Recently in Announcements Category

Tonight was my last adult group lesson at JOY. It has been a fun 23 years and I have had a lot of interesting students and worked with many fun co-workers. I know there are many people who never find a place where they really enjoy working, so I feel very lucky to have found a place like JOY to spend most of my working life.

I will miss all of you, but I am sure that we will see each other around Obihiro. Don't worry I will be stopping by JOY occasionally to say hello and you can always come out to the university to say hi.

I won't be posting anything more on this blog, but I hope to get a new one set up at Chikudai very soon. I will send the address to Shinobu, so she can put it in the JOY News. If you want to contact me by e-mail, you can use kamiobi1atyahoo.com.

Remember, keeping studying.

David

Today we saw Eva and Carlos off at the train station. There were a lot of tears shed. I would post a picture, but Eva made me promise not to. After the train left I went back to JOY to help Trish and Paul move to the apartment and get some futons. They have many things to learn about Obihiro and Hokkaido, so please help them out.

I mentioned at the party that Eva and Carlos are leaving Obihiro on Tuesday the 25th from the Station, but I didn't mention the time. Their train leaves at 10:04, so they will probably be there 15 minutes ahead.

After class today I went to Rancho for lunch and they asked me to promote their party that is coming up on Saturday the 15th at 7:00. It is 5,000 yen for all you can eat and drink. It is going to be a cowboy theme and there will be live country and western music. To learn more go here.

Just to let you know that the comments are working again on all of JOY's blogs. There are a few things that still need to be done to get things looking like they did before, but I hope to have that done over the next few days. Let me know if something isn't working correctly or missing.

As you can see the blog may be looking a little different than usual. I updated the software over the weekend and things haven't gone as smoothly as I had hoped. Hopefully, things will be back to normal by the end of the day.

Ladies and Gentlemen, we have a winner of the 1000th comment contest. The person who will be getting a loaf of my homemade bread is Kazuyo from the Current Events class. Next week I am going to bring her a loaf of whole wheat bead.

I must admit it took longer to reach the 1000th comment than I thought it would. Hopefully, to get to 1500 will be much faster.

I just noticed that on my blog I have 939 comments, so I decided that I will have a contest to see who can be the 1000th commenter. There is no way to tell what number you are when you post, so to have a chance to win you will need to keep posting comments. The prize for the 1000th commenter will be a loaf of my homemade bread. Start posting comments today and you might be the lucky winner!

PS. JOY staff are ineligible.

Many of you who were at the Christmas party will remember meeting Mayuko and Zenta. Well, I just got an e-mail from Zenta announcing that they had a baby girl yesterday morning. Mayuko and the baby are doing fine. They are still thinking of names, but I am sure they will pick one soon.

Congratulations to Mayuko and Zenta.

Bucky Hall will be closed from March 13 to 16 for remodeling. You will still be able to check out graded-readers because they will be on the shelves at the entrance.

Just a quick note to let you know that we are planning some English Salons with Joe.
Fridays (8:30-9:30)

April 14 Step 2 and 3
April 21 Step 4 and 5
April 28 Step 2 and 3

Mondays (8:30-9:30)
April 17 Step 4 and 5
April 24 Step 2 and 3

Remember if you want to take part, you need to fill out an Even application form at the counter.

I have made a few more changes to the layout of the blog. As you can see there is now an announcment section at the top of the page. I will use this space to let you know about up coming events or other news at JOY. The page seems to be loading very slowing on my computer, so let me know if the same thing is happening to you.

We just got the list of guests who will be coming from the JICA Center. There will be 3 people from Viet Nam, 2 from Paraguay, 2 from Burkina Faso, 2 from Kenya and 1 from India. Think of a lot questions to ask and be ready to tell them about Japan.

English Salons
Monday (October 17, 24 & 31) 8:30-9:30 with Chris. Topics to be announced. Step 4 & 5

Learn about American Football with Braden
Tuesday (October 11, 18, 25) 7:15 to 8:15
Braden is a big football fan, so if you have wondered about the rules and the action he is the man to explain it to you. Open to all levels, but might be a little difficult for Step 1 and 2.

Knitting with Amy
Tuesday (October 11) 7:15-8:15
Do you knit? Are you interested in learning how? This time is for you come and talk with Amy about knitting.

Halloween Story Time
Thursday (October 13, 20, & 27) 7:15-8:15 Levels 3, 4 & 5
Do you like scary stories? Do you want to know more about Halloween? Come and join Amy for Halloween story night.

If you look over on the left sidebar you will see a link for JOY's newphotoblog. We will be posting photos here after special events. It is kind of basic right now, but I intend to improve it in the coming weeks. If you have any photos from the beer garden please e-mail them to me.

Tuesday Sept. 27
English Cooking at International Relations Center kitchen 7:00-10:00 (¥1, 500)
Chris will lead of with the appetizer and Amy will do the main dish. Erin is in charge of the dessert, with Braden coming up with a salad. Once again I will challenge a recipe that I have never cooked before. This year I will be making a soup of some kind.
Wednesday Sept 28
English Flea Market in Bucky Hall 7:00-10:00 (Free)
Do you have something you would like to sell you can bring it to JOY and try to find a buyer. The only requirement is to speak English.
Thursday Sept. 29
International Party in Bucky Hall 7:00-9:00 (¥1,500)
We will have guests from the JICA Center, so you will have a chance to learn about their countries and cultures. You will also have the chance to teach them about Japan.

I am testing a way to see JOY's Japanese blogs on a cell phone. The English sites work just fine and if you want to read them you can go here  http://winksite.com/joyworld/mobile on your cell phone. I know the English sites work with au and vodaphone, but I am not sure about docomo.

If you have a vodaphone or docomo phone that can access the internet please go the  http://winksite.com/utf8/utf8 and see if you can read the Japanese characters. You will see a window with three choices. 1. WML Test 2. IMODE test and 3. Xhtmlmp Test. When you select one of them you will get a list of languages. Please select Japanese and see if you can read the characters or if you get a lot of strange ones. Send me an e-mail if it works.

Thanks

We have set up a new blog to announce Obihiro and Tokachi Events. If you read about any events, exhibitions, concerts or lectures that you think the foreign community in Tokachi might be interested in tell me or any of the other teachers. You can send an e-mail or put a comment on our blogs.

There is going to be a slide and talk show about Eco Tourism in Australia on June 17th. For more details go to JOY News.

I will be offering a special listening class starting Wednesday, May 25 at 7:00 to 8:15. There will be ten classes. It is a radio mystery drama. I think it will be fun and we will work on different listening techniques.

If you look on the left side under useful links you will find links to the Gutenberg Project There are places for text and audio downloads. There are Sherlock Holmes stories and ones by Hans Christian Andersen. Check them out and download them.

Remember there will be no classes on May 29, April 3, 4, or 5. We will be having classes on May 2 and 6. Have a good break and drive carefully if you are going anywhere.

For the Thursday morning Chikudai class we will be changing to a larger room. The class will be in Room 35 from tomorrow.

If you want to look at this site from your cell phone try this address . I know that it works with Vodaphone, AU, but I am not sure about Docomo, it is supposed to. Please give it a try and let me know.

To all the Chikudai students I think the address I wrote on the board was wrong so use this one.

We are planning to have an English Salon on Friday April 22 from 8:30 to 9:30. Branden will be the discussion leader. This salon is for Step 2 and 3 level students. There is room for only 8 people, so please sign up at the counter.

Seeing how no one was interested in the Webquest class and I don't have another class on Monday we have decided to offer Step 4A again at 7:00. There were several students in last years class who can only come on Monday and would like to take Step 4. This class is for you. If you have already bought a Step 3 book, who can exchange if for a Step 4 book at the counter. To sign up for the class you can call JOY.

Remember if you haven't paid for your class or purchased your textbook yet the counter will be very busy this week. If you can come a little earlier or stop by during the afternoon after 2:30 it will make things much easier.

There have been some changes to the schedule, so check the JOY News. If you have any questions e-mail Shinobu or give us a call.

3/29 Tuesday
10:45-12 English Brunch (500 yen) Sign up at the counter!
I will be making an Alaskan Sourdough Pancake breakfast. It will be a chance for you to meet the other teachers and speak English,
7:00-8:15 English Skit
Urashima-san will teach how to use English skits to improve your English.
7:00-9:30 English Time
Come and talk with Amy, Chris, David and other students.
3/30 Wednesday
7:00-9:30 Games Night (Free) Sign up at the counter!
Come and learn how to play many different types of games or bring a game you would like to teach others. David will be teaching Mexican dominoes and there are many other ones to learn.
3/31 Thursday
10:45-12 English Skit
Urashima-san will teach how to use English skits to improve your English.
7:00-9:30 English Battle Royal (Free)
Each JOY teacher will give a short 10 to 15 minute talk about one topic. This is a very good listening chance, so come and challenge your listening skills.
4/1 Friday
7:00-9:30 Ireland Night
Come and learn about Ireland. All of us have spent some time in Ireland . Learn about St. Patrick's Day, the food, music, art.

You can pick up your tickets for the End of Term Party at the counter. The party will be on March 24 from 7 to 9. Tickets are 1000 yen and you can use your JOY coupons.

Remember on Wednesday, March 2 from 7:00-9:45 we will be having Engish Time in Bucky Hall. This event is open to all levels from Basic to Step 5. You can drop in anytime and stay as long as you like, but you need to speak English. This is your chance to use your English in a casual, stress free setting. This isn't a lesson, but just an opportunity to speak and to speak with many different people with different levels of English ability. This is a great chance for lower level students to overcome their shyness about speaking English in front of other people.

The textbooks we will be using are on display in Bucky Hall. Stop by before or after class to take a look. The Step 2 book New Interchange 1 is an older edition and I should be getting a new copy soon.

What do you think of the new look? Is it easier to read? What else would you like me to add or change?

If you want to learn a little more about our new teachers Chris and Amy you should visit there blogs Chris' Classes or Amy's Classes. Don't forget to leave a comment.

The big news is that Urahsima-san now has a blog. Here is the link. Stop by and leave a comment. I am sure he would like to hear from you.