There's a way.

I spent two hours speaking English with my friends today. At first, I felt my English got rusty somewhat; it might be because I had to be absent from the last workshop because of the flu. Practice is surely needed. Being idle will get us nowhere. I perfectly understand this, but to tell the truth, I haven't studied English much these days. I have been apt to use my time reading books which are written in Japanese.
I love reading.
I used to be a bookworm when I was young. I'd say I realized again how fun reading is!
That reminds me, I wanted to be a novelist when I was a child. I liked writing things, and one of my teachers gave me a compliment on my writings. I might be able to try writing a novel now...

Another question has just popped up in my head and I'm writing about this here, but please don't read this journal more if you haven't finished the last edition of Harry Potter books yet because I'm giving away one of hidden secrets....



























Okay, let me ask you.


















Where do Harry and Ginny live after getting married?



















I've just read an article saying that they must live in the Burrow, but I'm a bit skeptical about it. Could be, but what do you think?

My daughter took an English exam called the STEP test today; STEP stands for "Society for Testing English Proficiency." This was her second time to take the 5th grade test. I'd like her to get a passing score this time because she didn't pass it last year and she was quite disappointed. I don't want to see her looking down again. It turns, however, that she made a lot of mistakes on her test. It means there seems to be a dim future. In any event, we'll see her result within a month. I hope she passes...

It may be a bit out of season to mention this, but my family and I go to see a film on every New Year's Day. To be honest, animated films are not my cup of tea, but I can't be picky if I need to have something with my children. This year, we picked up the film titled "WALL・E."
I like the story; an abandoned robot whose name is WALL・E lives in the desolate earth and one day comes across a latest brand-new robot, Eve. He falls in love with her, and then aims to get to know her; however, she seems to have a secret to show up in the earth....
There were some scenes that made us laugh, and my children loved them. There are many films related to an issue of environmental protection, but I recommend this to you as the one for both grown-ups and children.

I like Harry Potter books very much. I'm still curious about Harry's story and mysteries. The more I read it, the more I have questions. Here is one of them.

How did Lily protect a baby boy, Harry?

Voldemort used to say that the magic was one of old charms and he completely knew what it was. Dumbledore often explained to Harry that the magic was "Mother's love." In fact, what kind of magic is it, and what is it called?


James's death didn't protect Lily and Harry because his wife could have lived after his death. Unfortunately, James was just about to be killed and he was not given any choice to live. He might have had no time to shout any magical words in order to escape from Voldemort's sudden attack. On the other hand, Lily knew something about the possible effect to protect Harry and did that. Her love protected Harry, and Voldemort lost his body. Actually, how did she do it? What magical word did she whisper?


I'm dying to know the answer. Does anyone know!?

She and I got to know each other around four years ago. She used to live in Kumamoto where I did as well, and we were both interested in studying English after getting married. Having a lot in common, we soon became good friends. Unfortunately, she is moving at the end of this month. She has been quite busy preparing for her new life in Osaka.
"I'll never forget you," she said. Actually, this is what I want to say! She is kind, bright, and warm. We'll live apart, but I'm sure we can be friends forever.

I caught a bad cold last week. At first, I started coughing a bit, and then I got to feel intense pain all over my body. By the time I had a high fever, I couldn't do anything but just lie down. I thought I seriously needed to see a doctor to remove my pain, but I couldn't move an inch.

I didn't sleep well, and I lost my appetite completely. All I could do was just to stay in bed. On the 3rd day, my husband took a day off, and took me to a hopital. I was diagnosed as the flu. It has been 4 days since I came down with this, but I've been still ill. The flu affected me badly. This might be because I had missed not only the flu shot but good nights' sleep.

There is a flu going around. I hope you can get away from the nasty cold.

I've made up mind to take an English class again, which I attended for 3 months last year. With my friends, I'm taking the same class, English Writing. We'll learn how to write things in effective and concise way. Actually, this is what I've been wanting to know. I would say that our teacher is a competent instructor; I have learned a lot from him. As usual, I lost track of time.

I regret to say that I didn't prepare myself for today's lesson. I'll do my best for next time.

My children were supposed to take a test at a cram school in the morning, and I drove them there. When I parked my car in a parking lot near the school, I realized that I had left my wallet at home. How foolish! I kept saying to my children not forget their belongings...
I came running back home because my driver's license was in it.

My husband likes baseball very much. Likewise, our 7-year-old son never misses a chance to play baseball with his friends every day. "Like father, like son", as they say.

Today is Saturday, so our children had a swimming lessons this morning. When we got home after having ramen for lunch, my husband asked me to play baseball with him. Well, why not? I used to play volleyball, tennis, football, and basketball when I was a child, after all. I've enjoyed various sports in my life. "Sure, I can play catch," I thought. But little did I know that we would be playing for over two hours straight.

I'm exhausted.

My husband took a day off, so we ate out for lunch the other day. He has been recommending a restaurant near Hakata harbour, and now I finally understand why he loves so much.

They serve many delicious cuisines at quite reasonable prices. My husband ordered うに(sea urchin)丼, our kids ate まぐろ(tuna)丼, and I had 海鮮(sea-food）丼. It looks quite delicious in the picture, doesn't it?

My friend visited me with her lovely girls today. She is not only my friend, but also my rival. She speaks English fluently, so I always try to learn from her. Our children are also good friends each other, so my friend and I had a nice chat in English while they were playing together.
We had pizza for lunch that I prepared. I was very pleased to see our kids eating like a horse!

I've been reading English newspapers in order to improve my reading skills. The other day, I found an article about coming Japanese new English education system which would begin in April 2013.


According to Shukan ST, a new teaching guideline released Dec.22 calls for high school English classes to be taught primarily in English.

The drive is aimed at enhancing students' English communication skills, according to the Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry. The level of vocabulary would match the level taught in China and South Korea, ministry officials said.

How come have they come up with this idea? This is absolutely ridiculous. Of course, it'd be wonderful if it is possible; however, I'm skeptical about how many teachers and students could deal with this way of study. It's obvious that many Japanese people can't speak English even though they have been studying it for at least 6 years in school. There are a lot of teachers who had such an English education in their school days. They still have a lot of difficulties speaking English. Do you think they could explain grammartical things in English to their students? I'm afraid I don't think so.

I took an English writing class last year. Our teacher was a native English speaker, who spoke only English in his class. For the first time, I experienced how tough taking a class in English was. I understood what he was talking about, but some grammartical terms confused me a lot and I couldn't explain them! I thought I got used to communicating with people in English, but this skill was not enough. I couldn't do anything but smile bitterly to think how foolish I had been.

Don't get me wrong. I don't mean to say that Japanese English teachers don't have any abilities to teach English. They are surely capable of it and know how to do. However, we have to understand this; teaching English in English is a totally different story.

A Happy New Year!

I'm so pleased to be back here after having holidays at my hometown, Kumamoto. I'm going to keep writing things in English in order to improve my English skills. I'd appreciate if you'd help me. Thank you for visiting this site. I hope you'll come back here to see me!