We are now looking good! The street was just repainted green as is common for streets around schools in Japan. It looks great! But on top of that we have a new shop downstairs. TAKO YAKI (Hot Octopus Balls) are now available including various tastes: SHOYU (Soy), SHIO (Salt), PONZU (Soy-vinegar), KARE (Curry). Very tasty [...]
On September 27th we had a very nice BBQ Party attended by 29 students, teachers, family members and friends from Okamoto, Tsukaguchi and Kawanishi Schools. We enjoyed some great barbecued beef, seafood, drinks and two great cakes and great Hawaiian coffee supplied and served by Derek of the Tsukaguchi School. Watch the Video here. These [...]
Of course this is Japan so, Japanese university students looking for jobs need excellent Japanese ability, but it seems that Japanese companies are expecting fairly good English ability also. This became apparent earlier this year when I was looking through the SHUUKAN ST, a students’ weekly newspaper that I subscribe to for my students. There [...]
Well we are preparing for the barbeque at my house next Sunday. It will be the last big bash for the Summer which officially already ended but not for me — not until we have this barbeque.
The Akashi Kaikyo Bridge, also known as the Pearl Bridge, it the world’s longest suspension bridge. It crosses the Akashi Strait between Maiko in Kobe and and Iwaya on Awaji Island as part of the Honshu-Shikoku Highway. It’s center span is 1,991m (6,532 ft.) and the overall length is 3,991m (12,831 ft.) It is an [...]
Singing popular songs in English is one good way to improve a student’s English ability. I wrote down the lyrics and also the Japanese translations of “Beyonce’s “If I were a boy”. I included the audio track of her song too. It is good for students to try to sing the song along with her [...]
On Sunday June 7th, 2009, the Okamoto School and the Fuse School joined to have a Bowling-Karaoke Event in Kobe. We met at Rokko Bowl in the afternoon and were going strong until 7:00 p.m. Alex and Smiths School of English Fuse joined. This was the second time we have done this and last time, also, [...]
Before learning difficult English, every student in Japan should master the correct use of articles and prepositions. And they must be able to ask and answer easy questions right away. I made the following test. Students must get a perfect score. English learned in junior high school is sufficient. However, even though nearly everybody in Japan learned [...]
英語の入試に “聴く能力” と “話す能力” も I have been researching how well the English education system has progressed in Japan compared to before. I would like to ask everybody who is reading my Soap Box to do me a favor. I have introduced my article which appeared in the “KOE RAN” of the Asahi Simbun in [...]
I have just had a sunroom built on the house where we live and had some grass planted outside of the sunroom. Adding the sunroom made my yard look just like an English garden (slight exaggeration LOL). Did you know grass is a very important part of English and American culture? The topic of Grass and Lawn Mowers quite often [...]
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