Number 18

 There are 18 holes on a standard golf course. Over the course of those 18 holes confidence builds, wavers, or crumbles.  Hope is repeatedly crushed and then born again. Pride is hurt and sometimes never restored.  Drama unfolds and comes to an end in the course of 18 holes. 

Here at English Island we have reached the 18th year. Although the last couple of years have not been about growth in the number of students we teach, I have personally felt a change for the better in my teaching styles.  Prepare yourself for the YouTube posts that will support the weekly lesson. It will take a  week or so for the segments to be posted but for those who take the time to check them out, THANK YOU!

State of Emergency continues...

 Unfortunately, the state of emergency that had been in place to protect the people of Hokkaido from the spread of COVID-19 has been extended to the middle of next month.  At English Island we are doing our best to sanitize tables and chairs after each lesson. We also sanitize pencils after each use. Although we have limited the number of items that require physical contact it is difficult to completely eliminate the use of cards and paper in an EFL classroom.  We ventilate regularly if not constantly.  All the students temperatures are now being taken and documented.  

We can only hope for a quick and safe return to normalcy. I hope everyone has a safe and productive year. 

My dog not practicing safe social distancing as usual.

Busily,

Pat

BACK AGAIN!

To say that it's been a while is unnecessary.  It's been forever and then some.  By listing all the things that have gone down in the last 3 years surely I'll be forgiven for not blogging.

1. RECOVERY
The crippling arrhythmia that had me suffering and in and out of the hospital for four years just went away.  It just went away. It must have been MANapause or some panty disease like that.

2. A PASSING
My mother-in-law was diagnosed with cancer and she passed away 2 years ago.  She faced her final time here on earth admirably and with a grace that leaves me with respect and humility.  I am in deep gratitude for all the kindness and love she gave to me for more than 25 years.  She will be missed.

3. A MARRIAGE
My son got married.  He also had a wedding ceremony and then promptly left for Australia on a working holiday.  He's still there, but will be back shortly. I'm extremely happy for him and his wife is a charming and talented young woman.

4. A PASSING
About a year and a half after my mother-in-law passed away, my
father-in-law joined his wife. I'm sure they are wise cracking at each other
and playing hanafuda on the other side.  Aloha 'oe a hui hou.

5. RESTUCTURING
I work alone nowadays except for Hitomi who helps me in the younger kid's
lessons.  It's less stressful, less fun, and maybe less educational for me to
work alone and to be honest, I miss all the great people who have helped
out at the school in the past.  I'm busier now than ever before and not
having time for this blog is obvious.

That's it.  Those are my excuses for not keeping a running blog talking about the things going on at the school.  I think that a blog that almost nobody reads is not really important. That's another reason for the lack of posts recently.  I was updating my HP which really needs a complete makeover and stumbled onto the relic that BLOGGER is here for me.  I decided that today I have time and that I'll post one and run.  I've been snowboarding a little more recently.  I'm still the eternal beginner and doubt I'll ever be able to boast any skill, but the exercise does me good and my snowboard friends are generous enough to let me tag along. The video is from a famous mountain near Kiroro.  Best run of the season for me so far...

Simply,
Pat

Relearning

It's been a while since I've logged on to the blog/FB/website that is my excuse for  web presence. To be honest I wasn't at all sure I remembered how to, but here I am. That said, I have little to report other than I continue to enjoy working with the kids to enjoy learning English as foreign language.  Some of the students from the past have indeed gone on to much more than speaking English as a foreign language and are indeed using it as a second language.  They may actually be closer to bilingual.  I wish I could take all the credit but those students eventually went on to live in English speaking countries and have become more and more fluent as they live abroad.  It's great to see them on Instagram and Facebook enjoying life.

Although in the past there were teachers who helped out at English Island, now I am teaching alone assisted by my wife, Hitomi.  It does simplify the process, but I miss the company and shop talk that comes from having a teaching colleague. That doesn't mean that English Island is slowing down in anyway.  We are having a great year and hopefully next year will be just as good.

I'll be back on the blog when I have something meaningful to say.  For now, the weather is turning and before long winter will be bringing the snow and all the changes that comes with it. Stay healthy and make the most of the rest of 2017.

Aloha,

Pat

Sports is What's Up!

Aloha,

     This month the topic is sports!  I love this topic but I am aware that not everyone is as enthusiastic about
sports as I am.  There is really not a sport I dislike.  I may not be familiar with cricket or field hockey but that is not to say that I don't like them.  By far my oldest infatuation is with the game of golf.  I have played golf nearly my entire life, but as of late I tend to play only around ten times a year.  At one point, through playing nearly 300 rounds a year, I rarely shot over 80.  I have to admit a player of any talent should probably have taken that opportunity and become one of those people who play golf for a living.  Unfortunately, my character didn't allow dreaming of that sort to take root and I constantly reminded myself of what I wasn't capable and that in turn became the reality that exists to this day, at least as far as golf is concerned.  I tried the Japan Professional Golf  Qualifier and failed miserably, the scars from that debacle never fully healing.

     Now I'm a 'will I break a hundred' standard duffer who chilly dips and shanks.  I can't say that I even enjoy the game much anymore but I'll be giving it a go once the snow melts and the greens thaw.  My son Kai has really taken to the game and I'd like to play together this year.

     Anyway, snowboarding season is not over yet.  The weather this weekend looks like it's going to be sunny.  I'll be doing what I usually do on sunny days in winter when lessons are off.

Sportingly,

Pato

児童英検

When I first started the school here English Island Conversation School.  Yes we are an 英会話 I suffered from a small inferiority complex.  I'm afraid the fear that I'm less than qualified hasn't ceased to haunt me. Part of the reason for this fear must surely be my lack of formal training and an absence of any kind of license.  I tend to view my relationships with our paying customers as less formal teacher-student like and more like me being the cheerleader and assistant in their English learning journey.

So when I first started out more than ten years a group of mothers kind of pushed me into doing an eiken (英検）　class.  Since then I have done several eiken classes with results that led me to believe it might be better to just leave the eiken to the schools.  I can motivate, give an authentic cultural exchange, teach pronunciation, change conceptions of what language does, and much more.  I can also teach the 英検 and I can teach TOEFL as well.  BUT doing these things at the same time is not natural.  I think it's infinitely easier to study for the eiken using Japanese freely. I don't use Japanese in my classes because we focus on conversation and through years of experience I have found speaking Japanese in the class to be a motivation killer.  Admittedly, I'd like to use it sometimes, but when a student discovers that I speak Japanese, the communication medium invariably becomes Japanese and I have lost my power to insist that the student try to use Japanese.

Anyway, the test that the mother's from ten years ago insisted on me administering to their kids was the 児童英検．Although the test was rather colorful and fun in appearance and the language presented was rather congruent with the language I often used and studied in the classroom, there were some drawbacks.

1. Stress

The test was a listening only affair but sitting and listening to a tape can be stressful                  when you are 4 years old.
2. Timing  

We need to pressure ourselves to achieve things I suppose.  Do we all feel that way                   on the same date and time? Is it important that we do? I don't know.
3. Comparisons
Kids won't compare the results, but mothers will.  They may make a rash                                 decision based on their child's ability or inability when in fact the problem was                           the timing of the test to begin with.

It has been such a long time since I've done that test.  Now, a mother of two of my cutest little students has decided to pull her kids because she wants her kids to do the jidou eiken.  You know... the one all the other kids are doing.

Good Luck with that...

Regrettably,

Pat

The return of winter and birthdays

It's Monday again.  After an uncharacteristically warm day yesterday, the regular winter weather patterns seemed to have returned and I again feel confident that it is far too early to start imagining cherry blossoms, bicycles, or trailer camping.

This Monday is also a very big day for our family.  My one and only son has turned twenty-one today! Apparently he has taken the day off.  After a very long and challenging week in the studio last week, I suppose he needs the time to recharge a bit.

I could also use some time to recharge, but in fact, I'm coming off a four day weekend and what I really need to do is get my self charged and ready for the week. It's going to be a busy one.  All the kindergartens are on for this week and I need to come up with some fresh activities to enhance this week's topic, Body and Health.  The reality is that I woke up with a sore throat and a sour stomach, but I refuse to accept that I have anything and would like to believe it was something I ate or maybe just a bit of fatigue.

Anyway, when I try to think back to my 21st birthday, I remember being marginally happy playing golf and going to UH Hilo.  I was probably a little lighter and had a little more hair.  My back was definitely stronger.  Kai has all those things and more.  I wonder if he'll be around tonight for a birthday dinner...  Hitomi has been suffering from a bad stomachache, but seems to be doing a little better today.  Anyway... it's Monday...

Back to Work.

Lethargically,

Pat