The First Panic

I couldn't quite believe what she was telling me, but apparently Hitomi, our school mother, had fallen in front of the school and hurt her hand.  She had been hurrying back to our house to pick up a speaker to play some Christmas music for the kids in Kitano.  She didn't look like she was going to shake it off, so I said I would drop her at the hospital and I would go out there alone.  She said she could make it, but in the end she was just in far too much pain to be doing anything, but seeking medical help.  We parted ways at Toko store in Hiraoka.  She made her way back to Asabu Orthopedic and I faced thirty some kids without any assistant.  It was madness, but I think we made out alright.

The only thing I'm really worried about is, of course, a full recovery for Hitomi.　I can't imagine how much it hurt.


ひと美さん

早く元気になって下さい。

Sympathetically,
Pat

Book of the Week

I'm exhausted.  I thought it would have been an easier week, but unfortunately I wasn't as ready as I should have been and it turned frantic here and there. I hope it didn't show too much... I will make some updates this weekend but for now, please accept my weekly book blurb.

This is it.  I haven't really used it seriously yet, but it looks like a winner and as I have introduced the English Island stamp card to be stamped for both attendance and homework, I must provide quality exercises for students too advanced for the game based homework I usually give.  The exercises are short and clear.  The grammar presented is very well thought out and easy to follow.  If you are interested in this book, I have a copy and I might even buy some and pass them along to students who are looking to shore up their grammar.

すみません。。。今回の翻訳もちょっと待って下さい。とにかくこの本は文法の本なんですけど、わかりやすい！

Grammatically,

Pat

Labour Day

お気に入り

勤労感謝の日です。教室はお休みです。それにしても今日は英会話と別な仕事を朝から行って、買い物に出かけて、たった今帰りました。働いたという事で発寒ジャスコで買ったちょっとだけ高いビールを頂きます。

Today is Labor Day in Japan and the school is off today. This morning I went to another job, after that, shopping, and now I'm back home.  I can't say that I've labored to the point of deserving a reward but I have decided to partake in a slight luxury that I picked up at Hassamu Jusco the other day.

Book of the Week

Mottainai Grandma

It's mostly for the younger kids although I tried it with a few third graders and they ate it up.  The reason I think it works better for the younger kids is simply because the vocabulary and possibilities for expansion are a bit elementary.  I have been using it to review colors and elicit responses.

Grey is not in the rainbow pencil.

Green is in the rainbow pencil.

For those of you who have not read Mottainai Grandma in neither Japanese nor English, I truly think it might be worth the 90 seconds it will take you.  It's a classic or so my kids tell me!

Frugally,

Patrick

Book of The Week and more...

This month we are well under way studying our town and what's in it.  We have brand new material and we are looking at what's there and how to talk about what is there at the moment.  For the younger kids we also read yet another Eric Carle book called, Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see?  We are expanding on the idea of "What can you see?" trying to guess where a student has pretended to go.

Like this:


Student A:   I can see monkeys.
                 There are elephants.
                 There is a polar bear.


Student B:   Are you at the zoo?


Student A:   Yes, I am.


This line of questioning has led the kids to start asking questions about the amount of certain nouns found at the places we are studying.  A question like, "How many fish are there?" for example, might help Student A determine whether Student B is at the aquarium or the local supermarket.

I am busily trying to put some material together that might help the kids understand the difference between count and no count nouns as painlessly as possible.  I'm not really a big fan of teaching count and no count.  In Hawaii, questions like, "How much birds get ova' dea?" seemed to get the job done just as well as "correct" English, so I don't want to burden my students with this one too much.  BUT, my JHS students need this one for the tests so I'm making it...

Much Than??ks,
Many thanks,
A ??lot of tha??nkses,
A lot of mu??ch about nothing,


Until next time,

Pat

Book of the Week?

About two weeks ago, I thought that a book of the week post would be a nice addition to this blog that so few people comment on.

HA　HA　HA　HA!!!

I didn't last a week before missing an entry.  The next entry will be called Book of the Month, but for the time being here is the second entry for Book of the Week.  This week I read, "From Head to Toe" by Eric Carle to some of the classes.  It's a kindergarten classic but to tell you that I like it for it's deep message or art would be misleading at best. But, I do love the way this book moves children.  THEY　love it and since THEY　are what it's all about it.  I　read it.  I recently bought the BIG book version and although it was awkward to hold, it certainly had impact!

Gruntingly,

Pat

November

hospital

寒くなりました、雪虫もいっぱい！今年特に多く感じます。飲み込まないように。。。

今月のトピックは場所です。今回も色々な言い方を練習するよ。

There is a swing in the park.
There are monkeys at the zoo.

これでボキャブラリも増やせたら幅広く表現出来ます。中学生はこれだけじゃなくて、現在進行形、法助動詞（can）、と現在形を使ってたくさん話す事が出来るように頑張りましょう。

Yes the weather has turned rather chilly although today is beautiful, except for the "yukimushi" that I keep swallowing.

supermarket

This months topic is "PLACES" and I plan to do exercise that will get the kids using the patterns above.  Junior high school kids will also look at the regular present tense, present progressive tense, and "can" used as a helping modal.  Let's have fun using these patterns to talk about our favorite places.


Neighborly,

Pat

city