Wednesday, June 07, 2006

My English Conversation Class

Tonight I had the pleasure of teaching my weekly Eikaiwa, or English conversation class. I have about 15 students and once a week I teach them different ways of speaking or asking questions in English, and provide an atmosphere where they can use the English that they know.

My oldest student is 70 years old, while my youngest is 9. I'm enjoying it more than my classes in school, largely because they are more interested in learning English. I'm also finding most of the people in the class are very eager to learn, which makes teaching them that much easier and more fun

After the class, I went out for ice cream with a couple of them, and one of them is a volunteer in some kind of halfway house. Another man is retired and teaches about the history of Koriyama and the area around where I live.

I'm discovering that people often lead very simple lives here in Japan. People also don't say a whole lot, and its refreshing to speak to people who have lots to say.

No comments: