I Miss My Grade 3ers!!

Yesterday was the graduation of the grade three students at middle school (9th year of schooling). And I didn’t get to be there Yes, I’m sad about that because I got to know my grade 3 students the best out of all of them – especially the girls who were a lot of fun. Last week they had a fun goodbye party where the whole school played games. One of the competitions was for...

Why books for 10 year olds are easier than books for 5 year olds

Previously I’ve posted about Japanese children’s stories and also websites intended for Japanese children. At the time I was experimenting with children’s books but the experience ultimately left me a bit frustrated. The vocabulary (both content and the fact it was mostly hiragana) was difficult and the content was a bit juvenile (while stories about shrinking and flying on the...

Eating Update

Two weeks ago I said I was working on my fitness. Well, how has the last two weeks been? Well… There has been improvement and there hasn’t been. For starters I think I was getting really good with my food intake, but I’ve let it slip a little this week which is disappointing. All well, this week isn’t over… Let’s look at this first picture of my week of Feb...

Ikuta Toma Is Everywhere And I Like It

Yesterday my grade 9 students were going through the photos on my phone and came across this one. “What’s this?” They asked. I replied, “I love Ikuta Toma!” This got them very very excited indeed. Which in turn got me very excited. One of my students has already seen Ningen Shikkaku, or “No Longer Human” which is Toma’s latest (well, first) film....

Don’t Review Sentences in Your SRS

After a brief love affair with smart.fm (who look like they have actually improved a lot since I last used them – good to know for if/when I go back!), I’ve been back with anki a little while now. One thing I haven’t done in a gazillion years is reviewing sentences. I think perhaps reviewing sentences has its merits but it has never worked for me. I am too focused on trying...