My home is not peaceful anymore...
From today house painters are going to paint the outside of the building and repair the roof and drain the old oil out of the tank...and...and....
10 days of work!!!
My cats are in shock about all the noise and strange smells...and my Okaasan is excitedly making tea and buying anko bread rolls for all the workmen....
It's going to be a loooong 10 days. I may have to come to Imagine for a rest :-)
Are you ready?
You have 20 seconds...1 minute...to prepare. Please begin. Question 1. Turn over the card.
Yesterday I worked at the Study Abroad Fair at Hokkaido University. I was on the Nihon Eigo Kentai Kyokai stand at the fair - giving visitors free Eiken and IELTS speaking test experiences.
Over 100 people attended the fair, from junior high students to middle aged adults - all with plans to take these English tests as a step to a future, whether school or college entrance or study abroad.
I "tested" 16 different people. It was tiring for me, non-stop interviews for 5 hours. I didn't stand up, I hardly had any time to drink water, just back-to-back interviews in a noisy, crowded room. It was hard for the students and I to hear eachother :-(
We offered practice tests in IELTS General exam, and Eiken Pre 1 - 3 Grades. Most of the tests are a reading passage and a picture story, with questions - lasting 5 to 10 minutes. It is hard to TEST speaking ability and no language test does it well, but these tests are good enough..I guess!
I loved meeting all the different students and hearing their dreams and experiences: the tiny junior high school boy who smiled as he answered everything; the guitar playing law Postgrad; the giggly highschool girls; the middle aged woman who chose her recently died 104 year old grandmother as "my most valuable thing" speaking topic and the young woman who plans to go and study museum management in the UK along WITH her husband and two small kids.
In any speaking test it is important to a) speak to all parts of the set task, b) give detail and c) find other words to explain what you want to say. The students I met yesterday were all great.
I hope I gave them enthusiasm for the tests and that they all pass and move a step nearer their dreams. :-)
Have you every dreamed of studying abroad?
This Saturday afternoon, at Hokkaido University, there is a fair of information from organisations that help students make plans for study abroad.
Not just English - but French and other languages too.
I'm there...at the booth for Eiken tests. I am one of the staff who will be giving example speaking tests to visitors.
You can come and take Eiken Grade 3, Pre-2, 2 or Pre-1 for free! Or you can take the IELTS speaking test.
IELTS is a test for people are who trying to enter colleges and universities in the UK, but recently it is becoming more popular in Japan for students who have study/work plans in other places.
Come to Hokkudai and find out more :-)
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Yes - you ARE seeing right!!!
That is Prince Charles presenting the weather news!!!
He was on tour of BBC Scotland and presented the lunchtime weather news. Yes, really! This was shown on TV in Scotland.
If you listen carefully you can hear him making jokes because the news is bad weather for Dumfries House and Balmoral (both royal buildings in Scotland).
I think Prince Charles is pretty good reading the weather news - give him a job!!!
Here is the video of his appearance.
Day 1 of terrace making.
Are you having a nice Golden Week? The weather is fantastic, isn't it!!!
This is what I am doing in my GW, making a terrace between my parking area and the front door at home.
Last month I got 41 paving slabs and lots of nice red bricks from the garden of Cheb Cafe in Hiragishi. So now I am making a terrace....alone...with a LOT of help from a friend in England who is sending me emails, and helpful How-To-Make-a-Terrace videos on You Tube...and staff at Homac in Nishioka!
I don't need to go to the gym because this work uses every muscle in my body :-)
Let's hope that it is finished by the time we have Imagine's tea and roses party this summer.
A new student came to Imagine yesterday.
His name is Claude, he is 9 years old and a little nervous and noisy at first.
But after some snacks and kind words, he relaxed and settled down to study hard.
Well, actually he looked out the window a lot at life in Hiragishi....
His mum MK thought it was a pity to leave him at home on such a nice day, so she brought him along for her private class.
I didn't have a camera here, so I couldn't take a picture - but Claude looks like the picture above. Schnauzer's are German dogs...maybe he woofs in German?
Chichi came home last night.
I am so relieved!
About 8.30 pm he ran inside miaowing and very thirsty and a bit over-excited.
But he is clean and NOT very thin. So he was inside, had food..but no water?
And then I smelled him: he smells of incense!
Where was he? In a shrine? In a butsudan/home altar????? In Hiragishi Cemetary?
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