• Home
  • Teacher
  • Students
  • System
  • English Study
  • Imagine Life!
  • Amanda's Blog....
  • Other services
  • Contact

Teacher becomes student

7/27/2015

0 Comments

 
Picture
It is good to see things from a different direction.
Yesterday I was the student at Kayak class a
t HOA Hokkaido Outdoor Adventures in Hidaka.



As you can see in the photograph - I was nervous and cried a little! Teacher Bob was very calm and understanding - here he was teaching me how to escape when the kayak turns over. 
Learning new skills is important and although my kayak lesson was maybe more physically demanding than ANY English class, it reminded me that all new students come to a lesson with understandable nerves.
We have to trust the teacher to look after us and help us!


My kayak day was exciting, a little scary and a lot of fun.
I had a private lesson in the morning and later joined a group rafting/kayaking on the Saru River. I learned how to escape from an overturned kayak, how to cross a strong current..and how to try and come through white water!! Amazing.


0 Comments

Finding English in Sapporo

7/12/2015

0 Comments

 
Picture
English is not only for the classroom.
Teachers always recommend that students go online, read books, listen the CDs, watch TV - anything to give their English a work-out between classes.
I also recommend that students look for English-using chances in public life in Sapporo.


Mrs. MK, one of my NHK students, did just that last week. She went on a English Display Machine Tour in the city and enjoyed finding all the different places with English information. I am so pleased that she tried!!! But she said she was nervous when some machines even SPOKE English :-) These are the places I can think of with English on machines:


Photocopy machines in 7-11 and Lawson's
Bank ATMs
Post Office ATMs
Sapporo City Subway Ticket Machines
JR Hokkaido Ticket Machines
Parking Area Pay Machines
Some restaurants - sushi Toriton, ramen places, Taj Mahal.

Why don't you try? And please tell me if you find any more!!
0 Comments

Souvenirs from the UK

7/8/2015

0 Comments

 
Picture
If you lived abroad, what would you miss about Japan?
When friends come to visit me from the UK I ask them to bring me the things I miss and last week I was lucky to get these souvenirs/presents.


Cheese!!! Yes!!! Five pieces of different cheeses from a British supermarket - in Japan this amount of cheese would be expensive. In the Uk it is half that cost.
And chocolates.....Minstrels and a chocolate orange.
And - newspapers/magazines. I love reading current affairs, and although I can keep up with news online - it is relaxing to sit with a newspaper and read longer feature stories.
Of course, now I have lived away from the UK for over 20 years, so there are many BRitish stories and famous people I don't know about. So some stories are not interesting, but I even enjoy the adverts and TV pages.


I'm a happy British person this week.
0 Comments

agggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

7/4/2015

0 Comments

 
Yes. I watched it.
Horrible!


Yesterday morning I was trying to get ready to go to work at NHK Culture Center in Odori. I have a 10.30 am class on Thursdays.
But I am standing in my living room at home getting dressed, with my work bag and car keys - watching the last minutes of the England vs Japan soccer game.


The score is 1-1. England has missed some chances. There are three minutes of extra time. I am thinking: "Oh no, this will go to PK and I have to go to work...."


Then it happened. I was actually in the computer room next door when I heard the roar of the crowd from the TV and I rushed back to the living room.
Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.


It was an awful way to lose an important game. I feel so sorry for the player. But, I AM happy for Japan and as always, when watching sports between my birth and adoptive country, I can't help but support Japan more.
I know the Japanese players faces and names from media in Japan. I am surrounded by a country of people happy with the result.


So I am happy for Japan :-)

One sports writer in the UK wrote this about the game:
"I suppose it’s hard to argue that Japan don’t deserve their place in the final. They’ve been very good all tournament, and even though they were off key tonight, they cut England open twice to score their goals. England were excellent, and deserve many plaudits, but Japan are an accomplished side, full of skill and technique, and their game against USA on Sunday will be fabulous, no doubt. " (Louise Taylor, The Guardian newspaper, sports writer)


0 Comments

    Me.....
    I teach at Imagine.
    I teach at NHK Culture Centers in Odori and Shin-Sapporo.
    I proof read tourist information or academic papers.
    I narrate videos in English for Japanese companies.
    I eat chocolate; garden; play with cats; see movies; help look after my partner's mother and eat a lot of sushi....

    Archives

    November 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011

    RSS Feed

    Categories

    All
    Evacuees
    Jobs
    Mother's Day
    Ordinary Lives
    Pera Pera Hokkaido
    Royal Family
    Walkathon

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.