Jazz & Pop Concert 2012

My granddaughter has been learning the piano
at JOY MUSIC.

She is now 12 years old.

Last evening JOY MUSIC gave a concert--
‘Jazz & Pop Concert 2012.’

koharu played the piano on the stage
with two professional musicians.

She played her favorite music
‘ Linus & Lucy’-Peanuts theme song.

It is a popular jazz piano tune.

You did very well, koharu!

After the concert we had a Sushi-party.
I stayed the night at her house.

What a wonderful night!

Cheer up, Tomiko-san!

It’s the coldest season of the year.

It's a very fine but very cold day.

The flowers were frozen in the morning.

The snow that fell this Monday still remains
on the both sides of the street.

One of my friends slipped on the frozen road
and had her left wrist broken.

I feel so sorry for her.

Cheer up, Tomiko-san!

I hope you will soon be all right.

The entrance to my apartment is still frozen,
so I must be careful not to slip on the ice.

I’ve just been to a beauty salon.
I had my hair cut and tinted.

I’m feeling refreshed.

a postcard in a cellophane envelope

Have you received a postcard in a cellophane envelope?

Last Saturday the sleet was falling all day long.

The word sleet means ‘snow and rain that fall
when it is very cold,’　みぞれ.

When I came back to my apartment from Kunitachi,
I found a postcard in the mail box.

I was surprised the postcard was put in a cellophane
envelope---probably, so as not to get wet.

How thoughtful of a mailman!

Have you ever received any postcards put in cellophane
envelopes--- delivered by JP mailmen?

What a happy Saturday!

What an exciting day!

Yesterday I went to Kunitachi City and met
a Korean family, Kim-san.

They used to come to Saturday Japanese Class
at Kunitachi Community Center.

I was teaching Japanese to Kim-san’s son as one of
Japanese volunteer teachers.

To be exact, not teaching but to enjoying talking
with them in Japanese.

He entered an public elementary school in Kunitachi
as soon as he came to Japan with their parents.

Six years have passed since they came back to Seoul.

The boy has grown up to be a cool and nice young man.
He’ll be a university student this March.

How nice to meet them again!
We talked and talked—in Japanese.
They all spoke very good Japanese.

What an exciting day I had!

How happy I was to meet you again,
Kim-san!
--------------------------------------

I have ever written about them in my blog.
Read the following pages, if you please.

http://wave.ap.teacup.com/applet/karin/20050522/archive

http://wave.ap.teacup.com/applet/karin/20051015/archive

English classes at a junior high school

I went to a nearby public junior high school
and observed two English classes in the morning.

My granddaughter, koharu, will attend this junior
high school this spring.

The school is now open to the community until Friday.

I've never observed any classes at junior high school.

I've been interested to know how English is taught
at junior high school.

First, I observed one of the third year students'
English classes.

They seemed to have almost finished their textbooks
except Lesson 8.

They did a review of the last lesson—
interrogatives (such as how, when, where, what and which) + to ～.

All the students stood up and began to ask and answer
a question “Do you know how to ～?” to each other.

Yes, they were enjoying their English conversation.

Next was a review of difficult words.
The teacher had many flash cards.
The students were very quick to answer.

I was sorry I could not observe how the textbooks
were taught in class.

The teacher told the class to copy the Lesson 8
into their notebooks.

It took one third of the English class!

I know writing English is very important
but you can copy the textbook at home.

I hoped it was a temporary English class activity.

The next English class I observed was
one of the first year students' English classes.

It was a small class taught by two teachers—
a Japanese and an Englishman.

The students were learning
how to use ‘ordinal numbers’ and ‘whose.’

It seemed to be an oral communication class.

The students were shy but they were enjoying
speaking English.

All the students looked so fresh.

They practiced asking and answering
the following dialogues each other.

Then each group gave performances in front of
the other classmates.

---------------------------------------------

★ When is your birthday?
My birthday is January eighteenth.

★ Whose flute is this?
It's mine.
Oh, is it yours? Here you are.
Thank you.
The curtain is opening.
Let's start. Everyone, please stand up.

---------------------------------------------

I was glad that the first year students were enjoying
English very much.

(tamagawa-josui, in front of my apartment at 4:30p.m.)