Recently in Step 4 Category

Well, I hoped that Risa could make it for our last class, but I know that teachers are very busy this time of year. Today Paul joined us because he is going to be taking over this class from April. We talked a lot about different topics. A topic from the textbook about morning routines got us talking about Japanese style breakfasts which lead to talk about natto. . The discussion gave me the idea to make a natto omelette for the pot luck dinner next Friday. Come and give it a taste.

Well, Emi has finished high school and she came to class with curlier and lighter colored hair today. She is getting the university look ready. We talked about a few things and Yumiko mentioned that she had bought the newspaper log maker. I am looking forward to hearing how it works.

We went over the restaurant conversation and it took a little longer than I thought it would, but I think people have a better feel for the type of English required for this situation. After that the pairs shared their restaurant anecdotes. Sadly, to say most of them were too short. Only Yumiko came close to speaking for three minutes. The key to her success was including a lot of details. While listening to her story you could easily picture the the setting and how she felt. Maybe she will write it up and I can share it with everyone.

There is no homework for next week and we will jump up to Unit 14.

We started the semester with two people and we ended it with two. Naoko had good news about her cell phone. She was able to get the data off of it and on to her new phone. The old phone as now died, so she was lucky. She still hasn't made a backup of the photos on her phone, though. This is a link to the online backup site I mentioned in class.

The homework was to talk about an incident in a restaurant and the ones that Sayuri and Naoko had were interesting. After sharing the information we started talking about different types of stereotypes. We talked about how the images of Japanese women have changed. Finally, at the end we talked about where people would like to visit in the future.

I won't be teaching this class next term, but I am sure you will enjoy the class with Trish. Keep studying hard and of course, when we meet next time I will still speak to you in English.

Almost back to the regular class because both Emi and Yumiko were here tonight. We went over the homework and people had a lot of good questions about the countable and uncountable. After that we moved on to the restaurant situation. The homework is to rewrite the conversation in more polite English. Also think about a restaurant anecdote to share with the class. Try to make it 3 minutes long and you can use the questions in the book to help you organize your thoughts.

I mentioned this site and here is a link to a good exercise related to this lesson.

Back to the old style class, only two people. Naoko told me about how she ended up washing her cell phone in her work clothes. Of course, it doesn't work anymore and she had to get a new one. Sayuri mentioned that she has stiff shoulders and it is something that happens every spring. She said that it lasts until about Golden Week.

We went over the homework and there were no big problems, but it was a good review. We looked at the restaurant conversations and corrected the very rude version. We talked about how many questions you have to answer when ordering a typical restaurant meal. I found this listening exercise for a fast food restaurant. Give it a listen and we can talk about it next week.

The homework is to think of a restaurant anecdote to share with the class. Use the questions in the book to help you organize your thoughts.

Last night when Miki showed up for a class I thought there was the chance that it would only be the other Miki and I tonight. I guess I worried for nothing because we ended up with five people.

There was no homework to check and besides Emi's big news about graduating on Saturday and getting her driver's permit there wasn't much else to talk about in the warm up.

We started Unit 12 because we don't have that many classes left and I want to cover some other important points. In this unit there is a section on countable and uncountable and the quantifiers that they use. People often make mistakes with these even though they know the rules. I think it is a good idea to go over them again.

No one in this class could remember their first date, either. The date we listened to on the CD was kind of funny, so I typed first date horror stories and was surprised how many sites came up. It seems that newspapers like to run columns about his sort of thing. Try it yourself and see what you come up with.

The homework for next week is to do 1-7 on page 101.

Emi was absent this morning, so I guess she will be coming to the Wednesday night class. I wonder how her driving lessons are going? It was a quiet weekend for everyone, so there wasn't much to talk about at the beginning of class.

There was no homework to check so we jumped right in to the next unit. In this unit we will be focusing on countable and uncountable nouns. We started off with a listening exercise about a first date and as a warm up I asked people if they remembered their first date with their husbands. Nobody remembered anything! I think you were embarrassed to say what you did on your first date. Try to remember this week and you can share it with us. I will double check with Noriko to see if I remembered correctly.

The homework for this week is to do 1-7 on page 101. It should be pretty easy and will generally be review I think.

Even though there was a lot of homework this week most everyone did it. It was fun to listen to everyone's dream weekend. They were all similar in many ways, people wanted peace and quiet.

When I asked what people would do if they had a million yen the answers were pretty different. The listening exercise talked about Greece and the dish moussaka. It was one of the dishes I had in mind the other one was this. It is really sweet.

There is no homework for next week.

Update:
Yumiko made a delicious dish of moussaka tonight. Hopefully, she will make it again for the pot luck dinner at the end of the term, so that everyone can taste it.

Shogo was back for the first time in a long time. He said he has been busy and he will be extra busy tomorrow because of Valentine's Day. We went over the homework and then jumped to Unit 11 and talked about travel. You did a pretty good job guessing about the pictures, but were surprised by the skiing in Patagonia, Argentina

There is no homework for next week which will probably make the morning class angry because I gave them a lot!

The term smart clothes was in the reading and said that in America people would probably think you were talking about something like this.

This was a class of good news. Sayuri told us again that her husband was okay and Emi told us that she passed the entrance exam to the college she wants to go to. She was in her school uniform today because she was going to school to get permission to take driving lessons. Speaking of tests Naoko's daughter's high school entrance exams are coming soon. I am sure things are getting a little tense at her house.

We listened to everyones descriptions of the location of Obihiro and there some very good examples. This site gives some good examples of prepositions of location. We then moved on to the listening exercise and talked about modal auxiliary + infnitive used in speculating and deducing.

The homework for next week is to do #1-3 and 5 on page 95. Everyone said that seemed like a lot of homework, but when I asked what people were going to do on the weekend nobody was that busy. Naoko did say she was going to set up her doll collection for Girl's Day, but that will only take 30 minutes!

Yumiko are you looking for your slippers?

Miki was afraid she might be the only person again tonight, but Risa was able to make it. No one did anything special last week, so we jumped into checking the homework from two weeks ago. After that we talked about the reading. Miki is a list maker, but Risa isn't. I would have thought that Risa was one. They both guessed that Yumiko was, but there weren't sure about Emi.

The homework for next week is to do the collocations on page 87 and then 1-4 on page 88.

People didn't have much special news today. Sayuri did say she learned two new words because of all of the coverage of the tainted food from China. She learned that gyoza are also called "dumplings" and that they were contaminated with "pesticide".

We talked about family rules and things that were prohibited, and permitted and things there were obligated or not obligated to do. There were a wide range of things people talked about.

After that we did the listening exercise about the different offices and the guesses were only correct for one of the offices. The office cultures for all three were quite different. Speaking of offices, one of the most popular TV shows in the States and Britain has been a show called The Office . I have never seen it, but people seem to love it.

The homework for next week is to do #4 on page 92,

Miki was a lucky again this week because she got a private lesson for a group lesson price. Several people did substitution classes earlier in the week and some will probably do one on Thursday. Again this time we talked about several different topics, but this time we talked mainly about the way universities and colleges are structured. We were trying to understand the way that Chikudai is set up and how it compares to the U.S. model. I explained a little bit about land-grant colleges and other aspects of the U.S. system.

The homework was to do the reading about list making and I tried to guess who the list makers in the class were. I was correct and Sayuri was the non-list maker. She does make lists, but it is a simple one, but Naoka has a three part system.

We looked at noun collocations and you can practice more here. The homework for next week is to read the Language Reference on page 90 and then do #4 on page 88. We will start the class next week with a listening exercise and then start a new unit.

We had a full class for the first time in a long time, but it sounds like we will be lucky if we have more than two students next week!

Emi feels confident about the tests she took on Saturday and Sunday. She said she wasn't nervous at all. Shogo said he hasn't had a day off in over ten days, but he is hoping get two in a row next week. Miki has been working outside recently and she has to work outside tomorrow, too. The weather forecast isn't good, so I don't envy her.

In the lesson tonight both Yumiko and Emi had done the listening exercise, so I used information from my life to create a similar exercise. I was surprised how well you did.

Yumiko joined us again today and Sayuri was back from her trip. Yumiko said that she will probably be coming to this class until March.

I'm sorry that my instructions for the homework weren't clearer. Everyone wasn't quite sure what to do, but you still did a good job. The time section was kind of interesting and it got me thinking about how we say things in English. Of the examples in the book I only use a few.

The homework for next week is pp 86-87 Things to do... 1& 2. Do worry about the collocation exercise because we will do it in class.

At first I thought we might have a repeat of last week, but with the other Miki, but Risa, Shogo and Yukari came. We started Unit 9 and talked about time and different time proverbs. After hearing everyone's answers to the the questionnaire I think I am the only punctual person in the class.

The listening was difficult, so read the tapescript and we will listen to it again next week. Also think of three things that you think are a waste of time and why you think so.

Naoko was worried for nothing. We ended up with four people today and one of them was Take, her husband. Emi and Yumiko, both from the 4E class, were here which means I will have a small class on Wednesday night again.

We went over the homework, which was to think of three things that are a waste of time. There were several interesting answers. I mentioned that getting the works at the barber (it takes about an hour), washing my car by hand and waiting in line to eat at a restaurant.

We also talked about important dates in our lives and did the listening exercise. After that we looked a prepositions of time and you can go here for some more practice.

The homework for next week is to make questions of the a-o sentences.

Thank you Miki! If you hadn't shown up, I would have been skunked and it has been years since that happened. We just talked and we covered a variety of subjects. She had a lot of questions about Alaska, so that gave us a lot to talk about.

The homework for next week is the same and we will start Unit 10.

A nice surprise today because Emi from the Wednesday night 4E class came for a make up class and she will be here again next week, too. At the beginning of class we talked about everyone's New Year's holiday and it was a quite time for everyone. Naoko said she read a lot of books.

There was no homework to check so we started a new unit. We skipped Unit 9 because it doesn't look so interesting and started Unit 10 which is about time. We looked at some some sayings related to time and many of the typical ones were on the list. If you want to read some more go here.

In this group three of us are punctual people and only one is so-so punctual. We did the questionnaire about time and then listened to the radio interview. The homework for next week is to read over the tapescript and see if you agree with the time management consultant or not. Also do #3 on page 83 and think about three activities that you think are a waste of time. Of course, you have to explain why you think so.

Today we just went over the homework, but didn't start the new unit. We will wait to do that after the new year. It was the last class for Harumi, so we had coffee in front of the fireplace and talked about many different things. Now that we are back to two people I hope Mariko can rejoin us in January and it would be great to have Sophia come back, too. Harumi did say that she will be back in Obihiro in March and will try to come to that last few lessons.

It was nice to have Miki back tonight. We were able to hear about hear trip to Las Vegas and Zion National Park. It sounds like she really liked Zion the best. She did a little gambling with the slot machines, but when she lost 20 dollars she quit.

We went over the homework and the one part gave people some trouble. After that we did the exercise on word stress and if you want to do more go here.

There is no class next week because we are having the Christmas party, so the winter vacation homework is to do page 71. Of course, keep checking the site during the break because I will be posting occasionally and you can always post a comment to let your classmates know what you are up to.

I heard from Yuri that she won't be able to make to the morning class anymore, so we are back down to three and Harumi's last class is next week. After the break we will be back to just Naoko and Sayuri, but hopefully, we will get someone after the break.

We went over the homework and then did the exercise on word stress and this link has some interesting information. After that we worked with passive sentences and then relative clauses. We did a quiz show with the questions in the People and Places section.

At the end of class Sayuri had a question from her husband about the status of Guam. This page might help, but it is in English.

It was nice to have one of the Mikis back tonight and also Take from Joe's class here. With four people it was easier to do a couple of activities. In the adverbs of frequency there was the phrase once in a blue moon, but many people didn't know what it meant. You can read more about it here.

The homework for next week is to do future forms #1 on page 68 and then Keep in Touch 1 and 2 on page 69. Remember that next week is the last class before the winter break because the 19th is the JOY Christmas party.

Only three people today because Sayuri is in Gaum. She picked a pretty good time to be gone because it has been cold the last few days. We talked about a few things in the news before we went over the homework and Naoko talked about this item.

In the homework about adverbs of frequency there was the phrase once in a blue moon. If you want to learn more about that a blue moon go here.

The homework for next week is Keep in Touch on page 69.

It was just like the old days before we moved this class to Wednesday. It was only Emi and Yumiko today. I was hoping more people would come, so that we would have more help with decorating the Christmas tree. Yumiko brought popcorn and Shinobu helped her string it. You can see how it looks next week when you come to class.

We went over the homework, but Emi had forgotten what parts she needed to do. Yumiko had also missed a few places, so we did them together in class. It was probably good that we did because we were able to clear up a few misunderstandings. In one of the invitations there was the phrase come down for the weekend, so we talked about the come down, come up, come over and come in and come out.

There is a lot of homework for next week. First is #4, which was part of the homework last week. Then in Unit 8 you need to correct the grammar in the questions and then find the answers in Units 1-7. Finally, write the questions for the adverbs of frequency and think of your answers.

We talked about the price increases planned for kerosene, plastic wrap, tires and instant coffee. We tried to find some good points in what most people consider bad news. Of course, there is the possibility that higher prices will encourage people to use the resources more wisely.

We went over the homework and there was a misunderstanding about the first part. We ended up going over them together, but it gave us a chance to talk over a few points. After the homework we started the review unit. With spending more time on checking the homework we didn't get as far as I thought we would. The homework for next week is the adverbs of frequency exercise on the bottom of page 67.

Oops! I just noticed that I haven't posted anything for this class. Sorry, I guess Tomoyasu really will have a legitimate excuse for not knowing about the homework.

The snow was kind of surprise this morning and then there was the thunder on top of that. I hope everyone got home okay. I heard sirens off and on all afternoon. I don't know if it was because there were car accidents or people having heart attacks while shoveling the heavy snow.

We went over the homework and Harumi was the only party animal. The rest of us were in the middle. Everyone had a least one party anecdote. They were very interesting and you did a good job in telling them. After that we listened to the song It's my Party and I'll Cry if I want to by Lesley Gore. We also took a look at the different cards and matched the message to the appropriate card. Of course, there are many online card sites now and one of the most famous is BlueMountain.com.

There is a lot of homework for the next class. Do #1 on page 65 and numbers2, 3, and 4 on page 66.

There were some pretty interesting conversations in the role play. After that we talked about parties. Your lists of important ingredients were very similar to the ones in the listening exercise.

There is a lot of homework for next week. Do the questionnaire and the exercise that follows it. Also think of the best and worst parties you have attended and be prepared to tell you partner about them.

Next week Miki is going to be absent because she is going to Las Vegas on vacation. I am sure she will have a good time and send a postcard.

I should have recorded the dialogues that you did for the homework. They were very good and you included all the information that the activity required. After that we talked about parties and the difference between the types of parties in the U.S. and Japan. After that we did the listening exercise about what the three British young people thought were important ingredients for a party. When you put party plannning in a search engine you get a lot of hits, with most of them being company sites. This site has a lot of good links that you might find interesting.

The homework for next week is to do the questionnaire and the following exercise. Also prepare an anecdote about the best party and worst parties that you have ever attended.

Tonight was the first time this semester that we have had everyone here. Hopefully, this will become a regular occurrence. Tomoyasu did say he has a business trip to Osaka next week.

We went over the homework and then started to work on the future tense . There was a little misunderstanding about the usage and it will take some more practice. This site is has some interesting examples.

The homework for next week is to make a conversation based on the scenario in the book. Be creative, but follow the instructions.

It is nice to have four people in the class now. We will be able to do many more pair work type of activities.

Sayuri had a good time on her trip, but she said there were several people who didn't enjoy the spicy Thai food. She also couldn't see the night view in Hong Kong because of the fog.

We did some work with the phrasal verbs at the beginning and then looked at using the future tense. The listening exercise was a little difficult, so we listened to it several times. We also did the exercise to practice the three types of future tense.

The homework for next week is to make conversation using the information from the textbook.

Tomoyasu was back from his business trip to Osaka. It was colder than he expected and he wasn't dressed warmly enough.

We went over the homework and then moved on to the new unit about parties. Shogo wasn't here tonight and he seems like a guy who might like parties. The reading was about Las Fallas and there were several phrasal verbs. There were several exercises that we did using them and the homework is to do #3 a & b on page 59.

With Sayuri on a trip to Thailand that left only Naoko and Harumi. Naoko brought an interesting news article about a very dangerous national treasure. I think this is the place she was talking about.

In today's lesson there was a reading about the Las Fallas. In it there were a lot of phrasal verbs. We did two exercises with them and next week's homework is to do #3 on page 59.

Several people did make up classes and Risa was back from her trip. She told us a little more about how she sprained her ankle. The homework production was a on the weak side this week. Yukari did a pretty good news story about the Hollywood divorce.

We did the listening exercise and talked about ways of responding to personal news. Be careful and try not to sound sarcastic.

The homework for next week is p. 57. Do numbers 1,3 and 4. If you didn't do last week's homework, feel free to do it, too.

Yuri joined us as an observer and Harumi, after observing last week, decided to join the class. Having four people today made it much easier to do some of the activities. Hopefully, Yuri will join the class.

Everyone did the homework and the news stories that they created were very good. Sayuri's was probably the funniest. I wonder how well the Wednesday night Step 4 class will do.

After listening to the homework we practiced responding to good news and bad news. There were some good examples in the book and at the end you needed to think up some of your own dialogues.

The homework for next week is do the exercises on page 57. You can skip #2, but make sure to do 1, 3 and 4.

I am sure the postcard from Risa will be arriving soon. :) Next week we should have a chance to learn more about her trip to Canada. Shogo said he didn't have to translate last week because the people from the JICA Center brought someone with them.

We went over the homework that covered the passive voice. I found this interesting article about it.

After we finished checking the homework we moved on to the listening exercise and looked at the headlines. This link will take you to some news summaries. They might give you an idea on how to do next week's homework, which is to pick one of the headlines on page 55 and write a news summary.

Harumi took part in the class and decided to join us. She will be in the class until the end of December. Maybe by that time Maiko will be able to return to the class.

We looked over the headlines and listened to the radio news headlines. We talked about the types of news that people usually looked at first and sources where they mainly get their news. Sayuri doesn't have a TV, so she gets most of her news from the internet and radio. I seldom listen to the radio anymore. I used to listen to the radio when I commuted back and forth to JOY and when I worked in the garage. I now use my iPod to listen to many different podcasts and music.

The homework for next week is to write a short news story for one of the headlines in the book on page 55.

Tonight a totally different group of students came, so we went over some of the same material that we looked at last week. People thought some of the activities were difficult. I think the homework on the passive voice will be really fun. :)

Naoko enjoyed her Chikudai class reunion and Sayuri went to lunch at a restaurant near the Ecology Park. She bought several kinds of vegetables and was surprised to see garlic. I couldn't think of what we called garlic, but it is a bulb of garlic.

We talked about the different points related to the media and then we checked the homework. I had hoped to get to one a listening exercise today, but we didn't make it.

Only Miki (a new student) and Risa were here tonight. We took some time at the beginning so they could get to know each other and then we started the book. We did the reading about paparazzi and then looked at some of the important phrases. The homework for next week is to use the phrases from #1 to complete the sentences in #2.

Risa will be gone next week because she will be going to Canada with her students for two weeks. I hope everyone who was absent tonight can make it next week.

Well, we have a small class now, but Maiko may join us again later. Hopefully, in the next few weeks we will get some new people.

We talked about paparazzi and their run ins with some celebrities. There were a lot of good phrases in the reading and there was a short exercise to practice using some of them.

The homework for next week is to do exercises 1, 2, 4 and 5 on page 53.

We got to hear about Tomoyasu's trip to Detroit and it sounded like he had a really good time even though he was their on business. During his stay he did have to make some presentations in English, but other times he didn't speak too much.

We continued using used to and would. People had a lot of questions and I hope I was able to answer them in a way that helped you understand how to use the words.

The last thing we did tonight was listen to the story. It was really long and when listening to long stories like that it is hard to keep track of what is happening. If you would like more practice, try going to the Gutenberg Project because they have books and audio files that you can download for free.

I hope to see you next week at the events.

Today was our last class everyone was able to make it. We went over the homework and there was a little misunderstanding. I wanted you to prepare a story about one of the items, but you thought you needed to think of the answers to the questions. We got things straightened out in the end.

We next listened to the end of the story and it was pretty long. Everyone was able to catch the main points. If you would like to do more listening practice like that you can go to the Gutenberg Project.

I hope you can make it to one of the events next week and if not I will see you in October.

A small class tonight. We haven't seen Hiroyuki for awhile, but I am sure he is busy getting ready to go to the States next month. Emi was gone also this evening, but I think she has tests this week.

We ended up with a lot of comments on last week's post because Tomoyasu posted two. He is planning to be here next week, so we can ask him about his trip. The homework for next week is to do 1-4 on page 49. We will find out why the boys didn't like the sweet-shop owner.

At the beginning of class we talked a little bit about what is happening in the news. Sayuri mentioned the new camera from Sony that can recognize when someone is smiling. Naoko mentioned the Japanese rocket launch that is coming up. Maiko mentioned that she went to the new bagel shop, but they were all sold out. She is going to try again this weekend and give us a report next week.

The four-line rhyme was a little more difficult than I thought. Maiko misunderstood the homework assignment and will bring her rhyme next week. We did the reading about Roald Dahl's childhood and looked at his use of descriptive language.

The homework for next week is to do the Close Up section and do numbers 1-4.

On the postcard front, nothing has arrived from Tomoyasu yet. I wonder how he is enjoying Detroit? Hiroyuki was absent, but I am sure he is busy because the camp is having its annual festival. They might be unlucky this year because the tail end of the typhoon might be hitting Hokkaido this weekend.

We went over the homework and looked at the defining relative clauses. After that we listened to the children's ryhymes. The homework is to write your own using the words in the box at the bottom of the page.

Maiko was back from Yokohama and she said it was really hot and muggy there. Sayuri and Naoko both had busy weekends. We talked a little bit about the news and the mistake at the track and field meet in Osaka.

After that we continued talking about defining relative clauses and went over the homework. In going over the homework there was a question why British private schools are called "public schools" but I haven't been able to track down an answer yet. See what you can find out.

The homework for next week is to write a four-line rhyme using the words in #5 on page 46. If you want some inspiration, read the ones here.

Hiroyuki was back and Atsuko was here for a make up class. Hiroyuki mentioned that he will be going to San Francisco for work next month and Risa is going to Canada in October. With Tomoyasu in Detroit I am going to be getting a lot of post cards the next few months.

We started the unit on kids and looked at relative clauses and at the end of class we looked at children's jokes. I mentioned knock knock jokes and I read some riddles from the magazine. Some of them weren't very funny.

The homework for next week is to do page 44.

Only Sayuri and Naoko again this week. I didn't get an e-mail from Maiko, so I am not sure if she is still in Yokohama or not. I am not sure what is up with Ai, but I imagine she is really busy now. Sayuri said she was downtown on the weekend and walked by Ai's isakaiya and the place looked packed. If she has the time I hope she can make it back before the semester is over.

There was no homework to check, so we spent a little more time talking about the news. We started the new unit and we will be looking at relative clauses and the theme of the unit is kids. We talked about some interesting points from the book and did the listening exercise. The homework for next week is to do #3 & 4 and #1 & 2 on page 44.

Hiroyuki couldn't make it tonight, but I don't know the reason. Miki is going to join this class, so we are continuing to grow. We will lose Tomoyasu for a few weeks because he has a business trip to Detroit for three weeks. I suggested that he try to make it to a Detroit Tigers game or out to Ann Arbor. I am sure he will be able to find time to send us a postcard.

Risa went to Hawaii for a week during the break and she had a wonderful time. She said she didn't speak much English though.

Just Naoko and Sayuri today. I got an e-mail from Maiko just before class saying she couldn't come because she had to go to Yokoyama because her father is sick. At first I didn't recognize who it was from because she used her maiden name in the message.

We talked about the break and what people did, but neither Naoko or Sayuri did anything special. Sayuri's husband wasn't feeling well and Naoko's daughters were very busy. She said she only got to sleep in one day during the break.

We went over the homework and the stories that you told were very good. Naoko's had a lot of detail. After that we listened to the song by Ike and Tina Turner and we all had trouble catching the lyrics. I am really not that familiar with their music.

There is no homework for next week, but we can hear about Maiko's summer vacation and hopefully, Ai can also come.

Tomoyasu (business trip to China) and Risa (did a make up on Tuesday) were absent and Yumiko (new hairstyle) came a little late. We went over the homework and then looked at the different things people had or hadn't done. In the listening exercise there were some interesting situations. Shogo had some interesting answers.

The homework for next week is to prepare a story. If you answer the questions on the page and follow the steps in the language toolbox you should be okay. Also look over the Language Reference box. Finally, I will be posting things (I hope) throughout the break, so stop by and take a look, but also post comments telling me what you are doing.

Maiko didn't look waterlogged even after gong to a hot spring every day while her father was here. It sounds like she had a good time. Naoko is extra busy because her daughters are on summer vacation. Sayuri said her husband really enjoyed the horse riding he did.

We looked over the homework and people were able to catch a few of the unusual grammar points. We then looked over the sentences and talked about some of the things people had done. The homework for the break is to write a story about something that you have done. Follow the five stages in the book and remember give as much detail as you can.

A few weeks ago Ai said that she would be singing downtown at the weekend festival, but I don't remember when or the name of her band. I hope she will read this and post the information for us.

Everyone was here tonight for the first time in a long time. It is nice to have larger class because if gives you a chance to talk to different people. I got a little bit behind schedule, so I had go faster than usual at the end of class.

In talking about sports I asked people if there was any such thing as women's rugby, but no one seemed to know, but from this link it seems there is. We did the listening exercise about Jane Couch and to read more about her go here.

The homework is to read over the tapescript and mark the places where you think the grammar may not be correct.

Maiko let me know this morning that her father was in town, so they would be going to a hot spring. She said she will try to be here next week. Sayuri said she also had a guest, but her husband was taking her horse-riding. Naoko's husband is feeling better, but he still isn't 100%.

We went over the homework and then talked about all the different sports and activities. We then did the listening about the woman boxer, Jane Couch. It was a difficult listening activity. For homework look over the tapescript on page 149 and underline the points that you think might not be standard grammar.

Only Yumiko and Tomoyasu tonight. We didn't make it to the textbook tonight because we ended up talking about a wide variety of topics. We talked about the earthquake in Niigata and the dangers to the nuclear power plant . We then talked about housing and building houses which covered solar energy, remodeling, paper vs paint and so on. Then we moved to teaching children English and international schools. Finally, we talked about Tokachi and how to make it a more energetic place. We did talk a little bit about last week's homework at the end of class and we will check it next week.

Tonight's conversation moved very naturally from subject to subject. I was impressed by the was Yumiko and Tomoyasu handled themselves.

Naoko couldn't make and neither could Ai, so it was just Maiko and Sayuri. We talked about a variety of things at the beginning of class, but of course, the earthquake was the first thing. After talking about the weekend and Sayuri's battle with flies we started the textbook. We talked about things that scare, excite and anger us. Surprisingly, there weren't too many things that make people angry. Maybe we can find out about Ai and Naoko next week.

We did a few exercises with the reading and then looked at graded adjectives. The homework for next week is to look at number 3 on page 33 and to put the adjectives in the correct group on page 34.

A small class tonight, only Yumiko, Emi, and Tomoyasu. Tonight was also Emi's last class because she will switch to Urashima-san's class from next week.

We talked about different emotions and what makes us feel that way. We also looked at gradable and absolute adjectives. Next week for homework you need to put the adjectives on page 34 in the correct group. Also do #3 on page 33.

Sayuri talked a little bit about her trip on the other side of the mountains and recommended a new restaurant. I will have to give it a try for lunch sometime. Maiko mentioned that she read how Apple Computer got its name. This link will give you some more information on Apple's early history.

We went over the ways to be a little less direct and focused on the nuance of some of the combinations. After that we went over the homework and Naoko and Maiko both thought that the boyfriend's jealousy would force his girlfriend to break up with him. It turns out that he had nothing to be jealous about after all.

Ai showed up at the end of class to drop off some snacks that she brought back from her trip. She had a good time, but she said she had a difficult time at first understanding Thai-English. Ai says she will definitely be here on time next week.

Emi was gone tonight because she is busy with her school festival and Shogo was also absent tonight. It's too bad he wasn't here because one student wanted to buy an eel bowl ticket.

Tonight no one did the homework which turned out to be a blessing in disguise. With no one having done the homework it was easy just to incorporate the material into the class. It is much more difficult when one or two people have done the homework, but the rest of the class hasn't. There is no homework for next week, so you won't have to worry.

It was just Naoko and Maiko today, but we knew that was going to be the case from last week. There wasn't a whole lot of news to talk about so we jumped right into checking the homework. There were a couple of spots where people had trouble, but we got them worked out. Naoko has a friend who met her husband like the women in example two. Besides that there were no other examples of romantic first meetings.

We looked at the chat-up or pick up lines and like the Wednesday night class there was some difficulty in understanding exactly what chat-up lines are. I tried to give many different examples of when and where they are used, so I think people finally go the idea. The next time you watch an American movie or TV show listen for these kinds of lines, especially if the scene is taking place in a bar.

The homework for next week is the reading on page 31. Do exercises 1-4.

For a long time tonight it was only Hiroyuki. We talked about the 100K race he did on the weekend. It took him over 10 hours to complete the run and at the end his ankles really hurt.

We were in the middle of checking the homework when Risa arrived and later Shogo arrived. He had very special reason for being late and I will let him tell the story next week. If he reads this, he may decide to put something in the comments.

We did the exercises related to the "dream date" and the "chat-up" lines. People had a hard time of coming up with any Japanese ones.

The homework for next week is to do the reading on page 31. Answer questions 1-4.

This is just a note for Hiroyuki because the e-mail that I sent came back. This is the link that you want.

We had interesting start to the class today. There were two different stories about whether Ai had gone to Thailand or was coming to class. Naoko and Sayuri thought she was coming, but Maiko and I thought she had gone on her trip. Naoko and Sayuri were correct. Ai is going to Thailand this coming weekend.

The other interesting topic was started by Sayuri. She wanted to know how people referred to their friend's husbands (in Japanese). She felt using some of the traditional ways make it sound like the wife is in a subservient role. There were several different answers.

After that we continued working with present perfect and used since and for.

The homework for next is page 27, but it seems like it will only be Naoko and Maiko next class.

We started off with three people, but then Risa and Shogo showed up a little bit late. We talked about what people did over the weekend. We went over the homework and everyone talked about the first time they did something. Tomoyasu's story about his first dance was funny. I want to hear more about his bike trip in Sakhalin .

We did the listening exercise and learned about the two couples we read about last week. We also did some exercises using since and for. There were some interesting sentences and some people didn't do a good job guessing the lie that their partners told. My sentences were a little too easy.

The homework for next week is to do the exercise on page 27.

Ai was back today and she has quite the suntan. She said that it is in preparation for a trip to Thailand this weekend, but she admits she overdid it. She said her concert went well on Sunday and she will be doing another one in August.

We talked about a variety of things at the beginning of class and talked a little longer than I had planned. In the talk the Atkins Diet came up. There is a lot of controversy surrounding it, but my father was on it for awhile and he lost quite a bit of weight. As with most diets he wasn't able to keep it off.

Next we talked about the homework and we got to hear how Sayuri's husband got the travel bug. Naoko talked about her first home, Ai shared with us about her first hero and Maiko talked about her husband's first overseas trip. We looked at the answers for the fill-in-the-blank exercise. The interesting thing was the discussion about whether you agreed or disagreed with the different statements.

We didn't get to the listening exercise like I had hoped, so the homework for next week is to read the dating stories on pages 139 and 140. The listening exercise is related to them, so it is important to review them before class.

There was quite a selection of movie reviews that people did for homework tonight. We had everything from Anpan Man to a horror movie. After talking about the movies we moved on to the new unit and talked about different "firsts" in people's lives. Tomoyasu wanted to hear about everyone's first kiss, but suddenly couldn't remember when asked about his.

We did a reading exercise about two different couples and their unique dating situations. We used some of the key vocabulary from the readings in the next exercise.

The homework for next is to pick another first from your life and write out the details so you can share it with a partner next week.

At the beginning of class we talked a lot about internet related things because both Maiko and Naoko had trouble with Quicktime. Maiko couldn't get it to install at first and for Naoko it kept crashing her machine. Not being a windows user I can't really help them out. This then lead to talk about Mixi and then we ended up on Second Life, which I have only read about.

All of this was actually a good intro for today's lesson because there was a short reading about online dating. We read two short descriptions about how two couples met and then you had to give a summary of the reading you did. One part of the homework for next week is to fill in the blanks in Lexis (p. 25) using the words from the two readings. Try to do it without looking at the text if possible. The second part of the homework is to pick one of the "first" on the first page of the unit and prepare what you would like to share with your classmates.

At the end of class I mentioned that Ai would be singing this Sunday at the street festival in front of the Fuji Maru. I don't know many more details so I hope she will post a comment with more information.

Yumiko couldn't make it tonight because she had to go to a funeral. Tomoyasu was back and we talked a little bit about his trip to Shanghai. Emi was also back after a two week break. I was surprised she came because I know she has tests soon. As a matter of fact, her tests start tomorrow.

We went over the adjectives with the "ed" or "ing" endings. If you want to practice you can go here. I also mentioned at the end of class two good places to go to find out about movies. One is here and the other here. The homework for next week is to write a movie review and you need to include the information for the example in the book.

We talked a little bit about the rakugo because Naoko came to see it and other things people have been doing. Maiko will be having some guests from Tokyo next week. Sayuri and some interesting news, too.

We practiced using adjectives with ed or ing. You can do more practice here.

We went over the homework and people talked about a book or movie. You had three minutes to give as much information as you could. I wonder what movie or book Ai would have talked about today.

At the end of class I showed you the Internet Movie Database site because there is a lot of good movie information there. We also looked at the English trailers site. The homework for next week is to pick one of the trailers and do the activities. Next week in class I would like you share your opinion of the site with the class.

Shogo decided to join this class, so we are growing slowly, but surely. Emi was absent tonight, but did a make up class in the later Step 4 class. We went over the homework and guessing who was writing the descriptions was a little difficult. People had trouble with the new father and fashion model. Several people in both classes were unfamiliar with the saying about cats having "nine lives". Here is one theory about the origins.

After that we started talking about movies, books and music. Related to that we did a listening exercise and tried to catch what they were talking about. People had a little bit more trouble than I thought they would. Look over the tapescript and looked at the keywords.

The homework for next week is to look at the anecdote exercise. You will need to talk 3 to 4 minutes about a movie, book or a piece of music.

Naoko had to leave earlier today because she had to go to her daughter's sports day. Just after she left Ai arrived. It was almost as if they had planned it.

This article is a little bit about what we talked about at the beginning of class today.

After checking the homework we talked about books, movies and music. There were a lot of interesting points and it was fun to hear people's opinions about books and movies. We spent a little bit of time talking about Haruki Murakami and everyone had read a least a few of his books.

The homework for next week is to do the anecdote exercise on page 21.

Tomoyasu is in Shanghai this week, so we should be getting a postcard soon.

In going over the homework tonight we got to practice some conversation strategies and by the end people were getting the hang of it. After that we did the timed reading and answered the questions. There was a lot of new and useful vocabulary. If you can, try to use some of them next week.

The homework for next week is to do the Close up exercises 1, 2, and 3. Also I hope Hiroyuki will post a comment telling us how does in the race in a full kit.

Maiko was back from her trip to Canada and the States. It sounds like things went well, but she get separated from her bags in Portland. She had to changes planes a lot so it isn't too surprising.

Again this week we had some interesting topics to discuss. One was the outbreak of measles at some of the universities in Honshu. I mentioned that there have been similar cases in America. There as been a fear that MMR shots may be the cause of the increase in autism. I also mentioned the outbreak of whooping cough in some parts of the States.

The homework for next week is to do the Close up 1, 2, 3 (pp.18-19).

Hiroyuki was back after taking part in maneuvers and Emi was back also. She sounded like she had a slight cold. We also had an observer tonight. We checked the homework by listening to the song again. Did you go home and listen to the Hirai Ken version?

After that we started Unit 2 and looked at The Little Book of Calm. As I mentioned in class I had never heard of this book before reading about it in the textbook. I really don't think it sounds very practical, but I guess I would have to read the whole thing. The main focus of the lesson today was adverbs of frequency and there wasn't a lot of new information, but it was a good review I think. It did introduce a few new ones. There was the idiom once in a blue moon that was new for some people. This link will take you to an explanation of this phenomena.

The homework for next week is to think about the answers to #8 on page 16.

Maiko is on her trip to the States and Canada and Ai called just before class to say she couldn't make it today. I really wanted to talk to Ai because I had a question for her. I believe that Ai as taken voice training lessons and I need some advice on helping a student speak in a larger voice that will carry farther. Ai if you read this let me know if you have any tips that I can give the person.

We talked about relaxing today and The Little Book of Calm. I had never heard of it before. One of the first things we did was talk about how much time we spent studying, working and relaxing yesterday. I wish Ai and Maiko had been here to share their information with us.

After that we did a listening exercise and reviewed adverbs of frequency. The homework for next week is to look at the list of suggestions from The Little Book of Calm and think about how often you do them. We will interview each other next week.

We welcomed a new student tonight. Risa has only been in Tokachi since April, so we can help her out by teaching her about the area. Both Emi and Hiroyuki were absent tonight, but should be back next week.

We listened to the song You've Got a Friend, but like the morning class no one had heard it before. It was made famous by Carole King, but no one had heard of her either. I am surprised sometimes by which singers or musicians become popular in Japan. I was really surprised about how popular the Ventures were, but I don't think many Americans know who they are.

The homework for next week is to unscramble the lyrics to the song and we will check by listening to the song again. Don't look up the lyrics on the net!

People had such quiet Golden Weeks that I almost felt guilty about the fun I had in Hakodate. At the beginning of class instead of talking about the holiday we talked about the environment because Sayuri had seen An Inconvenient Truth. I warned people to check because there are other opinions out there.

After that we went over the homework. Everyone had to talk about a friend for three minutes, but their partner couldn't ask a question until the end. You had a chance to talk to everyone and by the third person I hope you were able to add more information than you gave to the first person. I would be interested to hear if any of you try the idea I suggested.

We finished the class by listening to the song You've got a Friend by Carole King. No one had heard of her, but of course you knew The Carpenters, but not James Taylor. We will listen to the song again next week to check the homework. Don't look up the lyrics on the internet.

It was nice to have Ai back for a make up class. Emi was sick today and couldn't make it, so we will see her after Golden Week. We talked about the G8 summit and the local elections, but that was about it for the news.

There was no homework to check, so we started straightaway on the textbook. We did the reading on friendship and also did the listening exercise. I forgot to ask in class if any of you had experienced something like Tina and Will. Is there someone you were really close to, but then you drifted apart for some reason?

The homework it write about one of your close friends. Also try to remember what you do during Golden Week.

Ai was absent today and will do a make up class on Wednesday night. I am sure she will post a comment letting us know what happened. Maiko was also absent today, and I vaguely remember her saying something about going to Yokohama. I can't remember if that was going to be before Golden Week or after.

We went over the reading and looked at the very useful phrases. For homework next time do Anecdote #3. We will share the information with a classmate next time. Also try to remember what you do during the holiday.

I know the homework was hard this week and it took a lot of time to complete, but I think you did a pretty good job. If there were parts where you had the wrong answer then you should take some time to make sure you understand the mistake that you made. We probably won't have a class like this again, but we will continue to look at the grammar sections of the textbook.

There is no homework for next week because I want to give you a break before the big Golden Week project!

I hope Maiko didn't have to wait too long for the gas people to finish the work on her apartment. Last week Carlos had to wait around for two hours for them to finish the work at his place.

We went over the homework and it is good that you did it at home before class. There were so many things to do that it would have taken two classes to finish it if we had done it in class. I hope you felt it was useful, but don't worry in the next units the Close Up exercises aren't so long.

At the beginning of class we talked a little bit about the news and this topic came up. Also Sayuri found the words she was looking for last week--abdominal respiration. When I did a google search of the words the most common sites were medical dictionaries. When I put in deep breathing I got sites like this.

After class I was showing Ai some links to the word lists and I thought I had linked to them last week. It turns out that I hadn't if you are interested in the site go here.

No homework for next week, but there will be things for Golden Week.

We are slowly getting to know each other, but I was a little surprised that you didn't remember Tomoyasu's name! But he didn't remember your names either, so I guess that makes you even.

You did a pretty good job of guessing the questions that the interviewer used. Some of the questions you came up with would have probably generated the same answer. Of course, the technique for an interview and a regular conversation are different.

The homework for next week is a little long, but I think it is better to cover that material at home. It would take too much time in class and I would rather spend the time giving you a chance to speak. There are some important points in the material, so I don't want to skip it completely.

Welocme Ai! With four people in this class I think we will be able to have some interesting discussions. The homework was to write the questions for the interview and people were pretty close to the ones asked on the CD. We listened to the interview with Jaed Jagger and to learn more about her go here.

We spent some time at the end of the lesson sharing information and asking questions. It turns out that Maiko and Naoko have several things in common. For Sayuri and Ai it seems they both have an interest in the arts. Ai mentioned she likes the blues, so she should check out the Roadhouse and the Raven 'n' the Blues podcasts.