ブログ BLOG

つきのひかり国際保育園が遂に「竣工・開園式」および「内覧会」を執り行いました！

以前職員研修で、国際保育園として世界を見据えることが大切ということと、目標を高く！本園を「世界一の保育園」にするためにはどうしたらいいのかということを話し合いました。そんな本園の公式世界デビューです！（笑）

これまでお世話になってきた会社・業者様や、関係者の方々に多くのお花や贈り物をいただきました。この場をお借りして深く御礼申し上げます。

午前中の「竣工・開園式」では、通常保育園の開園式などには到底きていただけないような方々にもご参加いただき、貴重なお話をお聞きすることができました。理事長や私も抑えきれない熱い思いをお話させていただき、予定の時間を大幅に超過してしまいました。ご迷惑をおかけして申し訳ありませんでした。

私は、園長挨拶の中で本園が目指す特色についてお話させていただきました。幸運なことに素晴らしいスタッフにめぐまれたことで、認可保育園としては日本初の偉業（！）を達成するための道筋が見えてきました。その特色の部分についてお話をしました。また、今回ご参加いただいた皆様はもとより、そのほかにも大変多くの方々にご支援ご協力いただいたおかげで、つきのひかり国際保育園は開園に至ろうとしています。皆様にいただいたこの多大なご恩は、本園に入園してくる子どもたちに返していきたいと思います。また、園歌も初披露しました！近日中にホームページにもアップします。乞うご期待！

午後には保護者向けに園舎の「内覧会」を行いました。園に初めて子どもたちの声が響き渡りました！笑い声もあり、歓声もあり、そして泣き声もあり(笑)その中のある一人の男の子が、積極的に英語を外国人先生と絵本を見ながら練習している様子を見ました。初めて行った場所で、初めて会う外国人の先生と、英語で一生懸命まねて話す姿を見ることができて、大変感激しました。聞けば特に英会話を習っていることもないようですが、お家でも「早く英語を話したい」と話しているそうです。それだけでとてつもない才能です。でも、英語を聞いてびっくりしてしまった子、泣き出してしまった子、ぽかんとどうリアクションしていいのかわからない子、みんなみんなそれでいいんです！毎日毎日英語の環境にいる中で自然にゆっくりと習得することを目指していきます。楽しいのがイチバン😄

今回、久々のブログ更新となってしまいました💦竣工・開園式まで、本当に慌ただしく、大学院の課題も立て続けにある中、私の狭い許容量ではキャパオーバーでして、ブログの更新ができず申し訳なかったです。「ブログ見てるよ」と声をかけていただくことがとても多くなり、ありがたい限りですので今後は更新がんばります。

入園説明会（3月9日）から今回の竣工・開園式までの間も、実はシンガポールに研修に行ったり、FMはつかいち様に取材していただいたり、地域の皆様に第三回目の説明会を行ったりと、お伝えしたいことがたまってましたので、後々また書かせていただきます。

さて、今回の本園の世界デビューを通して一番感激したこと。それは、本園の職員の素晴らしさです。全国的な保育士不足で、いろいろな園長先生に話を聞いていると、優秀な保育士を集めるのがいかに大変かわかります。そのような中、本園は本当にスタッフに恵まれました。みんなが一丸となり、一つの目標に向かって協力する姿は、大変頼もしいです。来賓の方や保護者の前ではプロの顔を見せ、職員だけのときは仲良く笑いあい、まるでこれまでともに仕事してきたような連携のよさです。もちろん開園して日々の業務にあたればいろいろと困難もあるでしょう。でもこのメンバーなら大丈夫と思えます！

さて、もう来週は入園式…。まずはしっかりと子どもたちの受け入れ態勢を整えていきます。引き続き皆様ご支援ご協力よろしくお願いいたします。

Hooray!!! Moonlight International Preschool held its grand opening ceremony and opened its doors to the public to view its edifice, and also observe its members of staff doing what they are good at.

During our staff training, we talked about how can we become the best international preschool in Japan, to begin with. It is important for us to set ultimately high standards and goals since the sky is not our limit. Indeed, the ceremony turned out to be the world premiere of Moonlight International Preschool (MIP for short).

We received lots of goodwill messages, flowers and gifts from many companies, individuals and friends. We are gratefully indebted to everyone for their presence, presents, and prayers. Thank you all very much!

In the morning, we held the grand opening ceremony. The various VIPs who attended are the kind you hardly see due to their extremely difficult schedules.

The board chairman and I went over the stipulated time for our speeches because we had so much to say. We hereby apologize for not finishing on time.

During my speech, I spoke about the unique and special features of our preschool, and the wonderful staff that is determined to translate our dreams into reality. We might be able to become the first authorized preschool in Japan to have these features. How exciting!😊

I also spoke about how we appreciate the huge support and cooperation of everyone so far, and that we are much obliged and thankful to them. We cannot return the favors done. Instead, we would like to express our gratitude in love and genuine kindness to the children who have enrolled in our the preschool:)

The preschool song was introduced in both English and Japanese to the delight of all the attendees for the very first time. It will be up on our homepage soon so please do not miss it!

In the afternoon, we opened our doors to the general public for a private viewing session of the preschool premises by parents, guardians and their wards. The sweet voices of children kept echoing through the building the entire period they visited. Some laughed, cheered, played on the preschool compound and of course, others cried(LOL)!

Interestingly, I noticed a little boy who was not with his parents at the time, and he was reading an English book with one of our international teachers. The amazing part of it was that he tried to copy or repeat what the teacher said. For a little child to be separated from his or her parents, and completely engage with a foreigner by making great effort to speak English really blew me away. I later learned that this child did not have any prior experience of studying English at all. He was just motivated to study English. It was absolutely incredible to witness that. Such a child definitely has a great talent and will go places with his determination. However, there were other children who were a bit shocked to be spoken to in English for the first time and a few of them who cried did not know what to do, and in their panicked state resorted to shedding tears in order to court the sympathy of their parents and guardians. That was perfectly fine!

There was no pressure in ensuring that every child that came should speak English. We believe they will gradually pick up the language little by little as they have fun and engage by playing games using English. Having fun is one of the best ways to acquire a new language.

My apologies to all our cherished readers for not writing and updating the blog recently💦 We have been extremely busy with lots of preparations going on, thereby robbing us of the fine opportunity to write the blogs. There are some personalities who have been anxiously waiting for the blog updates, so I promise to try to keep everyone posted more often than I have done in the past.

Since March 9th, this year, after the information session we conducted, a lot has happened. For instance, I traveled to Singapore for a professional development training program, FM Hatsukaichi interviewed me on one of their shows, we held the third information session for our preschool neighbors and a lot more. I will write about them soon.

The most impressive thing that I found out today, is the amazing teamwork from our staff! There is a serious problem of the shortage of workers in Japan and also lack of preschool teachers. It is extremely difficult to find capable and devoted members of staff. However, MIP is so fortunate to have such great staff members! Everyone worked very hard towards the same goal, being professional in front of our distinguished guests, parents, and guardians. Besides that, the entire staff has quickly developed a very friendly rapport and a happy feeling surrounds them while they work behind the scenes. It seems like we have been working together for a long time already, even though the preschool has not fully started to operate. Of course, there will be ups and downs once MIP hits the ground running, but I’m sure we will overcome our fair share of challenges, considering the great and dedicated staff that we have!

In about a week’s time, MIP will officially start operating. We will prepare everything we need and be ready for the children to come.

Thank you all for your continued support and understanding.