Last school year, 8 students from Sagano High School traveled to Florida in January. Sagano High School and Jupiter High School have had an exchange program since 2015. From 2021 to 2023, it was impossible to travel to Florida, but we maintained our relationship online. Finally, this January, we could return to Florida for our 2-week exchange program on environmental and cultural studies. After returning to Japan, the participants began to formulate their ideas for a presentation on what they experienced, what they learned, and what ideas they wished they could see used here in Japan and in Kyoto. Here is a description of the full Florida exchange program for 2024!

　2024年1月4日から17日までの2週間本校生徒が米国フロリダ州にあるジュピター高校を訪問する短期研修を実施しました。ジュピター高校環境学コースの皆さんとは嵯峨野高校の連携校として2015年から交流事業を実施しています。2021年から2023年の期間はコロナ禍により対面による交流はできませんでしたが、オンラインで関係を維持してきました。コロナが5類扱いとなり、ある程度海外への往来ができるようになり、対面による交流を再開することができました。

　この2週間の研修で、生徒たちは同コースの生徒の家にホームステイし、ジュピター高校の授業の受講やフィールドワーク等の経験を通して、英語でのコミュニケーション能力の向上はもちろんのこと、異文化と環境学についての理解を深め、批判的・論理的思考力、判断力そして共感力を養うことができました。日本に帰国後、参加者は自分たちが体験したことや学んだことを振り返り、環境問題に関する自らの行動変容を京大環境学堂の皆さんに発表しました。

【写真】参加した高校2年生8名とマイアミ総領事館広報文化担当官（上段右端）

ジュピター高校環境学コース理科教員（上段左端）及び嵯峨野高校引率教員（下段）

以下、研修内容について詳しく報告します。

Pre-Trip Preparations - 出発前の結団式

Before leaving, the students met with the principal, who encouraged them to learn as much as possible and to investigate many research questions.

出発前の結団式では、研修で様々なことに挑戦する決意を代表生徒が表明し、校長先生からは、各自が設定した問いについての自分なりの答えを見つけるべく多くを学んでくるように励ましの言葉がありました。

Arrival and Initial Days - 1月4日～7日

January 4th-7th: On January 4th, the students were warmly received by their homestay families at the airport. The following days were spent enjoying free days with their homestay families, acclimating to the environment. We also met up together at the Jupiter Lighthouse, a symbol of the town of Jupiter, to learn about the history of the town.

約16時間のフライトの後フロリダ州ウエストパームビーチ空港に到着した生徒たちは、ホストファミリーに温かく迎えられました。最初の週末を一緒に過ごしながら、時差ぼけを克服して体調を整え、現地の気候や環境に慣れました。希望者には、ジュピターの町の象徴であるジュピター灯台で町の歴史について学ぶ機会もありました。

Educational Activities and Experiences 　研修内容

January 8th: The group visited the Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens, where they presented on Japanese nature and culture to the staff and docents, followed by a tour of the gardens, appreciating the American interest in Japanese culture.

1月8日：南フロリダにある森上博物館と日本庭園を訪問しました。職員とそこで働くボランティアガイドの方々に日本の自然と文化について発表をした後、現地の植物の生態系を考慮しながら造られた日本庭園を庭師の方（アメリカの方）に案内していただきました。ここではアメリカの人々の日本文化への関心の高さを知りました。私たちの訪問について、地元のメディアの取材を受けました。

https://www.wlrn.org/education/2024-01-09/japanese-exchange-program-brings-cultural-and-environmental-links-to-delray-beach 

https://www.northpalmbeachlife.com/blogs/morikami-hosts-japanese-students 

https://www.bocaratontribune.com/bocaratonnews/2024/01/morikami-museum-and-japanese-gardens-hosts-exchange-students-from-sagano-high-school-in-japan/ 

January 9th: They visited Jupiter High School, got their student IDs, met the teachers. They  enjoyed a lecture from Ms. Jennifer Smith, an Environmental Scientist, and two other scientists from the South Florida Water Management District, learning about wildlife protection and business-community cooperation. And they had lunch with the lead teachers of the Jupiter Environmental Research and Field Studies Academy (JERFSA)and the principal of Jupiter High School. In the afternoon, they attended a lab class in a wetland ecosystem with JERFSA students and teachers.

1月9日：ジュピター高校登校初日。生徒証明書を受け取って校内に入り、先ずは図書館兼情報センターへと案内されました。そこで、南フロリダ水管理地区の環境専門家、ジェニファー・スミス氏からの講義を受け、野生生物保護に関しての官民の協力について学びました。ジュピター高校の校長先生と環境学コース（JERFSA）長をしている先生との合同主催の昼食会に招待していただきました。午後は環境コースの生徒と湿地の生態系と水質調査に関する実習授業に参加しました。

January 10th: They again went to Jupiter High School and had a tour of the expansive school campus. In the afternoon, they did presentations on Japanese nature and culture for the 11th and 12th-grade students of JERFSA.

1月10日：ジュピター高校登校２日目。午前中は広大な校舎を見学しました。午後は、JERFSAの11年生と12年生（日本の高校1年と2年に対応）向けに、日本の自然環境と文化についてプレゼンテーションを行いました。

January 11th: They again went to Jupiter High School and attended classes with their homestay siblings.

1月11日：ジュピター高校登校3日目。ホストバディと一緒に様々な教科の授業に出席しました。

January 12th: The group traveled to Everglades National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage and Biosphere Reserve Site, to study native ecosystems and human impacts on them.

1月12日：ジュピター高校環境学コースの生徒と一緒に、ユネスコ世界自然遺産に指定されているエバーグレーズ国立公園および生物圏保護区のフィールドワークに参加しました。そこでの生態系にや在来種へ人間が与えている影響について学びました。

January 13th-15th: The weekend and the American holiday on Monday (Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day) were spent with the homestay families. The final event was an amazing farewell party with all the teachers and families. They had a great time!

1月13日～15日：この週末と月曜日（マーティン・ルーサー・キング・ジュニア・デーという祝日）は、ホストファミリーと一緒に過ごしました。希望者には、環境学の専門家によって地元の生態系についての観察ツアーが開催されました。最後は、この研修に参加したホストファミリーの方々が、フェアウェルパーティーを企画してくださいました。参加生徒たちはここでの経験を振り返りながら、ホストファミリーたちと素敵な時間を過ごしました。

Cultural Exchange and Daily Life - 文化交流と日常生活

Throughout their stay, students lived with American families, gaining insights into the U.S. education system and daily life, enriching the cultural exchange experience.

滞在中、生徒たちはジュピター高校の生徒の家族と日常生活を共にし、様々な異文化体験を積むことができました。ジュピター高校に通うことで、米国の教育制度や教育内容についても理解を深めることができました。

Conclusion of the Trip - 帰国

On the morning of January 16th, the students departed for Kyoto, reflecting on their enriching and educational experience in Florida. Heartfelt thanks were extended to Jupiter High School's teachers, lecturers, and homestay families.

Post-Trip Activities and Achievements - 事後研修

Upon their return, the students prepared for a face-to-face presentation at Kyoto University, sharing the outcomes of their trip and proposing future initiatives for Japan and Kyoto. This event, held at the Laboratory of Regional Planning in the Graduate School of Global Environmental Studies (LRP-GES), was a success, with valuable feedback from professors and graduate students.

帰国後、生徒たちはこの研修を振り返り、自分たちの行動はどのように変容したかについてまとめ、京都大学大学院地球環境学堂地域資源計画論研究室の教授や大学院生にプレゼンテーションをしました。参加してくださった皆さんから多面的なフィードバックをいただき、学びをさらに進めることができました。

The Sagano High School students' global presentation is featured on the LRP-GES blog

この日の様子は京都大学大学院環境学堂地域資源計画論研究室のブログでも紹介されています。//lrp.ges.kyoto-u.ac.jp/archives/3739

Thanks to everyone involved with the Sagano High School Florida Program, 2024 was a successful year!

嵯峨野高校フロリダ短期研修を実施するにあたり、多方面から様々な御支援、御協力をいただきました。お陰様で貴重な学びと成長の機会を実現することができました。今回参加した生徒たちは、グローバルリーダーの一人として、周囲に良い影響を与え続けてくれると信じています。本当にありがとうございました。

外務省...。お仕事の想像が難しいので略歴をご紹介させていただきます。

田中　宏明さん

2011年3月　京都府立嵯峨野高校卒業
2015年9月　京都大学法学部卒業
2016年4月　外務省入省
2016年5月　軍縮不拡散・科学部軍備管理軍縮課
（核軍縮に関する取組、オバマ大統領の広島訪問、NPT運用検討会議等の大型行事）
2018年4月　米国研修（デューク大学ロースクール留学）
2020年4月　ポーランド大使館二等書記官
（情報収集・働きかけ、対EU関係、ウクライナ情勢対応、大臣訪問対応）
2022年4月　中・東欧課（ウクライナ情勢対応）
2022年6月　南米課（南米１０カ国所掌、要人の訪問・来日の大型行事、国連総会等の国際会議）

...ますます遠い存在に感じます。田中先輩を前に最初はガチガチのみなさん。

しかし、ここから田中先輩のすごさを教員共々、思い知ることになるのです。

外務省に勤務するためには、語学や国際法等の知識ももちろん大切ですが、田中先輩はその知識を活かすためのコミュニケーション能力の大切さも教えてくださいました。大使館等海外の勤務地で、重要かつ正確な情報をいち早く入手するためには、様々な方との日頃からのコミュニケーションが大切であり、そのために人間関係のメンテナンスを意識的に行っておられるとのこと。

身振り手振りを交えて、熱くお話しいただいた結果、終盤には生徒のみなさんはこの表情！

外務省という難しいお仕事の紹介でしたが、信頼は安心に繋がるようで、笑顔の絶えない講演となりました。後輩へのメッセージとして、以下３つのことを教わりました。

・世界に目をむけよう。

・問題意識を持って、好奇心と情熱を胸に。

・「夢」を諦めないで、迷ったらワクワクする方へ。

講演後、心に火のついた様子の生徒が...

これからも嵯峨野高校は生徒の皆さんを通じて、教育で世界とつながっていきます。『迷ったらワクワクする方へ』飛び立て！嵯峨野高生！！

10月16日（月）、2年生専修コースの生徒がサイエンス英語の授業で、立命館大学のノックソン先生から考古学の講義を受講しました！以下、その時の様子を英語でお伝えします。
The other day we had a special guest lecturer from Ritsumeikan University visit our Science English classes. Dr. Corey Noxon, an Assistant Professor, came and gave the students a lecture and a workshop on creating AR and VR models. Dr. Noxon uses AR and VR when researching Jomon Period archaeology. He explained how AR and VR helps researchers to study Japan's past, even when they live in countries all over the world. Then he showed the students how to use some of the AR tools and they created their own sample models. It was a lot of fun, and everyone had a new appreciation for how technology can help us to learn more about history!

11月1日(水)、１年生GI（グローバルインタラクション）の授業で韓国の釜山西女子高校と今年度3回目のオンライン交流をしました。

We had our final interaction with our friends at Busan SEO Girls' School from South Korea. All of the students shared their presentations they had made in Global Interaction class with them. Then, the students from South Korea taught us more about their country. It was another great experience for us to learn about each other and have fun chatting. 

本校生徒は日本の文化について、釜山西女子高校の生徒は韓国の文化についてそれぞれスライドプレゼンテーションをしました。その後自由にやりとりをして交流を楽しみました。

Some reflections from the students: 

以下は生徒からの振り返りです。

"I explained about famous festivals in Kyoto such as Gion Festival and Jidai Festival. After our presentation ended, they also did a presentation about South Korea for me! They explained about the famous TV shows in South Korea. I didn't know about the culture there, but it was so interesting for me. Thanks to this, I could learn about the famous actors in South Korea." 

"I think the most fun thing about this event was being able to know about their culture. I believe that understanding each other is very important in the globalized society now. So, I want to do things like this more!"

We had a great conversation, thanks to all of our international friends!

A sunny Saturday morning set the scene for the 22nd annual Cosmos Cup for Junior High students. Held at Sagano High School early on September 9th, this contest saw eight finalists representing various different Kyoto Junior High Schools come to show their English skills.

9月9日(土)、第22回こすもす杯中学生英語朗読コンテストを開催しました。予選を勝ち抜いた中学生8名が参加し、日頃の英語学習の成果を披露してくれました。

Cosmos Cup is an English story-telling contest. Students are given a story they have never seen before, and, with only twenty minutes of preparation, are asked to read it out loud in four minutes or less. The students' accuracy and pronunciation are not the only things taken into account! As well as English mechanics, the judges also look for the rhythm of the speech and the passion and emotion put into the words. Not only does English fluency matter, the ability to appropriately perform in English is equally important.

こすもす杯は英語朗読コンテストです。参加者は当日渡された課題文を見て、20分間の練習の後、4分間で朗読します。発音や正確性だけでなく、本文の内容を理解したうえでの抑揚や感情表現なども重要な審査項目です。流暢さに加えて、場面・文脈に応じたパフォーマンスが求められます。

Members of the Sagano High School English Speaking Society also assisted. Four students volunteered their time to share their love of learning English with the Junior High students and help the judges and teachers in running the contest. Duties of these students included reading each contestant's introduction, helping guide contestants between their different rooms, and chatting with the contestants to calm their nerves. With the assistance of these Sagano students, the contest ran smoothly.

また、本校ESS部の生徒達が運営に協力してくれました。4人の部員が、司会進行・参加者誘導だけでなく、参加者の気持ちをほぐす役割も担うなど、様々な場面で活躍し、交流を通じて英語学習の楽しさも伝えてくれました。部員たちのサポートのおかげでスムーズな大会運営ができました。

Judges were members of the Sagano English staff, as well as Vice Principal Shibata Mika. Every student did a fantastic job, and the judges were all very impressed at the English abilities of the students. When it was all over, however, there were only four contestants who left with a prize.

審査員は、本校英語科教員及び柴田副校長が務めました。どの参加者の発表も素晴らしく、審査員一同みなさんの実力に感銘を受けました。審査結果は以下の通りです。

Best Performance Prize:              Miss Sakurai, Saikyo High School Affiliated Junior High

Outstanding Performance Prize: Miss Takahashi, Shijo Junior High

Good Performance Prize:            Miss Takeuchi, Shijo Junior High

Honorable Mention:                    Miss Misaki, Seika Nishi Junior High

最優秀賞：櫻井さん【京都市立西京高等学校附属中学校】

（京都府教育委員会教育長賞）

優秀賞：　高橋さん【京都市立四条中学校】

（学校長賞）

奨励賞：　竹内さん【京都市立四条中学校】

努力賞：　三崎さん【精華町立精華西中学校】

Congratulations to our winners, and congratulations to all our contestants!

受賞者の皆さんおめでとうございます！

あらためて決勝参加者8名全員の健闘に敬意を表したいと思います。

みなさん、ありがとうございました！

７月中旬、１年生GIの授業でオーストラリアの Sydney Girls' School の６年生（現地の高校３年生）とオンラインで交流をしました。GIの授業で作成した嵯峨野高校紹介スライドを用いて頑張って英語で説明したり、日本語で質問を受けたりと楽しい時となりました。もっと英語を話せるように頑張ろう、と思った生徒も多いようでした。

　参加生徒の感想です。「今回、自分たち嵯峨野高校生は英語で、シドニーの生徒は日本語でそれぞれ交流を行っていたので、主言語とは違う言語でコミュニケーションをとることの楽しさを味わうことができました。」

　嵯峨野高校には相互交流で親交を深めている高校が国外にいくつかあります。シンガポールにも何校かあります。コロナ禍が落ち着きはじめ、久しぶりにシンガポールからの訪問客を受け入れることができようになりました。そして、爽やかな初夏にシンガポールにあるChung Cheng High School の副校長先生が嵯峨野高校を訪問してくださいました！それぞれの学校の取組やグローバル社会での共通課題などについて本校教員と交流した後、本校の授業見学もされました。グローバルインタラクションの授業では、シンガポールの教育について英語で講義をしてくださいました。スーパーサイエンスラボにおける生徒の取組にも大きな関心を寄せてくださり、将来的に協働でサイエンスプロジェクトを計画するお話もすることができました。楽しみです！

　2年半前、コロナ禍で対面での国際交流が難しい時に、オンラインでの国際交流を嵯峨野高校に申し込んでくださったのが韓国の全羅南道にあるコクソン高校です。それ以来オンラインでの交流で親交を深めてきました。そのコクソン高校が、初めて嵯峨野高校を訪問してくださいました。少し前の話になりますが報告します。

　訪問されたのは6月下旬でした。約80人の生徒が関西に修学旅行に訪れた際に、嵯峨野高校の訪問をプログラムに入れてくださったのでした。歓迎のセレモニーでコクソン高校の校長先生からご挨拶をいただいた後、若者の文化や伝統的な遊びといった話題を中心に、本校1年生の生徒とコクソン高校の生徒達は小グループに分かれて文化交流会を持ちました。参加した生徒は「伝えようと意識すると伝わるし、気持ちも通じ合えることがわかった。」「英語の文法などを気にして、話すのをためらうくらいなら、とりあえず話してみることが大切だと感じた。」という感想を寄せてくれました。韓国の同世代の生徒と交流できたことが嬉しかったようです。

On Saturday, July 8th we held our annual Sagano Immersion Day for Summer Seminar. 17 first-year students took this opportunity to come close to natural, everyday English! Led by the AETs at Sagano High School, we were joined by four AETs from other high schools around Kyoto to enjoy a day filled with experiences using English throughout the day. 

In the first half of the day, participating students enjoyed a variety of activities and lessons centered around English language or cultural experiences.  It was packed full of fun and engaging activities which gave the students at Sagano a chance to really flex their English skills. They all worked hard to think critically and speak extemporaneously, and enjoyed meeting our guests from America and Canada.

In the afternoon, they practiced and performed improvisation activities to boost their extemporaneous production skills while enjoying cooperative performance activities with their friends. We are grateful for the AETs who joined us, and thankful for an enjoyable day using English!

今年度もいよいよオンラインによる海外との交流が始まりました！まずは、5月16日に韓国釜山西女子高校との交流の様子をお伝えします。
自己紹介をした後は、お互いが知っている日本や韓国の若者文化の話で盛り上がりました。

Greetings from Sagano High School! We are having a great year so far and we wanted to report on the International Interactions we have experienced so far here at Sagano High School!

On May 16th we had our first interaction and it was with Busan SEO Girls' High School, located in South Korea! We had a great time talking with them, introducing ourselves and sharing interesting cultural ideas.

5月18日は、2校と交流しました。ハワイのマウイ島にあるジェームズキャンベル高校と釜山西女子高校です。ジェームズキャンベル高校の生徒は、英語による初めてのオンライン交流で少々緊張気味の嵯峨野生がリラックスできるように、分かりやすい英語で、ジョークも交えながら会話をファシリテートしてくれていました。感謝です！

Then on May 18th we had two interactions, one with Busan SEO Girls' High School and one with James Campbell High School, which is located on Maui in Hawaii, USA! We had so much fun learning about each other and having a great time communicating. We can't wait until our next interactions with them and with our other international partners!

Science English (科学英語）の授業では、Scicence Communicator(サイエンスコミュニケーター）として必要なスキルの習得を目的に、実践的な英語でやりとりする機会を設けています。11月29日には1年8組の生徒がシンガポールにある連携校チュンチェンハイスクールとオンラインで交流し、事前に準備したプレゼンテーションの交換発表会を開催しました。本校の生徒のトピックは「日本における科学技術や数学研究について」でした。以下英文によるレポートです。

Students in the Science Course at Sagano High School continue to have exciting opportunities not found in the traditional classroom! This time, on November 29th, first year students of Class 8 had the chance to interact online with students from Chung Cheng High School (Yishun) in Singapore

Conducted over Google Meet, 40 students from CCHY joined 40 students from Sagano. After some brief introductions, the students moved into smaller breakout rooms. Here, the first-year Sagano students gave slideshow presentations in English about their most recent research project -- Science, Technology, and Math in Japan. Our students challenged themselves to discuss difficult topics in English, and the CCHY students were delighted to ask many questions and learn a lot about STEM in Japan.

Next, the Chung Cheng High School (Yishun) students gave presentations of their own about culture, history, life, and attractions in Singapore, which the Sagano students listened to with rapt attention. In turn, the CCHY students gladly answered the many questions about Singapore that the Sagano students had!

With just enough time for a little free talk at the end, the students parted ways at the end of the hour, electrified by the exchange of scientific and cultural ideas and delighted by the chance to have made friends with fellow students abroad.

Sagano High School teachers and students are deeply grateful to Chung Cheng High School (Yishun) in Singapore for our continued friendship and for helping to create opportunities such as this one to strengthen our ties while sharing our scientific and cultural ideas with each other. We are eagerly awaiting our next meeting!

サイエンス・イングリッシュの授業では、専修コースの皆さんが様々な科学分野の講義を英語で聴く機会があります。今回は1年生がVR(仮想現実）とAR(拡張現実)の違いや、研究者がどのように利用しているか、などについて学び、実際にアプリを使って体験もしてみました。以下英文によるレポートです！
On September 27th, first year students in the Science Course at Sagano had an opportunity to learn about and experience AR (Augmented Reality) and VR (Virtual Reality) in their Science English classes.
First, they received a private video lecture on AR and VR created especially for Sagano High School by Eric Hawkinson from the Kyoto University of Foreign Studies. In the lecture, Mr. Hawkinson explained the AR/VR spectrum and various applications of the technology in our lives.

Following that, the students were joined live via the internet by Dr. Corey Noxon, a researcher at Ritsumeikan university studying Jomon archaeology. Dr. Noxon explained how archaeologists use AR and VR technology in their research to preserve and share records of ancient artifacts. Guided by Dr. Noxon, the students were able to use some of this same technology themselves, using an app on their iPads called Sketchfab to interact with 3D models of real Jomon-period artifacts in augmented reality. This app can be used to interact with 3D models from a host of different disciplines, and the students may also be able to use this for their own research in their science labs as well.

In all, our class of engaging English lectures combined with hands-on interaction gave our students a wonderful opportunity to closely interact with cutting-edge technology, and to think deeply about its applications in science and in their own lives. We are deeply grateful for Mr. Hawkinson and Dr. Noxon for their contributions to our lessons, and we hope our students can continue to use these ideas and technologies throughout their time in Sagano.

Hello everyone, and welcome to a brief summary of some of the activities we have done in the first semester of this year here at Sagano High School. What a fun year we have had so far!

First Year Students
Our first year students introduced themselves to each other through poster sessions in April. It was a very fun and nice day.

Next, everyone learned how to have conversation tests in May, and they worked hard to express themselves in English! In GI class everyone learned how to use technology in their class, and then started making presentations and doing listening class activities. Everyone worked hard to learn all about Sagano High School and how to express themselves.

We also have had many interactions with our different country partners around the world. This semester we have spoken with our friends in Singapore, South Korea, the United States, Australia and even Colombia! It was so fun and exciting!

Second Year Students
Our second year students are working hard on their Academic Lab Research work, and we started out the year with some great lectures and information sessions.

Then everyone started working on deciding what research they were going to do. We have just one year to set our research goals, work hard on our research projects and then report on our findings! It will be a busy year for us all!

Third Year Students
The third year students' biggest event so far was surely the Sagano SSH Global Forum for student research in the end of May and the beginning of June. Every third year student did a presentation on their research topic in the face to face session, and every Academic Laboratory student did their presentation in English online as well.
First we had the online global version of the forum on Google Classroom. Each student made their presentation in video format so that it could be shared all around the world. We had our partner school in Jupiter, FL, USA join us, as well as many international graduate students studying at Kyoto University!

After the online event finished, the face to face event came in June. The students worked so hard and did some AMAZING presentations!

We hope everyone had a great time this semester, and we hope you have a great summer, too! See you in the second semester!

English Immersion Day

July 10th, 2021 was a day full of fun, excitement, and challenge here at Sagano High School! Thirty first and second year students came to school that Saturday to enjoy English Immersion Day for Summer Seminar. Joined by four guest ALTs from high schools all across Kyoto, they had the chance to experience all kinds of different activities, games, and lessons while sharing our ideas, creating art, making movies, solving puzzles, and more -- all while using English throughout the whole day!

Lessons & Activities

Led by our AETs at Sagano and our wonderful guests as well, students were able to enjoy many different and amazing lessons and activities in the first half of the day. The students had the chance to do so many different things!

They played a super fun storytelling card game called Dixit! Then they racked their brains taking turns making and describing pictures for each other to draw!

Next they created and drew awesome new mascot characters for Sagano and shared their ideas! Then they filmed their own hilarious versions of some favorite movies!

Next they had intense discussions on how to survive on a deserted island! And finally, they worked together to solve puzzles and riddles in an escape game!

As you can see, everyone had so many fun and interesting activities to do, and worked so hard to talk to each other and to the teachers in English. But that was only the first half of the day!! Our exciting day using English had only just begun! After lunch, everyone had an even more challenging activity waiting for them... 

Improv Workshop!

Do you know "improv"? The students sure didn't know it before this day! Improv is short for "improvisation," which means to perform without preparing. This is a very popular and fun activity all over the world, but it is difficult! Everyone broke up into small groups and spent two hours practicing various improv games, where they had to speak, act, perform, and play different characters in English -- with NO time to prepare! 

After practicing, everyone spent the rest of the day performing. Each group went up to the front of the room to perform a different improv game. This was the biggest challenge yet, for sure! But everyone was able to do their best, and by the end they were able to have fun using English confidently! After each game, the ALT Judges chose their favorite group to give prizes to. We got so many cool and fun (and sometimes delicious!) prizes from all over the world.

What a wonderful day! It was so tough to speak in English at first, but by the end, everyone had so much fun talking and working with their friends. Everyone was really happy to have joined today, and learned a lot and gained much confidence in speaking English. We hope everyone has the chance to do something like this again in the future! 

What a year it has been for the English program here at Sagano High School! We made a lot of changes this year to our program to help prevent the spread of the new coronavirus which causes COVID-19, so we would like to let you know about all the changes we made to our classes to keep everyone safe and continue our great communicative English programs. 

Masks, Ventilation, Alcohol Hand Spray
It is important to note that all students were asked to wear masks during all classes since they would be speaking out loud. This is a key feature, and we hope you will notice all the masks in the pictures. Next, the windows were always at least partially open to allow for the air to circulate. You can see in the pictures we luckily have many windows in the language lab (LL). Finally, because shared devices were used (and also to be safe) alcohol spray was provided by the entrances and exits of all the rooms and the students were required to cleanse their hands before and after each activity. 

Room Configuration
In order to make sure everyone could be socially distanced during our classes in the LL, we first measured out where the desks could be placed for all of the different activities that we do. If there was a theme for the 2020-21 school year, we could say it was "Moving desks". We realized in order to easily move the desks each time we should make markings of some kind so that it was easy to understand when we had to quickly change between classes. We decided to use different color masking tapes on the floor. For example, red marks were for a regular 40 desk lecture setup. Pink marks were for small group listening style classes, yellow triangle marks were for poster session presenters, purple x marks were for poster session audiences, and so on. You can see some of our markings in these pictures. 

Regular Lecture Style
During regular lecture style setup, desks were positioned so that the students were 110cm apart from each other, which was the rule. All students were reminded to face forward and asked not to move their desks towards each other, even when they had to talk with the person sitting next to them.

Conversation Tests and Interview Tests
We regularly give students conversation tests and interview tests and we pondered how to do this as safely as possible. The first decision we made was to eliminate the passing of papers, so that students were not touching items that were previously touched by other people over and over. So their entrance tickets were made smaller and disposable, so that they just threw them away in a small trash bin after they held it up for the grading teacher. Then, instead of handing over their paper rubrics, all of the rubrics were computer based, inside of Google Classroom. Therefore neither of the students or the teacher had any kind of physical contact. All chairs were placed at least 2 meters apart, so that they would be extra safe.

Poster Sessions
We often have poster sessions and we wanted to continue this excellent activity in a safe way. First we made markings on the floor by measuring all of the distances including poster presenter, audience person, and teacher positions. We realized we needed two rooms to accomplish this, so we added in a different room to accommodate all of the poster presenters. Next we developed rules for how the students had to move, staying distanced and also staying on the floor markers. Through all of these measures we were able to have many great poster sessions this year.

Presentations
We have many chances for students to make presentations so we had to design the room to be safe for presentations as well. The first row of the audience was 2 meters away from the presenters, and the presenters had to remain distanced from each other as well.

Group Discussions
Group discussion time provided us with a big challenge. First we decided to use a minimum of two rooms to spread everyone out. Next we measured a proper distance for all the desks to be set at. In order to keep the students from moving the desks closer together, we put a table in the middle of the group to keep it spaced out. When one group had to present to another, they had to stay distant from each other and from the other group.

Listening Classes
Listening classes are conducted in three stations. A teacher station, a video activity station, and a speaking practice station. In the past students rotated through these stations, but of course, that could not happen this year. So, we decided to have the teachers move from station to station. So we set up whiteboards at three different stations, and the teachers moved through the stations every 15 minutes. The students did their other activities on their Chromebook devices at the station when the teacher was at the other stations.

Special Guests
Every year we invite a variety of special guests to the school for lectures and also for interviews. Of course, we couldn't have special guests physically come to the school, so we found ways to invite them digitally. 

First, let's talk about lecture setups. First, we set up one computer at the front of the room with the special guest's feed on it, we connected it to a projector and speakers so all of the students could see and hear it. You can see this in the picture below.

 Next, we placed a second camera facing the student audience so the speaker could see them. When a student had a question, they came up to the screen to ask their question. You can see an example below.

Overall this made for a good lecture environment. It would have been better face to face, of course, but we all still had a good time!

Next, let's talk about interviews. Usually we have 5-8 guests from universities or local businesses for each interview session plus some teacher guests at school, and we conduct all the classes on one day. This year, we conducted 1-2 every day over five days and coordinated the best times for the guests. We placed the desks so that the students would be staggered and spaced out, but still able to be viewable on the computer web camera or by the live teacher guest. Then the guests called in over Google Meet. Students were able to still be in a group setting and interview the guests. After 20 minutes, in order to change with another guest, we physically picked up the computer and moved it to a different group. The teachers could be live guests in class, and the university students, professors, or business people could meet virtually. We were even able to invite some older students from Tokyo and Australia. You can see the examples in the pictures below.

International Interactions
Also every year we usually have a variety of international guests, from Singapore, the United States, Indonesia, and other countries. This year, obviously, no guests could come, but we still wanted to connect with our international friends and new friends as well, so we reached out over email and Twitter to connect with different schools all over the world. We connected with schools in Singapore, India, Australia, Taiwan, Florida, Hawaii, and even international graduate students here in Kyoto. We arranged times and then connected over Google Meet, and even Zoom occasionally! Arranging the room and the wifi was a challenge. We ended up using 6 rooms and spreading out the students two to a computer to be safe. This created a lot of busy work setting up all the breakout rooms, but in the end we were able to have many great interactions. Overall we had 24 interactions over the course of the year, which we consider to be a great success!
 

Sometimes, however, we could not meet live, synchronously, for our interactions. When that happened, we used a screencasting program to film videos for our international friends to view at a later time. We hosted the videos within a Google Classroom and then guests could watch the videos and leave comments for us. All the students had a good time making the videos in class, as you can see below.

In Conclusion
So, we hope you can get a good idea of how English worked in class #withCORONA here at Sagano High School. As we enter the new school year next month and we continue on with the #NewNormal, we will continue to have a fun time studying English here at Sagano High School... in the safest way possible. Thank you!

This school year was an eventful one for everyone around the world, and it was no exception here at Sagano High School. Today we would like to share all of the different international interactions that we had this year. Of course, here at Sagano, we are known for our different international interactions. So we found ways to continue our relationships, despite the COVID situation. 

Preparing for Interactions
First we learned in class how to use Google Meet. Our school uses Google Workspace, so in class we practiced how to login and share our screen view with the other participants in the meeting. 

Synchronous Interactions
Next, through arrangement with our partner schools around the world, we successfully coordinated over 24 different online interactions. This year we connected with other classes in Australia, Hawaii, India, Montreal, Singapore, and Taiwan. We all had fun learning about them, their countries, and their schools, and we loved teaching them about Japan!

Asynchronous Interactions
Sometimes, though, we couldn't meet because of class time and even time zone differences. So we set up different events over Google Classroom and shared videos with each other. In this way we shared with students in Florida and in Singapore, and even with some international graduate students here in Kyoto!

ESS Club
ESS club was not left out! We participated in the "See you Soon" Project and connected with students and new friends from Malaysia and Myanmar. We also did many different "Mystery Skypes" and connected with other classrooms all over the world. 

In Conclusion
We may not have been able to travel and meet here at our school this year, but we still connected with our partner schools and other new friends, all over the world. Thank you to all of our partner schools and our new friends, we are so grateful for your support! We look forward to more international connections in the future! 

Florida Program Final Report 2020
This year, 6 students from Sagano High School traveled to Florida in January. After returning to Japan, they began to formulate their ideas for a presentation on what they experienced, what they learned, and what ideas they wished they could see used here in Japan and in Kyoto. Here is a description of the full Florida exchange program for 2020.

From January 4th - 16th, 6 second-year students from Sagano High School participated in an intensive study trip to Jupiter, Florida in the United States of America. 

Before leaving, the students met with the principal where he asked them to learn as much as possible and asked them to investigate many research questions.

January 4th and 5th
On January 4th the students were picked up by their homestay families at the airport. It was a happy greeting and everyone was excited to start the study program. On the 5th the students enjoyed a free day with their homestay families. 

January 6th
On Monday the students went to the Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens where they gave presentations to the staff and docents about Japanese holidays and taught them about Japanese culture. Then they went on a tour of the Japanese gardens and enjoyed learning about how American people appreciate Japanese culture. 

January 7th
The next day they went to Jupiter High School where they first had a tour of the campus and met all of the teachers they would be working with for the next two weeks. They had lunch with the principal and teachers. Finally they enjoyed a lecture from Ms. Jennifer Smith, an Environmental Specialist who works for Ecological Associates, Inc. The students learned how scientists at companies help to protect wildlife while also helping communities and companies to do business. 

Ms. Smith from Ecological Associates

January 8th and 9th
On the 8th the students met scientists from the Department of Natural Resources and the Soil and Water Conservation Districts in Palm Beach County and Florida. The scientists told them all about their work and how everything connects back to natural resources and protecting the environment.
In the afternoon the students went to classes at Jupiter High School's Jupiter Environmental Research and Field Studies Academy where they taught the students about Japan's natural environment and about Japanese holidays.
On the 9th the students attended classes at Jupiter High School with partner students. They attended classes for the day and saw how the American school system works. They had a fun time being like real American high school students!

January 10th-12th
On Friday the students traveled toEverglades National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage and Biosphere Reserve Site, to study the native Florida ecosystems and how they are being affected by humans. 
On the 11th and 12th the students enjoyed their time with their homestay families, visiting various places and living every-day American life.