英会話プライベートレッスン

Hello everyone, this is Anand here with another Awesome English update! I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and are looking forward to a Happy New Year! I couldn’t resist taking another trip, because the sheer idea of having to work on Christmas is not a pleasant one for Canadians to bear to say the very least. When I lived in Chiba I used to work with a lot of very nice and knowledgeable people. Recently I got back in touch with them and we all decided to take a short trip to Nikko. They were nice enough to organize things, but what they didn’t tell me is that the hotel they reserved was up in the mountains! Even though I am Canadian, I still need to dress for the weather! Despite almost freezing to death, I had a great time talking with some old friends, drinking lots of sake and getting to see lots of interesting temples and waterfalls. I finally got to see the “Hear no evil, see no evil , speak no evil” monkeys! It’s great to know I still have good friends all over Japan! That said, I don’t think I will travelling for a while, because, well, these trips are never free.

Anyway, hope to give some more updates.
Anand

Hello everyone, this is Anand as always with the Awesome English update. I have been hinting at it for quite some time, but I am finally back from my work/study/drink/run trip in Hawaii. It was definitely a great chance to relax with my co-workers, but it was also a great chance to see how preschools are run in different parts of the world. To be honest, the majority of my child care and child education training has taken place in Japan, so funnily enough, though I work in an international school (on top of Awesome English, of course), my viewpoint on TESOL is rather Japanese. I took the chance of being in Hawaii to visit a few preschools in the Waikiki vicinity.

The first one I visited is Happy Keiki in Honolulu, run by a very pleasant Japanese woman. She was very welcoming and allowed me and my staff to interact with the kids and view some of their classes. I had a good chance to view them during their Circle Time and check out some of their crafts.

Needless to say, it was pretty different from our school, but that is not to say that it was worse or better – just different. I had a good time at the school, but it was one of many. I hope to tell you more about the schools we visited and my overall time in Hawaii over the next few weeks.

That’s all for now!

Anand

Hello everyone, this is Anand with the Awesome English update as always! ?I hope you guys are enjoying to cold and rain. I am actually nowhere near you now. ?I am actually in Hawaii! ?I will be doing a little work/study with a series of Hawaiian preschools over the next few days. ?This is actually my second time in Hawaii, the first being last year. ?Both last year and this year have one thing in common – me running the Honolulu Marathon. Strangely enough, part of my work involves me running the race with members of my company, most of whom have no desire to run at all. ?Thankfully if you have read anything I have posted on this blog you will know that running is basically all that I do besides work and drink beer. ?I am hoping I will be shown some mercy for having run the race, but my hopes aren’t too high.

My only worry is being beaten by my boss!

I will try my best.

Anand

Hello everyone, this is Anand with yet another Awesome English update! ?I hope you guys have all been keeping warm, as it seems that winter is starting to rear its ugly head in Yokohama! ?I mean ugly in that we get the cold weather without the beautiful snow! ?Snow is a big part of Canadian life, and is a nostalgic thing for any Canadian living in the warmer parts of Japan. ?I have great memories of making snow angels and having snowball fights with my brothers (at least until someone would get the iceball in the eye). ?With Christmas coming around the corner it is hard not to be a little nostalgic for the white stuff. ?Of course, with the good side of snow there is plenty of bad. I remember having to wake up early in the morning to wipe the snow off of my car and shovel it off of my driveway, but with that said, I can’t help but want a dose of some real Canadian Christmas snow.

I guess I am just dreaming of a White Christmas

Hello everyone, yet another update from Anand! ?I hope you guys are dealing with the cold weather as always. ?I had yet another weekend of running and misery, which is my favorite combination of activities. ?This weekend was a run in Kawaguchiko, which is a small town near Mt. Fuji. ?Their marathon, which is in its third year features a beautiful view and an unfortunately early start time. ?Have you ever had to get up at 3:30 just to get to a place in order to run for over 4 hours? ?Well that’s what I did. ?The run went well enough, but I made the mistake of listening to an audiobook (The Three Musketeers) while running instead of my usual adrenaline-pumping 80’s mix. ?As a result, I ran much slower than I usually do, which is actually quite a bad thing, because it means I bounce as I run. ?What this means is extra pain in the knees and ankles. ?What’s worse, I had to work today, which is never pleasant. ?However, I think for a guy who ran 42 kilometers the previous day, I am doing pretty well. ?I am hoping to be recovered soon, because I have the Honolulu marathon in 2.5 weeks!

Be ready for an update!

Anand