Rainy Days

Perfectly good weather for ducks and frogs today. Worms are probably excited as well. It's a good day for me to try to figure out the new world of computing. I have revised a very bad web site three times over the last ten years and have never come up with anything that resembled up-to-date. My son's tennis match was cancelled. To that cause I was recruited for a ride back to the tennis school where he and his mates had decided to spend the morning volleying their disappointmet at the cancellation away. When I got home the debate was in full swing. Gotta love the cell phone. My son naively made a call requesting his indoor tennis shoes which of course he had not packed to his mother who would have had no way, of course, of getting them to him as the tennis school is a good 40 minute walk away. I suppose I was to be recruited yet again. Not that I have nothing to do, mind you. Anyway to make a long story a little shorter, the last thing I heard as I quietly escaped to work was a rant from my wife about some study session he would have been able to attend had he immediately come home with me after the cancellation. She claims to have remebered the seminar after finding his crumpled, wrinkled school uniform on the floor of his disaster of a bedroom. I went to work , got it off my chest and made coffee, of which I delivered one cup to the mrs. She looked a little more composed then, but her mind was obviously elsewhere...
めんどうくさい

July Project UPDATE!

So pretty much all the kids have finished writing and having their projects videoed. In the end, none if the kids rejected the idea of having their project recorded although a few didn't exactly seem enthusiastic. I imagine the reason may have been a case of stagefright. One last group today and then I have to put the last videos together. I admit I'm getting a little better, but my editin skills and sense leave a lot to be desired. 新琴似中学校の三年生プロジェクトも気になります。 Was everyone able to become travel agents?

I mentioned to the Saturday class that posting the video on Youtube was an option. They gave me looks that told me that if I did I would have to start locking my door at night. I wonder if anyone would mind if I posted a short clip here... I better play it safe and not go public. If my editing skills do, in fact, improve I'll give a copy of the projects to each student! That way, they can choose how to share it or not share it with others...

Cautiously,

Pat

Kiroro

So yesterday I realize that a fat lump of aging foreigner in Japan is not that cool. The only thing I have a chance of changing about that realization is the "lump part". I ran about 8k last night and masochistically decided to climb 余市山　this morning. I wake up late and although my leg is cramping up I decide to give it a go. Take the ropeway from Kiroro and then a 2 and a half hour climb to enjoy the view; good plan if it were April. Apparently, the ropeway doesn't move in the summer and autumn months. Not to be deterred from antilumpiness, I simply started walking up the Kiroro Ski Area and sweated it out with the bugs abuzzing. I found a crayfish in the trail!!! What the hell could it possibly be doing there???

Buzzingly,

Pat

You're a vegetable... They hate you...

I'm not much of a gardener but this year I am having a better go at it than usual. My first DAIKON!! I could be turning Japanese.　　Every day there is something to eat fresh from the garden. What a luxury indeed. The tomatoes haven't turned yet. 楽しみ！！

英検

Hi,
He could be studying for all you know... I'm pretty sure he isn't though. Last weekend, or more specifically last Sunday, we went up the coast to Hamamasu town, about 50 miles south of Rumoi . After paying 2000 yen for a parking space we promptly set up the barbecue and used up about four spaces which should have cost us double the going rate at 4000. If we had decide to spend the night, it would have/ should have been 8000 yen. I can park in downtown Susukino for less. The last part of July and the first part of August must be the most expensive time to do anything in Hokkaido! I guess New Year's could be considered expensive too, but as I am usually holed up or on the mountain, I don't notice.

英検の勉強が始まった！始まった！イングリッシュアイランドの生徒たちは500円で2時間勉強出来る事になています。ただ2時間集中出来るかどうか。最初はただでいいんじゃないのかな？BUT, it isn't free and to have the test taker not feel responsible for the results would be a big disservice. SO! Please bring the one-coin and I will do my best to help you nail that little test!!!

Yes, I will work for less than the legal rate in Japan. I work for less than the legal rate in most developed nations anyway. As long as the students here want to take English Grammr tests, I will offer extra classes at a nearly free rate, but not completely free. The first class with more than one student was held today. It went famously and the kids seemed relieved with their success in the listening section and the question sections were pretty smooth too! Now trying to find a way to make this fun...hmmm....

Grammatically,

Pat

July Project

We are now in our seventh year as an 英会話 school here in 札幌北区新琴似.

Right now there are a bunch of things going on!!!

In this unusually warm summer, there are five students who have decided to try the 英検 test! They are struggling through marginally interesting material made by yours truly... I have to admit grammar is probably not my favorite way to introduce the English language or any foreign language for that matter.　　However, I think the kids are going to be able to make out just fine. We have started early enough and once they get the vocab and the patterns for regular verbs and "to be" mastered they will be unstoppable!

In other news we have started a project!! The famous people project is meant to get the kids involved in writing and talking about their favorite celebrities. Thirty-six famous athletes, movie stars, singers, animation characters, and politiicans from Japan and abroad are going to be presented next week. The presentations will be recorded (if the kid's allow it!!) and hopefully, I'll be able to get a bit of an amusing movie out of it. Maybe after watching themselves they will feel more motivated for the next project. I wonder what it will be...