This Sunday I traveled to Himeiji in Hyogo prefecture with two students to tour the Himeji Castle. It was quite spectacular and the weather was very cooperative. We also checked out the Nishi-Oyashiki-Ato Garden nearby. It was a fine day and the visitors were limited so we were able to quickly see the castle and [...]
I spent my Golden Week holiday in Hawaii and came back home last week. This time I did not do sightseeing. I went to the beach, went snorkeling, went shopping and had a good time with my granddaughter during my 9 days’ stay. I really enjoyed myself. My granddaughter grew up so much compared to last year and she was [...]
What system do you think is a monthly tuition system? It is a system by which a student pays tuition once every month for one month’s lessons at a time. These days lots of schools advocate the monthly tuition system, however, you can’t trust whether it is a true monthly tuition system or not. Most [...]
Last week I held the “Night Out” free talking at Shunju Cafe ( 春秋カフェ ) and 5 current and previous students joined. For last week’s cafe time I prepared a little information about the U.S. National Parks and we talked about some of them, especially the places I had visited. I explained that I had visited Yellowstone [...]
Today my student and her husband came to my house for lunch. We enjoyed English conversation, cheese fondue, beef TATAKI and pineapple, chicken and shrimp gratin along with some fine Italian wines and cake and coffee from Kobe. This was the second time we had lunch together. The first time was at my student’s house in Kobe. [...]
I started receiving emails from Participant Media. I began receiving their newsletter after I saw the movie, An Inconvenient Truth, on global warming. It has information on very interesting matters. This month the newsletter introduced several movies and books which touch on socially important issues that we as human beings need to be aware of. [...]
I think that one of the best lessons in the Intermediate level is the lesson on “Making Requests”. The students really cannot get too much practice at doing this. The number and variety of such requests is limitless and makes for a great lesson. The example list using “verb + topic” is very useful and [...]
Often it is good to challenge your higher level students to form and express an opinion. To do this you can start with the question, “What do you think about (something such a current event, state of affairs in Japan or the world or anything)”. Then you demonstrate by showing them how you would answer [...]
For those who are not familiar with the way Valentine’s Day works in Japan, let me say it is so much better than in the states where the guys have to go out and get chocolates and/or flowers for their wives and girlfreinds. In Japan the girls give the guys in their lives (almost all [...]
This week I went to Smith’s School of English’s Kyobashi School to drop off my business records for the preparation of my Japanese tax return. I had closed down for two hours so as to have time to go there for a 3:30 meeting and return in time for my 5:00 p.m. lesson. Well, since I [...]
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