Expanding future possibilities

Frontpage: "Dancing summer veggies"
Colorful summer vegetable friends full of energy
Basking in the summer sun, Jumping with all their might! Jump! Jump!
The expressions of the vegetables jumping out of the basket are so cute!

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

・Your recent interests
・Topics you want us to cover
・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★Inﬁnity Global Elementary School Report★Interview with a Kinder Kids graduate(IELTS score 7.0/ pass EIKEN Grade 1 as a sophomore in high school)★Staff interview(1st prize for 2 years in a row in the English test for Japanese staff)

Published inJuly 2022 Vol.22
Next issue isplanned to comeat the end of September

Kinder Kids Inc.
TEL：06-6135-0150
Pulala Tenma 2F, 3-1 Ikeda-cho,
Kita-ku, Osaka-shi, Osaka. 530-0033★Grad Club British Hills Event Reportwww.kinderkids.com

日本の心と、英語の力。Kinder Kids inc.

Inﬁnity
Global Elementary School
Project-based learning

FOCUS！

"Lemonade Stand Project", cross-curricular activity
Chemistry

How much sugar isjust the right amount?

In this issue, we would like to introduce
the Elementary School's project-based learning"Lemonade Stand Project"

Makinglemonade

Cost accounting
and price setting

Arithmetic

How much does it cost per glass?
To make a proﬁt how muchshould the selling price be to sell a lot?

communication

Marketingresearch

Surveying people around you
to ﬁnd out what pricethey would be willing to pay.

Making chairsShapes
CraftsMaking cardboard chairs
for customers

expressiveness

Makinghandouts

Making handouts
using online design tools

communication

Selling lemonade

Selling Lemonade to family and friends,
Financialand calculating the change
Educationand the total sales.

First of all, what is project-based learning? It may be a little difﬁcult
to visualize, so let's think about the learning which is not connected tosociety. When you were in junior high and high school, you learned
factorization in math class. When you were learning about factorization, you must have been thinking, "Why am I learning this?" "Wherecan I use this?" This is "learning that is not connected to society. It isSocialstudies

Thinking about
how to use the proﬁts

Donation

This time there was a suggestion
to donate the proﬁts

just rote learning, cramming in knowledge that you don't know where
Head Teacher
Akifumi Nakayama

or when it will be used.

Students can learn their subjects through projects. They can feel that what they are learning in each subject

On the other hand, in project-based learning, when you are learning

will be actually useful in society. We hope that through project-based learning, they will experience the joy

about factorization, you think of it this way: "Selling lemonade" is aand importance of learning together with their friends and teachers as members of society.

project. In the project, you factor customers into male/female, age
and income categories. By learning through real-life experiences in a
project, you become aware that what you are learning can be useful insociety, which makes learning fun and easier to retain what you learn.
This time, the purpose of this lemonade stand project was to learn
about money and society through selling lemonade to local people.
1Please check the elementary school HP orKinder+ for 2023 application guidelines.

HPKinder+1-2-22 Karasugatsuji, Tennoji-ku, Osaka-shi, Osaka（Located on the ground of the Kinder Kids Academy
Tennoji Yuhigaoka School）
2

MyStepping
Stone〈File3〉
The starting point was Kinder Kids. Let us introduce a graduate
who is taking on new challenges in the ﬁeld she is passionate about.

Osaka SchoolGraduates

R.AOsaka prefecture
Private high schoolSenior【Proﬁle of R.A】

Passing the EIKEN Grade 1 &achieving IELTS 7.0 score

She graduated from Kinder Kids Osaka School in 2011. Passed EIKEN Grade pre-2
test in the ﬁrst grade of elementary school and Grade 2 test in the third grade ofelementary school. 3rd place in the Grad Club's 1st English Speech Contest. 2ndplace in the Grad Club's 2nd English Speech Contest. Was a child actor in "Gekidan
Himawari" and appeared in Kinder Kids Mirika Schoolʼs VP in 2012.
In her second year of high school, she was accepted into "Osaka Global Juku 2021"
run by the Osaka Prefectural Government.
Improved her English communication skills through discussions, debates andpresentations and attended remote lectures from the University of Leeds in the U.K.
Passed EIKEN Grade 1 & IELTS scored 7.0 last year.

I want to live abroad and work on
environmental issues in the future.
Memories at Kinder Kids

MQuestions that I found difﬁcult in EIKEN Grade 1 testy most memorable experiences atI found the vocabulary questions particular-Kinder Kids were the various events andly difﬁcult. The Eiken Grade 1 test contains

ﬁeld trips. I always looked forward to going ontechnical words and quite formal expres-monthly excursions such as grape picking,sions. When I ﬁrst looked at the past ques-playing in the snow, and so on.

tions, no matter how familiar I was withI have fond memories of not only Christmas,

English, many of the words were unfamiliar

Halloween and other international events, butto me. I concentrated on preparation foralso Japanese events such as New Year's,

about a month before the exam, particularly

Setsubun and Hinamatsuri. I always had fun

focusing on vocabulary. Even when I waswith my friends while making crafts and draw-

playing with my friends, I memorized English

ing pictures that were related to those events.

words whenever I had a chance.

Learning English after preschool

IELTS Exam and Test Preparation

I attended elementary, junior high and highIn order to check the progress after one year ofschools that did not focus on English. But bylessons at "Osaka Global Juku"※ ,organized by Osakaattending Grad Club once or twice a week, I

Prefectural Government, I took the IELTS exam.

was able to prevent losing my English skills.

Test preparation lessons were part of the classes

Talking with native English speakers andwhich were held once a week for 3 hours. I also

taking grammar and reading comprehension

had many practical lessons such as writing andclasses greatly helped to maintain myspeaking English.

English skills. I also watch SNS, such as You-works.I have deepened my interest in environmental issues through discussions with international students at "Osaka Global Juku," so I
would especially like to major in "Environmental
Economics" and learn how environmental issues
and the SDGs are generating economic beneﬁts.
After graduation, I would like to work overseas,

I believe that the basis of
my daughter's personality wasnurtured at Kinder Kids
What made me decide to enroll my child in
Kinder Kids was how the teachers treated children. They praise the children to the fullest,whether expressed in words or with their entire

knowledge I acquired at university, to work for abody.

company that works on environmental problems,

When the teachers said "Perfect! Great!" andand someday I want to start my own company.

hugged the children, I felt that they werebringing out the best in the children with love.

Message to Kinder Kids students
When you enter junior high and high school,
you may feel confused because English education in Japan is completely different from theeducation you have received at Kinder Kids.

humble and learn new things, and above all, to※Osaka Global Juku
This is Osaka Prefectural
Government's Overseas Education
Support Program for High SchoolStudents.

From R-sanʼs mothermaking use of my English skills and theEnglish is too easy at school, but to always beto English every day toand other information.

economics and study how the economy

thing is not to neglect your studies just because

just studying English, I also read and listen

3I

n the future at university, I want to major inHowever, I believe that the most important

Tube and TikTok, in English, and rather thankeep up with world affairs

Study and Work in the future

My daughter felt conﬁdent that she was loved,
and worked hard to get more praise. She had
an energetic school life.
It has been more than 10 years since she graduated from Kinder Kids, and I am once againgrateful that she enrolled in Kinder Kids andnurtured qualities such as high English proﬁciency, independence, leadership, and gaining a
global perspective with the Japanese mindset.

enjoy and make English a part of your life.
Meeting with the former Osaka school manager
for the ﬁrst time in 11 years

4Interview

1st place for two years in a row
in the English test for Japanese staff !
Osaka Bay School

Mai Shirotsuki〜The Britain that anybody can visit without a passport〜

2022.4/29（Fri）〜30（Sat）

ー Congratulations on achieving 1st place for two years in a row in the English
test for Japanese staff! Please tell us how you feel about this achievement.
Thank you very much. I am grateful for the warm support I have always
received from everyone around me. This award has inspired me to keep
up the good work!
ー How have you studied English since joining the company?

Step into the large site of a reconstructed traditional British village, you will ﬁnd yourself in the world of the British
novel, "Harry Potter". Most of the staﬀ are from the U.K., and English is the only language used in the village. We hadan experience similar to studying in the U.K. at British Hills, which is like time-traveling back to medieval Britain.

I talk and communicate a lot with my class partners and the staff aroundme, and I still talk frequently with my friends from when I lived in the U.S.
I also often watch English videos and movies on YouTube and Netﬂix.
ー Please tell us about your English-related childhood memories.

We could learn a lot about the history andculture of the United Kingdom throughWhen I was in elementary school, I had opportunities to play with a girlmany activities for two days at British Hills.

from Australia who was staying at my friend's house, and that was the ﬁrst

Unfortunately, it rained on the ﬁrst day,time I came into contact with English and foreign culture and became

but the fog around the building made it feelinterested in it. We kept exchanging emails after she returned to Australia.
ー What made you decide to join Kinder Kids?
I love to interact with children. When I was in university, I worked part-time as anafterschool staff at an elementary school and also worked at an international
school summer program.I thought that Kinder Kids was a perfect ﬁt for my desire
to fully utilize my English and the linguistics I had learned while studying abroad.
ー Is there anything you keep in mind at work, and what do you ﬁnd rewarding?
Since I am taking care of precious children, my ﬁrst priority is to create a

as if we were really in England.
We made our own original tote bags using
the traditional painting technique "FabricPainting", also learned table manners
and practiced them during dinner.
Cricket, a traditional British sport, was a newexperience for us and, even though we struggled,

safe environment. I also try to be attentive to the children's feelings so

we had a lot of fun as a team.

that they can spend their time in a relaxed and safe environment. I also

We also enjoyed the world of Harry Potter

believe it is important to talk a lot with the children to learn about theirby wearing the original British Hills cloak,interests.It is very rewarding to see children grow, such as children whoand had a great time!

always used to cry, start to laugh a lot or learn to be able to do something they could not do before.I am very grateful for the many things Ilearn from their parents and the warm support I receive from them.
ー Are there anything you would like to try in the future?
Starting this year, I am joining the English lesson team for nursery staff.
This is a new challenge for me and I would like to motivate the staff tolearn English as much as possible.
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