Free Coding Community for 500 Children

Dear supporters,

Thank you for powering Kids Code Club! On Sunday, 16 March 2025 (Japan) / Saturday, 15 March 2025 (Seattle), we held an online workshop titled “Search & Sort Algorithms”. Engineers from Google and other Seattlebased companies volunteered as Teaching Assistants (TAs), and more than 140 learners and staff joined from Japan, the United States, Thailand, and Canada.

Event Overview

• Platform: Zoom (with live hub at Ueki Future Space, Kumamoto, Japan)
• Format: 6 acts from warmup to quiz
• Team size: 46 participants per breakout room
• English levels: L1, L2, L3 (selfselected)

Agenda

1. Zoom open – free chat & greetings
2. Breakout 1 – Selfintroductions & carddeck setup
3. Main lecture – What is an algorithm? / Sort & Search
4. Breakout 2 – Handson algorithms with cards & coins
5. Picture Time & BubbleSort competition
6. Kahoot! quiz & wrapup

Group Assignment & English Levels

• L1 – Mostly Japanese plus key English words (for beginners)
• L2 – Roughly 50% Japanese / 50% English (around EIKEN Grade 4)
• L3 – All in English (comfortable with everyday conversation)

What Happened – Act by Act

• Act 0 – Zoom open: Screens filled with smiling faces; greetings flew in both languages. Kids in Kumamoto gathered on site and waved enthusiastically.
• Act 1 – Breakout 1: Learners and TAs introduced themselves and chatted about their favourite board games—shogi, Othello, Go, playing cards ♣.
• Act 2 – Main lecture: Facilitator Masa and TAs Utako (JP) & Greg (EN) explained how “search” works in daily life. Everyone prepared a deck of cards ♦ and coins to visualise algorithms.
• Act 3 – Breakout 2: Teams practiced bubble sort, linear search, binary search, and selection sort while showing their hands on camera.
• Act 4 – Picture Time & BubbleSort race: Tencard bubblesort competition began—colourful cards flashed on screen and even TAs joined the race!
• Act 5 – Kahoot! quiz: Our traditional quiz wrapped up the session, reinforcing key points in a fun way.

Why It Mattered

• Handson manipulation of cards and coins made abstract CS concepts “click”.
• Bilingual environment boosted confidence and authentic English exposure.
• Crossborder teamwork fostered cultural exchange and peer learning.

Participant Voices

• “Playing the bubblesort card game together was really fun.” – Child
• “I’m glad I now understand how sorting and selection work.” – Child
• “Hearing authentic English was a great experience.” – Child
• “Online events save travel time and help maintain English skills.” – Parent
• “Kids are very smart and they catch everything fast.” – TA
• “Things stayed on schedule for the most part. Pretty smooth.” – TA

What Went Well

• High preparation rate: most children had cards/coins ready, so tasks flowed.
• Engagement stayed high; chat buzzed in two languages.
• Even firsttimers manipulated cameras and materials smoothly.

Areas to Improve

• Camera angles: A few younger learners struggled to keep hands visible. We will send a onepage setup guide before the next session.
• Time management: L1 rooms needed extra explanation. We will add bilingual slides and buffer time.

Next Session

• Topic: Tree Algorithms
• Date: 11 May 2025 (JP) / 10 May 2025 (US)
• We are preparing simplified demo apps and stepbystep worksheets so every child—regardless of English level—can succeed.

Your continued support allows us to provide highquality, bilingual STEM experiences to children who might not otherwise have access. Thank you for believing in every young coder’s potential!

With gratitude,
Kids Code Club Team

Links:

• https://kidscodeclub.jp/csreport_202503_EN