Recently in Step 3 Category

Well, we went over the homework, but Iku was the only person who as here last class. It was pretty easy, so it didn't take long to do.

The lesson was set in a restaurant and different problems you might have. Both Shunsuke and Iku have had problems, but Yoko has been lucky and not had any so far. Iku's problem was in Hawaii when a food server automatically added on the tip. They complained about it and didn't pay it. My wife had something similar happen to her in New York.

The homework for next week is to do the writing exercises on page 37. Do forget we still have one more class next week.

Thanks to visitors we have had a little larger class that last two week. Hopefully, the same thing will happen for the last two classes. Remember there are no classes next week.

We went over the homework and finished up the last part of the lesson we were working on last week. The theme of the new lesson was dreams and there was a reading and listening exercise on interpreting them. If you want to learn more about it go here.

We ended up with 4 people tonight because Uro joined us from one of Joe's classes. He used to take my class, so it was nice to see him again. Susumu has been busy with several different trips. It sounds like he will be around for awhile.

There wasn't any homework to check so we jumped into the new lesson. In one part we talked about promises and did a reading about the ones that are commonly broken. There were a couple that seemed to be more common in North American than Japan.

The homework for next week is 3 b & c on page and Grammar Bank 3C on pages 130-131.

Trish said that last week there were only two students and it was the same this week, too. Last week in the comments Kieko mentioned that she wouldn't be able to come because of her pregnancy. Remember Keiko to start speaking English to the baby now.

Maki has been gone for several weeks, but I am sure she will be back next week. Now I am a positive thinker. Tonight's lesson was was about positive and negative thinking. I am pretty sure everyone in this class is a positive thinker. If you aren't the tips in the book might help you out.

There is no homework for next week, but we will talk about more about positive thinking.

Kunio, from Joe's class, was here for a make up and it was his first time to attend this class. Maki was back, but Kieko wasn't here to share her news. Susumu was also absent, so we couldn't hear about his trip to Taipei. Maybe he can tell you about it the first class after summer vacation. Check back here during the break and see if I have posted something from the States.

Kieko was back tonight after about a month break. She shared some big news with us, but Maki wasn't here, so I will let Kieko tell her next class.

The homework was to bring some photos and both Shunsuke and Susumu brought some interesting ones. Susumu brought some slides of a trip he made to the Himalayas to see Mt, Everest. The shots of the plane and runway were pretty dramatic. After talking about his photos we talked a little bit about trains and traveling between Sapporo and Obihiro in the old days. Susumu said it was nice to be able to ride in the dinning car. Both Shunsuke and Kieko didn't know that there used to be a dinning car on the that line.

The homework for next class is pp130-31 3A & B. We will also get to hear a little bit about Taiwan.

Yea! Three people showed up tonight. We started up where left off three weeks ago and people weren't too rusty. We talked about hotel check-in and the different steps involved. There isn't a very big difference between Japan and overseas. In the conversation Maki wanted to know how to say "bed cover" in English and at first I couldn't remember. I was talking about something else when it finally hit me. It is bedspread. Sometimes I just can't come up with the word I want.

The homework for next week is to bring your favorite photo and be ready to tell the class about it and why it is your favorite.

Well Shunsuke and Susumu called and said they would be absent this evening. Right now I am waiting to see if Maki or Kieko will show up. I will update later. I am so lonely I could cry. It looks like no one is going to come tonight. See you in July.

Susumu was back from his trip and he shared some of his experiences. He had several problems, but there were many good points also. Shunsuke ended up missing the eiken test because the plane he was to come back on from Tokyo had engine trouble. He didn't get back until later in the afternoon.

We did some work with but, although so and because. Part of the activity was an interesting story that has a reading and listening section. For homework next week you need to write the conversation that Jamie and Hannah have at the hospital. If Kieko wants to do the homework, she can look at page 119.

It was only Kieko for the first 40 minutes, but then Shunsuke came rushing in. He got delayed at the university because he was helping another student with a computer problem. We talked about his interview in Tokyo last week (not Sapporo). He is pretty confident that he will get the position.

After that we did the same exercise as last week because they were both absent. We will start with Lesson 2D next week.

Only Susumu and Maki tonight. Shunsuke had to make a trip to Sapporo for an interview about the JICA project he is involved with and I don't know about Kieko. I am sure she will post a comment and let us know. We finished up the lesson from last week and did the listening exercise of the song Imagine by John Lennon. In one part of the homework there was a question about Sting's job before he became a singer. I had no idea, but I am not a big Sting fan. Maki said he was a high school teacher and she was correct.

At the end of class Susumu said he would be absent next week because he is going to St. Petersburg, Russia. Maki was very excited to hear this because it is a place she would really like to go someday. We can get all the details in two weeks.

Susumu had a good time on his trip to Yamagata and he said the train part of the trip went smoothly. He was the only person who did anything special. Everyone else said they worked or stayed home.

We went over the homework and then started the new lesson. The theme tonight was music and there was a short quiz. The people in this class don't know much music trivia. I think people would have been lucky to get over 50% of the answers correct.

The homework for next week is pp. 128 and 129 and we will start with #5 on page 21.

Our new classmate joined us this evening, so now we are up to 4 people. It will take the pressure off of Maki to always show up for class. Maki was absent tonight, but I am sure she isn't made at Kieko for her being absent last week.

We did some quick self-introductions and then looked over the homework which was to think about the questions about your last vacation. I was Kieko's partner, so we talked about her honeymoon and my trip to Vietnam.

Kieko you were right, I did forget to post something last week. I thought maybe I had written something, but not published it. There was nothing in the entry list. All I can say is that I forgot.

We had Yuko joining us tonight and it was her last class. She was transferred to a new school in Toyokoro in April which makes it hard for her to come to JOY for class. She will try to come to special events when she can.

We worked on the practical English page tonight. This section of the book is based on a story from an earlier book. The listening was a review of that story, so we could get to know the characters. The setting was at an airport and the immigration procedures. Kieko had an interesting story about immigration. She said it was the trouble at American immigration that prompted her to come to JOY to study English. When she went to the States she was asked questions by the immigration officer, but she couldn't answer. She just froze! After that she decided that when she got back to Japan she would study English.

Another part of the lesson was what you do and say when you meet someone at the airport. Maki made a good point that people in some countries hug and kiss. Kieko said she had never seen that at the Obihiro-Tokachi Airport. I told her she had never seen me when my wife picks me up at the airport. I always give her a hug. When I suggested she try it the next time she picks up her husband, she just laughed.

There is a lot of homework for next week. You need to write and e-mail like the one on page 13 introducing yourself. Also do the exercises on pp. 14 and 15. You don't need to worry about the "Can you understand these people?" section because it is a listening exercise.

Keiko was explaining about the person she thought would be a good match for Shunsuke just as he ran into the room. We started over so that he could get all the details. The person he recommended for Maki turned out to be his married brother! Not the best choice and Kieko didn't have anyone.

We went on to the next lesson in the book and looked at the Toulouse-Lautrec painting Moulin Rouge. We also listened to the song and kept laughing at the name of the song. I had never heard it before. It was from the musical Hair.

At the beginning of class we talked about computers and the importance of backing up your data. The topic came up because Maki had some problems last week and lost some music because she hadn't backed up everything. Kieko didn't think she had ever backed up her computer, but thinks her husband might do it. Shunsuke does back ups, but it doesn't sound like it is on a regular basis.

We moved on to lesson 1B and looked at the idea of picking a girlfriend for someone. The homework for next week is to think of a person you know who might be a good match for your single classmates. Kieko will need to think of someone for Maki and Shunsuke. Look at #6 on page 7 for help.

We are starting off with a small class again this term. The same thing happened last year, but we slowly gained more students as the year went on. I hope the same thing happens this year.

We started with the textbook and looked at the different sections. I think the first few lessons will be good review and the book will quickly get more difficult. If you want to check out the book's website you can go here.

There is no homework for next week, but I am sure we will have some almost every week after this.

Today was the last class and everyone was here except for Midori. We spent some time talking about news in Hokkaido. Paul got another short lesson on Japan.

We worked with adjectives ending in ed and ing and people were still having some trouble. I will try to focus on this at the beginning of the next class.

I am not sure if we have any new students in this class next term, but I think we might have one or two.

Today was our last class and everyone ended up with perfect attendance. Many of you had to use the Pops English class to make it, but you did. I think is one of the few times where I had every student in a class have perfect attendance.

We went over the homework and people did a great job. Kazue was able to stump us all with her movie, A Knight's Tale. I had never heard of it, but I will check the movie rental store this weekend to see if I can find it. We spent a lot of time talking about movies, but we did do one more exercise. If you want, you can send me your last homework by e-mail.

Today was a first because we had everyone here tonight. Out of 20 lessons so far this was the first time! Paul was here so we were able to have an even number for activities.

I was surprised that no one had noticed the closet before. Shunsuke did the best at guessing what was inside. It was fun speculating what people are going to do this coming holiday and weekend. Kieko didn't guess correctly about Maki and I didn't either. She usually has to work on weekends and holidays, so I assumed it would be the same on Thursday. She said she was going to the hair salon, so we can expect a new look next week. Shunsuke will be moving to a new apartment and Midori is going to a hot spring with a friend. Kieko will be doing housework and Yoshiko will going skiing, but go to work after she gets back. I guess I will be the only one not doing anything this holiday.

A few people sent last week's homework for a second check and Fumiko tried the online exercises that I linked to last week.

We started talking about movies and we looked at the different types. I forgot to mention this site in class, but if you want to find out something about an actor or a movie it is the place to go.

At first I wasn't planning on giving you any homework this week, but then you all wanted some so here you go. First do 1C on page 100, but remember we are going to have people guess the movie that you are talking about. It is important that you don't tell anyone at the beginning of class what movie you picked. Also do the Vocabulary Notebook on page 106.

Only Kieko and Yoshiko tonight. Shunsuke called saying he probably couldn't make it because he was working on an experiment. Midori told me last week that she would be gone tonight and probably next week, too. I am not sure what happened to Maki.

We talked about several things while waiting to see if other people would show up. And Kieko surprised us with the news that a skeleton had been found in a nearby town. The problem was she couldn't remember which town for sure. I guess I will have to keep an eye on the news to get more details.

We went over the homework and then practiced ways to make polite requests. It is tough to get those longer sentences correct. The homework for next week is to write a movie or CD review. Use the ones on p. 104 as examples, but remember if you write about a movie don't give away the ending.

Everyone was back this week and there were a variety of topics in the warm up period. Yoko told us she got a new washing machine because her 18 year-old one died. Mika mentioned that she had gone to a movie with her husband and Tomoe said she had never been to a movie with hers. Mika then asked where they went on dates before the got married. It took awhile, but we finally go the answer from her.

Kazue and Fumiko were talking about one of their favorite subjects -- movies. I guess they announced that they are going to be making another Pirates of the Caribbean movie. Fumiko also said that her husband surprised her with flowers on Girls Day last Monday.

We went over the homework and it took a little longer than I thought it would. It is a difficult grammar pattern, so I understand. Remember, if you want me to look at your sentences again, send them to me by e-mail.

We jumped up to Unit 10 and worked with present perfect continuous and present perfect. The homework for next week is to do these drills here and here.

It is the second week that Yoshiko has been absent. I spoke with her last week when she was here for a make up class and she said she has to work a lot of overtime this month.

Kieko was back tonight and her postcard arrived this afternoon. She had a cold, so she wasn't in the best of shape. She enjoyed her trip to Pamalican Island and from looking at the site I can see why.

We started the unit about movies and the first exercise was guessing the type of movie from the description. They had a picture from the movie North by Northwest, but a couple people haven't seen it. I highly recommend watching it, if you haven't already.

I mentioned the site The Internet Movie Database and I linked to it earlier. If you have any movie questions, this the place to go.

The homework for next week is to do the on page 106.

There were three people absent today which was really unusual for this class. Luckily, Yoshie and Keiko were here. Keiko was snowed in like me last Sunday. She said there was a big snow drift between her house and the road and they couldn't get out until they cleared away the snow. Yoshie said that her husband changed cars and went from a big SUV to a K-car. The difference in the car tax is amazing. I was able to share my prediction that the K-car tax will be going up in the next year or so because the government is going to want to make up for the shortfall in revenue from people switching to the cheaper cars.

We went over the homework and it took a little longer than I thought it would. There were some surprising answers and I can learn a lot about people from the answers they give to these types of questions. We talked about the word remind and I forgot to mention that it is also used with to.

Today's lesson was about giving advice and we looked at the different ways to do it. We were running out of time, so we didn't get to several parts. The homework for next week is to do 1B on page 80. We will start with #2 on page 81. I also hope to start Unit 10 next week. Unit 10 will be the last unit for this term.

Too bad Kieko wasn't here tonight because we were really looking forward to hearing about her honeymoon. Maybe next week she can come next week or she can post a comment. Shunsuke got stuck on the train coming back from Sapporo on Saturday because of the blizzard. He said it took almost 20 hours to get back to Obihiro. Maki also had the blizzard to thank for getting the night off on Saturday. The weather was so bad that they closed the events at Tokachikawa Hot Spring.

We skipped up to Unit 10 and worked with present perfect continuous and present perfect. You can do some drills here and here.

There is no homework for next week.

There were a lot of good examples of the patterns in the homework that you did and several of you even did the extra work that I assigned at the end of class. There were still a few problems, so send your sentences by e-mail and I will check them.

The homework for next week is to do the Vocabulary Notebook and write your answers for the questions in 3A on page 79.

It was fun talking to night about the advice and regrets. For Yoshiko it was difficult to give advice because she has a very stress free approach to live. Maki doesn't like to give advice and would only do it for causal things like restaurants or movies.

Next week we are going to jump to Unit 10 and look at the Before you begin ... questions on the intro page.

People's rankings of the important things in their lives were very similar, but different from the Monday night class. In this class family was either #1 or 2, but in the Monday night class it was #3 or 4. In both classes career and physical appearance were rated at the bottom.

The grammar point today was Future/Present Unreal Conditional and in the note it mentioned using, I wish I was .... in conversation and I wish I were in writing. I did the check with MS Word and it does flag the I wish I was .... as being incorrect.

The homework for next week is to write 5 sets of sentences like the ones in 2A on page 77. The bonus homework is to make a I wish... sentence for everyday of the coming week. Finally Tomoe is going to find out why the fruit she brought has that name.

I was very impressed again with how well you did on the homework. Everyone did a good job using the grammar patterns that we have been studying for the past several weeks. Keep up the good work.

We did the listening exercise and then talked about the characteristics that someone should look for in their partner. There were a lot of similar answers, but usually one or two that were different. The homework for next week is to do the Before you begin... on the Unit 8 page.

Yoko said she might go see the movie American Gangster that was recommended by a friend and Fumiko said that Kazue also recommended it. If Noriko is feeling better this weekend, maybe we can go see it. Now that we get the special discount we don't hesitate to go see movies. Before we only went to moives that wouldn't look as good on TV such as Harry Potter or Lord of the Ring.

It was nice to Midori back after almost a month and Shunsuke also was able to make it tonight. We practiced giving advice and commenting on a possibility or suggestion. We will do more with them both in the next class, which will be on the 18th.

The homework for the next class is to do 1B on page 80 and I will prepare some some situations so that you can comment my ideas.

I mentioned the Al Gore joke in class, but no one had heard about it. I looked on the net, but couldn't find anything. Maybe you will have better luck.

I was very impressed with the way people were trying to use the grammar points we have been studying for the last few weeks. Getting the nuance right when using the phrasal verbs can be tough, but don't give up.

We did the listening exercise and the the speed reading. You thought 3 minutes wasn't enough time, but you all were able to finish the reading and answer most of the questions correctly. The homework for next week is to write about your circle of friends. Try to write about six people and use page 66 as an example.

Just three people tonight. Shunsuke planned on coming, but his research must have taken longer than he thought. We talked a little bit about the news and what people have been up to. After that we went over the homework and talked about people's wishes. There were some very interesting ones, especially Maki's.

In tonight's lesson we focused on different dilemmas and what people would do. The three of you gave petty much the same answers for all of the situations. When I pressed you about never loaning money to friends, you did say you would for small things, but not for something like an MP3 player.

The homework is think of what you do in the situations in 3A and why you would do that. Also do the Vocabulary Notebook on page 84.

We talked a little about the homework and how people didn't really use relative clauses or phrasal verbs. In the talking about what people did on the weekend Yoko did use a relative clause to report what Tomoe did. That is what you should try to do in the coming weeks.

I was surprised that Kazue and Fumiko didn't go to the movie Sweeney Todd on the weekend because they are both big Johnny Depp fans

Today's lesson focused on the conversation strategy of softening comments. The book gave some very good examples. The homework for next week is to do 2A and B on page 71 and don't look at Lesson D on pp. 72-73.

It was nice to have almost everyone back tonight. It has been awhile since we have had this many people. Kieko and Maki were able catch up with what they each have been doing. The last time they had a chance to talk to each other was back in December.

We started Unit 8 and talked about the priorities in our lives. I was surprised that career was number 5 for everyone, but Miki. The top three were pretty much the same, happiness, friends and family, except for Maki who put wealth as number 1.

We worked with wishes and imaginary situations or events (scroll down the page). People had a some trouble with it and if you want to practice some more you can go here. The homework is to think a wish that you have for your career. Use the pattern like the one in 2A on page 77.

Yoko was absent today, but Yoshie was here for a make up. Tomoe was a little late because she needed to get her daughters ready to come with her. They will be on winter vacation until next week. Mika got her electric piano back up to 2nd floor of her house, but her husband had to ask a co-worker for a hand.

We went over the homework and it took longer than I thought it would, but people had some interesting sentences. We moved on to the next lesson and worked with phrasal verbs. You can do more practice here and here.

The homework for next week is Vocabulary Notebook on page 74 and post your opinions about the six sentences in 2A on page 69. Try to use phrasal verbs and relative clauses if you can.

A small class tonight. Yoshiko was here and Yoko from the morning 3M class was here for a make up class. Midori and Shunsuke both told me they would be absent tonight, but I don't know why the others were gone. We talked about the news and then jumped into the lesson. The reading was about a special website. We also did the listening exercise and talked about the important points to look for in a life partner. We were pretty much in agreement with the main four, but the fifth one was different.

We had a some time left at the end of the class, so we made some predictions for 2008. I predicted that Japan will set record in winning medals in the Beijing Olympics. Yoshiko and Yoko thought I was crazy.

The homework for next week is to do #3 on page 67. You will share the information with your classmates next week.

It sounds like Yoko had the busiest New Year's. Her family has a tradition of going bowling and karaoke and they had a really good time. They sang karaoke for two hours, but she didn't sing any English songs.

We went over the homework and there were a few trouble spots. If there were parts you had trouble with you should go back to those pages and review them again. After that we moved on to Unit 7, which is about relationships. We looked briefly at relative clauses. The homework for next week is to do 2A & B on page 67.

Too bad Miki and Maki weren't here tonight because now they missed out on the attendance lottery. Maybe next year. No one did anything special during the vacation. Everyone stayed in Tokachi, watched TV, listened to music and relaxed.

We went over the homework and then worked on the conversation strategy of softening comments. The book introduced some good phrases. We also looked at using though for showing contrasting ideas. The homework for next week is to write about three people you enjoy meeting and some contrasting ideas about them. Also say why you enjoy meeting them.

Maki wasn't able to make to the last class of the year so I hope she can make it to the Christmas party. If she can make it, it will give her a chance to meet Yuki. I am really looking forward to meeting Yuki and hearing how her married life is going.

We went over the homework, but people thought it was kind of difficult. You did need to be a little more creative than usual, but you still came up with some interesting sentences.

The theme of the new lesson was dating and the grammar point was phrasal verbs. This link will take you to an online dictionary. You can do more practice here. The homework for the next class is the Vocabulary Notebook

There was some very good advice for getting organized and I thought Tomoe's request for help was very good. It sounds like Mika could be a professional organizer!

We talked about planning a class party and people did a could job using the future tense. Kazue kind of took charge as the organizer. She must have a lot of experience planning parties. Today was the last class of 2007 because next week is the Christmas party. The winter vacation homework is to do the review unit on pages 63 and 64.

It was nice to have Miki and Midori back tonight. It is too bad that Shunsuke and Kieko couldn't make it. It would be nice to have a full class again.

We went over the homework, but not everyone had finished it yet, so it took a little longer than I had planned. If there were any parts of the review exercise that you found difficult you should go back and take a look at those pages.

We started Unit 7 which is about relationships. The grammar point was relative clauses. The homework for next week is to do 2B on page 67.

Everyone did an excellent job with the homework even though there was a question about who the advice was for. After going over the homework we started talking about clutter. This was a new word for everyone, but people understood the meaning after hearing my example sentence. It seems that Yoko is the only really organized person in this class. She said she doesn't have a problem with clutter. The homework for next week is for you to post a question in the comments asking for advice on how to solve a clutter problem (like in the textbook). Then read your classmates' questions and write some advice on a piece of paper to bring to class next week. I look forward to reading your questions and hearing your advice.

A small class tonight because both Miki and Midori were absent. There was no homework to check so we talked about different things from the news and what people did on the weekend. After practicing ending conversations again we moved on to talk about clutter and the ways to deal with it. It seems that Kieko is the only really organized person in the class. We also talked about ways to get rid of things in Obihiro, but there don't seem to be many places where you can donate things.

At the end we did an exercise to make plans for a party. The two groups made a plan and then I picked the one I thought sounded most interesting. Shunsuke and Yoshiko had the best one I thought, but that is only if you enjoy drinking. In their talk they mentioned a new snack and it is something that Maki sells at the Otufuke Road Station. I can't remember the name so I hope someone will put it in the comments.

The homework for next week is to do the Checkpoint on pages 63-64.

Everyone sent the homework by e-mail and did a much better job. There were still some problems with exercise 2 in the Vocabulary Notebook, but I think you have the idea on how to paraphrase something.

We did the exercise on how to end conversations and there were some very useful tips with some very natural sentences. In the sample conversation there was the phrase "being assertive" and people didn't know the word "assertive". This link will take you to a page about assertiveness.

The homework for next week is the handout I gave you and don't read the article on page 60. Also good luck with practicing the songs.

A another new student joined us this evening. Yoshiko isn't really a new student because she studied at JOY several years ago. It is nice to have her back. Maki was back and she had a good time in New York. Midori was also back and she said she was really busy last week.

Kieko was the only person who was here last week, so she was the only one with handout that I gave as homework. She did a great job with the advice and she even gave advice for two of the problems. The other students did the last two and also had some good ideas.

We started the new lesson and looked at the ways to end conversations. There were some very good suggestions. In the sample conversation there was the part about being "assertive" and people thought that sounded strange. This link will take you to some information about assertiveness training.

There is no homework for next week.

Everyone thought that the homework was really hard and for next week you need to do two of the parts again. Remember to send me an e-mail with your sentences for #2 on page 57 and then look at #2 on page 62 one more time.

We didn't make it as far as I had hoped again this week, so next week we will start with Lesson C on page 58.

If everyone was disappointed that Maki wasn't here tonight. We all wanted to hear about her trip to New York. I guess we will just have to wait until next week. You can also ask about my trip.

We went over the homework, but there was a lot of trouble with the Vocabulary Notebook part because people had difficulty with the paraphrasing. After going over the homework we practiced giving advice. The problems people had were interesting and there was some good advice. I was able to help Shunsuke a little I think and he will keep us posted on his progress. Maki might be able to help him out, too.

The homework is to pick two of the problems on the handout I gave you and write some advice to the person.

We didn't make it as far as I had hoped in this class, but we did get a lot of practice with the role playing. There were a lot of good conversations.

After we finished 6A we moved on 6B and read advice from the life coach. No one had ever heard of a life coach, so to learn more go here.

The homework for next week is to #2 on page 57 and the Vocabulary Notebook on page 62.

To bad for Maki that this had to happen while she was in New York. I wonder if she was able to see any shows. I am sure we will get to hear all about her trip next week.

We worked with make and do tonight. I think people learned a lot of new phrases. You can practice more here. The homework for next week is #2 on page 57 and the Vocabulary Notebook on page 62.

There were some good descriptions of Japanese snacks. I mentioned this site and it has a lot of interesting information about Japanese foods.

We talked about making plans and using the future tense. If you want to do more practice go here.

The homework is to do #2 on page 55 and go over the conversation on page 54. You need to think of how to do Brandon's part.

Finally, everyone has met everyone else in this class. I had thought it had already happened until Kieko asked if Midori was a visitor or new student. It then clicked that they hadn't met each other yet. Midori had been sick and Kieko had been away for her wedding. Now everything is set.

Only Kieko had the homework done and she did a good job with the description of sembei. I found this interesting site that has information on many kinds of Japanese food.

After talking about snacks we moved on to the new unit and looked at the lesson on making plans. The grammar point was on using the future tense. I am came across this interesting site that uses cartoons to illustrate the points.

The homework for next week is to #2 on page 55.

Keiko was here for a make up today, so everyone had a partner. We did the free talk activity and it was a good review of the patterns we learned in this unit. We also did the reading and I gave you five minutes, but I it was too long. I watching people I think everyone was done in four minutes.

After the reading we did the listening about snacks and talked a little bit about people's favorite snacks. Most of the people in this class like sweet snacks. The homework for next week is to write about a popular Japanese snack. Look at the example in the book to see how it should be done.

Ayumi and Naoyuki were here for make up classes tonight. Ayumi is usually in Urashima-san's News English class, so coming to a conversation class was a change for her. She said after class that she had had a good time.

We talked about the different kinds of snacks and then people talked about their favorites. One of the ones in the book was French fries and it gave some examples of different ways of eating them. Here is a link to the French-Canadian style. I have never had them, but I would like to try them this way someday.

I am looking forward to reading your descriptions of your favorite Japanese snack.

Everyone kept a much more detailed food diary than I expected. Having all the information did make it easier to use the quantifiers. After checking the homework we moved on to the new lesson. We practiced polite refusals and letting other people make a decision. The dialogue was a good example that English isn't always straight yes or no.

The homework for next week is pretty easy. All you have to do is not worry about not doing the reading on the next page in the textbook. We will read it in class next week.

We are still trying to get everyone to meet in this class. Miki and Midori finally met tonight, but Shunsuke and Kieko still haven't met Midori.

Miki really enjoyed meeting Bonnie Pink. I don't remember all the details of the contest she won to get this chance, so maybe Miki I can give us some more details in the comments.

We practiced letting other people make a decision. There are a few points to be careful about, but everyone caught on really quickly. We will do a little more with this next week. The homework is the same as last week.

Today we had two special guests. Two first year students from Sanjo High School were here as part of a career research project. They spoke with Urashima-san for an hour or so before the class. I think they had a good time and hopefully, they weren't scared away from following their dreams.

We continued talking about quantifiers. There was a little bit of trouble with enough and not enough. You can practice more here or here

The homework for next week is to keep a food diary again, but this time it should be for a week.

Kieko was back this week and she said she saw the Ham Fighters game on Sunday. She was disappointed that they lost. They did win tonight, so that was good news. Miki, our other new student, joined us tonight and hopefully, in the coming weeks everyone will be here. Kieko did say that she will be absent next week because she is going to Okinawa for her wedding ceremony and honeymoon. She said that Yuki also signed all the documents to get married last week and will be having her wedding ceremony next month.

We continued talking about food and different cooking styles. The grammar focus was on too much, too many and enough. There are referred to as quantifiers. If you want to practice more go here.

The homework for next week is to do the vocabulary notebook on page 52.

Kazue did a make up class last night and Mika had a toothache today. I shared the postcard with you that she sent from Wakkanai. Maybe next week we can hear about her trip.

We went over the homework and people's food diaries. Tomei has a really healthy diet. After that we looked at the new lesson and focused on the different cooking styles. There was a question about the difference between bake and roast. One of the points about roasting meat is getting the crisp outside, but juicy inside. This article (difficult) is about traditional roasting techniques.

The homework for next week is to do is to do #4 on page 47 and the Vocabulary Notebook on page 52.

It was nice to have everyone back for the new term. I am glad that you enjoyed the party and had a chance to speak a lot of English. Everyone got very excited when I said that I was thinking about not giving homework this term. After seeing your reaction I changed my mind and we will continue to have homework every week.

We talked about countable and uncountable nouns. The exercise gave you a little trouble. If you want to practice more go here.

The homework for next week is to keep a food diary for the 6th 7th and 8th. We will use the information at the beginning of the next class.

We welcomed Midori to the class tonight. She is the only new student this term. Kieko couldn't make it tonight. I was hoping that she would be here because she could have told you how delicious everything was.

Speaking of food, tonight's lesson was about healthy food. In the lesson we talked about countable and uncountable nouns. The ones that gave people the most trouble were the ones that could be both.

I mentioned some of the popular diets in the States and one of them was the Atkin's Diet and the other was the South Beach Diet.

The homework for next class is to keep a food diary for 3 days (6th, 7th and 8th). We will use the information to practice the countable and uncountable nouns.

The childhood memories that you wrote about were very interesting. Only Kazue guessed everyone correctly. The issue about Valentine's Day was funny. Everyone, but Kazue, thought it had to be Mika because she is the youngest person in the class. They all the thought the custom of giving chocolate to boy's on Valentine's Day was a very new custom. I wonder if anyone can find out when it actually started in Japan.

After we finished the listening exercise you had an opportunity to practice using some of the conversation strategies that were in the book. You did okay, but you still need to work on them some more. We will focus on them more next semester.

Update: If you look in the comments you will see that Fumiko found the answer to my question.

Well, tonight was our last class, but Yumi and Shunosuke couldn't make it, but we did have Teruyasu here for a make up class. After checking the homework we did the conversation exercise again. This time I did it a little differently. I kept track of how many times you used the different conversation strategies that we studied this term and when you spoke Japanese. Maki did a good job in using the strategies, but canceled herself out by using more Japanese.

I hope to see you at some of the events next week.

I really worried after getting everyone's comments yesterday. One nobody would show up or if you did show up you would only have a few lines. Well, you all did a great job and Yoko almost hit 3 minutes right on the nose. She was only 2 seconds off. I know you thought it was hard, but it was good practice.

I am looking forward to your reading your childhood memories. You can read more about riding shotgun here.

Two people for a make up class today and Shunsuke was able to come after all. He had good news. He passed his test and will be starting the doctoral course at Chikudai this fall I think. Sachi, one of the people doing a make up class, told us she won a one night stay at the Westin Hotel in Tokyo. She had entered a contest for cafe latte campaign and she said she drank over 60 cups.

We went over the reading quickly and talked about fights and arguments we had with siblings when we were younger. The reading talked about Rhonda's fights with her brother over riding in the front seat of the car. I mentioned that it was also called riding shotgun, but no one had ever heard of that before. This article will give you all the information you need.

The homework is to do 2D on page 41. Try to use the information in the Help Note. Remember we will be having class next week even though it is a national holiday.

When I was going up the stairs today I heard a lot of laughter coming from the classroom, but I wasn't sure what was going on. I did hear Yoko's name a few times. When I got in the room I understood immediately because there were seven people. Last week Yoko promised to be my partner if there was an odd number of people because she only thought Keiko was coming for a make up class. Well, she was surprised to find out that Yoshie came today for a make up class, too. Yoko is always worried about being my partner for the warm up exercise, but she always does a very good job.

We continued practicing giving opinions and agreeing or disagreeing. People did a much better job with the intonation and stress this week. We worked a little bit on holding your place in a conversation, but that still needs a little more work.

The homework for next week is to prepare a 3-minute talk about one of the topics in #3. You will have a chance to listen to everyone's opinion next week.

Minori and Hitoshi, two of Joe's students, were here for a make up class, but Yuki was absent. Kieko said that Yuki was too tired. Maybe she did too many sessions of Billy's Boot Camp! :)

There was a little bit of a misunderstanding about the homework and as usual Maki said there was no homework. People practiced giving their opinions, but the agreeing part needs some work. The feeling was missing and it is something we will work on next week a little more. The homework for next week is to write about your family. Look at the Free talk section and pick a topic or two to write about.

Keiko was here from the other Step 3 morning class, so we had an even number. Nobody seemed disappointed that they didn't get to be my partner this week. Yoko volunteered to be my partner next week if there is an odd number of students.

We looked at the lesson about giving opinions and agreeing with them. You need to work a little more on your stress of the words. In the conversation there was an example of a rhetorical question and I think you understood how to use them after I finished my explanation.

We will go over the sample conversation again next week. The homework for next week is to do #1B and #3.

Well, the visitors outnumbered the regulars tonight. I am not too sure what happened to Yuki, but Yumi and Shunsuke were both busy at work.

We practiced using used to and then moved on to the new lesson. In this lesson we practiced giving opinions and then how to agree with them. We split on whether teachers should give more or less homework.

The homework for next week is to finish last week's homework and then think of what your opinion is for the points in #3 on page 39. Remember that you can sign up for classes next week.

Yoshie joined us for a make up class today and she was lucky once again because both Tomoe and Mika had brought some things from their trips to share with the class. The same thing happened the last time she did a make up class.

We went over the homework and there were some very interesting "demands" that parents make of their children. The other part of the homework I asked you to send to me by e-mail because I want to check the sentences a little more closely.

We talked a little bit about the Segway that Yoko had mentioned in her comment to the blog. I haven't seen one yet, so I really need to go out to Sennen no Mori and take a look.

Update:
Tomoe I found your postcard. It got mixed in with some other documents.
The homework for next week is to do the Vocabulary Notebook on page 42.

Yukari (nickname Sunny or Sonny) joined us an observer. I think she had a good time. A few people at least looked at the photos on my blog during the break. Maki thinks I should bring some samples of my bread. I will try to remember to do that next week. Maki said that they are having a festival next Sunday at the Otufuke Road Station. It starts at 8 and goes until 6:30. If you have time, stop by and say hello. I am sure she will be so busy that she won't be able to talk for long.

Well, Tonight the homework went smoothly and Kieko did hers without even realizing. In just talking at the beginning of the class she went through some of her gripes about her boyfriend, her co-worker and then just had to come up with one more.

Instead of using the textbook tonight I gave you the option of trying to keep the conversation going for 45 minutes. I was just the corrector and kept a Japanese speaking tally. You did pretty well keeping the conversation going, but relied a little too much on using questions. In the rest of the units we will cover more conversation strategies.

It was so nice to have Fumiko back. I am sure she felt a little rusty, but she we will be back up to speed in no time. There weren't too many things to talk about, but Yoko said she did use a little bit of English when she was helping out at the international tennis tournament.

We talked about things that people used to do with their kids when they were younger and we also talked about demands that parents make of their children. Most people thought the ones in the book were unreasonable. The homework for summer vacation is to think of the three most common demands Japanese parents make of their adult children. You need to also look at the 8 sentences in #2 and write true sentences about yourself. Keep the first part of the sentence the same, but you can change the second half.

The final bit of summer vacation homework is to check on the blog occasionally and if I have a new post please leave a comment.

Well, I think we may have cured this class of SSS, but we will need to see what happens next week. Yuki moved over the weekend, so she is very tired and couldn't make it to class this week. Kieko tried to post a comment last week, but for some reason it didn't go through.

We moved on to the new unit and started talking about family and things we do or used to do with our families. We looked at the gripes that people might have about their parents, children or spouses. The homework for next is to write about three gripes that you have. You can use the ones in the book as an example.

Yoko was back today. She said she made it to the quarter finals in the tennis tournament that she was in. Congratulations and hopefully, next time she can make it to the finals.

After talking about the news and the weekend we went over the homework. Just like the Monday class it took the whole class to cover everything. There were a lot of interesting bits of information that came out in the talks. At the very end of the class there was a question about the worst movie you have ever seen. No one had one so I mentioned a movie with Sylvester Stallione. I think it was called Oscar . You might check and see if you can find it at the video rental store.

Well, Yuki and Kieko were both gone this evening. I guess they are both getting busy because they are planning their weddings.

We had another new student join us tonight and his name is also Shunsuke. This could get really confusing.

We went over the homework and it took the whole class. I hadn't planned to spend the whole class doing the review, but I think it was time well spent. Next week we will start Unit 4 and there is no homework.

Another small class today. Yoko was gone again, but I am not sure why. Kazue said she had some business to attend to.

We started off with a listening exercise today and then checked the homework. After that we did the reading exercise and practiced scanning. Tomoe was very good at remembering the numbers. The homework for next week is to do the review exercises on pages 31 and 32.

Yoko and Mika thought they might be the only students, but Tomoe and Kazue showed up shortly after 10:45. There were a lot of good questions and, just like in the Monday night Step 3 class, I learned a few more things about Tokachi.

We worked with how to be a supportive listener and to use superlatives for emphasis. There was a little bit of trouble with the lack of stress on some of the words when we were practicing. We didn't get to the listening exercise like I had hoped, so we will start the class with it next week. For homework answer the 5 questions in the listening exercise and don't read the article in Lesson D.

It was Yuki's turn to be absent tonight. Kieko said she was trying to get a new apartment. Kieko mentioned that she will be getting married in the fall and is also planning to move to a new place. They will both be very busy in the coming months.

We did the exercise with superlatives and answered the questions about trips and vacations in the book. There were some very interesting answers. After that we did the reading exercise, but we focused on skimming and scanning. Getting the numbers is always difficult.

The homework for next class (July 23) is the review exercises on pages 31 and 32. Enjoy the three-day weekend.

A small class today because Fumiko and Yoko were absent. We went over the homework and there were some good examples of the superlatives. I will look them over and give the papers back to you next week.

We continued on with working with superlatives and looked at vocabulary for geographic features. We also did some work with skimming and scanning. The homework for next week is to write 5 sets of questions like those in exercise 2A, but about Tokachi.

We had some extra time at the end of class today because we didn't spend much time at the beginning talking about the news or people's weekends. Mika wanted some recommendations for restaurants where she could go for her wedding anniversary next month. We gave several suggestions and then Tomoe wanted to know if they were children friendly. Most of the ones we suggested weren't, but we gave her some ideas of others. She said when she went to Karuizawa with her family many of the restaurants didn't allow children. This lead to a short discussion about parents who don't control their children in public.

Kieko and Maki were both back tonight, but Yumi was gone. Hopefully, next week we will have all 5 students here. Yuki and Shunsuke did the homework, so we were able to learn some things about Tokachi. My guesses to their questions were way off. After that we continued working with superlatives and how to use them to strengthen our opinions about things. We also practiced stressing and stretching them out.

The homework for next week is to answer the five questions from the listening exercise about your trips and vacations. I will have to think about my answers, too.

I enjoyed listening to your homework and I will read them over and make a few changes. There were a couple places where using "amazingly" was an adjective and not an adverb like we wanted.

We worked with superlatives and asked questions about Japan and Obihiro. The homework for next week is to write a tourist pamphlet description of Obihiro/Tokachi and try to use as many superlatives as possible.

Two new students tonight, but two regulars were gone. I hope Kieko's headache has gone away. I am not sure about what happened to Maki, but I am sure she will post a comment to let us know.

We continued working with superlatives and looked at other adjectives used for geographic features. The homework for next week is to think of 5 questions about Tokachi related to geography. Also take a look at the vocabulary building exercises on page 30.

I had a real surprise today because Yoko volunteered to be my partner for the warm up exercise. She usually volunteers someone else. I wasn't her partner this time but maybe next week.

We did the reading exercise and I think people saw how useful skimming can be. It takes some practice to get really good at it, so we will probably practice it again later in the book. People seemed really interested in the Galapagos and Yoko was the only person who wanted to read more about Athens, Greece. There are a lot places to find travel blogs, but this one looks good.

The homework for next week is to write your own blog entry about a trip you have taken. Try to use the words in exercise #3 on page 19.

I asked Carlos and he said that in Australia they also use day off and not holiday for a regular time off from work.

Seji joined us for a make up class again tonight. I think this is the third or fourth time for him. We also had Yumi observing and I think she may be sign up for this class next week. As I mentioned in class we will be getting one more new student next week. That will bring us up to 5 people.

I liked the writings you did for the homework and you were able to use the vocabulary we studied last week. Tonight we started talking about superlatives and you had to take a quiz. You didn't do too bad. If you want to practice some more you can go here.

The homework for next week is to write a description of Obihiro and try to use as many superlatives as you can. This link might help you out.

Tomoe and Fumiko talked about the Kagawa Prefecture party that they attended on the weekend. It sounds like they had a really good time. Mika, Kazue and Yoko talked about a variety of things. Mika mentioned that she had eaten in a Mexican restaurant in Sapporo and was wondering where she could buy ingredients for Mexican dishes. This is a good online store.

We did some listening exercises and then did the activity to find out things people hadn't done. It was kind of interesting to hear the things that people have and haven't done.

Kunio (3C) joined us for a make up class tonight. I think it was the first time for him to attend my class. He showed us an article about a climbing adventure he had thirty years ago.

We read the the different travel blogs and if you want to read more go here. We also learned that Maki was the only person with a blog besides me. I think I posted a link to her website once before, but I have never put up her blog address. Maybe she will put it in the comments.

We had some extra time at the end of class and we ended up talking about movies. Kunio said one of his favorite actors was Audrey Hepburn. There was a question about how many movies she had made and you can find that answer here.