A Funeral

I went to a funeral. He was 66 years old and a father of two school teachers. When the two sons were students, they were playing table tennis and the father was a great fan of them. He has cheered them up a lot. 

After his son graduated from school, he started learning Chinese, Japanese calligraphy and many other things with enthusiastic. He went to China several times. 

When he was 60, he caused a stroke. After the illness, his right side couldn't move any more. But he fought against his disability. He trained to write calligraphy with left hand and finally he held his exhibition of Japanese calligraphy.

He, however, couldn't beat pancreas cancer. Only four months after the exhibition, he passed away. 

May his soul rest in peace. 

Why English?

Why do you study English? You need a good TOEFL or TOEIC score? You have to speak English at work? You want to be a translator? You simply like English itself? For traveling, for making foreign friends? The reasons vary from person to person. Or some people might not have one. 

My reason for learning English has been changing many times. At first, I wanted to read English books. Then, I got interested in speaking English. And I happened to take some English exams. It was also fun for me. 

I think there are no difference in these purposes of learning English. As long as you are with English, every way could lead you to higher English levels. That's for sure. 

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A Boy Killed in Kawasaki

A middle school student was killed by his brutal friends. I don't want to call them friends, though. These young gangsters apparently have responsibility for the murder. I want to give them the same brutal assaults. I don't think that will cover the innocent boy's life. 

I think his teachers also have responsibility for the tragedy. The classroom teacher had tried to call him and his mother. He failed to contact him many times. That was just an excuse. And the home room teacher didn't do more on that. How about his colleagues and the principal? Nothing! 

It was enough time to take other actions. They could ask the police. They could ask the Child Consultation Center. They didn't do anything they could. 

If the teachers more carefully observed their students, this tragedy wouldn't have been happened. 

I hope these brutal killers will be arrested soon and the similar victims won't be found in the world. 

R.I.P. 

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The Road to the Master

Do you think what is the easiest way to learn English? I myself don't think there is an easy road to learn English for abouts.  

At first, I thought studying English hard with dictionaries and reference books was ridiculous. Only reading and listening in English as much as you can and extensively brought you a master of English with fun way, but it would need too much time. 

Basic grammatical knowledge and vocabulary are necessary. That would make a short cut to be a master, but still it's a long long way to go. 

I will enjoy walking the long way little by little. It might be fun. 

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Impromptu Speech

I took an online lesson and learned about impromptu speech today. Impromptu speech means making a speech with little or no preparation. It's similar to some English exams like TOEFL or Eiken. 

The first thing you have to do to make a good speech is to define the meaning of the topic. I didn't have that idea, so it was really good information to me. 

I will continue to practice making speech and it might work for my English skills. 

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Girl's Bomb Attack

Nigerian terrorist group Boko Haram apparently killed and injured many people at a Nigerian market using girl's suicide bomb attack. A report said that the girl was no older than ten years old. 

The news made me really angry. The terrorists are totally insane. They have been kidnapping lots of girls for sex slaves and this kind of attacking. They say that's for religious reasons. No one believes that. 

I really feel for ordinary citizens in Nigeria. I hope the situations will be improved  soon. 

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Busy Day

I took the Eiken second stage test in the morning. It was nice. I think I performed better than I had thought. There were only five people took Pre-1st grade and I was the oldest and only male interviewee. 

Preparing for Eiken interview was efficient to improve my speech skills, not exactly for talking though. 

After lunch, I took part in a volunteer English guiding seminar. We learned about how to guide Matsue Castle to foreign people in English. It was hard to explain old Japanese things in English, but we were trying to solve the difficulties as much as we can. 

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