Akiruno Community Center

This is the Akiruno community center where I teach my English class. There's a 3-story wing to the right that I couldn't get in the picture, my classroom is there on the 3rd floor. It's going really well. One lady plays tennis competetively, another golfs all around the world, one's a competetive ballroom dancer and the only guy in the class is a retired fisherman. Several of them have kids living in other countries, one has a daughter in Arizona, another has a son in Germany. They're all really interesting and ask great questions.

So far we've just worked out of their workbooks and then had lots of discussions about the topics. They were very surprised to hear the term "hands of the clock" none of them knew they were called hands. They were also very interested in s'mores, another thing no one had ever heard of. Our topic this week was vacations, so I bought a bunch of American travel magazines and brought them to class, which sent them into an absolute tizzy.

Next month they're taking me out to a Welcome lunch. A friend of the girl I took this class over from teaches a Thursday morning class here as well, I think she may be leaving soon, I'd love to take her class too.

There's a big company called Gaba that specializes in English classes and all sorts of English translation activities that is currently hiring instructors. The only thing is that I have to be able to get into Tokyo by 5:00p on a Wed or Thur for an orientation, then do a 3-day training workshop in Tokyo. So far it's been tricky trying to get it coordinated with all the kids' schedules and Otis' various after work meetings and commitees, but this is Gabi's last week of track practice, so maybe next week we can work something out. Otis might have to take 3 days of leave for me to be able to get in for the training, I'm sure there's some sort of plan that will require me to spend the night in Tokyo (wink, wink) ....I'll keep you posted.