sendaiben

English teaching in Sendai

New Semester

		Thursday, 01 April 10 - 10:44 PM (GMT +09:00) in University teaching

The new semester starts a week tomorrow. This is always an interesting time for teachers, as they prepare for the start of classes. What kind of students will be in my class? Will they work hard and enjoy the course? What problems will we run into (there are always problems).

I am trying a few new things this year which I am pretty excited about. A new record-keeping system for extensive reading, as well as a completely new approach (for me) in the Eigo C classes (advanced reading). I'm looking forward to the start of term, but I know I am going to be really busy really soon.

I am going to savour the calm during the next week. After that the storm breaks!

Coaching

		Tuesday, 04 August 09 - 02:48 PM (GMT +09:00) in University teaching

Yesterday two students came to my office to ask me to help them practice their English. I was very happy to be asked, and would be happy to give advice to any students who are motivated to improve their language skills.

Just send me an email and we can arrange a time to meet.

Summer Holidays

		Monday, 03 August 09 - 05:40 PM (GMT +09:00) in General

 Well, the summer holidays have started. The weather is unseasonably cool, and I'm still much busier than I imagined, but I hope that both of those will improve in the next week or two.

I hope everyone has a great summer holiday. Please enjoy yourselves, relax, and come back refreshed and ready for the second semester!

iPhone

		Monday, 29 June 09 - 09:31 AM (GMT +09:00) in General

 I have a new toy. I got an iphone on Friday, and have been playing with it over the weekend. So far it's been great.

My impression is that the iphone is great for working in English, everything is very smooth and it's really fun to use.

I was a little disappointed with the Japanese input systems. It's not as easy to use as my old Sharp mobile, so I guess that might be a reason why the it's not as popular in Japan as other phones.

On the whole though, for me, it's perfect. Very happy with my purchase.

Terminator Salvation (Terminator 4)

		Saturday, 06 June 09 - 09:08 AM (GMT +09:00) in General

 I went to see the advance showing of Terminator Salvation last night! There was only one screening, at 22.00. The cinema was quite crowded but not full. I got a ginger ale and some popcorn, and got ready to enjoy the film.

I have to say, it was okay. Not great, and not bad. Just okay. The actors were good, the action was good, the story was okay, and apparently it is the first of a trilogy!

They are going to make two more movies in the 'future Terminator' series so hopefully the scripts will be a bit better.

I like Christian Bale, the star (he was also in the recent Batman movies) so I was looking forward to this, but there were just a few details that kind of annoyed me:

1. the Terminators are not very good at killing people
2. the Skynet base has lots of lights and people-sized doors (why?)
3. there is no reason for the Terminators to take so many human prisoners

Other than that, it was an enjoyable film. There are a few points where it made me jump, but it's not too grotesque or overly violent.

I recommend watching this movie on DVD :)

Better

		Wednesday, 03 June 09 - 11:13 AM (GMT +09:00) in General

 Okay, I am better today. I still feel a bit woozy, and I have a slight headache, but much better than yesterday.

 

Sick!

		Tuesday, 02 June 09 - 08:41 PM (GMT +09:00) in General

I woke up today with a headache. I got up, had a shower, and was about to leave the house when my wife said to me:

"You look terrible. You should go back to bed,"

I felt hot and woozy. I had a temperature. I decided she was right.

Unfortunately I had three classes today, so I had to cancel them at short notice. I would like to apologise to all my students, who had to come in today for no reason. Hopefully I will be okay tomorrow, and able to go in to work.

Take care of yourselves. I think I got sick because I have not been sleeping enough. I went to a presentation over the weekend that said that people who don't get enough sleep have more chance of getting cancer or heart disease. I will be going to bed early tonight!

Japan has five seasons

		Thursday, 28 May 09 - 01:57 PM (GMT +09:00) in General

As you know, the UK has four seasons: spring, summer, autumn, and winter. Japan has five.

In Japan, spring is followed by the rainy season, that gives way to summer, autumn, and winter. Japan's fifth season is temperamental, sometimes it comes early, sometimes late, and occasionally it doesn't come at all!

I am not comfortable when it's humid, so I am not looking forward to the next three months. Sigh.

Friday again

		Friday, 15 May 09 - 09:31 AM (GMT +09:00) in General

It's Friday, and that is a good thing. In English we have an expression TGIF, which stands for 'thank God it's Friday', or 'thank goodness it's Friday' (some religious people think it is bad to use God's name in this way, so be careful when you are speaking to people you don't know well). The second version is safer to use.

This expression refers to the fact that the weekend is almost here, so most people can take a rest. Unfortunately, I have a very busy weekend coming up, so not much rest for me...

There is another expression that goes 'no rest for the wicked', but we can talk about that another time. Enjoy your studies!

Saturday Classes

		Saturday, 09 May 09 - 01:33 PM (GMT +09:00) in General

Today is the first day of Saturday classes. It feels a little strange to see so many students here on the weekend, especially as it is such a beautiful day.

The sun is shining and it's nice and warm.

I tried to go to the new cafe (in the sub-arena) for lunch, but it was closed! I was very disappointed. I hope the cafe is open on Saturdays in the future...

... More items are available in my News Archive