Joe's Classes http://www.joyworld.com/blogs/joesclasses/ JOY English Academy en Copyright 2008 Fri, 24 Oct 2008 13:57:02 +0900 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/ http://www.rssboard.org/rss-specification HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I usually keep a record of my students' birthdays, but then I tend to forget when they finally come up. I have a terrible memory that way.
It was Julia's birthday today, a student in my Step 3C class, so she is the first person who I'd like to wish a happy birthday! She just turned 18 years old! WOW! Do you remember when you were 18 years old? It was such an exciting time in my life for me.
Kaori (Step 3E) also had a birthday on October 8th, but unfortunately I missed that one. Sorry Kaori!
In my Step 3F class, there are many birthdays around this time of the year. Kazuei had a birthday on October 4th and Fumie had a birthday on October 21st. Next, Yasushi will have his birthday on October 30th. That's coming up soon!
Atsuya, from my Step 1A class, will also have a birthday on October 27th.
And as for September, Emiko from my Step 2M class also had a birthday on September 10th.
So Happy Birthday to all of you! I know there must be many more of my students with birthdays in September and October, but unfortunately that's all I know about.
Let me know when you birthday is coming up!
Take care everyone!

]]> http://www.joyworld.com/blogs/joesclasses/2008/10/happy-birthday.php http://www.joyworld.com/blogs/joesclasses/2008/10/happy-birthday.php Other Fri, 24 Oct 2008 13:57:02 +0900 ENGLISH EXPO Well, It's English Expo time again! This is your chance to meet new people, learn a lot of things about English, and have a good, relaxing time.
English Expo is our biggest event at JOY and everyone here is hoping to see you around. The event takes place over two days, October 25th and 26th. There are many different seminars to choose from and we'll also have an all English party. At the English Cafe in Bucky Hall, there'll also be a good chance for you to talk to Paul, Trish and I while you enjoy sandwiches, donuts and coffee.
If you are coming on the morning of October 26th, please remember to come a little early to make sure you can find a parking space easily.
I hope you all can make it to the event this year. If you have any questions about the seminars or anything else, please ask me or Shinobu or simply e-mail me!
Take care and good luck with your English studies!

]]> http://www.joyworld.com/blogs/joesclasses/2008/10/english-expo.php http://www.joyworld.com/blogs/joesclasses/2008/10/english-expo.php Events Mon, 20 Oct 2008 15:46:33 +0900 FALL SEMESTER Welcome back to JOY (or welcome to JOY for those of you who are new students here). This week and Monday and Tuesday of next week will be the first classes for all Step classes this term. Thank you for signing up for my class, I hope you will enjoy studying with me and your classmates.
As most of you already know, we've decided to change the teacher BLOG system. So now Trish, Paul and I will be writing only about one message a week to all of you. Please check my entry every week and please feel free to check out Paul and Trish's BLOGs as well and also comment on them. And I hope to get a lot of comments from everyone at JOY.

Please e-mail me anytime (to my joyworld account) if you want to....
1) write a comment about a class or ask me a question about a class or what we studied
2) find out what was assigned for homework
3) tell me that you'll be absent for your next class
4) chat with me about the weekend or tell me a story about something

I will always try to reply to all of your questions and comments as quickly as possible.

Anyway, please take care and study hard this semester! I'm looking forward to seeing all of you again soon.
Bye!

]]> http://www.joyworld.com/blogs/joesclasses/2008/10/fall-semester.php http://www.joyworld.com/blogs/joesclasses/2008/10/fall-semester.php Other Wed, 01 Oct 2008 14:44:06 +0900 Step 1K Good morning everyone! I had a very nice time in class with you today, so thank you for coming. Unfortunately, Misao wasn't able to come to class, so she missed her one-on-one interview! But I was able to interview Miyuki and she did a very good job. After we chatted and I finished the interview with Miyuki, we worked in the textbook. We did some listening exercises and also a reading. We also did some dictation! We had a very good class in my opinion. Lucky for you, I decided to change the homework assignment to something a bit more simple. So please do that before next week. Take care and have a good week. By for now!

]]> http://www.joyworld.com/blogs/joesclasses/2008/09/step-1k-103.php http://www.joyworld.com/blogs/joesclasses/2008/09/step-1k-103.php Step 1 Fri, 12 Sep 2008 15:45:59 +0900 Step 2G Hello and good evening! Thank you all for coming to class. We had a pretty big class tonight and even Junichi came to class after a very long absence. We talked a bit at the beginning of the class and then I started my one-on-one interviews. The other students in the class had pair discussions and then worked on a worksheet puzzle. It was a lot of fun. Actually, before the puzzle we did the homework activity, but only two students in the class did the homework. It was a shock! PLEASE do the homework I assign you before you come to class. We also did a listening from the textbook, too. I hope you have a great week and I hope to see you next time for our last class of the semester. Bye for now!

]]> http://www.joyworld.com/blogs/joesclasses/2008/09/step-2g-101.php http://www.joyworld.com/blogs/joesclasses/2008/09/step-2g-101.php Step 2 Thu, 11 Sep 2008 22:06:55 +0900 Step 2M Hello everyone! I had a great time in class, as always. We had a small class again because both Yukari and Noriko were absent again, but the atmosphere was good. We talked about the earthquake at first. It was a big one! Then I did two one-on-one interviews while the other students talked and worked on the worksheet I gave you. Actually, the work sheet was really interesting (I like those kinds of puzzles). We didn't finish everything that I wanted to this morning, but we did as much as possible. Then we went out for lunch and I had a great time! Thank you all so much for such a wonderful time. It was just too bad that Noriko and Yukari couldn't join us. Too bad! Anyway, take care and have a great week. See you next time!

]]> http://www.joyworld.com/blogs/joesclasses/2008/09/step-2m-18.php http://www.joyworld.com/blogs/joesclasses/2008/09/step-2m-18.php Step 2 Thu, 11 Sep 2008 15:01:04 +0900 Step 3F Good evening everyone. Thank you for coming to class tonight. It was good seeing Yasushi after a long time. Actually, almost everyone came tonight, so we had a pretty big class. I hope Shunichi is doing okay. I think everyone misses him in class. Tonight I did three one-on-one interviews while the other students had discussions and worked on a worksheet. We also did some pronunciation work in the textbook and a listening about thinking positively (which I think is useful for Kazuei!). Anyway, thanks again for coming and I hope to see you all in class next week for our last class of the semester. Good night and see you soon! Bye!

]]> http://www.joyworld.com/blogs/joesclasses/2008/09/step-3f-18.php http://www.joyworld.com/blogs/joesclasses/2008/09/step-3f-18.php Step 3 Wed, 10 Sep 2008 22:44:42 +0900 Step 3E Good evening everyone! Thank you all for coming to class. Tonight we had two visitors (one left after only half an hour though). We had a kind of busy night. I had one-on-one interviews with three students while the other students did a variety of activities (having discussions and doing a worksheet). After that, we did some some pronunciation practice in our textbooks. We also did a listening and wrote some positive predictions for some situations. It was a good class tonight! And we went a bit over time tonight, so sorry about that. Have a great week and see you all next week! Bye for now!

]]> http://www.joyworld.com/blogs/joesclasses/2008/09/step-3e-100.php http://www.joyworld.com/blogs/joesclasses/2008/09/step-3e-100.php Step 3 Wed, 10 Sep 2008 21:55:33 +0900 Step 2K Good afternoon everyone! Thank you so much for coming today. It was good talking with you. Today we did a variety of things. I had one-on-one interviews with three students today and while I was doing the first one, everyone else had pair discussions. Then we did the homework assignment. After that, I continued with the interviews while the other students worked on an activity in pairs. It was pretty difficult, but interesting! I hope you enjoyed it! We also did a listening from the textbook today. Have a great week everyone and I'll see you all again next week for our last class of the semester! Bye for now!

]]> http://www.joyworld.com/blogs/joesclasses/2008/09/step-2k-107.php http://www.joyworld.com/blogs/joesclasses/2008/09/step-2k-107.php Step 2 Wed, 10 Sep 2008 15:28:01 +0900 Step 4D Good evening. Tonight we only had a small class of five students, and it was good seeing Yuki after a long absence from the class. It was also nice talking with everyone else who came tonight. We started the class with a group discussion since we haven't done that for a while and it was good chance with only five students. Then we talked about culture shock and studied some new vocabulary. I was so happy with the effort you all put in today. And your definitions of the words were all great! We'll continue on with this unit next week. Thank you for coming! Please have a good week. Bye!

]]> http://www.joyworld.com/blogs/joesclasses/2008/09/step-4d-105.php http://www.joyworld.com/blogs/joesclasses/2008/09/step-4d-105.php Step 4 Tue, 09 Sep 2008 22:23:18 +0900 Step 3C Good evening everyone! Wow, we had such a big class tonight. I was so surprised to see how many students we had. Nine students came to class in total. If Sayo would have come, then we would have had a full class of ten! Anyway, I had a great time in class. Everyone worked so hard and did a wonderful job. I also did three one-on-one interviews today. I'm sorry we had to rush through the last part of our class, but I really wanted to get that vocabulary section done before next week. Okay, please take care and have a great week. Bye for now!

]]> http://www.joyworld.com/blogs/joesclasses/2008/09/step-3c-104.php http://www.joyworld.com/blogs/joesclasses/2008/09/step-3c-104.php Step 3 Tue, 09 Sep 2008 21:55:28 +0900 Step 2B Good evening everyone! I had a fun time in class, as always with you! At first I was wondering where everyone was, but soon after the class started Hiroyuki and Orie made it to class and we had a total of five students. It was also good seeing Minato after a long time absence. Anyway, tonight I did three one-on-one interviews and then we had a quick quiz. All of you did a pretty good job! After that we worked a bit in the textbook. I'd like to work a bit more next week, if possible, so let's try our best! Take care and have a great week everyone. Bye for now!

]]> http://www.joyworld.com/blogs/joesclasses/2008/09/step-2b-17.php http://www.joyworld.com/blogs/joesclasses/2008/09/step-2b-17.php Step 2 Mon, 08 Sep 2008 22:08:55 +0900 Step 1A Good evening! Thank you all for coming to class. We had a good class tonight, in my opinion. However, I still wonder why you don't try to speak more. Your English is very good, so please don't hesitate to speak more in class. Today I gave two one-on-one interviews and then worked in the textbook a little. I also had you make a conversation with your partner, imagining that you were meeting for the first time in a coffee shop. It was fun and interesting! Take care and have a good week everyone. Bye for now!

]]> http://www.joyworld.com/blogs/joesclasses/2008/09/step-1a-104.php http://www.joyworld.com/blogs/joesclasses/2008/09/step-1a-104.php Step 1 Mon, 08 Sep 2008 21:55:19 +0900 Sorry Everyone! I was so busy this week that I wasn't able to update my blog entries for classes. If you have any questions, please e-mail me or reply to this entry.
Sorry for not writing this week.
Talk to you all soon, Joe.

]]> http://www.joyworld.com/blogs/joesclasses/2008/09/sorry-everyone.php http://www.joyworld.com/blogs/joesclasses/2008/09/sorry-everyone.php Other Fri, 05 Sep 2008 21:18:11 +0900 Step 2B Good evening everyone! It was great seeing all of you. Actually, Akihiro finally made it to class after a long time, so it was very nice seeing and talking with him. Also Shiho made it to class tonight, which was great too. After giving you a bunch of information, we studied irregular simple past verbs and did some simple past grammar exercises. I tested you at the end to see how much you could remember and you almost did a prefect job! Next week we'll have a simple past "regular and irregular" verb quick quiz! Good luck! Okay, see you next week everyone. Until then, take care!

]]> http://www.joyworld.com/blogs/joesclasses/2008/09/step-2b-16.php http://www.joyworld.com/blogs/joesclasses/2008/09/step-2b-16.php Step 2 Mon, 01 Sep 2008 22:04:01 +0900