Sad news

Dear friends,

I'm sorry to post this very, very sad news. The following is the quote from Judy's email to me today. I don't want to believe the news, but this kind of news can't be a joke.

"Last week we were shocked to hear the news that Terri Menacker has passed away. We don't have a lot of information as to what happened--we only know that she was found in her home and the death is under investigation. I dislike being the bearer of this shocking news, but I thought you would want to know. Please feel free to pass this new along to other EFL teacher seminar participants. I know you all appreciated her tremendously and learned a lot from her. This is a great loss to the ESL community in Hawaii."

With profound sorrow,

Bobby

Wassup

Hello everyone,

When I was looking for a funny commercial about Japanese canned coffee, I found a series of Bud commercial on YouTube. How do you like them?

Suntory Boss CM
http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=hKeLrUC5KWg

Bud CM
http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=UDTZCgsZGeA&feature=related

Enjoy!

Bobby

Professional Development Seminar 2008

Hello friends,

Sorry for posting no messages for ages, but I can clearly recall everyone still now. Actually, I had a chance to talk with SuLing for four hours on an afternoon and talked about many of you. She remembers all the participant's name, face, what she/he did. She has awesome memory.

I wanted to let you know what happened in the seminar this year. The main event, I think, was going to the cave in the mountain. (Thank you, Terry, for driving the huge van.) We could go inside the tunnel which is the source of water in Hawaii. The activities were placed around the central theme of water. Those who couldn't come to Hawaii this year missed the chance of experiencing the exiting tour.

I hope you all keep having wonderful time in teaching and learning English. Oh, by the way, if you have time on the weekend of November 1-3, come to National Olympics Memorial Youth Center in Yoyogi, Tokyo. You can enjoy JALT 2008. http://www.jalt.org/conference

OK. Take care. Don't catch cold. Aloha.

Bobby

I Took TOEIC Again

Hello everyone,

I hope all of you are having a great spring time now. Cold winter is over and I am enjoying cherry blossoms even here in Akita. Today I received my TOEIC score. It was a little better than the last year's. Pheeew...sweat! I didn't use any test preparation materials this year. The only exception was _Triple Moshi 2_ which is published from The Japan Times. However, I have read many different sort of books since last year. I feel extensive reading really works for improving our language competencies. OK. I hope I'll see you this summer at UH. Take care.

Bobby

Hello, everyone. My name is Chihiro. I attended the EFL Teacher Training Seminar this summer for the first time. It was a very exciting and stimulating experience. I met Bobby, Shunichi, Yuki, and Jahee there. All of them were stimulating, too. I wish I had known the seminar when I was younger. But never too late to learn, I believe. Thank you for inviting me to this blog. (This is the first time I'm writing in a blog. )

The Theme is the "Theme"

Hello everyone,

How are you doing? I am in UH Student Center now to write this message. Shun-ichi, Yuki, and I have been attending the seminar this year. (Chihiro and Jae is also here. I think I will introduce them to this blog soon.)The overall theme is "theme" this year: CBI (Content-Based Instruction) is used as the main theme, and the essence of CBI is not only in its being the combination of subjects and English instruction but also of in its being a "theme" or topic. So the idea is not just a combination of nuts and bolts but an organic combination of instructional elements. Don't understand? Come back next year and you'll learn what it means. I am sure that you will have a life-changing experience in learning in UH. Those who did not come missed a big chance of getting a very, very interesting lectures of Terry, SuLing, and Alice. Hey, come back to Hawaii next year.

OK. Take care, everyone. Have a good summer holidays! Aloha!

Bobby

Integrated Skills

I'm intending to take TOEFL test in the near future. Of course, I took TOEFL test several times in the past. you know that there is a major change of TOEFL test this year. It’s called TOEFL ibt which have no Grammar Test any more. TOEFL ibt focuses on Integrated Skills: Speaking, Writing. I understand that EFL teachers seminar at UH OUTREACH Manoa this year reacts to this change. Now I’m interested in the program now.
As for my classes, I ‘rebuilt ’ my principles of class to keep up with Integrated Skills. My class has been changed drastically: students should work on all the items with summarizing in writing or speaking. And all the classes I teach are carried on only English like Bobby’s classes.

Shunichi