生きた英語を学んじゃおう／プリスクール・子供英会話教室の現場から

Did you have a fun Children's Day?

Hope you all had fun celebrating Children's Day yesterday! Did you do anything special? Recently it was also Golden Week, what did you do over break? I enjoyed some very delicious curry with my friends! I also got two pet newts! Do you have any pets in your home? You can let me know next time you see me at Kitty Club!

Even though it was a fun vacation, I am looking forward to seeing you all in class! Keep up the great work learning English!

- Paul

Spring time is baby time!

Spring time is here and I am surrounded by babies! I have many new students this year that are under 1 year old and also many mothers of my students are expecting babies soon.

One special little friend of mine is Demon's new son Shuma. Shuma is 3 months old and is a very happy baby. Now that Demon is returning to work I get to see a lot of Shuma in the office. We are becoming great friends! Everytime Shuma sees me he smiles or laughs at me- it makes me wonder why I have such a funny face? Now I have a joke that Shuma is my new boyfriend! Well...... he is very cute but too young for me!

Here is a picture of me giving Shuma a drink in the office:

See you later!

 

Belinda

I love to travel!

Hello and Happy New Year!

My name is Belinda and I am a new teacher at Kitty Club. I am from Australia and have been in Japan for almost 7 months. My hobbies are art, singing karaoke, swimming, fishing and camping. However my favourite hobby is to travel! Japan is the 20th country I have visited. My favourite destinations so far have been Turkey, Morroco, Spain, Nepal and Vietnam. I love to have adventures in exotic countries and learn about different cultures, meet new friends, learn new languages and eat different food.

When I first arrived in Japan I travelled around for 4 months (I was very lucky!). I was travelling alone and mostly camping. I think Japan is a very safe place for travel and I camped in some very beautiful places. From Tokyo I went to Osaka, Kyoto, Nara, Fukuoka, Kurokawa Onsen, Ebino-kogen, Kagoshima, Amami Oshima, Tokunoshima, Okinoerabu, Yoron-to, Okinawa, Izema-jima, Kume-jima, Zamami-jima, Ishigaki, Hateruma-jima, Iriomote, Kuroshima, Taketomi-jima and on the way back to Tokyo, Yakushima. As you can see, I went to many islands! They were so beautiful and the people were very friendly. I didn't want to leave!

I stayed the longest time on the island of Tokunoshima. I did a homestay for 5 weeks and helped at a vegetable farm. Luckily it wasn't very hard work- I only had to weed the garden for 2 hours a day! Easy! I had a fantastic time dancing with the local people at many festivals and going to the beach everyday. My stay in Tokunoshima was definitely a highlight of my trip. I would also recommend the islands of Zamami-jima and Hateruma-jima. Both islands have spectacular beaches that were great for snorkelling- on Zamami I snorkelled with giant sea turtles! Amazing!

So now I am settled here in Tokyo and enjoying the new adventure of big city life. Tokyo is a fun place to live and there is always something exciting to see or do. I am very happy teaching at the Kitty Club and always have a lot of fun with my students. I think now that Japan is my number 1 country!

Until next time........ from Belinda

Winter Hot Chocolate

Hello Kitty Blog readers! It's Jacqueline again.

Once again it has been quite a while since I last posted here But maybe I've spoken to some of you on the phone instead...Have you gotten a Mama Call lately? It may have been me!

Anyway...it's winter and quite cold indeed. I've tried to get warm with blankets...hot water bottles...but of course...the best way is HOT CHOCOLATE!

There are many types of hot chocolate around...there's Meiji brand hot cocoa...Morinaga...but my favourite...so far anyway...is Swiss hot chocolate...I hadn't been able to find it since coming to Tokyo...but last week on my way to the train station from Gin no Suzu Kindergarten I FOUND SOME And if that wasn't great enough by itself...it has marshmallows in it! MARSHMALLOWS Have you tried hot chocolate with marshmallows in it? I must admit that my favourite type of chocolate is dark chocolate and this hot chocolate is not dark chocolate...but the marshmallows more than make up for that!

Another good way to get warm for me is KICKBOXING! I'm sure a lot of you know that I recently (actually it's now been more than half a year since I started) took up kickboxing. It's so very fun indeed. Just last Sunday I took the test for 4kyu with J-Network Kickboxing and hopefully, if I passed, I will be able to take the test for 3kyu soon. From 3kyu you can fight in the amateur matches! But don't worry. That's not what I want to do with kickboxing. I just want to do it because it's fun so hopefully I won't be coming to class with too many bruises. I'll just be coming to class with more energy and stronger muscles!

And now to update you on my Beloved (I named my new Nintendo Wii "Beloved") He's doing well. It's fun trying to play in Japanese...I have no idea what's going on most of the time but games are pretty easy to follow...most of the time... Anyway...it's FUN!


That's all from me for now...hopefully I'll come back soon with more stories to tell...

I hope you're all practicing Valentines chocolate making...did you know that in Australia it's more for boys to give girls presents...

~Jacqueline

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas! It's Jacqueline, getting ready to go back to Sydney for Christmas and New Year

I've been asking everybody in my classes what they want for Christmas and have been getting some interesting answers. Here are some ideas: dinosaurs, beyblades, spinning tops, legos, and such things.

Have you all finished your Christmas shopping? Are your wallets a lot lighter now? I haven't really started. My brother requested some Japanese potato chips. So I plan on going to Donki to buy a lot of potato chips for him.

So anyway, last week I believe I may have talked too much about my Beloved. Beloved has been well. A very nice Wii indeed Some of my students tell me they would also like video games and such things. Of course.

Well I hope everyone has been having fun with the Christmas lessons. It's almost 2010. I wonder what wonders 2010 will bring. Will all your kids become giants over the holidays and grow taller than me? I know some of my C class students are already getting very close to my height. Will some of you have gone adventuring overseas for the holidays? Will you all have new haircuts when you come back next year? I can't wait to see the changes. I'm hoping for great things. Purple hair...nose rings...I hope not.

I'm sure my blog post today has been difficult to read. Sorry about that. I have many things on my mind. Like what to bring back to Sydney for my many and varied relatives. And how will my plant do without me for two weeks...he's already struggling to hold onto life since I forget to give him water regularly...At least I hope my marimo will be okay.

I love marimo. If you don't know what they are...google it!

Anway...that's it from me. I can't think of anything else right now that will make any sense...

Merry Christmas! And everyone should watch the Sydney New Year fireworks!