ネイティブが教える英会話のジェムスクール☆Teachers☆

I had to opportunity to see my second Sumo tournament recently. I realize this is very lucky because most Japanese people that I know have not ever seen a live match. I went with some old friends and had a blast. It's interesting to watch each match because you really never know who will win. There are no weight divisions, so you get to see some David vs. Goliath situations. I always cheer for the underdog and sometimes the "David" comes out on top!






Some Geisha from Kyoto even made a brief appearance at this tournament. That was pretty neat!


  

So it is winter back home. The snow is falling and people have started their holiday shopping. The day after our Thanksgiving is another type of holiday. Black Friday. People turn into animals for great deals on everything from T-Shirts to HD TVs. Lines back up for miles (kilometers) with people waiting for the doors to the stores to open. I thankfully finished my shopping here and posted it back home early this year.   

Do you like reading? Here's a fun way to practice and improve your English at home. Try reading one of your favorite books in English. Since you're already familiar with the book, you'll have a lot of context to help you understand what's happening. Don't worry if you don't understand everything. As you read you might write down a few words you don't know, then look them up in a dictionary later. However, don't stop every time you read an unfamiliar word. If you do it'll make reading feel like a chore and a lot less fun. A lot of popular Japanese novels have English translations and may be available through your public library. Check one out today!  

The effects of the Tohoku disasters of last year are not over. Far from it. The towns are not really being rebuilt, whether they should is not clear. The evacuees have been forgotten in any real terms. How short our memories are. How dangerous for us is such forgetfulness. It's as if no lessons have been learned. Don't forget the plight of the survivors. They could be us. They are us.
  

Yesterday, I had a massive Thanksgiving feast with some friends. We ate roasted turkey, fried turkey, pineapple ham, pumpkin soup, macaroni and cheese, roasted potatoes, mashed sweet potatoes with broccoli, mango and feta salad, sausage stuffing, creamed spinach, asparagus, rice, and corn. For dessert, we had panna cotta and pumpkin pie.

I'm still full.
  

Thanksgiving time has come to an end, but another great time has come. Welcome to the Christmas Season, my favorite season of all. Christmas has always held a special place in my heart. It is a time of great memories and fun times, but those times have long gone and new experiences are in store for me. This will be my first Christmas away from my family, so I am feeling a bit homesick, but it is also my first Christmas in Japan! I am very excited to be able to experience this. I have already begun preparing for Christmas. The image is some decorations that one of my Homestay Club students made. He seems to be just as happy and excited as I am. It is going to be a fun time this season and I am looking forward to every moment of it. :)

Merry Christmas!!! :)  

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope everybody had a great holiday. We had lots of fun at Rainbow School making crafts. Did you eat any turkey for Thanksgiving? It is traditional to eat turkey for Thanksgiving in America. If you have never eaten turkey, you should really give it a try.  

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. Don't get me wrong--I like presents and Christmas! However, a lot of pressure to get the right gift for people and also not leave anyone out is stressful. Thanksgiving is like Christmas minus all that stress from gift exchanging. It's all about being around people you love and eating too much food. My family has a tradition of saying what they are grateful for before we dig in to the feast. Everyone says at least one thing.
I invited about 20 friends to celebrate Thanksgiving with me at my house this year. It was a full house! Full of people, laughter, good smells, too much food, and full stomachs!
I'm so grateful for my time here in Japan, my wonderful friends who have become like family, my good health, and my job.
What are you grateful for?



I love it when my front entrance way fills up with shoes that are not mine! :) It's a sign of a good time!


  

I wear glasses because my eyesight is not perfect and it can be improved by wearing glasses. Sometimes I try to experiment with improving my eyesight. This picture is of me trying out my new hypothesis. I thought that if I wore more glasses I would have better eyesight. The experiment was a failure. However I got a good picture. Try to guess how many pairs of glasses I am wearing. The correct answer is not 3.

  

There is something great about discovering for yourself how another language works, how the pieces fall together to get your message across. And it can happen at any age. I enjoy when somebody lights up with a smile because they realize they did it right, and they know why. How different from thinking of it as a series of constraints forced upon you to keep you from letting loose. That's not it. It's getting a grasp on what's going on, and your control of it is your conquest. Go for it.   

A lot of students have asked me if I cook at home. The answer is yes, but it's more difficult for me here than in the United States. Back in the US, I know what ingredients are inexpensive and how to put together many different meals with those items. In Japan it's a lot harder. Some things that I would normally use all the time are too expensive to buy frequently. A lot of the fruits and vegetables are very unfamiliar and I'm not sure how to prepare them. However, I do try to cook at home just because I enjoy it.  

I live in Takamatsu now, so usually I only teach at our east side schools. But not so long ago, I used to teach a lot of classes in Kanonji. Last Thursday, I got a chance to teach in Kanonji again. It was so nice to see some of my old students like Patrick. He's a very bright and gifted boy. He's only 5-years-old, but he's in a very high level class with students twice his age. He was so surprised to see that I would be his teacher... in a good way.   

Spiders have never been my friend. I have always hated them and thought they were disgusting. I find it interesting that many people in Japan are actually ok with spiders and will pick them up and carry them around. I don't think I could ever do that. Though I hate spiders, I believe that some specimens are actually quite beautiful. The spider in this picture for instance is quite lovely. The coloration and patterns are very unique and quite interesting, but I still think it is creepy and disgusting. I am totally ok with handling snakes, but spiders I will not touch.   

I mentioned before that I like to bike a lot. I like to shop for bicycles too. Once while I was shopping I found this bicycle. This bike was Lance Armstrong's bicycle. It is very expensive. It is ¥1,300,000. With the current exchange rate it would cost about $16,000. I like biking very much but I would not spend this much money on a bicycle. I would like to ride it though... if I could.

  

It occurred to me that I didn't tell you guys about my basketbal team here in Takamatsu. Basketball has always been an important part of my life. I have been playing basketball since I was five. I played in high school, but during college I was too busy. However, since coming to Japan I have found a way to get basketball ack in to my life. I joined Ricoh Clippper Takamatsu when I first came to Japan 2008. We play in the top amateur league in Kagawa. This year we won the Kagawa Cup, placing us as the top club team in the prefecture. In January, we will take part in the Shikoku Tournament. If we win, then we will move on to the All-Japan Tournament. Wish us luck!  

About a month ago, one of my students found a little lizard near GEM School. It was trying to get into the warm school. I caught it and tried to take it to a tree but it wouldn't let go of me so I brought it back in and put it in a container until classes were finished for the day. My students and I enjoyed observing the little lizard and discussing different lizard issues, such as food, environment, and even names! My LG2 class is an all boy class. They decided the lizard's name would be Baipa , in honor of some (unknown to me) anime lizard character.   

Playing card games is huge part of the Japanese culture. Everything from Pocket Monster (pokemon) to Yu-Gi-Oh!, many people play and collect cards. In America playing cards is almost as popular if not more popular then in Japan. Many of my friends play collectible card games. This is one that has become very popular. Ascension is from a few of the top Magic: The Gathering. It has become a real hit back home. Do you play cards and what's your favorite card game?  

I've heard there are no midnight movie premieres in Japan, but in the U.S. they are very popular. Not every film that comes out has an early showing, only the most anticipated ones. Though it can be hard to stay up late on a Thursday night (especially if you work the next morning), it is often worth it to be among the first to watch a new movie. Ticket prices for midnight premieres are typically the same as normal, but the audiences are very different. It's exciting to watch a movie with a hundred other people who are as thrilled and expectant as you!   

I'm really excited for our Thanksgiving Event on November 22nd. I will be participating at the Sakaide and Marugame Schools.

At Sakaide School, we will be doing an event geared toward kids from 4pm to 6pm. We are going to do kamishibai, crafts, snacks, and XBOX GAME TIME!!! I love playing video games, so I'm thrilled to show the students my games where your body is the controller. It's so much fun!

At Marugame School, we will be doing an event for adults from 7pm to 9pm. We are going to simulate an American coffee shop. Students will order a (real) drink from the shopkeeper (me ) and then we will all sit down and chat about Thanksgiving and anything else. If there's time afterward, we're going to do some karaoke as well.

So yeah... fun times on the 22nd! Everyone's invited, but be sure to check out your local Gem School's Thanksgiving Event!!!  

Hey everybody! Hope everybody had a great weekend. This weekend I went to Kotohira. I climbed the stairs and visited Konpira-san. It was beautiful at the top. The leaves were all different colors, and the temple was elegant. I am thinking about what to do next weekend. Any suggestions? I was thinking of going to Shodoshima.