Reading club - Old Rock meeting

I met "my lads" last night in the pub for a pint; they have earned a drink because of their very hard work in my class the last six months - well, two years now...

I have to say I am really impressed with this bunch because they are forever challenging each other to 'speak English' - and they really do try hard. Last night was no different, and we had a really good chat (some topics we really can't do when I am 'on the clock') about all sorts of stuff. For example, are Osaka girls hotter than Yamagata beauties? Shikoku - backwater or home of mental matsuri? Should Satoru come back and study with us - or concentrate on his 19 year old playmate? Serious things to ponder as we monitored the quality of the Guinness.

Naomi joined us and the tone civilised; she also works in IT so the boys had a lot to chat about, especially as her daughter and Ya-chan's son study at Luna. Just to cap things off, one of my ex-students from NHK told everyone (quite rightly) what an amazing guy I am! (Actually, I was a bit embarrassed)

In April 'my lads' will recommence their studies; I am sure they will continue to make great progress and read everything that is put in front of them. Classes like this (which started from scratch, I need to add) make my day. Every now and again they make my evening too! Thanks lads!

Meet the readers

With a couple of weeks to spare, my lads have polished of their reading books and are ready for more! In a 20 week span, they have read 6 graded readers - the first time any of them have ever picked up an English book. They have blogged their written assignments (see previous postings) and seen the benefits of their labours - better vocabulary retention, interesting stories or biographic information, reviewing grammar points; faster reading (itself a very valuable skill), skimming & scanning; becoming independent learners & tossing away the electronic dictionaries; and the writing component as well.

This my boys have managed on top of busy jobs - we study in company - and on top of their regular homework tasks...which this week is to find a podcast they might want to listen to (starting at BBC) and to report back. I'm hoping my champions will sign up for more punishment (classes oops) from April and that we can continue to do great stuff together!