Sunday

I submitted my first draft of Skype English expressions. There was over 140 expressions. I'm sure there will be a few more added to the list. I have started working on a new text. This text is for a student who is a nurse. So these expression are medical English. There are some specialty words, however, many of the expressions also have ties to everyday English.

Skype English

I worked on useful expressions for Skype, today. I've compiled a list of over 150 expressions. I also went over the grammar and spelling once. I'll do it again tomorrow.
Maybe, Friday I'll submit the first draft. I'm sure there will be revisions and changes.
My next project will be romance English. This project will be more extensive and will take me more time. I have to work the next 2 days in Youngstown, Ohio. See you in a day or two.

American Idol, Lost and Johnny Depp

American Idol, Lost and Johnny Depp. These were the themes of the lessons I wrote yesterday. My advanced students needed something more interesting to study than traditional
lessons. Actually, I was getting bored with the material I was teaching them,too. I asked the student what was their favorite thing related to English. The answers I received were American Idol, Lost and Johnny Depp. It didn't take long to write. These lessons are advanced, they're
loaded with idioms and slang. But, this is the way we talk. The students love the lessons. Now each of the students gets to study their favorite subject in English. I can't always do this for every student. However, I do now have a varied and extensive list of lessons for the student.

Memorial Day

Today is Memorial Day in the US. It is a federal holiday, all banks, schools and post offices are closed today. It is observed on the last Monday in May. Formerly, Decoration Day, it commemorates the men and women who have died in the military service. Memorial Day is the unofficial start of summer in Ohio. Have a good day!

Sunday

I completed my first draft of Skype useful English expressions. I organized it into categories. Tomorrow, I'll look it over. I plan to finish with it by Tuesday. Afterwards, I'll start a project with romance English expressions. This list will take longer to write than the other one. I'm not sure how I will organize it. But, I'll figure it out.
Tomorrow is a national holiday here in America. I'll talk more about Memorial Day in tomorrows' blog. Monday is the official holiday. But today, I'll go to my nephews' house for a barbecue. I'll be home Monday and Tuesday, so if you have any questions about Memorial
Day, please feel free to ask. Bye for now.

New Lessons

I've completed the first 3 advanced and intermediate lessons from a romance English story written under my pen name of Shady Sommers. Its' title is "Chance Meeting at the Beach." I plan on using this with my students over the next week or so. If the students like the lessons, I plan on continuing the story to include 9 lessons plus a optional "Forbidden" 10th lesson.

Romance English

I have completed chapter one of a romance English story. What is romance English? Stories about love. My intention was to write an interesting story about a man and a woman meeting.
I also wanted to blend in everyday English conversation to the love story. I have shown the lesson to 2 students. Their reaction was very positive. Both students want to continue to study the lesson. There are 2 versions of the story. One is the original text. This is the advanced version. The second is an intermediate version of the same story. The intermediate version
is of course easier. Each version contains 3 lessons. I plan on publishing an except from the story on this blog in the next few days. My students seem to like Romance English so far. I wonder if I will be writing more Romance English?

Riddle

What's high in the middle and round on both ends? Can you solve this riddle? Here's your hint: the answer is the name of a place.
I downloaded a series of animal pictures to my computer. I plan now to make a slide-show of them. I'll use it in the next children's lesson. I'm curious to see how it will turn out. Good luck with the riddle!

Childrens' English

I just finished the lesson with the 8 year old boy. This was the first full lesson. It lasted a full 30 minutes. I was able to easily hold his attention for 30 minutes. I was very surprised. He did very well, and so did I. He wasn't use to my pronunciation at first. However, it wasn't really a problem. I purchased a new web-cam and it was very useful. The boys' mother was present during the lesson. She only helped a few times. Soon, I think we won't need her. I will have a another lesson with him this weekend. I not ready to make any conclusions about teaching children yet. However, it looks promising. We had fun and learned.

Web-cam

My web-cam stopped working during a lesson. That was too bad . I was teaching a child when the cam stopped. I had to quickly switch to pictures. Fortunately, I used my good pictures of Ginger and Shady. I purchased a new LogiTech web-cam. Now, I'll install it and hope it works for tomorrow morning. There's another lesson scheduled. I really need the web-cam when I teach children. Even though I'm only experimenting at teaching children, I feel it's good to use it.

Monday

I did the lesson with the 8-year old boy yesterday. It went pretty good. He was able to sit still for 15 minutes. I think that might be a good time limit for young boys. His pronunciation was also very good for what few words he knew. I'm still researching this. I'll prepare some conclusions next week. This week, I have another lesson with the same student. I hope he does good. I'll let you know.

How to teach a child English

I do not have the answer to that question, yet. However, I'm going to get a chance to learn. Basic English will be easy for me to teach. But, how do I hold the attention of the student? The length of the lesson will only be 10 minutes to start. This is only a learning experience for me. At this time, I don't teach English to children. In the future, this may change. I'm going to use pictures and my web-cam for this lesson. I hope the strength of my personality can save the day.

Children's English

I've been asked to teach an 8 year old boy using Skype. His mother will be present for the lesson. Her level of English is only about intermediate. I think I'll teach and prepare her first. A slide-show of pictures is a good idea. I'll run a series of pictures for him to look at. This will keep his attention. His mother can act like a translator/helper during the lesson. I plan to continue to research children's education. I don't think this is going to be easy. I'll keep you posted. Bye for now.

American Pit Bull

How about this picture? Shady is a pit bull like the one pictured. They are big and strong. However, Pit Bulls are very gentle dogs as you can see by this picture.

Making friends on Skype

It's never easy to make good friends anywhere. There are good people using Skype. My Japanese friends and students always turn on SkypeMe mode and sit back and wait for contacts. Commonly, they receive rude and unwanted messages. My advice is for the student to make contact first. Search for people you want to talk to. Then, compose an introductory message. Americans appreciate and are grateful if you contact first. This is quite natural. We will talk more about this. Please contact me and I will show you a good way to contact people on Skype. Bye for now.

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day. Mother's Day is a holiday originally started in America. In 1912, Anna Jarvis championed the idea of a Mother's day. In 1914, President Woodrow Wilson sign it into law making the second Sunday Mother's Day. Once again, Happy Mother's Day!

English Workshop

Congradulations! Mr. Sakurai. Your new web-shop is a very good site. I wish you the best success in your endeavor. And thank you for allowing me to assist you. You will certainly provide the best possible services to your students.

What to do on Skype

If all you want to do is type in English, you can do it on Skype. However, you miss the main point of Skype. Skype allows us to talk directly. English is a language which means it was spoken first then written down. Use Skype to speak! Besides it is faster to speak than to type. We'll talk more about this again. Bye for now.

Skype?

Yes, Skype. It's an easy way to talk to someone in a different country. Skype is owned by E-Bay, the on-line auction house. Skype accounts are free, all that is needed is a computer. Skype can be linked to a cell phone also. I'm using Skype now. How about you?

How many times a week do I need to study?

The answer of course varies with the student. Lessons 2 or 3 times a week allows the student the chance to memorize and then use their English. The more the better. We'll talk more about this later. Say hello to Ginger, everyone!