Recently in Step 1 Category

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!

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!

Good evening everyone! Thank you all for coming to class. Actually, we had a visitor tonight, Atsuya, so it was having someone different in class. I thought we may end up with a small class, but some students were just late. Tonight we started the one-on-one interviews. Yuki, Yasuyo and Ayane are now all finished. You all did a great job. We also worked in the textbook and started the new lesson. Next week we will continue on with this unit. Take care and have a good week everyone! Bye for now!

Good evening everyone! How are you all doing? Well, it was great seeing you all in class and it was a lot of fun talking to Hiromi about her trip to Toyama to go hiking. What an adventurer! But it's a shame that it rained so much on her trip. After an open group discussion, I gave you a grammar quiz to test your ability to find mistakes in sentences (it was also a review of last week's grammar). You all did a pretty good job! Then we worked on the new unit to lean the importance of giving more information in order to communicate better. You all seemed so tired after the lesson was finished. Please take care! We will continue on with this unit next week. Have a wonderful week everyone! Bye!

Hello everyone! How are you all doing? Wow, another small class of only three this morning. But I had a great time seeing you and talking with you in class. It was fun! We had an open class discussion at first and I really think you've all improved so much since the beginning of the semester. You're all doing such a wonderful job! Please keep up the great work! After the discussion, I gave a kind of grammar quiz to check how well you can find mistakes in sentences. Then we worked in the textbook and started the new lesson. We'll continue on with this lesson next time. So take care and have a good week and I'll see you all in class next time. Bye for now!

Good evening everyone. Tonight we started class with pair discussions. It was difficult for you to make conversation, so I decided to have an open class discussion also. I think you are all very good at English, but for some reason you are all very quiet when it comes to making conversations. Anyway, after that we worked on in the textbook and almost finished Lesson B in Unit 4. We will continue with this lesson next week and then start the new lesson. Also, I will be giving you a one-on-one interview next week, so please be prepared! Take care and have a good week. Bye for now!

Where has everyone in this class gone??? Well, welcome back to JOY after the summer break. We only had a class of four students tonight, which makes me wonder what happened to Tetsuya and Masanao. Hiromi was absent tonight too, but I knew that. We talked about our summer holidays at first and then started work in the textbook. Tonight we didn't do as much as I hoped, but we talked a lot and almost finished Lesson 2B. I hope you have a great week and I'll see you all in class next week. Until then, please take care! Bye for now!

Wow, what a small class today! Welcome back to JOY after our summer break. It was good seeing you and talking with you. Actually, we only had three students in the class, but it was fun. It also gives you an opportunity to speak more in class when we have such a small class, right? Today we had an open class discussion about our summer holidays and then we did some work in the textbook. We pretty much finished Lesson B in Unit 4, so we'll start the new lesson next week. Take care and have a great week everyone. I'm looking forward to seeing you all again (we'll have another small class of three again if everyone shows up). Bye for now!

Welcome back to JOY after a short summer vacation break. It was great seeing all of you in class, so thank you for coming. We had a full class and we even had a visitor, Hiromi from my Friday night class. We talked about our summer vacations a little and then we had pair discussions. After that, we practiced the grammar we learned last week and played a memory game. We also looked at the rules for "s" endings for using the third person (he and she). And then we quickly started the new lesson that we'll continue next week. Have a great week everyone and please take care! Bye for now!

Hello everyone! How are you all doing? We had six students tonight, including Mika, a visitor from my Monday night class. At first we talked to Eriko about making pottery and then I told you about the mama-chari race. It was nice talking with you, so thank you for asking questions and listening to my story. Then we got started working in the textbook. The first activity was a little difficult for you, so I decided to give it for homework. It's very important, so please give it a try. After that we started the new unit on everyday life. I think it was an interesting topic, but many of you were really tired! We also studied the simple present a little. Well, next week we will have a class even though it's during summer vacation. I hope you all will be able to come. And please do the homework before next week (unit 3 quiz)! Take care and have a good week and weekend. Bye for now!

Good afternoon! Thank you all for coming today. It's just a small class now with only four students, but today we had a visitor. It was really nice having Shigeko in our class. I had a great time today, as usual, and it was so much fun talking with you at the beginning of class. We started the class with short pair discussions. Everyone seemed to be talking with such soft voices. My partner was Satomi and we had a very good discussion about her neighborhood association's summer festival. We then worked hard in the textbook, at first checking the homework and then moving on to the new Unit. We will have class next week even though it's during summer vacation, so please come! And please do the homework, it's due next week. Take care and have a great week everyone! Bye for now!

Good Evening! How are you all doing? Almost everyone was so tired from all the studying/work they did over the weekend. And even though the high school students in the class are on summer vacation, they have a lot of homework to do. Good luck everyone! Tonight we started with pair discussions. It was very difficult for you, so I think we need to try something different next time. Then we checked our homework and worked in the textbook. We did some dictation practice and then we played a kind of discussion game to review the grammar and vocabulary we learned this past unit. Next week we will start the new unit. Have a great week everyone and see you all next time (yes, we have class on Aug. 4th). Bye for now!

Good evening everyone! Well, we had a pretty big class tonight with seven people all together. It's kind of unusual! So I had a very good time talking with all of you. At first we talked about the mama-chari race and then we had pair discussions. My partner was Masanao since he came in after we started. Since most of you were absent last week or didn't do your homework, we started the class by doing the homework handout. So Youhei and Mika (form my Step 1A class) became the teachers and helped out their partner with the answers. After that we did some dictation. It's really hard, but I think you did a wonderful job. Finally, we played a game with our partner to review the unit. Next week we will probably start the new unit. Take care and have a great week and weekend! Wish me luck with the race! Good night!

Hello everyone. How are you doing? I had a good time in class, as usual. We started the class by talking about earthquakes and the mama-chari race. It was an interesting conversation, but I mostly spoke. Please try to ask more questions and join in the conversation. After that we did pair discussions and then checked the homework. I think most of you did a great job. After that we did some dictation. I read three different paragraphs to you and you wrote down what you heard in your notebook. It's really hard, but I think you did a wonderful job. Finally, we played a game with our partner to review the unit. Next week we will probably start the new unit. Take care and have a great week and weekend! Wish me luck with the race! Bye!

Good evening. Well, I was a little worried when we started class that we would only have two students, but I was also pretty sure that some students would come late. It turned out that only one more student came, for a total of three students tonight. But that's okay, I like small classes every once in a while. So I have to thank Eriko, Youhei and Maki for coming to class! Today we did a lot of work in the textbook. We practiced writing and asking information questions with "be" and we also did the listening on page 28. For the listening, you had to listen for information and then write the questions for the answers. It was very difficult, but I think you all did a great job. Please review this again for homework and also do the worksheet I gave you. Thanks again for coming to class. I hope to see you all again next time, hopefully with a few more students too! Bye for now!

Good afternoon everyone! Thank you all for coming to class, I had a good time as usual. We started the class off with some discussions (one pair and one group). You talked about a lot of different topics and we were able to lean some useful expressions from the discussions. Sometimes the discussion at the beginning of class can be more than just a warm-up. It can help us to communicate our ideas more smoothly and we can learn from our mistakes. Today we also did a lot of work in the textbook. We practiced writing and asking information questions with "be" and we also did the listening on page 28. For the listening, you had to listen for information and then write the questions for the answers. It was very difficult, but I think you all did a great job. Please review this again for homework and also do the worksheet I gave you. See you all next week!

Hello everyone! Well, I think we had a good night tonight. Everyone came to class, including Chikashi who said he may be absent because of his school festival. And we also had a visitor, Nao, from David's class. My pair discussion partner was Chikashi and we had an interesting conversation about his school festival. Then we worked in the textbook. We studied information questions tonight, which is very important for effective communication. We also did a listening exercise. Making questions for the answers was very difficult for you, but all the high school students in the class got a perfect score. And Ayane did very well in class today! Good job! Don't forget to do your homework before our next class (next week is a holiday). See you in two weeks. Bye for now!

Good evening everyone! Actually, we only had three students in class tonight, but I had such a fun time with you. You really are great students! We started the class with an interesting activity. You had to talk to three different people and get some information about them in only two minutes. And then we wrote the information about each person on the board. You all did a great job, but it was funny that we all asked Eriko the same question. After that we started the new lesson about "People We Know." We talked about adjectives to describe the people we know and we also did a listening exercise. After that we practiced the grammar (asking and answering yes/no questions). We will continue on this next week. Please have a great week! I'll see you next week. Bye for now!

Good afternoon! How are you all doing? Please write me and let me know how things are with you, I'm waiting for your messages!!! Anyway, it was good seeing you this morning. It was shame that Keiko couldn't make it, but I hope to see her next week. We started the class with an interesting activity. You had to talk to three different students and get some information about them in only two minutes. And then we wrote the information about each person on the board. After that we started the new lesson about "People We Know." We talked about adjectives to describe the people we know and we also did a listening exercise. After that we practiced the grammar (asking and answering yes/no questions). We will continue on this next week. Until next time, please take care. Bye for now!

Good evening everyone. Well, not only did we have a full class again, but we also had a visitor. Atsuya joined us tonight and he was a very student who participated actively. However, everyone else was very quiet tonight. Why? Were you tired? Were you nervous? What was wrong??? Anyway, we started the class with an interesting conversation activity, then we brainstormed some words to describe the people we know. I think there were some words you didn't understand, yet you didn't tell me or ask me what the correct meaning was. Please ALWAYS ask me when you don't understand something. We also studied some grammar and then did a quick conversation with our answers from the grammar exercise. Thanks for coming to class. I hope you will all try harder next week. Bye for now!

Good evening everyone! Thank you all for coming to class. Actually, although a few students were late for class, we had a full class for the first time in a very, very long time. It was great seeing everyone, especially Tetsuya who's been absent for more than a month. At first we did pair discussions about sports. We had two groups of three and I was Eri's partner. I asked Eri many questions and she did a good job in answering them. Then we started on the textbook. We talked about the many different kinds of celebrities. We also studied possessive pronouns (my, your, his, her, our and their), did a listening and also a grammar exercise. I thought you all did such a wonderful job today. Thanks again for coming to class. I really hope to see you all again next week! Don't forget to do your homework. Bye for now.

Good afternoon! Thank you all for coming to class. I had a great time with you today. We had some really interesting conversations about sports and celebrities. I enjoyed talking with all of you, and I even found some things in common with Masami (we both like Tim Burton movies, especially Big Fish, and we both love Haruki Murakami). We also did some work and studied possessive pronouns (my, your, his, her, our and their). We did a listening and also a grammar exercise. I thought you all did such a wonderful job today. I was impressed! I think you're improving greatly! Anyway, please take care and have a great weekend. I'll see you all next time (but Keiko will be absent). Bye for now!

Good evening! Thank you all for coming to class tonight. Actually, we had a full class today so I was very happy. We started the class with pair discussions about sports. My partner was Chikashi and we had a very interesting discussion. After that, we worked on the new unit. We talked about celebrities and did a crossword puzzle worksheet. Then we learned about possessive adjectives (my, your, his, her, our and their). You all did a great job tonight, so thank you for your efforts. Next week we will continue on with Unit 3. Please do the Unit test for homework and study the new vocabulary and expression for the unit. Take care!

Good evening everyone! Thank you for coming to class. How are you all doing tonight? I hope you're all well. We had a pretty big class tonight because Mika came to our class from my Step 1A. We started the class with pair discussions using the questions we wrote last week about travel. My partner was Eriko (for half the time) and we had a very good discussion. I hope you will try harder to have more of a "conversation" next time, not just quick answers. After that we worked on some different things, including checking the homework from last week and studying about the possessive "S". We also did a quick listening at the end of class on Classroom Enlgish. Now it's the weekend, so please take care and have a good time! I'll see you all in class next week. Bye for now!

Good afternoon! It was great seeing all of you in class, so thank you for coming. You seemed a little quiet at first, perhaps because of the hot, humid weather. Three of the students in this class took the English exam over the weekend, so I wish you good luck with those results! We started the class with pair discussions using the questions we wrote last week about travel. My partner was Miyuki and we had a very good discussion. After that we worked on some different things, including the homework from last week (which I forgot to give you and so we ended up doing it in class) and studying about the possessive "S". We also did a quick listening at the end of class on Classroom Enlgish. Sorry for going a bit over time today. Have a great week and I'll see you in class next week. Bye for now!

Good evening! Thank you for coming to class tonight, it was good seeing everyone. But unfortunately, Ayane was absent tonight. We can never seem to have a full class, but maybe that will happen next week??? And we also had a visitor, Nao, from David's step 1 class. Tonight Chikashi was a little sick from a cold, but he did well in class! Anyway, tonight we used the questions we wrote last week to interview our partners. You all did a great job! Then we checked the homework and started the lesson. We worked on the possessive "s" and also reviewed classroom English expressions. Next week we will start the new Unit. I hope you're all doing well. Take care and enjoy your week. Bye for now!

Good evening everyone! Thank you for coming to class. Actually, Eri came to class after being absent for a pretty long time, so I was happy to see her. And we had six students in class all together. At first we talked a little bit about the weather. I was surprised that most of you didn't do anything outside! It's pretty cold today, but I like this temperature better than having a really hot day. Tonight we thought of some more questions about the topics "Travel" and "Sports." We will use these questions next week for our pair discussions. Then we did a fun word search puzzle. You had to find twelve words in the puzzle. Then we studied some grammar and did speaking exercises. After that we did a listening in the textbook. You all did a great job! I hope you all have a great weekend! Take care and see you all next week. Bye for now!

Good afternoon! It was great seeing all of you in class this morning, so thank you for coming. It was raining when our class began but it was suddenly clear afterwards. However, it's a pretty chilly day today, isn't it? I don't like the rain, but I like the temperature! At first we wrote down some questions about the topics "Travel" and "Sports." We will use these questions next week for our pair discussions. Then we worked in the textbook. We did a word search activity and I was so surprised when Miyuki, Satomi and Masami finished the word search in five minutes! Usually it takes about ten minutes! So good for you. Then we studied some grammar, did some practice exercises and also did a listening. Wow! Lots of work today, hey? Well, I think you did a great job. Anyway, please have a great week everyone. Bye for now!

Good evening! Well, we only had a small class of four students at first, but then Takemi came in late and we ended up with five! We talked about the weather and I was so surprised that both Mika and Yasuyo thought the last couple of days weren't that hot. For me, it's just too hot! But it's nice that summer has finally came! Anyway, at first, we wrote some more questions about two different topics, sports and food. We will use these questions next week. Then we worked in the textbook. We learned about classroom objects today and also practiced using singular and plural nouns. We will do some review next week and then continue on with the next lesson. Please take care and have a great week everyone! And don't forget to do the homework handout I gave you! Bye for now!

Good evening everyone! Well, today we had a much bigger class than last week's, so that was really nice. At first though, we only had the same three students as last week. But then more and more students came after we got started. We had a class of six today, including a visitor (kouji). It was also nice to see Maki again and talk with her after a long time. After pair discussions, we we studied a lot from the new lesson today! We studied using articles ("a" and "an") and also the new grammar structures for using "this" and "these" with singular and plural nouns. Wow! We will continue studying from Unit 2 next week. I hope you all have a great weekend and week. And I also hope to see everyone in class next week, too! Take care!

Good morning everyone. Today we only had four students in class because Masami was absent. Because of that, everyone seemed a little quiet today. But I enjoyed our class together and I thank you all for coming. After pair discussions (only two pairs!), we did a review worksheet (to practice last week's grammar) and then we studied a lot from the new lesson today! We studied using articles ("a" and "an") and also the new grammar structures for using "this" and "these" with singular and plural nouns. Wow! We will continue studying from Unit 2 next week. And I'm looking forward to seeing you and talking with you once again! Have a great week and weekend everyone and I'll see you all next time. Bye for now!

Good evening! Well, tonight we almost had a full class, but Takemi was absent. Everyone seemed rather quiet tonight. I wonder if that's because Masaki is no longer in our class??? Anyway, I tried to have an open conversation with you at the beginning of class, but none of you were so talkative and I had to give up. So we had pair discussions instead. However, that also seemed too difficult for you. I think we may have to make another questions handout next week. After pair discussions, we did some review work and then studied from the textbook. Next week we will continue on with this same lesson because some of you were having some difficulties with the new grammar. I will explain in more next week. Take care and see you all next time. Bye for now!

Good evening! Wow, what a small class today. We only had three students in class. I was thinking that more students would come in late, but no, no one else came. So only Youhei, Hiromi and Eriko were present in class. However, I had a great time! We started the class with pair interviews. After the two minute interviews, we had to report the information we learned to the rest of the class members. I was really impressed at how well you did! And I also had a great talk with Hiromi. Good job everyone! Then we worked on the textbook. We started the new unit today and learned some prepositions used with places and also practiced answering and asking questions using the "be" verb. I had a nice time in class, so thank you all for coming and working so hard! I hope to see more students in class next week. Take care and have a great weekend. Bye for now!

Good afternoon! Well, today we had a nice class. Everyone came and everyone seemed to be pretty cheerful! We started the class with pair interviews. After the two minute interviews, we had to report the information we learned to the rest of the class members. I was really impressed at how well you did! Good job everyone! Then we worked on the textbook. We started the new unit today and learned some prepositions used with places and also practiced answering and asking questions using the "be" verb. I had a nice time in class, so thank you all for coming and working so hard! Have a great week and I'll see you all next time. Bye for now!

Good evening! Well, tonight we had a full class because Masaki will no longer be in our class (he moved up to Step 2B). Maybe you can see him after class someday! Anyway, I had a really good time in class tonight. It was good to hear you all talking and using English as much as possible. At first we did pair discussions. You had to interview your partner and then report to class. I was very impressed with how much information Mika reported after only two minutes! Then we worked on the new unit. We finished Lesson A in Unit 2. You all did a wonderful job tonight, so thank you for trying so hard! Take care and have a good week. Bye for now!

Good evening everyone! Well, tonight we had a really small class compared to usual. We only had three regular members and one visitor! I was a little worried at first since there were only three students in the class, but then Tetsuya came in a little late. Thank you all for coming! We had a short discussion at first and then you discussed the topic of music with your partners. I think it was a good topic and there were some good conversations about the different topics. Way to go! We also finished Lesson D today, so next week we will start Unit 2. Please do the Unit 1 quiz for homework and also study the new vocabulary for Unit 2. Have a great week and I'll see you all next time. Take care!

Good afternoon everyone! Well, I thought we'd only have a class of three students today, but suddenly a visitor joined our class after we had already gotten started! I was so surprised! But it was nice to have a new face in class and it also made it easier to do pair work. We talked about pollen allergies at the beginning of class (only Masami and I have a problem. The others are all very lucky!) and then you discussed the topic of music with your partners. We also finished the end of Lesson C and also finished Lesson D! Please do the Unit 1 quiz for homework and also study the new vocabulary for Unit 2. Have a great week and I'll see you all next time. Have a great weekend, too! Bye for now!

Good evening everyone! Thank you all for coming to class. We had a full class tonight, so it was great seeing all of you. We talked about the weather a bit at the beginning of class and I was surprised to hear that Yuki didn't think it was cold today at all! What? It thought it was freezing and I was cold ALL DAY! Anyway, after that we had pair discussions about music and worked on the textbook. I hope you will try harder to speak up a little more in class. This is your chance to speak English! And for many of you, it's your only chance in the entire week. So please take advantage of the opportunity and try to speak more. Trust me, the class will be a lot more fun if you try this! Okay, please take care and have a great week everyone. Bye for now!
PS: You have the Unit 1 quiz and Unit 2 vocabulary for homework.

Well, I'm not sure what happened to my message, but I did write one last week for this class. Now it has disappeared!
Anyway, I hope you all had a good weekend! Thank you for coming to class. You were all a little more quite than usual, so I hope you will be more talkative next time. We interviewed our partners about the topic of music and then we studied from the textbook. Take care and have a great week! Bye for now!

Good afternoon! Well, today we had a full class even though Keiko said she may be absent this week. I was so glad that she could make it! Thank you ALL for coming! We started our class today by interviewing our partners on the topic of music (from the questions we wrote a few weeks ago). My partner was Satomi. She was little nervous at first, but then she did a great job and I had a very good time talking with her. After that we worked on the textbook. We couldn't finish the Lesson, but I was so impressed with your secret questions and answers. That was a fun game and you all did such a wonderful job. Keep up the good work! We will have to work a bit faster next week, but unfortunately, two students will be absent. Too bad! Have a great week everyone and see you all next time. Bye for now!

Hello and good evening everyone! It's been a long time since we last saw each other, so it was great seeing and talking with you. Actually, we had a small class today. There were only five students in total. But I enjoyed having such a small class. Anyway, thank you all for listening to my stories about Canada. I had a good time, so thank you for changing one of your classes to August. At the beginning of class we had pair discussions about the topic of "travel" using the questions you wrote last class. Good job! Then we worked on the textbook. We didn't get as much as I wanted done, so next week we will probably work fast through the next lesson and start the new unit. There's no homework tonight, but please make sure you review past lessons and study vocabulary. Thanks for coming tonight! Bye for now!

Good evening! Thank you all for coming to class, it was good to see you after the Golden Week holidays. We have a new student in our class, Masanao, so let's welcome him to our class! I talked about my Golden Week holiday at first and you asked me some questions about my trip to Canada. Actually, we had a lot of work to do today, so thank you for trying so hard and doing such a great job! At first we had a classroom English quiz. Please study these expression harder because they are very useful for you in class. After that, we wrote some questions about two different topics (and we will use these questions next time to interview our partners). Then we studied the new grammar point and also started the new lesson. We just managed to finish page 6. Next week we will continue on with this lesson! Take care and I'll see you all in class next week. Bye for now!

Hello and good afternoon everyone! Today we had a full class, all five of you made it! Thank you so much for coming. We talked about the Golden Week holiday at first and you asked me some questions about my trip to Canada. You asked me some really good questions, so thank you! Almost all of you did some kind of gardening or farming during the holiday, so I thought that was kind of interesting. Anyway, we had a lot of work to do today, so thank you for trying so hard and doing such a great job! At first we had a classroom English quiz. Both Miyuki and Misao did a great job on the quiz, so Congratulations!!! After that, we wrote some questions about two different topics (and we will use these questions next time to interview our partners). Then we studied the new grammar point and also started a new lesson. We just managed to finish page 6. Next week we will continue on with this lesson! See you all then!

Good evening! Thank you all for coming to class again this week. Actually, this was our last class before Golden Week because I'm going to Canada and will not be working next Monday (the lesson has been changed to August 4). Please remember! Anyway, tonight we worked on making questions using two different topics, travel and music. You all did great job of thinking up some wonderful questions. Then we had a quiz on classroom English. I will give you back your quiz next time we have class (May 12). We also worked in the textbook and studied the verb "be" used with pronouns. Then we talked about personal information and numbers. The math quiz was fun! Have a great Golden Week holiday and I'll see you all in May. Take care!

Good evening! Well, tonight we had a pretty small class of only four students, but I think it will be much bigger next time. We now have two more students who have joined our class, so we now have a total of seven! YEAH! Anyway, I had a good time in class tonight, so thank you all for coming. We started the class by brainstorming some topics of conversation and then we had a good conversation with our partners about some of the topics. It was interesting! Then we looked over the classroom English handout I made for you. Please study these expressions because they will surely help you communicate in English in class! Then we worked on Lesson B in our textbooks. It was fun! Thank you for trying so hard and I hope you weren't too tired after class! Today was our last class before the Golden Week holidays (there's no class on April 25th or May 2nd), so see you all on May 9th! Okay, please take care and see you all next month!

Thank you for coming to my class! And good afternoon! Actually, it was a shame that Masami couldn't make it to class this morning. It was our last class before the Golden Week holidays (I will not be working next Friday and our next class will be on May 9th), so we have quite a long break from now. Please study hard! Anyway, we practiced asking some questions at the beginning of class and then we looked at the classroom English handout I made for you. I think this is very useful for communicating in English only in the classroom, so please study these expressions. Then we worked on Lesson B in the textbook. It was a fun class for me, and I hope that you will relax a bit more starting in May. Anyway, have a great Golden Week holiday everyone and I'll see you all next month! Until then, take care!

Well, how are you all feeling after class today? I hope you're doing well! I had a good time in class and it was good to see everyone tonight, so thank you all for coming. We began the class by brainstorming some different topics of conversation. Then you asked your partner three questions each about three different topics (for a total of 9 questions). It was a little challenging for you, but you did a good job. Then we looked at the classroom English expressions and started the textbook. Can I ask you some questions? How was class for you? Was it too difficult? Too easy? Did you have a good time? I hope to hear your comments about our class tonight! Until next week, please take care. Bye for now!

Good evening everyone! Well, we just finished class right now and I wanted to thank you for coming. We had a pretty big class tonight because we had two visitors, Mika and Noriyuki. Tonight we did quite a bit of work, so I hope you're not too tired. At first we had an open discussion about our past week. Then we interviewed our parter with some questions that we brainstormed on the white board. That exercise was interesting! We could find out a lot of new things about each other. Then we brainstormed some Classroom English and Greetings. Finally, we worked in the textbook and finished Lesson A in Unit 1. Lots of work, but you all did a good job! Please don't be afraid to speak more in class. I want to hear from all of you! Anyway, have a good week and I'll see you all next time. Take care!

Good afternoon! Thank you all for coming this morning. It was great seeing you all and talking with all of you. Today's class was very different from last week's as you seemed a little more nervous and quiet this morning. But of course, I had a great time in class. We did a lot of work in English today and I think you did a pretty good job! Keep up the good work! We started with pair interviews and my partner was Misao. It was great talking with her and hearing about her daily life and hobbies. Then we brainstormed Classroom English and Greetings. It was a little difficult for you to think of Classroom English expressions at first, but you ended up doing a fabulous job! Good for you! Next week we will continue on with Unit 1, so please make sure to study the vocabulary handout I gave you. Thanks again for coming and please have a good week! Bye for now!

Good evening! Well, tonight it took a while to get our class started properly since there was only one student in class at the very beginning of the lesson. Then one by one, the rest of you came to class. Please try to be on time for class in the future! I know you're busy and sometimes can't make it on time, but please try to come on time when you can. Tonight we did a variety of things including brainstorming "Classroom English" and "Greetings." We also worked a bit in the textbook. Lesson A in Unit 1 is very easy! You all did a great job. I think most of you need practice asking questions in English and so I think we will practice this more next week. Take care everyone! And don't forget to study the Unit 1 vocabulary! See you!

Good evening everyone! Thank you all for coming to class tonight. Actually, we had many more students than I had expected because we had two visitors, Eriko and Mika. I had a wonderful time in class tonight and I hope you weren't too scared after working so hard. Next week will be much easier, I promise! Anyway, we will have a class of five students in our class and I'm looking forward to getting to know you all better. Some of your were a little quite tonight, but please don't be shy! If you have any questions, please send me a message. I'll be waiting to hear from you! Have a great week everyone and see you all next time!

Good afternoon everyone! Well, it was wonderful meeting all of you this morning. I really think we'll have a great time together this semester! Actually, it was the first time for me to meet all of you (except Misao), but I feel like we've know each other for a while. You are all so warm and eager to study. Thank you very much for joining my class! Today we did an activity using the textbook and I think you all did a wonderful job. For some of you, it was a little difficult, but don't worry, you'll get used to Step one soon! Please take care and have a great week everyone! Bye for now!

Good evening everyone! Thank you for coming to our first class of the new school year! We only had four students out of eight in class tonight, so I hope to see the other students next week. For me, there were two new faces in class (Yasuyo and Masaki), so I would like to thank you both for joining my class! I'm looking forward to teaching you English! Please write me a message sometime! See you next time!

Good evening everyone! Well, today was our last class of the semester and we ended up with a class of six, including Eri, a student from David's class. Today we had a special conversation class! One of the new teachers, Trish, came to our class to give a self-introduction, listen to your introductions and answer your questions. I was so impressed with you work tonight, so thank you so much for trying hard and welcoming Trish to our class. Actually, she was also very impressed with your level and was so happy to have met you. Great job everyone! Well, next semester this class with changed quite a bit, but I'm still looking forward to seeing all of you again (in other classes, around JOY or around Obihiro)! Take care and THANK YOU very much for the past year! Bye for now!

Good evening! Tonight we had a really BIG class of ten students!!! It was a lot of fun though and I hope you all had a good time. Actually, this wasn't our last class of the semester, but we did the "last class" activity because both Masako and Shiho will not come to class next week (for our real last class of the semester!). We also had two visitors from David's Step 1 classes who did a great job in class even though they didn't know much about the other class members. We did a "how well do you know your classmates and teacher" exercise tonight. It was a lot of fun! Some answers were easy to guess, but others were a little difficult. Next week we may have a visitor (one of the new teachers), so please make sure you are prepared to ask a lot of good questions! Have a great week everyone and see you all next week. Bye for now!
PS: Thank you Masako and Shiho for coming to our class this past semester! We will miss you Masako!

Good afternoon! I had a wonderful time in class. It was great seeing you all there and it was a fun class. This was our last class of the year, so it's rather unfortunate that we won't all be together again next semester. But of course I hope to see you all around JOY in the near future! At first we had an open discussion. Very interesting, as usual! Then we did an activity instead of working in the textbook. It was fun to see how other students answered all the questions. And we even found our some interesting information about each other. I hope you enjoyed the class! Anyway, I'm very sad to say that this was our last class this semester. I'm looking forward to seeing you all soon. Please take care! Bye for now!
PS: Sorry for joking around so much with you Satomi! I hope it was okay with you!!!

Good evening! Well, we sure had a BIG class tonight, hey? We had three visitors today, all from David's classes. We had Maki, Saki and Monami. It was a lot of fun having all of you and all of the regular Step 1A students in class tonight. I had a great time! We talked about the beautiful day at first and then we had group discussions. After that, we had a group discussion about drinking water. It seems that most of you don't drink enough water in a day. We also did a questionnaire and then worked on the new grammar point. After working in the textbook we finished the class with another questionnaire. It was pretty interesting. I would say that about half of you are unhealthy! Please drink more water and watch out for eating too many snacks! Have a great week and see you all next week. Bye for now!

Good afternoon everyone! Today we had a full class, as usual. It always makes me happy to see such motivated and dedicated students! So please keep up the good work. We had group discussions to begin with and then we worked on the textbook. We did quite a bit of work in the book, but we didn't manage to complete the lesson. Please do the rest of the reading section for homework. By the way, I had a very good time at lunch today, so thank you very much for everything! I'm sure I won't even be hungry for dinner tonight, but I will eat the leftover food you gave me. It was fun talking with you and I hope we can do that again sometime soon. Please take care of yourselves and I'll see you all next week for our last class of the semester. Bye for now!

Good evening! How are you all doing tonight? It was good seeing you all in class, but unfortunately Chikashi, Masa and Takemi were all absent. But I had a good time and it was nice talking with you at the beginning of class (we talked about Hina-matsuri). Then we worked on the textbook. We learned about countable and uncountable nouns and also the use of a/an, some and any. We worked hard and even finished lesson 7A. Good work everyone! Well, we only have three more classes to go until the end of the semester. Have a great week and see you all next time! Bye for now!

Good afternoon! Sorry for being a bit late today but I had some unexpected work to do suddenly and couldn't finish it in time. Oops! Anyway, I had a great time in class as usual. It was kind of funny when it started snowing because I thought I joke around with Yasuko and ask her about her laundry, but she really did hang her laundry out today. I was so surprised! Today we did a lot of work in the textbook and managed to finish the lesson on countable and uncountable nouns and start the new unit about water. I had an interesting talk with you about water and I was surprised to hear that only Atsuko and I drink a lot of water every day. Some of you barely even drink any water at all! Anyway, please have a great week everyone and PLEASE drink more water!!! It's very good for your health! Bye for now!

Good evening everyone! Tonight we had a small class with only five students, Masako, Hiroyuki, Masa, Shiho and Yuichi (a visitor from one of David's step 1 classes). It was small, but it also fun and everyone was so cheerful. Thank you all for trying your best despite being so tired. At the beginning of class we did a quiz and all of you did very well. Then we started the textbook work. We didn't finish a lot today, but we did some fun exercises and also practiced conversation (asking each other about our hometowns). We also listened to a great song called "Waterloo Sunset." Only Masa agreed with me that the song was really good. But I think the rest of you at least thought is was pretty good. Anyway, please have a great week everyone and I'll see you all in class next week! Bye for now!
PS: Congratulations on finishing your interview test, Masa! I hope you did well!

Good afternoon! It was great seeing all of you in class this morning, as usual! So thank you very much for coming. I was a little tired this morning (did you notice?), but I had a great time. We started off our class today with pair discussions and then we had a surprise quiz! I think most of you did a wonderful job, so good work! But if you didn't do as well, please make sure you review the grammar and practice again. Then we started the new unit. Today we worked on countable and uncountable nouns. However, we didn't finish the entire lesson, so please make sure to bring the handout I gave you to class next week, but do not do it at home for homework. Instead, please do the self study pages in the textbook that I talked about at the beginning of class. Have a great week everyone and take care! Bye for now!

Good evening! Well, tonight we almost had a full class, but unfortunately Shiho was absent. And at the beginning of class, we only had two students. However, the other students came in one by one and we almost had a full class in the end. The big news for tonight was that both Masa and Sari passed the pre-second Eiken Examination and will have an interview test on Sunday. Good luck to both of you and congratulations!!! We worked on lesson 6D tonight and we managed to do quite a bit of work. We studied about the differences between the present simple and present continuous. Good work everyone! Well, I hope you all have a great week and I'll see you all next time. Take care!

Good afternoon! How are you all doing! Happy Valentine's Day!!! Today we talked about our long weekends at first. Emiko had a great weekend with her son and his girlfriend in Sapporo to see the snow sculptures at the snow festival, and she also went snow rafting (a raft pulled by a snowmobile). She really had an amazing weekend! Then we worked on the textbook. We finished Lesson 6D and then we did a listening exercise using the song, "Waterloo Sunset." Next week I think we'll start the next unit, so please do the Revise and Check section on pages 74 and 75, if you have a chance. Okay, please take care and have a good week! I'm looking forward to seeing you all next time!

Good afternoon everyone! How are you? I hope all is well! Today we had a pretty good class, so thanks for coming! We also had a visitor in our class, Tomiko, who was quite cheerful and talkative. Today we had some pair discussions before we got started on the textbook. Today's main topic was about London, England, and we studied the use of the present simple and present continuous verb tenses. I think you all could understand the difference fairly well, so good job! We also started a reading about the London Eye but we didn't manage to finish it before the end of class. Please finish this section for homework. If you have any questions about the student evaluations, please ask me anytime. Have a great week everyone and please take care!

Good evening! Tonight we almost had a full class, after everyone showed up. Thank you for coming to class tonight! It seemed like you were very tired and many of you were yawning throughout the class. I hope that's because you were just tired and not bored. We worked on the textbook and managed to finish lesson 6B (we weren't able to finish last week) and also lesson 6C. Great work everyone! Tonight I also gave you your student evaluations. You can register for next semester's classes from today. I hope you will decide quickly. If you have any questions about the evaluations, please ask me! Have a great week everyone! Take care!

Good afternoon! This afternoon I had a great time in class, as usual. We started with pair discussions and I also did two one-on-one interviews with Miyoko and Misao. Now all the interviews are over! You all did a wonderful job, so thank you so much for your efforts. And today our pair discussions were a bit longer than usual, so thank you for doing that without any complaints. I will be giving you your evaluations next week, so please think about what you want to do next semester. Today we also worked on the textbook. We worked on the present continuous. I haven't decided yet, but I think we might move on to lesson 6D next week. Take care everyone and have a good week! Take care and take it easy!

Good evening! Tonight we almost had a full class, but Masako was absent. Too bad! Will we ever have a full class by the end of the semester??? Tonight I managed to finish the one-on-one interviews, so next week I'll hand back your evaluations. Also, please think about what you want to do next semester and take a good look at the new schedule. You'll be able to register for new classes starting next week. We also worked hard on the textbook, but we didn't manage to finish the lesson we were working on. Next week I want to finish this unit and also finish the next unit... Hopefully! Anyway, please have a great week everyone and I'll see you all in class next time. Bye for now!

Good afternoon! Oh, I have to thank all of you for coming to class this morning despite all the snow!!! It really made me so happy! And Yasuko said it best when she said that you are all wonderful students. And I totally agree! Anyway, today we continued on with the one-on-one interviews and I managed to interview three of you, including Emiko, Satoshi and Satomi. Next week I will interview Miyoko and Misao, so make sure you study hard! We also worked hard on the textbook and nearly finished the new lesson, 6B. I was surprised that no one except Miyoko and I wanted to stay at the hotel from the textbook. It sounds quite interesting to me though! Anyway, please try to finish up all the grammar exercises in the grammar bank at the back of the textbook for homework. Have a great week everyone and see you all next time! Bye for now!
PS: Thank you SOOOO much for the cake and for singing Happy Birthday to me this morning. The cake was incredibly delicious (I simply cannot describe it in words!). The best cake I've ever had!

Hello everyone! Tonight we almost had a full class, but unfortunately Takemi was absent. In any case, I think we had a nice class. We started the class by talking with Sari and Shiho about their trips. Sari went to Tokyo and Shiho went to Fiji. It was nice talking with them and hearing about their holidays. And thank you very much for the chocolate covered coffee beans Shiho! After that, we got started with the textbook work. I also did two one-on-one interviews today with Masako and Shiho. I think you both did a wonderful job! Next week I will have an interview with both Sari and Hiroyuki. So tonight we finished lesson 6A and we will start 6B next week. Have a great week everyone and see you all next time. Bye for now!

Good afternoon everyone! Today we had a full class! I was so happy to see everyone in class, so thank you all for coming, especially considering the cold weather we've been having. But at least it's not as cold as my hometown!!! Anyway, starting this month everyone will have a one-on-one interview with me to "show off" your English skills. Good luck with your interviews! Actually, I had an interview with both Yasuko and Atsuko today (sorry Atsuko, I forgot that you've been absent for such a long time). We also worked on the textbook and finished lesson 6A and started lesson 6B (just the first section). Next week we will continue with the interviews and also continue on with lesson 6B. Have a great week everyone and study hard! Until the next time we meet, take care!

Good evening! Tonight we only had a small class of four students, but I had a good time and it was a good chance for you to speak a lot of English. Both Masa and Chikashi went snowboarding over the weekend, so we talked about that in pairs at first. Also, today I had three one-on-one interviews with you (Narumi, Masa and Chikashi). You all did a great job! And Masako will have her interview next week... If I don't forget! (Just kidding!!!) We also worked on the textbook. We finally finished Unit 6 on mysteries and then we started the new unit. We will continue the interviews and the new unit next week. Take care and have a great week everyone! Bye for now!

Good afternoon everyone and Happy New Year! Welcome back to JOY after the long winter break. It seems that two new students have joined our class from today, Misao and Kazuhide (I'm just kidding about Kazuhide though!!!). And unfortunately Atsuko couldn't make it to class today. But I had a great time and I enjoyed talking with all of you about our winter vacations and our New Years resolutions. Most of your resolutions were really good ones about improving yourselves from the inside out and studying English harder. I really hope you all succeed! After our discussions, we worked in the textbook and started the new Unit. Next week we will continue on with this unit. Please check your homework answers when you get a chance with the answers on the bulletin board. Have a great week everyone and talk to you all soon. Bye for now!

Good evening everyone and welcome back! It was great seeing you all in class, although at first I was a little worried since there were only two students and one of them was a visitor from Carlos' class. Anyway, gradually everyone showed up and we ended up with a class of seven. We started by talking about our winter holidays and some of the regular New Years customs. I was surprised that many of you didn't visit the shrine or eat New Years food. Anyway, after that we played a murder mystery game called "Clue." It was a lot of fun even though we ran out of time and no one won the game. Too bad! Anyway, please take care and have a good week. Don't forget to finish your homework and check your answers with the answer sheet on the bulletin board. Bye for now!

Good afternoon everyone! Of course I had a wonderful time in class today. It was our last class of the year and instead of studying from the textbook, we decided to play a murder mystery game. It was soooo much fun, but I still can't believe Yasuko and Miyoko won the game. I mean, they were completely lost throughout the game and seemed confused about it. Then in the end, they won! I hate losing!!! (just kidding!). Anyway, please enjoy the winter holidays and have a great Christmas and New Years! All the best to all of you! Bye for now!
PS: Thank you so much for the wonderful Christmas gifts. I loved all of them and I was so overjoyed to received them. THANK YOU!

Good evening everyone! Thank you all for coming tonight for our last class of the year, it was great seeing you. Actually, at first there were only two students so I was a bit worried that you were all sick. But then everyone eventually came except Chikashi and Hiroyuki (who wrote a message to last week's blog to let me know that he would be absent). Tonight we started class by talking about our winter holiday plans. Most of you had some pretty interesting plans, much more interesting than mine! Then we worked on the textbook. For homework, please do the reading section on pages 58 and 59 (parts a, b and c). We will play a murder mystery game in our first class of the year. Also, please do the review units (on the colored pages after each unit) for units 1-5. Next month we will have our assessments, so I want you to review the work we've done up until now. Good luck! And please have a good winter holiday everyone. I'm really looking forward to seeing you all in class next time and hearing about your holidays. Bye for now!

Good afternoon everyone! Thank you for coming to JOY this morning, it was great to see you and have you in class. It was a bit dull and dark outside, but our class was fun and cheerful, as usual! And Atsuko brought us all a nice treat. Thank you so much Atsuko, it was so nice of you and the treat was soooooo delicious! I loved them! So today after our usual pair discussions (my partner was Emiko and we had a very interesting conversation, so thank you Emiko!), we worked hard on the textbook. We studied irregular past verbs and then did a listening exercise. We also interviewed each other about a night we spent out with friends or family. Next week I want to play a murder mystery game, so please make sure you do the reading on page 58 and part C on page 59. I look forward to seeing you all in class next week for our last class of the year! Until then, please take care!

Good evening! Well, tonight we almost had a full class, but unfortunately Chikashi couldn't make it. But I had a very nice time tonight, so thank you for all for coming. At first, we had pair discussions and my partner was Shiho. Actually, Shiho wasn't feeling that great tonight because she caught a cold. She had a runny nose, a sore throat and a slight cough. However, she doesn't have the flu, just a cold. I hope you feel better Shiho. Then we got started on our lesson for tonight. We finished up lesson 5B and started lesson 5C. We didn't have enough time to finish the reading completely, so we'll continue on with this next week. Have a great week everyone and I'll see you next time for our last class of the semester! Bye for now!

Good afternoon! It was great seeing everyone in class today and it was just great seeing Atsuko after such a looooong, looooong, time! Thank you all for coming. Today we started with pair discussions and I think you all had a very good talk with your partner. After that, we got started on the textbook. Actually, we had a lot of work to do today and even though we didn't manage to finish everything I wanted, we managed to complete a lot of work. Good job everyone! We did a variety of activities including practicing the pronunciation of "ed" endings, doing a class mixer activity using past questions and a reading about going out with friends. I'm sorry we had to rush at the end, but I think most of you got most of the questions correct. Anyway, there's no homework this week, so take care and have a nice, relaxing time. I will see you all in class next week, except for Satoshi who will be absent. Good bye everyone!

Good evening everyone! It was great seeing the four of you (Masa, Narumi, Hiroyuki and Shiho) in class tonight, so thank you for coming. Yes, it was only a small class, but that's okay with me! However, I think most of us were a little sleepy. Anyway, after our pair discussions we checked our answers from last week's history assignment. Shiho got the highest score in the class, so congratulations Shiho! I hope everyone learned some new things about history! Then we worked in the textbook and read a story about two travelers who ended up in Sydney, Canada, not Sydney, Australia (they wanted to go to Australia). Then we did some grammar work in the text and then put another story in order about two men who went to the wrong country to see a soccer game. Anyway, please have a great week everyone and I'll see you all next time. Until then, please take care!

Good afternoon! How are you all doing today? I have to admit, I wasn't feeling well in the morning, so I hope you understand and forgive me for not being as energetic. It was nice to see Masako (from my Step 1A class) in our class today, so thank you for coming Masako! Unfortunately, Atsuko couldn't make it again for the third week in a row. I really hope she'll be able to make it next week. We started our class with pair discussions. Then we started work on the textbook. I asked you to retell the story of Emma and Raoul's trip to Sydney to Masako, but it seemed to be a little difficult for you. I think you need to review more before and after class! Anyway, we also worked on the grammar section on page 55 and put a different story of a trip disaster in the correct order. It was fun! Okay, please have a great week everyone and I'll see you all next time. Bye for now!

Hello everyone! Thank you for coming to class tonight. We actually had a full class tonight, with all eight members showing up! That's great! But I still haven't received any comments from you to my blog yet (except for Masa). Hmmmm.....
Anyway, tonight we had pair interviews and you reported the information you learned about your partner to the class. Then we worked on the new unit. There was a lot of history in the unit, but I think it was an interesting class. We did some listening and grammar exercises and we also did a reading. Then we did a history quiz! Next week we will check our answers at the beginning of class, so please don't be late! Okay, take care and have a great week and I'll see you all next time. Bye for now!

Good afternoon everyone! Well, I was surprised to see Miyoko in class because she said that she would be absent today, but I was also very glad that she could come. And I was also surprised that Atsuko was absent again. I really hope everything is okay with her today. At first we talked to Yasuko about her trip to Australia. It was a very interesting conversation, so thank you for telling us about it Yasuko! And thank you for the wonderful souvenir (both tasty and useful!!!!). Anyway, I was glad that you had a good trip and that you tried to speak English even though your husband was a better communicator through body language. Today we worked on the homework I gave you last week (the history quiz) and it seems that Satoshi is the "HISTORY CHAMPION" in our class! Great work, Satoshi! Anyway, we also did a reading about Sydney, not Sydney in Australia, but Sydney in Canada. It was very funny! Have a great week everyone and I'll see you all next time. Please take care and drive carefully on the dangerous, slippery roads!

Hello everyone! Thank you all for coming to class today. Actually, we started off with only three students today, but gradually more and more students came and we ended up with a class of eight! We also had a visitor in class today, Masanao from Carlos' Step 1C class, so I hope he had a good time. Also, it was great to see Hiroyuki in class after a really long time! Anyway, I had a great time in class! Today, after our pair discussions, we worked on the extra lesson for Unit 4 about shopping. We talked about singular and plural clothing items and then we did a listening exercise. After that, you worked with a partner to create your own original conversations and then you presented them to the class. You all did a great job! And you passed the listening test! Okay, please have a great week and I'll see you all next time. Take care!
PS: I'm still waiting to hear from you! Send me a message to my blog!

Good afternoon! Today I was really surprised to see only three students in class today, but I think we all enjoyed the class very much and it was a good chance for us to communicate in English. I was also surprised to see that Atsuko was absent today and I was even a little worried about her. But no worries because I got a message that she called JOY to say she would be absent. We started the class today with a group discussion. We talked about Satomi's new house (which started being built from yesterday), Satoshi's new freedom and extra free time and Emiko's plans for her son's visit next week with his girlfriend. Then we started the new unit. We did a lot of work today and actually finished lesson A! I gave you some history homework to do before next week, so please don't forget about it! Have a great week and I'll see you in class next week. I'm looking forward to seeing you and hearing about Yasuko's vacation! Bye for now!

Good evening everyone! Last week I didn't hear from anyone on my blog, so I hope that I will hear from ALL of you this week. Remember, it's good to practice to write in English, too! Tonight we started off class talking about our weekends and the horrible weather on Sunday. We talked about some difficult, but interesting topics. Then we worked on the text book. The unit was mostly about music and possessive pronouns (mine, yours, his, hers, etc). Of course, you all did a wonderful job as usual! At the end of class we listened to a song and filled in the blanks. Do you like those kinds of exercises? I think they're interesting and can help to improve your listening skills. Anyway, there's no homework this week, so please take it easy. Bye for now!

Good afternoon everyone! It was great seeing you all in class today, but unfortunately, Emiko was sick. Actually, she wrote a message to us so please make sure you read it also! I really hope you feel better soon Emiko! Take care, okay? As for the rest of us, I think we were all doing well. At first, we talked about English Expo and then we had pair discussions. It seems that Yasuko will be going to Australia next week and we wont be seeing her until the 22nd. I really hope you have a great holiday Yasuko and I'M REALLY LOOK FORWARD TO HEARING ALL ABOUT IT (IN ENGLISH) NEXT TIME!!! And also Miyoko will be absent for two weeks starting next week, too. So we will have a small class for sure! Anyway, today we finished Unit 4 completely and we also did the exercises on shopping. Of course, you all did a wonderful job and I was very impressed with your original dialogues. It was also a lot of fun! Thank you all so much for everything and I'll see you next time. Until then, please take care!

Hello everyone! I had a great time in class tonight, so thank you all for coming. It was interesting talking with all of you about many different topics. At first we had pair discussions. My partner was Chikashi and we talked about a bunch of different topics. Then we had a group discussion about Masako's unfortunate news and about my Canadian and Japanese driving licenses. After that we got started on the new unit about object pronouns. Of course, you all did a wonderful job! At the end of class we did an interesting communication activity about our opinions on different things, such as restaurants, movies, book, actors and much more. I really enjoyed these conversations! For homework, please do the handout I gave you in class and write me a message to my BLOG. I'm waiting to hear from ALL of you!!! I hope all of you have a good week. Please take care!

Good afternoon everyone! How are you all doing? I hope you're having a good afternoon despite the terrible weather we are having right now. In this case, I wish it was snowing instead of raining! Anyway, it was good to see all of you, as usual, and I had a very good time in class, as usual! I was a bit shocked when I walked into the room, as Atsuko had changed places and sat in Emiko's usual seat. Then I showed you some photos of my hiking trip to Meakan. We talked about hiking and I found out some interesting things. Satoshi has climbed Meakan around 70 times and Satomi has never been hiking in her life! So next year we will go on a Step 1 hiking trip.... Right? After talking we did some review of last week and then started the new lesson. It was a little difficult, but I think you all did a wonderful job! Please do the handout I gave you for homework! Have a great week everyone and please be careful not to catch a cold. See you on Sunday Yasuko and Miyoko! Bye for now!

Hello everyone! How are you all doing? Sorry I was unable to teach class on Monday, but I was in Tokyo over the weekend (and on Monday, too). Were you surprised that I wasn't there? Did you have a good time?
By the way, Eva told me that you all did a wonderful job in class and that she enjoyed teaching you. She was pleasantly surprised by your ability to communicate in English. That also made me so proud of you. So keep up the good work everyone!
I will see you all in class next week. So until then, please take care and enjoy your week! Bye for now!

Good afternoon! How are you all doing? I hope all is well! Today we had a full class, once again. We started our class today by talking with Miyoko about her trip to her home town in Ibaraki Prefecture and Tokyo for her high school class reunion! Thanks for telling us about it! Then we talked about the beautiful fall scenery in Tokachi! But I was so surprised that Satomi didn't like the fall leaves so much because she thinks they look dirty once they fall to the ground. It was so funny! We shared some good laughs about that! At first, we did a warm up exercise to practice last week's grammar point, then we started on the textbook. Today we looked at the grammar section about object pronouns on page 44 and did a bunch of fun exercises to practice them. I think you all did a wonderful job! I hope you all have a great week and I'm looking forward to seeing you all (except Emiko) next week in class. Please take care of yourselves!

Hello everyone! I had a great time in class tonight, so thank you very much for coming and speaking and laughing and having a good time! We also had a visitor today, Maki from David's class, for a total of six students tonight. We started off the class with pair discussions and then talked about shopping. I think you need more practice with conversation, so let's try that again! Today we worked on lesson 4B and we even managed to finish the unit completely! Good work today everyone! By the way, I forgot to tell you, but next week I will not be teaching class. Eva will teach you, so please take that opportunity to get to know her more and ask her some questions! Please use lots of English and communicate with her as much as possible. And have fun! Okay, please take care and see you all in two weeks! Bye for now!

Good afternoon everyone! What a wonderful time I had in class, as usual. Thank you all for coming. I hope Miyoko is having a good time in Tokyo and I hope to see her next week. At first we talked about the weather and about Tokachi's beautiful clear blue skies. Then we did pair discussions. We interviewed our partner and then reported that information back to the class. My partner was Satoshi and he told me about the birth of his granddaughter. Congratulation Satoshi! After that, we worked on the textbook. We talked about shopping and what kinds of things we like to buy and shop for. We did a listening and reading about this topic as well. And we also studied the verb "like" and how to use it properly (like + verb-ing). Next week we will start the new lesson! Take care and have a great week!
PS: Thank you so much for the sweet, Emiko! They really made me so happy. I LOVE Rokkatei's pumpkin pudding.... So yummy!

Good evening everyone! Tonight I had a great time in class, so thank you for coming. And welcome to our class, Masa, I hope you will enjoy learning English with us and learn a lot of new things! Unfortunately, Atsushi will no longer be in our class, but I hope to see him again soon. And Masako will move to Sapporo, but I hope she stays in Obihiro for a much longer time! We started class with pair discussions (and you reported the information you learned to the rest of the class members), then we did some review of last week's grammar. We also did a listening in the textbook and completed an extra worksheet. Next week we will start the new unit on shopping, so please think about the kinds of goods you like to buy, where you like to go shopping and why you like shopping! Take care and see you all next week!

Good afternoon! Thank you all for coming to class. It was great seeing all of you, as usual. We started off class today with a group discussion about our long weekends. It was fun talking with you and we ended up talking for a long time (much longer than I had planned!). And Yasuko was very funny! She didn't do any of the things that the rest of us did, but she had a nice time with her dog. After the discussion, we worked on the textbook and finished Lesson 4A. We will start the next unit next week. Please do Grammar Bank 4A on page 128 for homework. Have a great week and weekend everyone and I'll see you all next time. Miyoko, please have a good time in Tokyo! Take care everyone!

Good afternoon and welcome back to JOY for our first lesson of the semester! It was great seeing all of you, so thank you very much for coming. And thank you once again for the great time I had at Michinro for our class lunch party. It was so much fun! It looks like we'll have the same members again this semester, so let's enjoy studying English together and let's work hard to improve! We started our class today by brainstorming (thinking) of some good and bad small talk topics. Then we practiced having conversations with each other. It was a lot of fun! We also worked in the textbook. I'm looking forward to teaching you again and I hope you will enjoy the class. Please continue to read my blog and write me messages (it always makes me happy to hear from you!). Have a great week and see you all in class again next time. Bye for now!

Good evening everyone! Welcome back to JOY. Tonight we had our first class of the new semester, so thank you all for coming. It looks like we'll have a class of about nine this time around. I'm really looking forward to teaching you and I hope you're all motivated to study hard and do your best! Let's enjoy studying English together. Remember, if you can't take my class, please take a different class during the week. And please read my blog every week so you know what to study before coming to class. If you have any questions for me, please ask me anytime! Tonight we worked on the new Unit 4A and completed up to Part 3 on page 41. We will continue on with this unit next week. Please take care and have a great week! Bye for now!

Good afternoon. Well, today was a great day! I had a fantastic time with you on our last day of the semester. Of course, you were all cheerful, talkative and in good moods, so it was just so much for for me to teach you! Thank you so much for such a wonderful semester! In class today we had pair discussions and I did a speaking test with Emiko. Congratulations on being the last one to finish the test Emiko, you did a great job. We also worked hard this morning, first doing a page-long review worksheet and then creating a dialogue between a customer clerk at a cafe. You did a super job! After our class we all went out for lunch to Michinro for the Chinese buffet. The food was great and the company was great! I really had a very nice time, so thank you all very much for everything. Let's do that again sometime, okay? I'm looking forward to next semester, so let's study hard together and have another great six months! See you all soon!

Well, thank you all for coming to our last class of the semester! It was nice having a bigger class tonight, but it was unfortunate that both Sari and Chikashi couldn't make it. Both Atsushi and Shiho came a little late, but I was glad they could come. In all, I think we had a nice class today and I had a very good time. Tonight we did some review work and we also created a menu and dialogue on the white board of a situation at a cafe. Then you created your own original dialogues and presented them to the class. You all did a great job! I completely forgot to give Masako and Shiho their oral tests tonight. I'm so sorry! Next time we have class, let's do it! Anyway, thank you all for a great semester and I look forward to seeing you in October (or earlier if you come to our events next week!!!). Good luck Minato, we will miss you! Bye for now everyone!

Good afternoon everyone! It was such a beautiful morning this morning, but then it suddenly got hotter and hotter (it felt like summer again this afternoon). Too hot for me! Of course, everyone came to class today and of course everyone was in a good, talkative mood and of course I had a great time as usual! Thank you! Today we talked a lot at the beginning of class and then we got started with pair discussions. After our discussions we worked on time prepositions (on, at and in). Everyone did a great job on the worksheet. After that, we did some conversation review and then we did the reading and listening section on page 35. I also did two oral tests with Satoshi and Miyoko (next week I will do one with Emiko!). There is no homework this week, so please take it easy! I'm really looking forward to seeing you all next week for our last class of the semester and having lunch with you after class. Have a great week!

Good evening everyone! It was great seeing Hiroyuki in class today after such a long time, so WELCOME BACK Hiroyuki! And it's been a while since we last saw Sari, too. I know everyone is so busy, so thank you for always coming to class and for trying hard to improve your English! It's a great inspiration to me! Anyway, today we worked more on time prepositions (in, on and at), time expressions (every day, once a week, etc.) and adverbs of frequency (always, sometimes, hardly ever, etc.). I also did a speaking test with three more students. So now Chikashi, Sari and Minato can relax! Next week I want to do a speaking test with Masako and Shiho. Don't worry Hiroyuki, you don't have to do the test! Anyway, have a great week everyone and see you all next week for our last class of the semester!!! Bye for now!

Good afternoon everyone! Thank you for coming to class despite the poor weather and rain! At first, we had pair discussions. During that time and throughout the class, I did three one-on-one oral tests with Atsuko, Yasuko and Satomi. You all did a great job, so congratulations on completing the test! We also worked hard on the textbook today. We did the reading on different festivals around the world and then we reviewed the months of the year and ordinal number (first, second, third, etc.). Then we studied three different ways of talking about dates. After that we answered three questions on two different famous festivals in Japan and played a really quick guessing game with the answers to the questions. You all did a great job! Unfortunately, I forgot to give you your homework for this week! Oh my.... But I will be sure to give it to you next time. So have a great week everyone! There's a typhoon on it's way, so please take care! Bye for now!

Hello everyone! I was a little tired from camping over the weekend from Saturday until this morning, but I had a great time in class. You were all so talkative and I enjoyed our conversations. At first, we talked quickly as a group about our week/weekends and then we had pair discussions. I also did three one-on-one oral quizzes with Narumi, Takemi and Atsushi throughout the class today. You all did a great job, so congratulations on completing the quiz! We also worked hard on the textbook today. We did the reading on different festivals around the world and then we reviewed the months of the year and ordinal number (first, second, third, etc.). Then we studied two different ways of telling dates. After that we answered three questions on two different famous festivals in Japan. You all did a great job! For homework, please complete the handout I gave you. Thanks for coming to class today and please have a great week. See you all soon!
PS: So sorry, but I forgot to hand back your summer vacation homework! Please remind me next week!!!

Hello and good afternoon everyone! It was a pretty cool morning today, but the afternoon warmed up quite a bit. Of course, everyone came to class and everyone was cheerful, energetic and positive... as usual! So I had a very good time in class. We started our class today with pair discussions. I joined Emiko and Yasuko's conversation about modern lifestyles. It seems that both men and women are starting to get married much later in life than in the past. Anyway, after our conversations we worked in the textbook and finished the reading on Okinawa. We learned how to ask and answer "How often do you ~?" questions and we also did a survey to find out who in the class lives the Okinawa way. It seems that Satoshi lives the Okinawa way more than anyone else. And I will live a short, but fun, life! Hmmm..... ???!!!! Anyway, there's no homework this week, so please take care and see you all next time! Bye for now!

Good evening everyone! How are you all doing? I hope everything is going well for you. I had a very nice time in class, so thank you for coming. We had some interesting conversations and it made our class feel more relaxed and enjoyable. We started our class with pair discussions and then did some work in our textbooks. Today we learned some different time expressions and also reviewed "frequency adverbs." Then we did a couple of activities to practice using the expressions and asking "How often do/are you ~ ?" questions. The survey at the end of the unit was really interesting! It was funny to find out our scores. Masako got the lowest score in the class and then Atsushi and I came after her. Oh well, I guess we will have a lot of fun in our "short" lives! There's no homework this week (but please practice for the oral test that will start next week). Take care everyone!

Good afternoon everyone! It was so nice seeing you after such a long time (even a longer time for Emiko) and I had a great time in class, as usual! I was so amazed to see that everyone finished their summer vacation homework! You are a teacher's dream class! Thank you so much! We started class today by talking about our summer vacations. Even though some of you didn't do anything too special, it sounded like you all had a nice time and could do various different things during the break. Yasuko's sumo story was really interesting and I suddenly wanted to watch a sumo match from listening to her. Anyway, after our group discussion, we worked on the textbook. We didn't finish everything I wanted to finish today (because I talked too much), but that's okay, I had a great time in class! Next week we will continue with the unit on Okinawa. I'm looking forward to seeing you and speaking with you next week! Until then, please take care of yourselves!

Good evening everyone! So great to see all of you after such a long time! We almost had a full class today, but unfortunately Hiroyuki and Mami couldn't make it to class once again. I really hope to see you two sometime soon! Well, it was nice hearing about your summer vacations. Shiho went to China, Atsushi milked some cows with his friends from Tokyo, Sari went to the Rising Sun Festival with her sister and many of you watched the famous Kachimai Fireworks! It was a really great summer this year! In class today, we did an "adjective" review activity at first and then started Unit 3C about the mystery of Okinawa. I had a good time today, but you were all so quiet in class. Why? I hope you will speak out more next time! Next week is the last day I will accept your summer vacation homework, so please make sure you do it on time. Have a great week and see you all next time!

Good afternoon everyone! It was great seeing you all in class, but unfortunately Emiko couldn't make it today for our last class before summer vacation. In any case, I had a great time, as usual! We started off class by talking about the mama-chari race and then we did pair discussions. My partner was Yasuko, once again, and I really enjoyed our chat. Thank you for being my partner Yasuko! Then we did a reading and listening in our text about two people who are stressed in their lives. I thought it was pretty interesting and you all did a great job with the exercises. We also did an interview type activity to find out who is more stressed. My partner was Satoshi, and it seems that he isn't stressed in his life at all! But I was surprised to hear how early he gets up in the morning and eats dinner. Anyway, please have a great summer vacation and good luck with your summer vacation homework! Yasuko said she would do hers tonight!!! Good bye everyone!

Good evening everyone! We had a really small class tonight with only four students, so thank you so much for coming to class. And not only did we have a small class, but we also had an all ladies class! We talked about the mama-chari race for a while and then we did pair discussions. After that, I tried to do the same listening we did last week again because I forgot that we did it. Oops! Sorry about that! After that we worked on telling time in English and talking about daily activities. I think some of you found it a little difficult at first, but don't worry! With a little practice, I'm sure you will understand well! Please practice at home, okay? Whenever you check the time this week, try to think in English only! And remember Narumi, you promised me! Have a great week and see you all in class next week! Bye for now!

Hello and good afternoon everyone! It was great seeing you all in class today, and we even had a visitor, Mami from David's class (Just kidding! I know she's from Carlos' class!!!). I gave you back your homework and Atsuko got a perfect score on the quiz for Unit 2, so congratulations Atsuko! We started today with group discussions and then we reviewed how to tell the time. The listening was really funny and after two listenings, you all did a great job. We also studied some daily activity verbs. At the end of class we played a board game using the verbs in the Vocabulary Bank. My partner was Atsuko and we had a good time. Then finally, I asked everyone if they wanted summer vacation homework and everyone said yes except Yasuko! I was shocked! The only student in all my classes who said no! But no worries Yasuko, I'll bring you some summer vacation homework anyway! Okay, please take care and have a great week. Bye for now everyone!

Hello everyone! Thanks for coming to class. Actually, we had a pretty big class tonight and it was great seeing everyone. Tonight we had eight students, including a visitor from David's class, Masami! It was great having you in our class Masami. At first, I tried to start a group conversation with everyone, but no one seemed to want to speak (even though it's an English CONVERSATION class). Oh well, better luck next time! Then we did pair discussions and continued on with the textbook work about adjectives. We played a game in groups where you had to give five clues about a secret famous person and then the other group members guess the person. I think you all did a great job, but Takemi only had two clues (and I think Masako guessed the person correctly! Amazing!). No homework this week, so please take care and have a great week. Bye for now!

Hello and good afternoon everyone! And welcome back to class Miyoko! First of all, I would like to thank you Miyoko for the souvenir from your trip to Switzerland and for answering our questions about your trip. It was very interesting! After talking with Miyoko, we started work on the textbook. At first we played a game. We gave five clues about a famous person and the other classmates tried to guess the person. You all did a great job and I really enjoyed the game! Then we did a listening exercise from the famous song "Oh Pretty Woman." It was fun, I was surprised to hear that some students had never head the song or watched the movie. Anyway, next week we will work on telling the time! Have a great week everyone and I'll see you all again soon. Bye for now!

Good afternoon! Thank you for coming to class despite the heavy rain we had this morning. It was cold, dark and wet outside, but our classroom and everyone in it was in a cheerful mood! We started class with pair discussions and Yasuko was my partner. I had a very nice chat with her! Then we played a review game using family relationship words (team Tiger won the game). After that we worked on the textbook. We brainstormed "typically American" things and then did the USA quiz on page 28. We also studied different adjectives (Vocabulary Bank, page 146) and played a game making different "adjective + noun" phrases (this time Emiko and Yasuko won the game!). There's no homework, but please do the grammar bank for unit 2 the unit 2 review on pages 26 and 27 if you want more practice. I will try to prepare the answers for you for next time. Have a great week everyone!

Good evening everyone! Tonight there were six students in total in class, the same students as usual. Everyone said that they had a busy week, but some students were busy from both work and play! We started class with pair discussions and then moved on to reviewing the grammar structure we studied last week. We did the exercise in the book, but everyone wanted more practice so we also did another worksheet. In the end, I think you could understand and you all did a great job. Finally we did the listening on the bottom of page 23 and talked about the different topics mentioned in the activity. I was surprised to hear how much coffee everyone drinks and how hard everyone works. Please take some time to relax sometimes, okay? After class, we had a short discussion about the area around Akeshi. Thanks for the information Tokue! Have a great week and see you all next time!

Good evening. Wow! Tonight we only had four students in class. Where was everyone??? However, I had a very good time in class and I enjoyed having a small class tonight. It gave you a lot of opportunity to speak in class and it made the class feel more relaxed. At first we did a group discussion. I know it's difficult to ask questions, but please try harder next time. Then we played a review game using family relationship words (team Kachimai Ladies won the game). After that we worked on the textbook. We brainstormed "typically American" things and then did the USA quiz on page 28. We also studied different adjectives (Vocabulary Bank, page 146) and played a game making different "adjective + noun" phrases (this time team Teenagers won the game). There's no homework, but please review the previous units we studied and study vocabulary! Have a great week everyone!

Good afternoon everyone! It was great seeing you all, as usual, but I think we all missed Miyoko in class (but I'm sure she's having a great time on her holiday!). At first we talked to Emiko about her trip to the Yaeyama Islands in Okinawa. Sounds like she had a wonderful time there. We also talked about my "fire-walking" experience and I showed you some pictures. Then we reviewed "family relationship" words and occupations. Emiko was my partner and she did a very good job! Then we worked on the textbook and did page 24 about hotels. Your original presentations at the end of class were very good (Satomi was a great actress)! But we kind of ran out of time at the end. Sorry about the rush! Please do the Unit 2 quiz for homework. Have a great week and see you all again soon. Until then, take care!

Good evening everyone! I had a very nice time in class tonight, and I hope you did too. We only had six members in class tonight, and two were a little late (but thank you for coming to class in the end). After our usual pair discussions, we reviewed "family relationship" words and occupations. Sari was my partner and we had a good time! Then we worked on the textbook and did page 24 about hotels. Your original presentations at the end were very good and very interesting/funny! I laughed a lot! Please do the Unit 2 quiz for homework! Anyway, please have a good week and I'll see you all next time. Bye for now!

Hello everyone! I hope you're all doing fine this afternoon, and I really hope that Yasuko's laundry is also doing fine and is drying nicely!!! She was so worried about the rain, but I'm sure it wasn't a problem in the end. At first we did pair discussions. Then we did a lot of work in the textbook and finished Lesson 2D. Next week we will do some review of this unit and then finish Unit 2. I offered you some extra homework for those students who wanted some extra work and everyone took the homework. Actually, I kind of knew you would all take the homework! So good for you! I'm happy to see how motivated you are. So this week Emiko was absent and from next week Miyoko will be absent (for two weeks), so I wonder when we'll have a full class again! But I wish Miyoko a great time on her trip to Switzerland and France! Okay, please have a great week and weekend everyone and I'll see you next time!

Good evening everyone! How are you all doing? Tonight we started class with only five students, but then Mami, Chikashi and Takemi came in a little late and we had a class of eight students. At first we had an interesting conversation with Masako about the thunder and lightning, rain and earthquake in the early morning of Saturday. Then we did pair discussions. We also did a lot of work in the textbook tonight and finished Lesson 2D. Next week we will do some review of this unit and then finish Unit 2. Tonight I offered you some extra homework for those students who wanted some extra work and everyone took the homework. I was really surprised! Remember, if you took the homework, then I expect you to finish it!!! Good luck! Have a great week and see you all next time!

Good afternoon everyone! What a nice day today, hey? Actually, it was quite cool in the morning, but now it's quite hot! Well, it was nice seeing everyone in class this morning, as usual! And today is the half way mark for this semester. Keep up the good work everyone! Today we started with an interview activity. First you interviewed your partner, then you reported that information to the rest of the class. You all did well. After that, we worked in the textbook. First we studied different names for different occupations and then we did the listening exercise on page 21. It was fun playing the game at the end of the class, but it's too bad that we ran out of time at the end. There's no homework this week, but please review and study vocabulary. Have a great week! Bye for now!

Hello and good evening everyone! Thank you for coming to class tonight. We have made it through one half of the semester now, so please keep up the good work and make sure you continue to come to class every week (or take substitution lessons if you are absent). Tonight we started with an interview activity. First you interviewed your partner, then you reported that information to the rest of the class. You all did well. After that, we worked in the textbook. First we studied different names for different occupations and then we did the listening exercise on page 21. For homework, please do the grammar bank at the back of the textbook. If you do those exercises, I will give you the answer sheet. Good luck and see you all next week. Bye for now!

Hello and good afternoon everyone! Welcome back to our class, Satoshi! It was really great hearing about your trip to Europe and looking at your wonderful pictures (which ALL looked like postcards!). Thank you so much for the souvenir too, Satoshi, it was very kind of you. And it was the first time in a while that we had a full class! Just great having a full class again! Anyway, at first I showed you some pictures of the rakugo event and then we asked Satoshi some questions about his trip. After that we worked on the textbook and finished unit 2B and did the reading on page 20. You all did a wonderful job! There is no homework this week, but please make sure to do the Grammar Bank at the back of your textbook for extra practice and review. Have a great week and please take care!

Hello everyone! How are you all doing? I had a good time in class tonight, so thank you for coming. Tonight we had seven members in class. Atsushi was busy and I guess Sari and Chikashi were studying for their tests. Good luck! At first, I showed you some pictures of the rakugo event and then we did an activity to find similar classmates. Actually, most of you are very different from each other and you only got one or two similarities. After that we worked on the textbook and finished unit 2B and did the reading on page 20. There is no homework this time, so please take care and have a good week. Good bye everyone!

Good afternoon! It's a bit dull today and I'm sure it will rain at some point, but thank you for coming to class, it was great seeing all of you as usual (but Satoshi is off traveling somewhere in Europe.... Lucky him!). It was also great seeing Emiko after such a long time. At first, we talked about the Rakugo event held last Saturday and I showed you all some photos of the JOY staff dressed in hakama and kimono. The we asked Emiko about her trip to Austria. It was very interesting hearing all about it and thank you so much for the souvenir! Then we did a bunch of work in the textbook about Natasha and Darren's lunch date at a Japanese restaurant. It was very interesting! There is no homework for tonight, but if you want extra practice, please try the Grammar Bank section at the back of your textbook for units 1 and 2. Have a great week and see you all next time!

Good evening everyone! How are you all doing? Tonight we had nine members in class, so ALMOST a full class. I suppose Minato is busy studying for her exams and was absent because of that. We started class with pair discussions and Narumi also showed everyone a picture of the JOY staff at English Rakugo on Saturday night (we were all dressed in Kimono and Hakama). Then we did some review on verb phrases and the present simple (be careful for verbs following he/she in both the positive and negative). Then we did a bunch of work in the textbook about Natasha and Darren's lunch date at a Japanese restaurant. It was very interesting! There is no homework for tonight, but if you want extra practice, please try the Grammar Bank section at the back of your textbook for Unit 1 (pages 122-123). Have a great week and I'll see you all again soon! Take care!

Good afternoon! Today we had a small class since both Emiko and Satoshi were absent. However, Mami (from Carlos' class) joined us today. Thank you all for coming! It was a cold, rainy morning and I was really tired, but I had a great time as usual! First we did pair discussions. I was paired with Atsuko and we talked about some interesting things. Then we worked on the textbook. We talked about Britain (and found out that Yasuko is actually British, not Japanese!!!) and did some different exercises practicing common verb phrases and the present tense of verbs. Please finish the handout I gave you for homework and also do the Writing and Speaking section on page 17 (part 5a). I think we will use this next week to talk about "A typical Japanese family." Have a great week and see you all next time! Bye!

Good evening everyone! Tonight we had a pretty big class with nine students in total. One of the students who came was a visitor from David's class. Thank you for coming Maki, it was nice having you in our class. Tonight we started with pair discussions and then we started on the textbook. We talked about Britain and did some different exercises practicing common verb phrases and the present tense of verbs. Please finish the handout I gave you for homework and also do the Writing and Speaking section on page 17 (part 5a). I think we will use this next week to talk about "A typical Japanese family." I also hope to get some comments on my BLOG this week, so if you're reading this, please send me a message, okay? Have a great week and see you all next time!

Good afternoon everyone! Wow, what a beautiful day. Yesterday was pretty windy, but today it's very nice and calm. We had only five students today, but it was a nice class and we could use a lot of English. We spent a little too much time on our discussion at the beginning of class, but I'm always happy to see talkative students! Then we worked hard in the textbook, but you all did a super job! Tonight we studied some common objects (and the singular and plural forms and also the use of "a" and "an"). Then we reviewed some grammar points and learned some different classroom expressions. At the end of class we listened to a popular late 80s song, Eternal Flame. Great job everyone! Anyway, please do the quicktest for homework (without using your textbooks or dictionaries). And please don't work ahead in your textbooks. There's always plenty of review activities to do and I can always give you extra homework. Have a great week and weekend and I'll see you all next week, except Satoshi who is going to Europe for a couple of weeks. Have fun Satoshi!!!

Good evening everyone! Thank you for coming to class tonight. Actually, we had ten students in total tonight, including a visitor from David's Step 1I, Hiroe. It was nice having you in our class Hiroe, so thank you for joining us. We started class with pair discussions and then you had to report one interesting thing to the rest of the class. Then we worked hard in the textbook, but you all did a wonderful job! Remember, having confidence is the key to improving your English language ability. Keep trying hard! Tonight we studied some common objects (and the singular and plural forms and also the use of "a" and "an"). Then we reviewed some grammar points and learned some different classroom expressions. At the end of class we listened to a popular late 80s song, Eternal Flame. Great job everyone! Anyway, please do the quicktest for homework (without using your textbooks or dictionaries). Have a great week and I'll see you and talk to you all again soon!

Good afternoon everyone! This morning it was so dark and chilly outside. It's kind of hard to believe that we had such beautiful weather yesterday, hey? Anyway, thanks for coming to class, it was great fun as usual! Today we did quite a bit of work in our textbooks after our pair discussions. We studied some different abbreviations on page 8 and also did the grammar and speaking sections on page 9. Then we reviewed some common classroom objects and then did an activity at the end of class (singular and plural practice). It was a lot of fun and everyone seemed enthusiastic about giving it a try! Thank you so much for your enthusiasm and hard work! There is no homework this week, so please take it easy! Have a great week and weekend (let's hope for some nice weather). See you all next week, except Emiko! Bye for now!

Good evening everyone! Thank you for coming to class, it was good to see you as usual. Tonight many of you seemed quite tired and sleepy in class, so I hope you were feeling better once you got home. Anyway, tonight we did quite a bit of work in our textbooks after our pair discussions and we also did an activity at the end of class (singular and plural practice). It was difficult to find some volunteers, but I was glad that some of you were very happy to try the activity! There is no homework this week, so please have a relaxing week and I'll see you all next time! Take care and please get some rest!

Good afternoon everyone! And welcome back to our class after the short Golden Week break (even a bit longer for Yasuko). It was great seeing you all in class and I had a good time, as usual! And it was fun hearing about your Golden Week and about Yasuko's trip to Akita and Sendai. After our Golden Week discussions, we worked on the textbook (we had a lot of work to do). We did the Listening & Speaking section on page 6 and the Grammar and Speaking sections on page 7. Then we did some more review on countries, nationalities and languages in lesson 1C on page 8. For homework, please answer the questions on the top, right hand side of page 8 (in full sentences). Also do the worksheet I gave you at the end of class! For me, this is such a fun class because everyone tries so hard and always does their best! That's the best kind of class for any teacher to have. So THANK YOU ALL for making it such a pleasure to teach you every week! Have a great week and please take care! Enjoy the cherry blossoms!

Good evening everyone! Welcome back to JOY after our Golden Week break! At first, there were only half the students in class, but slowly more students showed up and we had a class of nine tonight. We started class with a group discussion about Golden Week and it was interesting to hear that four of you went to RERA Outlet Mall during the break! What a coincidence!!! I realize it's difficult to think of questions to ask each other, but please try and speak out as much as possible. Tonight we did many things in the textbook. We finished Unit 1B and completed the Listening section of Unit 1C. Next week we'll continue on with this unit. Please complete the handout for homework and do the "before Golden Week" homework too (if you haven't finished). Okay, please take care and have a great week! Bye for now!
PS: The cherry blossoms will be out soon, so enjoy the HANAMI

Good afternoon! This morning I had a very good time in class. There were two students absent today, so we only had a small class (five students in total). However, everyone was very talkative and seemed to be in really good moods even though it was a rainy day. At first we talked about our Golden Week holidays and then we did pair discussions. My partner was Satomi and we had a very nice conversation. Then we worked on the textbook. We learned about countries, nationalities and languages and how to pronounce them correctly. Then we did a world quiz in the textbook that was a lot of fun and very interesting! For homework, please complete the worksheet I gave you in class. Next week is Golden Week, so please have a great time! And I'll see you all in two weeks! Please take care!

Good evening! Tonight was the first time that everyone came to class, so it was a big class of ten students! But I had a very good time. At first we did pair discussions (you had to find out what your partner was interested in). Then we had a group discussion about Golden Week. However, it seems like most of you don't have anything special planned for the holidays. After our group discussion, we started work in the textbook and learned how to say different country names, nationalities and languages in English. I enjoyed the "The World Quiz" on page 6! We also did a quick listening exercise at the end of class. For homework, please study the different country and nationality words you learned in class and do the worksheet I gave you. Have a great week and Golden Week!!! I hope to hear more about your GW next time. Take it easy!

Good afternoon! How are you all doing? I hope that you are having a good day. Today we started class with pair discussions, as usual, and then we did a "Katakana English" activity. You worked with your partner to translate the words from English and from katakana. You all did a good job! Just remember to be careful not to use katakana words when speaking English! Then we worked on the textbook for the remaining time of class. We did the review section at the back on the book (Grammar Bank, page 123). This is a good section to do review work at home! Then we did some various activities on page 5. I would like you to practice the sound symbols at home. Next week we'll continue on with the textbook. Have a great week and please take care! And have fun in Akita, Yasuko! Bye for now!
PS: Thanks for the cake Emiko! It's really delicious!

Good evening everyone! How are you all doing? I hope everything is going well for you. It was very nice to see Atsushi in class tonight (it's been a long time since I saw him last). At first we had a group discussion. We talked about what we like about spring. It was nice to hear your opinions, but I hope that everyone will become more talkative in the future! We also did a "katakana" quiz. Please be careful not to use katakana words or pronunciation when speaking. After that we did quite a bit of work in the textbook and finished pages 6 and 7. There's no homework, but please study the pronunciation section on page 5. Well, Golden Week is coming soon! So does anyone have any exciting plans? Let's talk about in class next week! Have a great week and see you all soon. Take it easy!!!

Good afternoon! Everyone came to class today, so I was so happy! And welcome to our class Chikako, it was a pleasure to meet you! I hope you all had a good time in class because it was so fun for me! We did a lot of work today, but the time went by quickly and it didn't seem like too much work at all. After our usual pair discussions, we brainstormed (to think of ideas) different greetings. I was surprised to see how much you knew, so good work everyone! Then we did the listening section in the textbook. We also studied the verb "be" used with pronouns. At the end of class we played a game. Everyone was a different character and we had to go around the class, meet everyone and then try to remember who they were. It was a lot of fun! For homework, please study the new "Classroom English" expressions we looked at today and do the handout I gave you in class. Have a great week and see you all next time!
PS: Thanks for the potato chips, Yasuko! That was very kind of you!!!

Good evening everyone! Thank you for coming to class tonight, I had a good time! And it was nice to see some of the other classmates for the first time (Sari, Minato and Chikashi). Tonight we did a variety of activities. First we had pair discussions and then we started on the textbook. We brainstormed (to think of many ideas about something) different ways to greet people we know or people we are meeting for the first time. Then we listened to and practiced some conversations in the textbook. After that we studied some basic grammar (the verb "be"). Tonight we also learned some interesting cultural notes, such as using eye contact and how to shake someone's hand properly. For homework, please do the handout I gave you. Thanks again for coming and have a great week! Take it easy!!!
PS: What do you like about spring? Please think about this becasue I will ask you about it next week!

Good afternoon! Well, it was really great seeing you all in class this morning! I was looking forward to having this class again and I was also looking forward to meeting the three new students who joined our class (unfortunately, Chikako couldn't come this week, but I'm looking forward to seeing her next time)! So welcome to the first class of the new semester! And welcome to my class, Miyoko and Satoshi. At first, I talked a lot about JOY and our class, so thank you for listening. Then we did two activities. For the first activity we studied "Classroom English" expressions. This is very useful, so please make sure you review these expressions at home! Then we did an introduction activity. You all did a great job! So keep up the good work! I think this is going to be a good year for us. So let's study hard and have a good time in class! See you all next week!

Hello and WELCOME to our very first class of the new semester! I had a lot of announcements and information to tell you at the beginning of class, so thank you for listening and being so patient! Then we studied some very useful "Classroom English" that I hope you will study, memorize and use in every class! We also did an introduction activity. First, you interviewed your partner to find out some information, then you introduced your partner to the rest of the class. Everyone did a great job! And I had a great time listening to everyone and getting to know you all a bit more. So once again, welcome to our class! I hope you will enjoy studying English with me and I hope you will improve greatly this semester! Good luck everyone!

Hello everyone! Tonight was our last class of the semester! Wow, the year really went by quickly. It's too bad that only four of our regular classmates came tonight, but I had a good time as usual. Minato, Atsushi, Misao and Kazuma were all absent tonight. So tonight we did a bit of work in the textbook. At first we talked about "small talk" and the different small talk topics we like to talk about. Then we looked at some different positive and negative words we use to describe the weather. After this, we did the reading in the textbook about Mars. Mars sounds like a really interesting place, but very cold! Then we played a game on the white board. I think you all did a very good job, but in the end Sari and Fumie won the game! Then finally, at the end of class, Haruna came to visit us! She told us that she passed the entrance exam into university and will leave Obihiro soon! Congratulations Haruna! Too bad Misao and Kazuma couldn't be here tonight to see you! Thanks for the souvenir, too! Well, it's been a great semester! Thank you all so much and see you all again soon! Take care!

Hello and good afternoon everyone! How are you all doing today? Well, it was our last class this semester and everyone managed to make it! I was so happy to see both Junko and Yuko after a long time. And I had a really nice time in class. After pair discussions, we did a little bit of work in our textbook (the pronunciation of "can" and "can't"). Then we played a true/false game with the sentences that everyone wrote for homework (thank you for doing your homework Junko and Yuko, even though you weren't in class last week!). That was a fun game for me! Then we played another game that was all about ME! You did a really great job and I had a really good time! At the end of class, Yuko announced that she would be changing to a different class, so I was sad to hear her news. And Eri and Junko (maybe?) will also be leaving our class next semester. So I'm sure we will miss you all in our class! Good luck to everyone and thank you so much for this past semester! It was really fun for me! Take care and have a great spring break from JOY!
PS: Junko, thank you so much for the gifts! That was very kind of you and I liked everything!!!

Hello everyone! Tonight we had a smaller class than usual, with three students absent. But I had a nice time with all of you and it was nice to have a smaller class for a change. In any case, I hope everyone comes to class next week for our last class of the semester (but unfortunately Minato will be in Tokyo and can't make it, but I hope she has a lot of fun there!). Tonight, after pair discussions, we worked on the textbook and studied more about weather words and grammar structures and how to use them. Then we did an information gap activity with the world map handouts I gave you. Some of the weather words you didn't know, so I'm sorry about that! But I think you all did a great job! Anyway, please have a good week and I'll see you all next time! I'm looking forward to our last class together!!!

Good afternoon everyone! I was surprised that Yuko was absent today since she always calls the school. I hope we can see her next week for our last class of the semester! And I also hope Junko makes it too! Anyway, today we started with group discussions and my partners were Astuko and Emiko. We had an interesting discussion and I enjoyed talking with them. Then we checked the homework and started the new unit about sports, games and abilities. We talked about sports (play, do and go) and also about Canada and Japan's national sports. I think everyone was surprised to hear that Lacrosse is Canada's national sport. Anyway, please remember to do your homework, as next week we will use it to play a game. We will also play another game. I'm looking forward to seeing you next week! Please take care!
PS: Thank you Atsuko for the DVD! I will definitely enjoy the show!!!

Good evening everyone! Tonight we had a good class and everyone seemed to be in a good mood. We did our usual pair discussions at the beginning of class and then we played a game of "hot and cold." I was partners with Sari and she was very good at this game! Then we started the new unit. We had a group discussion and then did a short listening exercise! Lastly, we studied weather nouns and adjective (and you can use rain and snow as verbs). Next week we'll continue with this unit! We have only two classes left in this semester, so good luck! Have a good week and see you all next time!
PS: Kazuma, Yuri, Fumie and Misao, please think of something to write to Masahiro in Denmark!

Hello everyone! How are you doing? I'm sorry it took so long for me to post this message to you, but the site wasn't working on Friday and I was really busy over the weekend. But don't worry, I haven't forgotten about you! Please study hard and I'll see you all soon! Bye for now!

Hello and good evening everyone! How are you all doing? I had a fun time in class tonight, so thanks for coming! And thank you for joining our class Kazuaki, I hope you had a good time! Tonight we started our class with pair discussions and then did the section in your textbook about making telephone calls. You all wrote 2 telephone call skits in pairs and presented one of them to the class. Then we worked on using the present continuous to ask and answer questions about what different people were doing on the handout (and then we found the difference between the two pictures). We learned a lot of "natural" English expressions tonight, so please make sure you study them and try to use them in conversation. Enjoy the rest of your evening and I'll see you all next week! Please take care!

Good afternoon! Today Rika, from David's class, joined our class again! It was a pleasure to have her in class today, so thank you for coming Rika!!! Also, Junko came to our class today after a long time! It was also great to see her again, too! At first, we talked to Eri about her trip to Hawaii. She seemed to have a great time and she also had a nice tan!!! Hey, thanks for the souvenir Eri! Then we did a pair discussion activity. We also worked hard on the textbook again. Some of you even told me that I have become a hard teacher!!! But I hope you're still having fun in class! I just want to finish as much of the textbook as possible before the end of the term. Let's work hard to improve!!! Okay, have a good week and I'll see you all next week! Please take care! (And please get better soon, Satomi!)

Hello and good evening everyone! I really thought we'd have a big class tonight! I was kind of expecting three visitors, but we only had one visitor (Kazuaki from David's class). Also, both Sari and Minato didn't make it to class. So in the end, there were only seven students. I had a good time in class tonight, so thank you for coming! We did a lot of work and we also did a pair discussion activity at the beginning of class. Then we worked on some listening activities and grammar from the textbook. At the end of class, we wrote and performed some short skits using the present continuous. For homework, please make sure to study the new vocabulary for the next unit. I look forward to seeing you next time! Until then, please take care!

Good afternoon! How are you all doing? Junko was absent again today (two weeks in a row)! I hope she's doing okay, but I suppose she's busy with her son. Almost everyone in class finished their homework, so I was really impressed.... Great job! We started class today with timed pair discussion. You asked your partner questions and then reported the information you learned to the rest of the class. You all did a good job! Then we worked on the new unit in our textbook. We leaned some new vocabulary words and the new grammar on page 54. Please finish the grammar section for homework (part 2). Well, I really hope Eri has a good time in Hawaii! I look forward to hearing about her trip next week. Take care everyone and have a great week!

Good evening everyone! Well, it has been two weeks since we met last, but everyone did a great job in class. Unfortunately, both Atsushi and Shiho were absent tonight, but we also had two visitors from David's class, Natsuko and Makiko! I hope both the visitors had a great time! Tonight we did a lot of work and we started class with timed pair discussions. I gave you two minutes to ask questions and then you reported the information you learned to the rest of class. Then we worked on the textbook and completed the grammar section on page 66 and the speaking and spelling sections on page 67. We will continue with this unit next week! Okay, please take care everyone and I'll see you all next time! Bye for now!

Good afternoon! This morning was so beautiful, nice and warm, and it's still quite nice out. Today we had a really small class, only five students in total! Both Junko and Yuko were unable to make it today. But I think we had a great time. At first we talked a little about Valentine's Day and then we had pair discussions. After that, we talked to Emiko about her trip to Hiroshima! It seems like she had a great time! Then we studied about countable and uncountable nouns again and did a reading/listening exercise. Please do the review pages for homework (pages 51-52). Have a great week and see you all next time!
PS: Thank you so much for the Valentine's gift Satomi! It was really sweet and it made me really happy!!!

Good afternoon everyone! I hope you weren't too tired after our busy class today. Actually, we did a lot of work in the textbook and learned a lot of new things. At first, we had group discussions. That was really interesting and everyone talked a lot. Then we started learning about countable and uncountable nouns. We studied two grammar points, so please review these at home before next week. We also listened to the conversation on page 47. Next week we will play a game using the grammar we have learned! There's no homework this week, but please review what we have learned and study the new words on page 120. Have a great week and I'll see you all next time!
PS: Have a nice trip Emiko! I'm so jealous because I want to eat OKONOMIYAKI in Hiroshima, too!!!

Hello and good evening everyone! I had a fun time in class tonight! Tonight we had a visitor from David's class, Natsuko, so I hope she had a good time! Actually, we started class with group discussions, and I think many of you found it difficult to communicate your ideas smoothly. So I think we need to practice our conversation skills more. We also played the same game as last week, and Fumie didn't do as well as she expected.... Too bad! Then we began the new unit about telephones. I told you before that we would pass this unit, but I changed my mind (Sorry!). I think we will do all the units in order (but we definitely can't finish the book). Anyway, have a great week and I'll see you all next time. Until then, please take care!

Good afternoon! I had a great time today, as usual! Everyone is a good, cheerful mood and you were all very talkative, too! Excellent! Also, we had a visitor in our class today, Rika from David's class, so thank you for coming! I think we all enjoyed having Rika in our class! We did some work in the textbook, but mostly we talked and played a game! Anyway, today I gave you your student evaluations, so if you have any questions, please come and talk to me at anytime. I hope to hear from you! Have a good week and I'll see you all next time! Until then, please take care!!!

Hello everyone! I had a great time in class tonight! At first I talked about the many events we will be having at JOY at the end of March (please attend at least one of the events). Then we did pair discussions and studied from the textbook. The game show we did at the end of class was a lot of fun, and maybe we will try again next week as a warmup activity. I also gave your student evaluations today. Please try to read them carefully and then come and talk to me if you have any questions. I'm really interested in hearing what you think. Okay, please have a great week and I'll see you all in class next time! Bye for now!

Good afternoon everyone! It was nice seeing all of you in class today, and it was nice to see Junko! At first, I would like to congratulate Junko because her son passed the exam he took last week. That's very good news! Today, we did one-on-one interviews and I think you all did a good job. It was fun for me to speak with all of you individually and give you a chance to use the English you've studied with me. I hope you also enjoyed the interview! We also worked hard on the textbook today and we finished unit 7. Next week we will start unit 8 and study about countable and uncountable nouns and other food topics! Have a great week and don't work too hard (at work or around your house). Bye for now!
PS: I will try to bring the photos next week! Thank you for being patient!

Hello everyone! Thanks for coming to class tonight, it was really nice seeing a full class with no absences! And we had a new student join our class tonight, so welcome to our class Minato, I hope you enjoy studying English with us! We are very glad to have you in our class! Today we played a game with the homework I gave you last week. Some students didn't do the homework, but it was a fun game anyway! Then we worked in the textbook, practicing pronunciation and using conjunctions (and, but, or). Everyone did a great job! Please make sure to study the new vocabulary words (for the unit and from the white board) and do the reading on page 62. Have a great week and I'll see you all soon!

Good afternoon everyone! Thank you so much for coming to class today, I had such a great time at our "New Years Party". I wasn't expecting a birthday party at all, and when Satomi and Atsuko played "Happy Birthday" for me on the sax and flute, I was completely shocked (I was so very happy!!!). I was even speechless! So thank you very much for everything! The food, the cake, the song, the pictures, the conversation....EVERYTHING!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you! And even Yuko gave me some delicious kuromame made by her mother, so thank you for that too Yuko! I am a very happy man! So please have a great week and don't work too hard at work or at home and I'll see you all again next week! Please take care!
PS: It was a shame you couldn't come to the party Junko! We all missed you today!

Hello everyone! It was nice seeing all of you in class tonight....a full class after a long time! Tonight we had one-on-one interviews and I think you all did a great job! I know you were a little nervous about it, but I think it was good practice for you. We also started a new unit tonight (unit 10), so please make sure you study the new vocabulary for the unit on page 121! Actually, we did a lot of work and finished pages 59 and 60. Great job everyone!!! For homework, don't forget to do part C on page 60 (but you need to write five true statements and one false statement about yourself). See you all next week, and until then, please take care!
PS: Thank you for the souvenir from Sapporo Misao! Those snacks were really delicious!!!

Hello and good afternoon everyone! And Happy New Year to all of you, too! It was really great seeing all of you (except Atsuko, unfortunately) today after such a long time. We talked a lot today about our New Years and winder holidays. I had a good time with you today, as always! After our group discussion, we thought of three New Year's resolutions and wrote them down on a piece of paper. Then we played a guessing game with the names. In the end Eri won the game and became our New Year's Champion!!! There wasn't a lot of time at the end of class so we talked about our pot-luck party for next week. We will have the party during class time and everyone should bring something (homemade or from the supermarket). Please bring something small!!! I will bring the drinks, so please don't worry about that. Okay, have a great week and see you all next time!

Hello everyone and HAPPY NEW YEAR! Tonight we only had a very small class of three students, but I had a great time chatting with you about your winter holidays and New Years. Everyone was in a good, relaxed mood, so I was very happy! At first we thought of three new years resolutions each (number four was to study English harder, of course!), and then we presented them to the other members of the class. Then we did a listening exercise in the textbook. We only have ten more classes to go until the end of the semester, so let's try as hard as possible to increase your English language ability! Good luck to you in the new year and I wish you all the best! Don't forget to try hard to make your New Year's resolutions come true!!! See you all next week!

Good afternoon everyone! First, let me thank you so much for the wonderful gifts you gave me this morning! I was very, very happy!!! It was such a nice surprise and I still can't believe your niceness! THANK YOU ALL! Today we had a fun time in class and we did many Christmas activities. First we brainstormed some different Christmas words and Atsuko and Eri thought of 20 words and became our winners. Then we did a Christmas crossword and Atsuko and Yuko finished theirs first to become the winners. So Atsuko became our Christmas Champion!!! Congratulations! After those two activities, we did a Christmas song listening exercise with one of my favorite Christmas songs (called "The Christmas Song"). That was really fun! I had a great time in class and I'm already looking forward to our next class next year! Have a wonderful holiday and I wish you all the very best for the new year! Please take care and see you soon!

Hello everyone! Tonight we had a really big class! All of the regular members came to class tonight plus two visitors (Emiko and Ayami) and one observer (Yumi). So ten students in total! And I had a great time! First we did our usual pair discussions and then we started to study the new grammar. After we studied the grammar structure and practiced a little, we played a game. The game was really fun and I think everyone had a great time (after you learned how to play it properly). Then we did a Christmas song listening exercise! It was fun too! Anyway, this was our last class this year, so please have a great winter holiday whatever you decide to do! I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Our first class of the year will be on Monday, January 8th (yes, a national holiday!). I look forward to seeing you then! Take care and all the best!

Hello everyone! How are you all doing? I had a fun time in class! At first, we had a group discussion and we talked about many different topics. As always, everyone was very talkative! For our pair discussions, I was partners with Yasuko. We had a very interesting conversation about movies. It seems that both Yasuko and I like watching movies in our spare time. She recommended to me to watch Flight Plan and I recommended to her to watch The DaVinci Code. After our pair discussions, we did the Listening section in our textbook on page 41 and then talked about "showing interest" in conversations. For homework, please do the reading on page 42. I look forward to seeing you in class next week for our last class of the year!!! Take care this week and I'll see you soon!

Good evening everyone! I had a very nice time in class today, so thank you all for coming. But it was too bad to hear that half of the class members weren't feeling that great (Shiho had a stomach ache, Fumie had a cough and Yuri had a cold!). Please take care of yourselves! At first, we did pair discussions. Shiho and Atsushi were paired together, so that was kind of funny! But you all did a great job and had some interesting conversations...GOOD JOB!!! Then we worked on the textbook some more. We studied the grammar section and did the listening on page 55. I'm sorry I couldn't check all of your homework! I'll check your homework again next week (before and after class). Have a great week and please take it easy!

Good afternoon! Wow, it's snowing like crazy right now. I'm so surprised because I didn't expect it to snow today. Anyway, I had a good time in class talking with all of you. We had an open discussion this morning about apples, allergies, colds, secrets to being healthy and about Sapporo. It was all very interesting! And thank you so much Junko for the apples and candies! After our discussion, we started studying from the textbook. We did the conversation on page 39 and studied the Focus on Grammar section on page 40. You all did a great job and the time went by very quickly! For homework, please write a presentation about your partner using the information you wrote down from the interviews we did. Next week you will present that information to the rest of the class. Please take care of yourselves and I'll see you all in class next week.
PS: Junko and Yuko, please get better soon! You should take Satomi's advice and take a nap every day!!!

Good evening everyone! I had a nice time in class tonight! At first, we talked about my home town a little. It was really cold there last week! Then after Fumie came to class, we asked her some questions about her trip to Shanghai. It sounds like she had an okay time there, but she was a little disappointed in the food. And thank you so much for the Chinese snacks Fumie! They were really good! After that we worked on the new unit a little (Unit 9: In the Neighborhood). It was interesting to see your ideas about the symbols from the map key! We also had a lot of discussion today, so thank you all for talking a lot and telling everyone your opinion. We also studied the grammar section on page 54. For homework, please do the Units 5-8 review on pages 51-52. Have a great week and I'll see you all in class next week!

Good afternoon everyone! Very nice seeing everyone in class after a two week break! But I was very sorry to see that both Satomi and Yuko were sick with colds this week. Actually, Satomi had such a bad cold over the weekend and Yuko lost her voice this morning. Please visit the hospital and get well soon!!! At first we did timed pair discussions and I was partners with Atsuko. We talked about many things and I had a good time talking with her. And everyone did a great job reporting what their partner told them. After we finished this exercise, we started a new unit on everyday activities. First we brainstormed some different activities and then we played tic-tac-toe using some activity cards. Everyone seemed to enjoy the game, so I was happy about that. Next week we will continue on with this unit and study some basic grammar. Have a great week everyone!
PS: Junko had a dream about a crow and I checked the meaning of this in an online dream dictionary. Please check it out! CROW Just look down the list for "crow" and read the entry!

Hello and good evening! I had a very nice time in class tonight and I hope you all did too! Today Atsushi and Shiho joined our class, so welcome to our class!!! We started off with timed pair discussions. We talked to our partner for five minutes in total (two and a half minutes each) and then reported what we learned about our partners. Everyone did a great job. Next we reviewed last week's grammar focus and did the Language in Action section on page 48. We then talked about different kinds of American food and talked about food in Japan. It was very interesting! We have now finished Unit 8, so please do the units 5-8 review (pages 51-52) for homework! Sorry I forgot to tell you in class tonight! Fumie is off to Shanghai tomorrow, so please have a great time Fumie and try to use a lot of English! See you all in class next week!

Good evening everyone! When we first arrived in class tonight, it was a little cold in the room, so we had to turn the heater on. But then it got too hot! It was 26 degrees in the room!!! Anyway, we started off the class with pair discussions. We talked about many topics, including movies and Kazuma's table tennis club. Yuri came a little late, but she was just in time for studying today's new grammar. After we studied, we played a game of FISH. I think you all enjoyed the game, and so did I. In the end, Kazuma, Sari and I won the game with four pairs each. Then we did the listening section of the textbook on page 48. After listening and answering some questions about it, we talked a little about using secret ingredients in recipes. I had a fun time in class tonight! Take care and I'll see you all next time!

Good afternoon! Today I had an excellent time! It was so much fun and Junko was a great comedian today!!! We started class with pair discussions and each student spoke to three different partners and we wrote down the information we learned about our partners. After that activity, we worked on the textbook and finally finished unit 6! We prepared, practiced and presented short skits (role plays) on shopping. They were really fun and interesting and I thought you ALL did a super great job! It was really, really GREAT!!! I laughed so much that my mouth and cheeks hurt! Then we finished the unit with a group discussion about the different ways to shop. For homework, please do the reading on page 37. Next week's a holiday, so I'll see you all in two weeks! I'm looking forward to our next class!!!
PS: Thank you for coming to class by taxi Junko! I'm so glad you enjoy our class that much!!!

Hello everyone! Tonight we had a pretty big class, hey? Actually, all five class members came and we also had three visitors. Ayami was visiting our class from David's class, and Atsushi and Shiho will become members of our class starting in two weeks! Welcome to our class!!! At first, we talked to three different students and wrote down the information we learned about them Then we studied countable and uncountable nouns and listened to and practiced a conversation. Next week we'll continue on with this topic and play a game using the food cards! Please have a good week and take care! No homework for this week, but please continue to study vocabulary! Bye for now!

Good afternoon! I had such a nice time in class, as usual. And thank you for reminding me about the homework....I totally forgot about it! Actually, even Yuko did her homework even though she was absent from class today. Amazing! At first, we did pair discussions and then we reported the information we learned to the rest of our classmates. We talked about a lot of interesting topics today! After that, we worked on the textbook, listening to the conversation and studying the new grammar focus on page 36. Then we practiced asking the price of some different clothes items and saying the price. You all did a great job! Next week, we should be able to finish this unit, so be ready to work hard! Have a great week and I look forward to seeing you all in class next time! Take care!

Good evening everyone! Today we had a really small class. Actually, from now we will only have five members in this class, but today Sari also didn't make it. So we only had four students tonight. At first we played a game called "Scategories". You had to think of food and drinks that start with a specific letter. Both times we had difficult letters (E and L)! But I think you all did a great job! We also talked a lot tonight about salad bars and other kinds of food. I had a good time in class talking with you and I was surprised to hear how picky Kazuma is (he doesn't like many kinds of vegetables). We also listened to and practiced the conversation on page 46. Next week we'll continue on with Unit 8! Please take care and have a great week!

Good afternoon everyone! It was good seeing and talking to you all today. Actually, it was the first time we had a class all together for about a few weeks. We drew sticks to make partners for our pair discussions and I became partners with Yuko. We had an interesting discussion about English Expo and Yuko's volunteer work for a Culture Festival event. She had a really busy weekend! After our pair discussions, we worked on the textbook. We practiced the conversation, did the Focus on Grammar section on page 36 and completely finished page 35 too! Good work everyone! For homework, please write an example vocabulary note for a noun, verb and adjective. You can choose any word you like, but please write your homework on a separate piece of paper. Okay, please have a great week and long weekend! I'll see you all next week! Take care not to catch a cold!!!

Hello everyone! Today we had a nice class with lots of discussion. We started off tonight with pair discussions and then checked the homework. Only three of you finished your homework, but everything worked out in the end. Next we wrote some sentences about ourselves (six sentences in six minutes)...Good job everyone! We also finished the Speaking and Writing section on page 44 (not ALL of it, but part of it anyway). Now we are on to unit 8! I asked you to make some categories for the food cards I gave you, and you thought up some very interesting categories. That was a lot of fun! Well, today was Haruna's last class with us, so I'm sure everyone will miss her very much. I hope we can see you again sometime, Haruna! Please come back whenever you want! And thank you for your letter, it was very kind! Okay, have a good week and I'll see you next time!

Good afternoon everyone! Today we studied a lot in class and finished unit 5 and started on unit 6! I hope you were not too tired after class today! Well, at first we did pair discussions using my egg timer. We talked to three different students for two minutes each. It was fun talking with more than one person, but sometimes there wasn't enough time! After the pair discussions, we did the speaking section on page 32. So we had a lot of discussion today!!! Then we moved on to Unit 6...finally! In this unit we are going to study shopping. Everyone in the class likes shopping, so I hope you will enjoy this unit. At the end of class we listened to the conversation on page 34, but we didn't have to listen to it carefully. So we will listen again next week and then continue on with the unit. There's no homework this week, but please review the previous units and study vocabulary (page 119), okay? See you all again next week! Take care!

Good evening everyone! Tonight we had a full class, with Satomi also joining our class. At first we did pair discussions, but this time each student spoke to three different classmates for two minutes each. It was a lot of fun and I enjoyed participating in this activity! After the discussions, we each reported to the class one interesting thing we learned from one of our partners. Then we got started in the textbook and studied hard! We talked about showing interest in conversations in order to keep the conversation going, then we practiced some conversations giving fake information about ourselves. We also studied the grammar section on page 43. For homework, I'd like you to make sentences using the words given in part b in the Focus on Grammar section (page 43). We will check our answers next week! Have a great week and take care not to catch a cold!!!

Good afternoon ladies! How are you all doing? I hope you had a good time in class today and that you're enjoying your day so far! We worked hard in today's class and I think you all did a super great job! I was really happy that you all tried so hard and did your best. I was surprised to hear that both Eri and Emiko get up so early! I could never get up at 5:30am every day. And then I was even more surprised to hear that Eri likes to stay up late and stayed up until 2:00am yesterday! WOW! Anyway, after the pair discussions, we interviewed our partners using the questions you wrote for homework. Then we reported the information we learned to the rest of the class. It was a little difficult, but I still think everyone did a great job. We also finished the Know How and Listening sections on page 31 and started the Language in Action section on page 32. Lots of work today! I hope you're not too tired! Next week we'll finally finish unit 5. Okay, please take care and have a great week!

Good evening everyone! How are you doing tonight? Today we had a quiet class. Were you tired? I really hope that everyone is doing well. At first we did pair discussions and talked about our weekends and other subjects. Sari took the Eiken test and said it was difficult. Yuri, Haruna and I talked about laser eye surgery. Yuri said that she wants to get the surgery but still wants to continue to wear glasses! Very funny! Then we worked on the textbook, studying grammar and natural English phrases. We interviewed a partner and then presented the information to the other class members. Everyone did such a great job and tried hard to keep eye contact. We did a listening in the last five-ten minutes of class. It was a little difficult, but I think you did OK. For homework, please do the reading on page 42 (ALL parts!). See you all in class next time and have a great week!

Good afternoon everyone! We had a really BIG class today! I was so surprised to see so many people in the class and it was the largest class we've had so far. A new student also joined our class, so welcome Eri! I hope you'll have a good time in class with us. I had a great time and it was fun talking with everyone. Satomi went to Sapporo over the weekend and brought back a nice treat for us! Thank you so much Satomi, those cookies were really delicious (I love maple flavored treats). She also brought back something else....a very "expensive" something else! Everyone was so surprised!!! Anyway, after our pair discussions, we worked hard on the textbook and finished two pages! For homework, please write five questions using the chart at the bottom of page 30. See you all next week! Please have a good weekend and take care.

Good afternoon! Today we had our first class of the semester and I had a really wonderful time, as usual! So welcome back everyone! Today we had a visitor, Ayumi, and a new student, Atsuko! Yuko came to class a little late today because she had just arrived back from Sapporo! And she brought us some SENBEI (rice crackers) that she got after watching BUNRAKU (a traditional Japanese puppet show). In class, we brainstormed some conversation topics and then had pair discussions. After that, we wrote some sentences about ourselves and played a game (guessing who wrote the information). It was so much fun talking with everyone and playing the guessing game. We also worked in the textbook, finishing the first part of the Vocabulary section on page 27. For homework, please do the reading on page 28 (parts c and d). Next week we'll continue on with unit 5 and try to do lots of work in the textbook! See you all then, I'm looking forward to it!
PS: Thank you Junko for the small pumpkins, they are super cute!!! And thank you Emiko for the delicious pumpkin pudding and SATSUMAIMO cake! I'm so happy to have such kind and thoughtful students in my class!

Welcome back to JOY for another semester! I was happy to see everyone in class, plus a new student (Sari) and a visitor (Rei). We started off the class with pair discussions to get everyone warmed up and then we played a guessing game to get to know each other more. I thought it was fun game, and I hope you did too! In the end, Yuri won the game and became our champion. She looked really happy to win! Then we started unit 7 (Parts 1 and 2 on page 39). If you have time, please study the new vocabulary words at the back of the textbook for unit 7 (page 120). Thank you all for coming, and I look forward to seeing you all in class next week! Bye for now!!!
PS: Misao, thank you so very much for the wonderful treat! As you know, it is my favorite, so I enjoyed it very much!

Hello everyone! Today we had a good class and everyone came, including a visitor. We finished unit 6 today and we will start the new unit in the new semester (starting next week). In class, we practiced a conversation between a sales clerk and a customer, we studied how to say prices and we practiced using "can" for requests. Everyone did a great job, but we were rushed a little at the end....sorry! Anyway, please do the reading on page 37 for homework and study the new vocabulary for unit 7 at the back of the textbook (page 120). See you all in the new semester!!!
PS: Thank you so much for the potatoes Fumie! I will make many potato dishes with them!

Good afternoon everyone! Today was an intesting class, don't you think? It was our last class of the semester and Emiko was absent again today. But we had a lot of interesting discussions and we used a lot of English today (It was another ALL-ENGLISH day today). Of course, I was very happy that everyone tried so hard to use English words and sounds in class!!! After the pair discussions, we played a family relationship word game, and in the end it was a tie! The score was even!!! Then I showed you some photos of my twin sister's children. We had a long discussion about family and differeneces between siblings. It was very interesting for me! Next week there are no classes, so please join a JOY event, okay? And I hope to see you all soon!
PS: Thanks for the map of the Fruitcake Factory in Sapporo, Yasuko! I can't wait to try their delicious cakes!

Good afternoon! Today we only had three students because Junko and Emiko couldn't come to class today. At the beginning of class we decided to make the class completely "English ONLY!" So both Japanese words and sounds were not allowed in class! We had a very long discussion about many different topics and it was really interesting. Yuko told us about the sports day and the Koyoen Festival that she went to, Yasuko told us about a movie she saw (called KamomeShokudo) and Satomi talked about her favorite fall and winter foods! Afterwards, we brainstormed many different family relationship words to get ready for the next unit. I think you all did a GREAT job in speaking English only!!! Let's try that again next time! Have a great week and see you next time!
PS: Thank you for the postcard, Junko!

Hello and good evening everyone! We started off the class with pair discussions and I think it went really well. Actually, I was surprised to hear the news from Fumie! She actually saw the emperor in person in Sarabetsu!!! After the discussions, we finished page 35 of the textbook and did the Unit 6 activity at the back of the textbook. It was fun trying to find the yes answers from everyone! In the end, I believe Kazuma won the game with seven yes answers (am I right?)! Next week is a holiday, so there is no class on that day. The 25th is our last class, so we'll finish Unit 6 then. Have a great week!

Good afternoon everyone! Another fun class this morning for me, thank you very much! At first we had our usual open class discussion. It was fun talking with everyone and I was even surprised to hear that Yuko likes the rain (I think she told us that before though). Satomi had a busy weekend and Emiko's friend came to visit her from Tokyo. Junko and Yasuko didn't do very much and didn't have a lot to say today and Yuko told us that she enjoyed the vegetables she grew and harvested over the weekend! We did a lot of activities in class today and everyone became super tired from class....sorry! But Emiko surprised us with some puddings from Rokutei after class! What a great surprise! And it was very, very delicious. Thank you Emiko! Okay, I will see you all again next week. Until then, please take care!

Good evening everyone! I hope you aren't too tired after our lesson today! We started off the class with an open group discussion and it turned out very interesting. Everyone did a great job and I was happy to see that you had a good time in class. After that we studied a bit in the textbook and finished the conversation and grammar sections and brainstormed a list of clothing words. Good job everyone! There is no homework this week, so please make sure you review vocabulary and grammar!!! Have a great week everyone!

Hello!!! Wow, it was the first time since July 13 that everyone came to class! And today was also Misao's last class with us. We will all miss Misao in our class very much and it's sad to see her leave. So today I brought some cakes from Ryugetsu and we had a small party in class. I had a great time and I really hope you did too! Junko was very funny today and she told us many jokes. I laughed a lot in class! Next week we will definitely finish Unit 4 and then hopefully start the next unit. Don't forget to do your homework! And please think about joining the events coming up in September. Take care and have a great week!!

Good evening everyone! We started the class with an open discussion. At first, it was difficult for everyone to continue the conversation, but you soon got better and better! It's very important to ask lots of follow-up questions and get lots of information. Then you can have an interesting conversation! Anyway, thanks for trying hard!!! Tonight we started studying unit 6 and had lots of conversation! If you haven't studied the vocabulary for the unit yet, please study all the words listed in the Vocabulay Reference section at the back of your textbook (on page 119). We will continue to work hard next week, so see you all then...take care!

Good Afternoon! We had a really fun class today and got of a lot of work done! Everyone seemed to be in a good mood and tried really hard in class. We also had a really good open discussion today. However, I think we need to speak a little less Japanese in class, though, so please try harder to use English only....Okay? Next week we will finish Unit four, so please do the reading on page 24 (parts A and B). Anyway, let's have another great time in class next week! Remember, we can have fun in English, too!!! See you all then!

Hello and good evening everyone! Thank you all for coming to class, it was good to see you after such a long time. I'm very glad to hear that you all had a nice summer holiday. And everyone seemed to be in a good, talkative mood tonight! It was also nice to see Emiko in our class tonight! You are welcome to come to our class anytime, Emiko! So we finished Unit five today and we'll start the next unit next week. This unit is about shopping, so it should be interesting! Please study the vocabulary from Unit 6 on page 119, okay? Have a great week and I'll see you all in class next time!

Hello everyone, and welcome back to JOY!!! It has been three weeks since our last class, so it took some time to get moving today! Were you all a bit nervous about being back? However, everyone did a good job and soon became comfortable speaking English again! And Junko told many jokes today, so I laughed a lot in class....very interesting! I would also like to thank Misao for the souvenirs she gave all of us...THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! I can't wait to try the Japanese sake tonight! Anyway, please have a great weekend and I'll see you all in class next time! Bye for now!

Well, tonight was Masahiro's last class! We had a great time talking with him and asking him all kinds of questions about his trip. He'll be gone for one year, so I do wish him well and good luck! We will all miss you in class, Masahiro! And tonight was also our last class before the summer vacation. So there will be no class for the next two weeks, and I'll see you all again in three weeks from now (August 21st). As for our lesson, we almost finished Unit 5 and we will start Unit 6 next time. Don't forget to do your homework, page 106 unit 5, and study the vocabulary for Unit 6 on page 119. Have a great summer!

I had a great time in class today, as usual! It was funny to hear that three of our classmates went to Sapporo in the past week! So we started off the class speaking with Satomi, Yasuko and Junko about their trips. They all went to Sapporo for different reasons, and they all had a good time. Satomi went on the Ferris Wheel in Susukino, Yasuko went to the Egypt exhibition and to a delicious sounding cake shop, and Junko went to a concert with her son! It was a lot of fun talking with you (and of course with Misao and Emiko, too)! Then we got serious and studied hard! It was our last class before the summer holidays, so I really hope you have a great summer! I'll see you all again on August 17th!
PS: Please have a great summer, Yuko!
PSS: Good luck with your dinner party, Emiko!

Hello Everyone! We did a lot of work in class today, so I hope you weren't too tired! At first, we talked to three different partners for two minutes each! It was very interesting. Then we reviewed family relationship words and played a game. Team Farmer won the game, so good job Team Farmer!!! Then we talked about "reunions" and did the gammar section of the textbook. For homework, please do the reading on page 28 (Parts C and D). And next week is Masahiro's last class and the last class before summer vacation! So I hope to see everyone in class next week. Bye for now!

Hello Everyone! I had a good time in class today, but we all missed Yasuko! So Yasuko, if you have a chance, please take a substitute class (you have perfect attendence so far!). Well, it seems that Junko was very tired this morning because of all the cleaning she did over the weekend! Three days of cleaning...Oh My!!! And Yuko went to Kitami and brought back some mint candies for all of us! Thank you so much for the candies Yuko, there are very delicious! Next week we'll finish Unit 3 and start Unit 4, so please do the reading on page 18 (Part a only) for homework. Have a great weekend and see you all next week! I'm looking forward to seeing you!
PS: Enjoy your trip to Sapporo, Satomi!

Sorry I couldn't teach this class, but I was feeling too sick and I had to stay home. I hope you had a good time with Erin! See you in class next week!
PS: Thank you for the flowers Junko! They are very nice!

Good Evening everyone! Today was Shoji's last class with us, so it's very sad to see him leave! However, I hope he has a great time in Denmark. He told us today that he will travel to many countries in Europe, so I'm sure he will have some great experiences! Good luck to you in the future Shoji and I hope to see you again someday!
We did a lot of work in the textbook today, so thank you for working hard! Next week there is no class because of the holiday, but next time we'll continue with Unit 5 (about family). So see you in class in two weeks! Have a great holiday!!!

It was a strange class today because three of our regular classmates were absent! Satomi, Emiko and Junko didn't come to class today, but Yoshihiro came instead! So thank you for coming Yoshihiro, it was fun having you in class. Well, it seems everyone was doing just fine this morning! And Yuko has some special plans this weekend with her good friend from Junior High School!!! Please have a fun and relaxing time at the hot springs, Yuko! I hope to see the other students at the events this Saturday!!! Next week we'll practice telling time (the difficult way), so make sure you review the textbook! See you all next week!

Hello Everyone! Thank you for coming tonight! And welcome to our class once again Misao! It was also great seeing Satomi in class tonight. We started off the class with pair discussions and everyone did very well. It was interesting to hear about Yuri's job (designing a tofu and bread company's packaging). And we learned that Shoji will go to Denmark on the 21st of this month, so he will only have one more class with us! We will miss you Shoji!!! Next week we'll finish Unit four and start Unit five! So please don't forget to do exercises 1-8 on pages 25/26 for homework (it's due in two weeks!). So have a good week and don't work too hard!

Good Afternoon Everyone! I was so happy to hear that everyone reads my BLOG every week, but why don't you try and write me a comment??? I hope you will ALL write me a comment this week!!! Today Junko was abset because of her trip, but it seems I made a mistake on my last BLOG entry. Actually, Junko didn't go to Kanagawa. But I can't remember, where did she go? Please write me and let me know, okay? Everyone had some interesting news to tell this morning, so I think we had a really good discussion. Next week, both Satomi and Emiko will be absent, so I hope to see everyone else in class! So please take care and have a good weekend! Bye for now!

We had a pretty big class tonight! Actually, we had three visitors, so we had to move our class to Room 202. And starting from next week, our room has been changed to Room 202 because two of the visitors decided to join our class. So welcome to our class Misao and Naoko. I hope you can have a good time with us! And I was surprised that Kazuma didn't come to class, but then he showed up a little late. I think we had an interesting class tonight!!! Anyway, see you all in class (Room 202) next week, I'm looking forward to it!

Good Afternoon! I had another great, fun class with you today! You always make me laugh and I always have a great time, so thank you very much! Emiko told us an interesting story about her Turkey trip this morning. She told us that the sales clerk could only understand Japanese, not English!!! So she didn't use English in Turkey! It was also Yuko's birthday over the weekend, so "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" Yuko! Also, both Yasuko and I were scared from the loud thunder this morning....it was scary! And Junko told us that she'll be going to Kanagawa prefecture next week. We'll miss you Junko! See you in two weeks. Well, after we talked for such a long time, we finished parts 1, 2 and 3 of Chapter 3 in the textbook. You all did a great job! Okay, have a wonderful week and take care!
PS: Enjoy the mango pie, Satomi! It sounds really delicious!

Well, today we started off the class with small group discussions and I think everyone did fairly well. Please don't be shy! Just ask many questions and don't worry about making mistakes! We also had a visitor in our class, so thank you for coming Chiaki, I hope you had a good time with us. And it seems Miki may come to our class again next week! We'll have to wait and see, but I hope to see you again Miki! For homework, please do exercise 10 on page 18 (part A only) and study the new vocabulary for Unit 4 on page 118 (we'll start Unit 4 next week!). Have a great week, and remember to get plenty of sleep (don't watch too much soccer!).

How are you all doing today? I had a nice time in class today, so thank you for coming! Welcome back to Obihiro, Emiko! I'm glad to hear that you had such a great time in Turkey! And thank you so much for the souvenir (the Turkish Delight). I already ate some and it was very delicious...YUMMY! We missed you while you were in Turkey, so I'm glad to see you back in my class.
We had an interesting conversation at the beginning of class today and everyone explained to me about the special significance of someone's 60th and 88th birthdays! Very interesting! And we finally finished Unit 2 today!!! So next week we'll start on Unit 3. For homework, please study the vocabulary from Unit 3 on page 118. Take care and have a great week!
PS: Are you going to watch the soccer game on Sunday??? Let me know!

Good evening everyone! Today we studied how to tell the time in many different ways. You all did a great job, especially with the "JANKEN" game we played! Haruna had a difficult time at first, but I think she understands now and will do a great job telling the time in the future! Next week is Miki's last class, so please come and say good bye to her! For homework, please study the vocabulary from Unit 3 on page 118.
I have two questions.... 1) Are you excited about the World Cup? 2) Are you going to watch the soccer game tonight? Let me know!

Well, today we spent most of class having an open discussion and talking about many different topics! We learned a lot of interesting things about our classmates and it was a lot of fun! It was funny to hear that Yasuko was knitting a "summer" cardigan but it wont be finished until winter!!! But that's okay, you can always wear it next summer, Yasuko....Good Luck! For homework, please do the reading on page 12 (Part A only) and study the vocabulary for Unit 3 on page 118. Have a great weekend! Don't work too hard Misao! Bye for now.

Good evening everyone! We started off the class with an open discussion and I think you all did a great job asking and answering questions. Thank you for all your GREAT questions Haruna! Everyone also did a good job writing words (imperative sentences) for the sings. The number game we played was fun, too! Thank you for trying so hard! Next week, we'll practice telling time....I'm looking forward to it! See you next week!

How is everyone doing? Did you have a good time in class today? I really hope so! Anyway, today we talked about many different topics and issues. I hope you used lots of the “opinion” words and phrases we learned in class last week! For me, it’s interesting to hear your opinions! Also, everyone worked hard to explain the location of the Italian restaurants, “Penny Lane” and “Olive.” I will try one this weekend! I love Italian food!!! Okay, have a great week and weekend! See you next week!

Hello Step 1A! Wow, we had a very large class tonight, hey? There were three guests and so the total was ten students! But I think we all had a great time! And today's class wasn't Miki's last class after all! So we can see Miki in class for three more weeks...YEAH! Okay, for homework please study the vocabulary from Unit 3. And don't forget to think of matching and opposite vocabulary words!!! See you next week!

This morning we had a new student in our class and her name is Junko! So welcome to our class Junko. I hope we can have lots of fun together! Next week Emiko is going to Turkey, so she'll be absent from class for two weeks! I hope you have a great time on your trip Emiko! We'll miss you! There is no homework for this class this week, but please study vocabulary! Have a great week and weekend! Bye for now!

Today we practiced telling our opinions on many different topics. It was difficult, but everyone did a good job! Please try to use the phrases and questions you learned in class every week!!!
For homework, please think of some classroom language instructions and do the reading on page 12 (Part A only). Okay, see you in class next week!

I thought everyone did a great job with the speaking/listening exercise we did this morning! You were all very good listeners and speakers! Good Job!!! My partner was Misao and I think she was a little nervous at first, but she did a great job! Thank you for being my partner, Misao!
Anyway, please continue to study new vocabulary and expressions. It will help you to communicate better in English. See you next week!

We did an interesting exercise at the beginning of class and I thought both Masahiro and Haruna were very funny! But you all did a great job! Don't forget to study the new words and phrases we learned tonight! Actually, most of them are on page 117 in your textbook (form, register, How do you spell ~ ?, Can you repeat that?), so please study the new words in the back of your textbook...always!!! See you again next week!

This morning we had a really interesting discussion at the beginning of class about our Golden Week holidays! Thank you for asking so many questions! By the way, the conversations you wrote for homework were really good! Satomi's conversation was very funny! And Emiko, you did a super job!!!
I think we'll focus more on listening and vocabulary building in this class in the future. So for homework, please study the the vocabulary words for Unit 2 on page 117! See you all next week!

Tonight in class, everyone did such a great job reporting what their partner did during Golden Week! And Fumie did an excellent job asking some very good questions, so good for you Fumie!!! So next time we interview our classmates, please try and ask more WH and Yes/No questions to get more information!
I can't believe I didn't give you any homework tonight! So enjoy your homework-free week and have a good time!

Good Evening everyone! Today we practiced saying numbers and spelling words. We also listened to a telephone conversation. Please practice a little more by using the CD in the textbook. Also, please study the words from Unit 2 on page 117. Have a great Golden Week holiday and don't work too much!!! See you all again next week!

Hello Everyone! We had a pretty small class today, but I think we all had a nice time studying English together. And we also learned a lot of useful English, don't you think? Remember to be careful about using the future tense when talking about your future plans!!! For homework, please do Section 8 (page 5, part b) and study the