A Murder In My City

 Japan has a very low crime rate. The city we live is safe enough for Hannah to walk back from her part time job at 10 o'clock at night.  In the 13 years we have lived here I've only heard of a few crimes near here, one was when a woman was attacked, another was some guy flashing girls near the library.  But murder, not unheard off but very rare.  It seems to me that murder in Japan seems to be very extreme, either a massacre such as the fire at the anime study that killed 33 people or very brutal, the beheading of a 11 year old, the head was then placed on the school gate are two incidents that come to mind.  But a cold blooded murder in my small city has really shocked me.  Apparently a university student traveled 120kms (about 74 miles) and killed an elderly woman who was in her garden weeding.  He had a steel hammer with him and hit her repeatedly around the head.  He then traveled 130kms (about 80 miles) and to another prefecture where he walked into a police station and confessed his crime.  He had no relation with this woman, never met her, she was just a random victim.  As much as I feel sorry for the ladies family I also feel sorry for this young man.  According to one article he had tried to set fire to his house before.  I think he has some serious mental health problem but that is not talked about in Japan.  Mental health is brushed under the carpet, people are expected to just get on regardless of how depressed they feel or how strong their stress is.  I know that in public schools the counselor has at least five schools to deal with, they don't have the chance to really see what the kids school life is like.  One of our students spent weeks talking to Mikey about her fears when her classmate tried to commit suicide, she had nobody else to talk to.  I'm sure over the next week or so this murder will be talked about on news programs with all the hand wringing and wishing it wasn't so but I doubt anything will change.  

Thinking and Doing

 I think about writing this blog but doing seems difficult.  I always have so many things to do and finding time for this is difficult.  But I want to change that!

Autumn is one of my favorite seasons.  In the UK it is the beginning of the school year, so I still have the feeling of renewing, starting again in September.  So that is what I want to do with blog.

One reason I love autumn is the feeling of cooler days and the evenings drawing in.  I love to read and the idea of being curled up with a good book, a nice cup of tea and the evening getting dark is ideal to me! I am hoping that the weather will cooperate and cool down.  This week should be cool, rain most days and a typhoon coming this way.

We are preparing for the second Eiken test in October.  Lot of work but the students are diligent and working hard.  After that is Halloween, which is always a lot of fun!

Thinking

 The past year has been difficult for most people on this planet.

Covid 19 has changed our way of life.  The other day I was watching a concert that was recorded before the pandemic.  People were crowed together, singing, dancing and really enjoying themselves.  I wonder if we will ever get back to that.

Shopping has become really stressful.  Here everybody wears masks, it's almost normal but I still feel nervous when somebody coughs near me.  I know that most of the time coughing will have nothing to do with the coronavirus, probably more to do with seasonal allergies.

So I've been thinking about how to make my classroom feel safe for students.  One thing is that all students use sanitizing gel when they enter the classroom.  I keep my window open and change the air between classes by opening another window to help the air flow through, as it gets warmer these  windows will be open all the time.  Between classes the tables, chairs and other objects get wiped down with alcohol spray.  Two or three times a week I do a deep clean, wiping off books, bookshelves and the entrance where the shoes are kept.  

Doing these things takes time and sometimes feels to much but I want my students to feel safe and I don't know what else to do!

Hello Again

 One year ago I was thinking that the coronavirus was not that bad! I really believed that by summer it would be a memory, that lessons had been learnt and life could get back to normal.  But here we are end of February 2021 and still restrictions and being wary of going out.  I'll be glad when we can get vaccines, sooner the better!

This past year has been hard for our little school.  But I have used the time to reflect and figure out what to do next.  I am hoping that this year we can take off!  I think that once we come out of this pandemic then tourism will take off in Japan.  English will still be needed!

I am thinking of revamping this blog.  Have some ideas but need help to pull it off!

Watch this space!

Coronavirus コロナ菌

I know that a lot of places have shut down because of the coronavirus.
We are not closing.  I have done a lot of reading on this virus and from what I can understand it is not as bad as people make out.  Yes it is serious, people are dying from it.  But seasonal flu is dangerous as are other virus that are out there.
We practice good hygiene, wash our hands and gargle after coming into contact with others or being outside.  We clean our desks, chairs and other surfaces.
I hope everybody can stay safe.



日本語

コロナによって、様々な施設が閉じられて行きました。

しかし、私達は教室を閉じません。私はコロナに関することを多く調べていき、人々が言うほどの脅威は無いことが理解できました。大きな問題というのはわかっています。しかし、インフルエンザ等の感染症とほとんど変わらないのです。

私達は衛生管理をしっかりと行います。外出後や人と会った後はしっかりと、手洗いうがいを行います。我々は机や椅子を洗浄いたします。

私達は皆が無事であることを祈ります。

Our New Flyer

It has been a long time coming but we have finally have a new flyer.  Christopher worked
hard on it, took him a few months to finish but I think it looks nice.  We need to do something
about the map but for now it is alright. Here it is

This is the old one we are replacing.  It is really out of date, the baby in the picture is now 22.

I am hoping to get lots of new students!

Happy New Year

Back to teaching last Saturday!
Great way to start the new year as it is the busiest day for me!  It was nice to see
my students after a few weeks break!  Everybody looked happy and refreshed after
the winter break.  One of my students is heading off to Canada as an exchange student for a year!

My goals for this year are to improve my teaching!  I tend to get lazy and not focus on text work, especially with my adult students.  I want to change this and really focus on what everybody needs.  I also want to improve my Japanese.  I was surprised at how long it took me to write out my name and address in Japanese.
New year, new start, lets make this a great year!

Looking forward to 2020

It's the time of year when one reflects of the past and starts to build goal for the future.
The past year we managed to get a lot of students through their Eken tests, passing levels they
didn't think possible.  I am so proud of my students as they worked really hard and deserve the great result they got.  Some of the younger students are starting to gain confidence to use English to communicate, not just copying what the teacher says, but actually using English to say what they want.  It's a great step forward.
For the new year I need to improve my Japanese.  I had to write out my name and address for a form for Hannah's scholarship.  Usually I get David to write out these forms but the company was very strict on this point. Took me an hour to write two lines!  So back to study for me!

Happy New Year to everybody, hope that it is wonderful!

Busy few months

I thought that I could write more on here but the past few months have been very busy.
We have finished the first part of Eiken test, almost all of our students passed.  I'm very proud of them, they worked hard and deserve the results they have.

I have to study about all the new tests that are coming out for university entrance tests.  There is such a wide choice now and each test emphasises a different aspect of English.  One problem is learning enough vocabulary!

The weather has cooled down which means I have  a bit more energy to do things.  I have spent most weekends the past few weeks sorting books and moving things out of our house.  It feels nice to have the place a bit tidier and clean!

Bad Blogger

I haven't found the time or energy to write recently.
Summer holidays were great.  But as always far too hot for me.
This past two week have been back to work and I hope back to blogging!
One thing I am thinking about is how to have lessons where all four
skills are taught, this is so important for the new university tests, so I
want kids to learn the four skills from a young age.

In other news we have 3 new kittens!  They are about 2 weeks old and so cute!

Mama with the new kittens

Finished Eiken Tests

Sunday was the Eiken test here.  We had about 10 students doing the test this time.
Our youngest was a 3rd grade girl.
The range of the tests taken was the 5th grade level, the easiest to 1st grade, the most difficult.
One thing I have found is that the kids who are in junior high school or high school have enough grammar to understand the tests but very little vocabulary.  The past few months we have been
doing a lot of vocabulary work.
The second part of the tests from the 3rd grade level is in the interview test.  It's not that difficult but it makes students rather nervous, so a lot of practice for that in the next couple of weeks.