Yesterday morning we started our first karate lesson of the school year. Karate lessons are usually held twice a month at the school hall. All lessons are conducted by a karate instructor, Nakano sensei.

Year 2 children had a lesson, and year 3 children also had a lesson. The younger children do not yet participate in this activity.

The Bear class took their lesson with Momo class. Firstly, they changed into their sportswear, took off their shoes, and moved up to the hall. The exercises are always practiced bare-footed to aid stability and to help them to better understand their movements.

We practiced some stretches, and how to kneel down and then stand up correctly. The karate teacher wanted the students to follow the movements in the correct order, and to have good posture. We also practiced how to do some forward punches. The students formed fists with both hands and then tucked their fists by their sides, with their elbows pointing backward. They then had to punch forward, keeping their arms straight out in front of them. This was repeated many times so they could get used to the action.

The karate teacher was quite strict with the children. She wanted the actions to be done properly and in the correct style. Some children picked up the movements very well, whilst others were not very coordinated. It was difficult to follow some actions that involved movement of both the legs and arms at the same time.

To make it more fun, Nakano sensei allocated some time in the lesson where she did a magic trick. She placed a blue handkerchief into a student’s back pocket and it invisibly and mysteriously flew into a different student’s pocket! She promised that she would do more magic tricks in future lessons if the students practiced as hard as possible!

I am sure the kids will look forward to learning more karate, as well as enjoying some new magic tricks.

– Mark –

(昨日の午前中，今年度初めての空手教室がスタートしました。空手教室は，遊戯室で通常月に２回行われます。全てのレッスンを空手の先生である，中野先生が行ってくださいます。

小さい組さんのお友達はまだ空手教室の活動はなく，年中組さんと年長組さんが参加します。

ベアークラスは，もも組さんと一緒に行いました。初めに子どもたちは体操服に着替え，靴を脱ぎ，遊戯室へ移動しました。空手の練習は安定性と自分たちの動きをより把握するためにいつも裸足で行います。

私たちはいくつかのストレッチ，膝をついての座り方，またその姿勢からの立ち方を正しく練習しました。先生は子どもたちに正しい順番で動きを真似ることと，姿勢を正すことを望みました。また私たちは前にパンチをする動きも練習しました。子どもたちは両手を拳にして身体の横につけ，肘を後ろに引きます。そして，ひねりながら前にパンチをし，腕をまっすぐに伸ばします。この動きを何度も練習し，身に付けることができました.

先生は子どもたちにとても厳しかったですが，それは動きを正しいスタイルで行なって欲しかったからです。子どもたちには難しかったようですが，しっかり動けている子どももいました。両足，両腕を同時に使って動くことは難しかったですね。

さらに楽しかったことが。中野先生がマジックを披露してくれました。１人の友達の後ろズボンポケットに入れたはずの青のハンカチが，別の友達のポケットの中に！先生は，空手を一生懸命練習したらこれからもマジックを見せてあげるよ，と約束してくれました！

私はきっと子ども達は空手を学ぶこと，そして，新しいマジック見ることを楽しみにしていることだろうと思います。

マーク先生より）