VBS Day 1

The VBS program at the Church in Tachikawa is called Joy English Club. The reason is so that the parents will not see this as primarily an evangelistic event but more so as a way that their children can learn english from native english speakers. We teach english through song, games, lessons and story time. We also interact as much as we can with the mothers and their children so that they have more personal interaction with us which increases their curiosity in why we would spend our vacation doing this.

The first day we played a game which helped the children learn body parts such as hands, elbows and knees. We also sang songs like: head and shoulders knees and toes and the hokey pokey which apparently will give children more energy, not less. We divided the children into 4 groups for english lessons. I helped Caroline with the youngest group, which ranges from 2 years old to kinder garden. This is the largest group due to the fact that we are competing with swimming lessons which does not cater to younger children.

After the english lessons we had snack time and story time. The theme for the day was Jesus in God over creation. The story was Jesus walking on the water. After the story we did a craft which illustrated the story. The craft was really hard, but that turned out to be good because the mothers then became more active. I think the mothers liked putting the craft together better than the children did.

After VBS we began prep for Day 2 and then a little post lunch detox time/team building time which we like to call カラオケ, after which I had an english lesson. The lesson went well and the student requested more lessons.

In the evening I changed home-stay locations from the Yukis to the Katos. The Kato family has 4 children and so I spent the better part of the evening tickling and wrestling with said children. All in all, a good Monday.