diﬀerent
countries and unique curriculum has helped her to develop a foundation for global
communication. Also, in the prep class for elementary school entrance exams, theteachers have closely and passionately encouraged and helped nurture her behavior,manners, and intellectual development.
We hope that she will continue to develop her ability to communicate with people
from all over the world and grow up to be a person who can treat others with kindness
yet always keeping in mind the culture and spirit that is uniquely Japanese.

ー Please tell us about the Chinese lessons that S-chan is taking toprepare for life in Singapore.

ー How does she continue to learn English in addition to her school work?

She became interested in Chinese and started learning it because her father is working
in Singapore. In Singapore, Chinese is used as much as English, so she is very motivatedto learn Chinese because she wants to go there and try to speak Chinese .
The lessons are taught in English to learn Chinese. She decided to take theone-on-one course. While maintaining her English skill, she can feel the connection
between English and Chinese expressions. We believe that it is a fulﬁlling language
learning experience for her. The teacher said that she is learning Chinese quickly.
Perhaps it is because she has been exposed to two languages since her early childhood.

Our daughter entered Kinder Kids from the Nursery class. We are very happy
with the excellent curriculum and the education she received from Kinder Kids.
She has friends from Kinder Kids at school where she will enroll in, theteacher told us that the graduates of Kinder Kids are all very good at English.
5

e!

Party

We are very happy that we decided to send our daughter to Kinder Kids.

She goes to Grad Club three times a week and Chinese lessons in English once a
week. Regardless if it is a lesson or a hobby, we can see her growing up because onceshe decides to do something, she pushes herself very hard.
She usually listens to Western music and reads Western books in English. She is now
into Japanese anime and watches it a lot, but that doesn't stop her from speaking
English, and when she hears English, she naturally switches to use English. We
believe it is because of the time she has spent at Kinder Kids.

They plan to live in Singapore for one year. When choosing a schoolin Singapore, they carefully selected the curriculum and school
environment that even if S-chan was not used to living in Singapore,
would allow her to enjoy school.
This is the ﬁrst overseas study experience for their daughter who will
be a second grade elementary school student. We are sure she will
have a wonderful experience in that country where many diﬀerent
ethnic groups are gathered and a lot of attractions come together!
6
  

Judging Criteria
The honest feelings of the children
can be felt from the text
The child has clearly expressed what
was felt through that experiences
The picture diary makes others want tomeet the child who wrote it

Picture diaries from Kinder Kids have been selected for the
Kagayaki Prize and the Habataki Prize from the entries submitted
to the SAE Kirara Picture Diary Composition Contest 2020 .
Here, we introduce the ﬁve works that received the Kagayaki
Prize , which exhibited a high level of accomplishment.
These are diary entries and dynamically drawn scenes that honestly
express one's feelings from a child's point of view. We can feelthat each child's individuality and development of a rich mind isnurtured in the course of daily activities.
The SAE Kirara Picture Diary Contest (sponsored by the Tokyo
Children's Education Center) will end in 2020, so we are planningto hold a Kinder Kids sponsored contest next school year!

Kumiko Shinoda,
Senior Manager, Examinationand Learning Division

Layout of the works

E

C

A

D

B

A Y.O・Sakai School・K3
B S.S・Nishinomiya School・K3
C

Y.M・Kobe Seaside School・K3

D

T.K・Yokohama School・K3

E Y.W・Nagoya School・K3

78

Letʼ s make a four-panel comic

Busy Bee

By PHONICS GARDEN

New school term’s Message

Four-panel cartoon is ﬁlled with unique and charming Phonics Garden sfriends. This time, the story is about hard-working Busy Bee, easy-going
Yawning Yak, and attentive Elegant Elephant.Put the ﬁve sentences
below in the correct box to complete the four-panel cartoon!

1

Yawning Yak

Kinder Kids Principal

2020 has been a very challenging
year for all of us.
Kinder Kids has adapted to ensurethat our education quality is
continually improving. We will
launch our new online program for
our Baby Class, and for our K1
students in April. We have many fun
new programs for our 2021 year. We
are hoping that we can one day beable to travel freely and safely. The
children from Canada and Hawaii
will be so excited to have visitorsfrom Japan. With Singapore, it wasquite unfortunate that we did nothave a chance to open the school
there due to covid 19. It has been so

Busy︓いそがしい

Elegant ElephantWayne Kimlong that we have decided to notopen the school.
We will continue to explore andcreate new schools for our children
to be able to meet students from allover the world.
All of you worked so hard and madeyour parents, teachers, and staﬀ very
proud of you. We are very excited tosee all of you back next April, where
you will challenge yourselves in yournew grades. For the K3 children,
going to your elementary schools
must be exciting.
Please keep in contact with yourfriends, and please come back tovisit us.

2

3
4“Hello!”5

43“Letʼ s see why sheʼ s busy!”“Oh, sheʼ s busy...”92

1“We can help!”“Hello, Busy Bee!”

Reference the back cover for dialogue examples

10