What’s your favorite place to visit?

May 1st, 2014

We all have a place we like or maybe that we hope to visit. For me I have several. I really enjoy warm weather places like Guam and Thailand. I especially like going there when it is winter here and I can have a chance to get out of the cold.

In the summer though I enjoy going to the river to play in the water with my family and friends and bbq. There are several good places for doing that not too far from Nagoya.

I also really enjoy my garden.

Yes.

My garden is one of my favorite places to be. It has a small grape arbor, trees, flowers, and a small goldfish pond. I can sit on my deck and enjoy the great atmosphere or I can fire up my grill and bbq either for just our family or for students or for our friends.

What about you?

What is your favorite place to visit?

In the comment section below, post a comment telling me where your favorite place to go is, describe it a little, and tell me why it is your favorite.

I look forward to reading all of the responses!

Posted in Class Stuff | 7 Comments »

All English Graduate School Program

April 24th, 2014

I know that some students are interested in continuing their English language studies by joining graduate programs abroad. A growing trend is for universities in Japan, and Korea, is to create programs where all courses are taught in English by native English speakers.

One of my graduate school friends and colleagues recently contacted me about the program his university in Korea is starting. He is the coordinator of the program, and it looks like it should be interesting.

His university is Kyung Hee University in Korea and their program is getting underway now offering graduate degrees in Global Hospitality and Tourism.

For now they have set up a Facebook page where you can get more information and also be notified about updates.

KyungheeUniversityPhoto

https://www.facebook.com/KHUgraduateprograminglobalhospitalityandtourism

Posted in General | No Comments »

2014 Spring Semester is off and running

April 17th, 2014

Hey everybody! Yes, the spring semester is now under way! Yay!! maybe 😉

I had a busy, fun break time, but now that’s over and it’s time to get back to classes.

I am looking forward to a lot of fun with all of the new students I’m meeting this semester and all of the students from my previous classes who are back this year.

I hope we all have a great semester!

Here’s a picture of my youngest son getting ready for his first day at Junior High School. I couldn’t go to the ceremony, so that was a little disappointing, but he survived 😉

2014-ahn-uniform

Posted in General | No Comments »

Breaking Bad for kids in Japan

February 23rd, 2014

I was a big fan of the show Breaking Bad. It intrigued me though I came to it very late, I think I started Season 1 during the first half of the airing of the final season.

I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. I’d seen Malcolm in the Middle and thought it was funny for a while. The boys and I both bailed on it when it jumped the shark with the cutting off of the remaining hand of the commandant. The show had been slipping already, but I did like Brian Cranston.

I thought Breaking Bad would be interesting just to see the different character type.

Wow!

I always felt uneasy watching the show but I couldn’t stop watching and I couldn’t wait for it to end.

I asked some of my students in Japan if they were watching and only a few knew about it and less were watching it.

So you can imagine my surprise when I went to the book store near our house and saw a kit for kids to create their own blue crystals.

Must have been more popular than I though 😉

breaking bad home kit

Posted in General | No Comments »

Good class discussing success

December 19th, 2013

This week in my discussion class, we talked about the topic of success.

It’s always interesting to me to see what other people think about success: what it is, who has it, what they want or need to feel success in their own lives.

There’s a different answer for every student.

That is a great topic for a discussion class. Any time there is no really set, black and white, right or wrong explanation for your topic it can lead to some really healthy discussion.

We have covered a lot of ground in this class, and we have had some great discussions.

I thought this week’s class was great. Success is one of my own personal favorites as a topic, so it’s fun for me to get to share that with these students.

We started off with some quotes. There were quotes from Tony Robbins, Michael Jordan, and Bill Gates.

Each group had to decide what they thought was the meaning of the quote, come up with a story example to explain it, and to talk about whether they thought the quote was a true statement.

Luckily they all started off with agreeing with the quotes, and they had some good examples, too.

We followed that up with a general discussion on what was success to them, for them in their lives.

All in all, class was, well, a success 😉

Posted in Class Stuff | No Comments »

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »