Tweet of 春日英語教室　

My Vietnamese friend and I organized the workshop for my pupils yesterday.  The theme was about Vietnam, where is so rapidly developing just like Japanese 60s. On the other hand, talking about my country-Japan, there are lots of problems including natural disaster, the accidents of nuclear power plants, economic recession and etc. When I went to Ho Chi Ming city in 2007, I recalled the old vivid days of Japan because whole town was so vibrant enough.  I felt people's energy through noisy car horns on the streets.  There is a fact that there were no multinational fast food chain restaurants or cafes excluding only one KFC.  (I don't know why they have only a KFC....) Their brave or strong mind made me so encouraged. I wish Vietnam will have kept their policy forever. Yesterday, I could have the same feeling as 2007. As if I could have seen such a powerful city's view when I was listening to the lecturer's passionate speech.  In Vietnam, it has lots of aspect a...

Today is a special day for me. Thanks for the Internet, I've got so many instant messages but I must say that those messages are not like plain electric messages but definitely warm-hearted ones with lots of dedication. Now in Japan, most high school students are struggling with the regular tests.  One of my students asked me to help her study on this day, my birthday.  However, her family celebrated my birthday with their singing and a card and hand made cake!! Oh, my god! I was almost crying!  Of course, everytime I got messages from you, I couldn't express myself because I was so happy. Happy Birthday to Me))))))) 

Happy Birthday to Me, Happy Birthday to Me, Happy Birthday Dear Me, Happy Birthday to Me! と夜中の2時半ごろに自分で自分に歌う「ハッピーバースデー」。Now the time is half past two in the morning... and I am singing the song for myself. I am glad to live for my **th Birthday, because I dedicate to my good health and live in this wonderful world.  I was born in May of which green leaves on the trees are so beautiful.  So I really appreciate all of natures which bring me happiness and joy. Les & Kathlin, thank you soooooo much for your kind birthday cards! Everyone, thank you for your kind messages on Facebook.

"Are you Mama?" She asked a lady who was taking a walk with a puppy. "Are you..... ?"  The lady replied. "Wow... waht have you been up to?" She said to the lady aloud. "I've been OK, but it's good to see you again!" The lady was so excited to say like this. "Why were you so quiet for such a long time?" The lady continued to ask her. "'Cause, you know, maybe...  the master wondered and asked her why you were still single...." She murmured. "Oh, no, no, he never said like that... anyway, you should come to see him." And then, she and the lady started walking toward the cafe where the lady and her husband called "Master" ran. Soon after they went into the cafe, the master looked at her with surprise and launched the words, "Welcome back, Akane!" There have been still lots of sculptures which he made displayed inside of the cafe.  The most popular one is "Penguin with Brea...

One and half months have passed since I quit (or was laid off ) the school jobs. However, I do not feel bad because sometimes it happens to you if you are a just part time teacher. As if I were like a temporally disposal teacher for the education ministry.  And more or less, I am free., I've got freedom which you cannot buy with money. But I have to fix my lifestyle now, because it tends to get lazy if you do not have to go to work in the morning.  Just remembering that Haruki Murakami wakes up early and jog every morning. I cannot jog though, but I decided to wake up early. It was good timing that I got a translation job... so it is time to wake up early for me to handle such huge translation! So now I have to go to bed...  Good night!

Please listen to the music below. What reminds you of through this music? For me, "to Clean Up". It is because I used to listen to this music while we were cleaning up our elementary school every day. The music was kind of a symbol in our school, members of the broadcasting committee played this music during the clean-up time almost every day. I am not sure if you have cleaned up your school when you were a pupil. In Japan, in almost all of the schools, pupils clean up after eating lunch. If you were eating lunch slowly (because maybe you hated carrots or some other vegetables.. but you must have eat all of them. ), other pupils would start cleaning, wiping and washing the windows, floors... So you would have to eat lunch in a dusty place. And then, you would get sad and start sobbing.... hahaha... maybe it might be shame because the music has still stuck to my ears. So, it is like "Mozart = Clean-Up"... When I hear this music, I get the feelings...

I just realised that more people in overseas read my blog when I wrote it in English. That's good for me because I could share my thoughts or ideas with the people who lives over miles away from here, in Japan. Today, I would like to ask you a favour, if you check this blog quite often, please click "Follow" on the bottom of this page. I would like to get more friends in all over the world.  In fact, I have some experience to make friends through skype, MSN, icq and Facebook.  And then, some of them visited me here in Japan and also I have visited them.   Still, I keep such great friendships with those people from Hong-Kong, Australia, Ireland, USA, UK and Sweden.  I have used such communication systems for over 5 years. At first, I used it to improve my English. It was amazing that I could do it! One day, I had my thesis proofread from my friend in LA. That's great, isn't!  2 months ago, we got a massive earthquake in Japan, at that time, almost all of...

My family name came from Buddhism temple, however my family name was Mizutani before we got a new name. Called 'Kasuga' in Japanese, it could be hard to catch the right pronunciation on the phone.  One day, I got a parcel written 'Katsura' instead of 'Kasuga' at the office.  That was an embarrassing for me it was because Katrusa means a wig in Japanese.  My colleagues were all laughing or giggling at me.  That's why I was not happy with this name and then, I translated it into English.  When it is translated, it is much better because it might sound better, Spring-Day than Kasuga.  So I use this.  Even my father does. When I invited my friend from Ireland, my father introduced himself like this, "How do you do? I'm Spring Day." Anyway, I just found out our name Kasuga was deeply related to Buddhism. One day, our ancestor was adopted by the Buddhism temple whose family name was Kasuga. So the name has kind of spiritually and religiously import...

今日、ある街のイベントへ行き、この音楽をある人が演奏しているのを聴いた。 なかなか上手だった。３０歳前後の男性だったけれど、高音が綺麗で、なんか 聴いてて心地よかった。それで、最後にこの曲で終わったわけ。しまったなぁ。。。普段、どこのライブハウスで演奏しているのか聴いておくべきだった。ネットで調べても全然見つからない・・・。 Today, I went to the event where some people sold their art works and had live concerts. Some of them were really good musicians, including my brother in low. Anyway, one of the Jazz singers is great to have wonderful high voices. (soprano) 自分は、子供たちに英語を教えているから、英語の練習として、英語の歌を歌う。 ヘンだけど、Youtubeとかで、その歌手と一緒に歌ったり、実際のカラオケでも 英語の歌を歌う。イーグルスは、『ホテルカリフォルニア』が好き。マドンナは好きだけど、 キーが高くて・・・。英語のスピーキングをタダで向上させたい方には、カラオケがお勧めです。 日本語は単語と単語の間を切って話すけれど、英語は滑らせるように話す。（フランス語だと、 リエゾンと言いますよね）この滑らせるようにって言うのは、舌と唇の動きをコンビネーションよく 滑らかにするんだけど、この訓練はやっぱりカラオケだと思う。 あとは、アクセントを置くところの発音をしっかりすると、かなりいいかも。。。 For me, as I teach English to pupils. I sing some English songs when I practice English. It might be strange that I sing songs with singers on youtube. Or I actually sing songs in a Karaoke room. When I sing Eagles' song, I choose "Hotel California". It...

昨日の続きで、今日も昭和チックな写真をお楽しみください。 今日のは、たぶん、名古屋という（一応）大都市では、珍しい建物かもしれない。 このアパート「さくら莊」は、昭和４２年か４３年に建てられたアパート。 当時、アパートと言えば、このスタイルが主流だった。 月日が流れ、最近は、コンクリート造りの近代的しかも丈夫なアパート（マンション）が 主流である。けれど、「さくら莊」は、昔の形を保っている。 実は、住民も３０年以上変わらない。みんな「さくら莊」が好きで、ずっと住んでいる。 「さくら莊」には花壇もあるし、駐車場もある。「さくら莊」の目の前には、大きな公園があり、毎朝、太極拳をする人たちで盛り上がっている。そうだ、桜の樹もあるので、 お花見をしに、わざわざ車でやって来る人もいるぐらい。裏には、畑がある。都心からそんなに離れていないにもかかわらず、環境は悪くないと思う。 すごいね、さくら莊。 ＊私の家は、写真奥に見える小さな小屋みたいなのです。 Look at the pics! Those are the flat called Sakura Apartment. (Sakura means cherry blossom.) It is a very rare style apartment in a modern city like Nagoya. It was built around '67 or '68. At that time, this kind of building was popular here. But time passed, its style changed into more modern ways. However, Sakura Apartment keeps its own 'late '60s style. In fact, the residences love this apartment very much, and never move anywhere. They have lived here for over 3 decades. There is a big park where people do thaichi and then, a parking lot. There ar...

今日は、Rちゃんからのリクエストに応えて、我が家の昭和チックなものの写真を載せます。 我が家は「さくら莊」というアパートの一部で、これは高知県から名古屋に引っ越してきたおじいちゃんとおばあちゃんの建てた家です。築４０年ぐらいなのかな？２Kの小さな家。英語で言うと、bungalow （バンガロー）でしょう。まずは、すりガラス。ヘップバーンのポスターはお姉ちゃんがくれました。貼る所がなくて、すりガラスのところへ貼りました。それから、台所の電球。かちっと手でスイッチを入れて電灯を付ける仕組み。それから、ほうき。これも懐かしいのでは？それから、ガラスのコップ。これは実は３つあるんだけどね。私が小さいころからずっと使っています。あとまだあるけれど、とりあえず、今日はこれくらいにしておきます。あ～、そうそう、「さくら莊」、見事に昭和ですよ。今のうちに撮っておかないとね、地震が来たら、恐らく、壊滅しそうだから。（と言いつつも、台風や豪雨にも耐えてきたからね） I'll show you some pictures which might remind you of Showa (it is the name of era in Japan, around '30s - late 80s, but I focus on '70s right now). My house is part of the flat called 'Sakura apartment', which my grandparents built in the late '60s. There is a poster of Hepburn on the door of which degsin is represent of Showa. And then, the light in the kitchen is also a Showa style. And the glass... which actually I have used since I was 3 years old. And the broom ... Next time, I'll show you 'Sakura' apartment, which is a...

GWの中日（なかび）、今日から英語教室の戦略会議（一人だけなんだけど）で、コミュニティーセンターへ行った。そこで、いい話を聞いてきた。コミュニティーセンターの方と子供への教授法について話で盛り上がりました。 During Golden Week Holidays, I had a meeting for strategies (alone) in the community centre. And there, I had nice talk about teaching methods for kids with a lady who was working. 彼女は、かつて、お琴の先生を２０年いや３０年してきたそうで・・・。 She has taught *Koto for 20 or no.. 30 years before.　* Koto is a traditional Japanese instrument. お子ちゃまに教える際に、 「怖い音出してみようかぁ」 ジャーンと低音を弾くのだそうです。そして、 「今度は、楽しい音出してみようかぁ」 ジャーンと、高音を弾く、しかもちょっとリズムを入れて。 そうすると、子供たちは目をまん丸くして、 「わぁ、ぼく（わたし）にもやらせてぇ～」 と、こうなんですよ・・・。 When she taught the Koto to kids, she said to them, "Could I try making a scary sound?" And then, she made lower sounds with the Koto, " Jaaaaan ". And next, she said to them, "Could I try making a comfortable sounds?" she played higher sounds with a bit rhythms with the Koto, " Jaa, Jaa, Jaaaaan)))))) ". At that time, the kids opened their eyes widely and showed their curiosities. An...

今日は二カ月に一回の診療に行き、待合室で、 まだ昨日の小説のことを考えていた。 Today, I saw a doctor for diagnosis . I was thinking of the story (yesterday I mentioned the book) in the waiting room. この小説のストリックランドは、自分に合う場所を見つけた・・・。 自分に合わない場所にいると、苦悩ばかり。。。彼は変態扱いされていた。 確かに、彼の行動は変態的だったから。 でも、それは、彼にふさわしくない場所、環境にいたから。 In the story, Strickland found the right place... If you stayed at the wrong place, you would be struggled too much. In his case, he had looked like an odd or mad person. It was just because he had been in the wrong place. ("the Moon and the Sixpence" by William Somerset Maugham ) 自分に合う場所・・・。どこかな？ 今居るところだと思っていたけれど、 確かに、ここでは文明の発達のスピードについて行くのがやっと。 でも、体力はついていけなくて、 もう１０年以上も甲状腺の病気と長いお付き合いをしているってわけで・・・。 甲状腺と言えば、今回の地震や津波で、服用中のチラージンという甲状腺の薬の調達がなかなか困難になったらしい。 For me, where is the right place? I regarded here was the right place, but it must be hard for me to catch up with such a high speed development in the society. And I couldn't catch up with such a speed, I got broken my health, thyroid. It was just more t...