Who's a clever girl?!

I love it when students are too modest to realise they have just achieved something remarkable!

Congratulations Shizue, on passing First Certificate! (Here is Luna's Local Secretary Yuki presenting Shizue with her certificate.)

Shizue spends every other Friday teaching me. She knows more about English Literature than I ever will, and her questions about grammar are truly frightening! She is the worst student I know for doing homework - I don't think she has ever actually done everything I asked her to...but that doesn't matter because she has passed FCE. She is the only Japanese English teacher I know that has managed to do that. Most, in my experience, would be badly shown up.

Why isn't there some universal measure of English language skills/requirement for English teachers in this country? To be fair, this should include native speakers too - just because you grow up speaking a language doesn't make you an expert, let alone a teacher. And yet Nagano prefecture wastes millions upon millions of taxpayers' yen on unqualified imports - working alongside mostly less than competent English-langauge users.

Do I know what I am talking about? Sadly, yes, I do. Do I have any useful suggestions? Again, yes I do...

Well done Shizue: shining example of what teachers should be capable of in this country. Proud of you.

Oh, and by the way, Shizue will be examining Young Learners for us on Sunday!