English in Action

At my Smith`s School of English Katsura スミス英会話桂校　we have events at least once a month. Students can meet other students, make new friends and practice their English outside the classroom in a relaxed environment. I remember one of my teaching positions in Korea, it was in the contract not to spend time with students outside of class time! Recently my students and I have played soccer and been to the Osaka motorcycle show. I`ve been very fortunate to see a lot of Japan, frequently by motorcycle. The manager at the local rental shop is a nice guy and always makes an effort to find and reserve the bike I want to try out. Some of my students intend to get their licenses soon and hope to go touring together. I love the thrills and excitment that the bigger size bikes always deliver (1000cc or more) and got my license `up-graded` at Delta Motorcycle school here in Kyoto. The instructors were great but probably the most difficult part for me was the mandatory warm-up group aerobics class out on the tarmac under the brutal heat (Kansai summer) of the sun (t-shirt and shorts forbidden). They didn`t approve of me trying to ride faster to generate some sort of breeze to cool off either. Anyways, the final test is like nothing I ever expected and I won`t go into details but you`ll need just as good a memory as you will riding skill.

As for soccer, our goal keeper plans to visit Canada for a homestay and to study English. I`ve previously taught at an ESL college to international students in Vancouver so he has many questions about what to expect. I`m always happy to give advice to my students when they get a chance to visit where I come from and some have stayed with my family back home. Whether it be going to motorcycle shows, playing sports, touring temples (not to forget my students sake factory!) or classroom instruction, I look forward to the exchange and learn as much from my students and they do from me.