Daio Seishi - English Class Journal

Saturday, April 03, 2004

みなさんこんにちは。
チリは地球の裏側です。
暇なので
harajin@mb.infoweb.ne.jp宛にメールください。
特にジョージ。
チャオ
posted by stone 7:38 PM

Thursday, January 29, 2004

小笹さん、ハワイではお元気にやっていらっしゃいますか？
渡辺さん、オレゴンへの出発はまもなくでしょうか？
思わず、投稿してみたくなってしまいました。
アディオス
posted by stone 4:30 AM

Tuesday, January 13, 2004

Without some intentions, I want to write about the recent circumstances about me so I will appreciate if you take a glance at my writing. You konw, I was transferred to the financial department and I'm gonna to be in charge of planning Daio's financial strateges. I'm very happy to work in such a significant department and I could be very positive about my career. I 'm sure it will be the great experience to work in this department. This opportunity is not always given to anyone. So I can say my situation couldn't be better. But one thing I have to have in mind is careless mistakes won't be acceptable. In the previous department I was surrounded by the budget world. It meant company wouldn't be damaged if I make some silly mistakes about the budget figures. But in nowaday's department if I make some stupid mistkaes, I will make company drop in the risky situation or company's profit will be reduced. In order not to do so, some considerate decisions about work and some technical konwledge are essential to me. At first my first priority is to get some konwledge about finance and the way of being skillful at negotiation to the banks and security companies.
Finally, God Bless You, Ozzie!! I hope your amazing success in Hawai from the bottm of my heart. See you then, everybody.
posted by takuya 4:33 AM

Tuesday, October 28, 2003

At the end of the week I will graduate from this English course. I am supposed to offer my advice to the next class. I have studied English for one year, so I can offer some effective ways to improve listening or reading skill whether I did them enough or not. I intend to write these advices as follows.

1. What did I do to improve my listening ability.
2. What did I do to improve my reading ability.
3. What did I do for the preparation of TOEIC.

posted by Ozzy 1:50 PM

Good afternoon, everyone. I'm very delighted to have the opportunity to make a speech here. I｡ｯd like to talk about what kind of purposes I had in studying English in this class and how I plan to make use of English after this course.
There were two objectives for me in this class. The first was to use English as a tool of communication. The second was to break 800 points on the TOEIC test.

When it came to the first one, I could accomplish it. But I needed to change my mind a little. At the beginning of the class I thought using English as a tool meant to be able to speak English like a native speaker. But I found it impossible to do it within a year because native speakers have been using English since they were born. Therefore I changed my way of thinking. I decided, instead, making myself understood with this language was a more realistic goal. When I considered this as the main purpose of this course, it would be OK even if my English were not fluent. The more important thing is if people can understand my English or not. The fact I am now making a speech proves that I could accomplish first purpose.

Speaking of the second objective, I am very satisfied with my result because I broke 800 points. But this fact does not necessarily show I can be skillful in using English. There are a lot of people capable of using English fluently although their scores are under 800. Taking this into consideration, to exceed 800 doesn't matter. A more important thing is the process I pursue in breaking 800 because to focus on the process means thinking about how to deal with the problem. I stuck to the idea of focusing on reviewing my class work as extra study without using other English reference books. I meant not only to focus on TOEIC study. As a result, my highest score was above 800.

Based on these two things I could learn two things from these methods. They were how to study English effectively and the basis that enabled me to use English fluently. Lastly I want to talk about how I can make the most of the English I learned in this class. My job is not the type that typically uses English. My job is much like that of an accountant. So there will be fewer opportunities for me to use English when I finish this class. In addition it will also be very difficult for me to keep studying English without some special motivation. So the best way is to make studying English relate to my job. So I decided to try to earn certification for English accounting. This qualification will soon be necessary for all Japanese accountant workers. And this qualification has to be up dated every two years. It will help me to keep my motivation high.

Anyway this class is just the departure point for further improvement of my English. The most important thing is to keep doing something. To keep studying English is a good long-term goal for me and for my career. Again I strongly believe I will keep studying English. Thank you for listening.

posted by takuya 7:12 AM

Most important thing is to focus on keeping speaking practice every day. I highly recommend you start it from the beginning of the class. If you don’t intend to improve your listening skill, you will gradually be able to hear what English speakers say. Studying English includes not only hearing but also speaking. If you don’t make efforts to brush up your speaking skill, it won’t be improved. While you are in this English, please keep in mind that to use English means to be able to hear and speak at the same time.

posted by takuya 6:52 AM

Today, Mr. Nagao asked me to drop by the personnel department after class. So as soon as our class finished I went to the headquarters building to meet him. But unfortunately or fortunately, he was in a meeting with some managers. So I couldn’t meet him at that time. Although I waited him for more than one hour, the meeting didn’t finished. So I left a message for him and came back to my dorm for a moment. Finally, around 8:00, he called me. He apologized me and asked me to come to his office tomorrow morning again. He actually had some important information that he couldn’t tell me on the phone. So after hanging up the phone, I visited him directly to hear the information. The information was…I'll leave it to your imagination. Anyway, it was point less information and really far and away under my expectations. I’ll start to pack from tomorrow.
By the way, as our final assignment we have to leave some effective advices for next students. My advices are as follows,
1.What is the most effective way to improve the listening skill?
2.What is the most effective way to improve the speaking skill?
3.I’d like to introduce some effective textbooks that I used.

posted by George 6:22 AM

This English class will finish in three days and next class fill start next month. I herd that the next class was advanced class which consists of four members. I think that all of them are good at English better than me. So I have nothing to advise them. But, as far as I know, I can give them the following advises.
1.vocavulary is a power.
2.contineuing is a power.
3.being active is a power.

posted by fujita 3:07 AM

Monday, October 27, 2003

In the end we will come back to our previous department after the course. After that we will be transferred to some place in December or January. The reason was that the personnel department couldn’t earn CEO’s approval. We could predict the result easily because it’s an usual thing in this company. If I come back to my previous department, I will have nothing to do. In some senses, it will be bitter to me. For people, it is difficult to change their living environments. In this time I should do it. I prefer to go next department immediately, because the timing is appropriate for me to go. On the other hand, I don’t have to prepare for moving at least one month. I will be able to finish my tooth remedy in this city. I will able to choose things which I will abandon before moving. From the point of view, I could get extra time.
posted by Ozzy 1:51 PM

In total today I almost spent my time sleeping in bed for bad cold. But I felt better because of my patient staying at my bed so I tried to write about my journal like this. I'm gonna to talk about the future thing. Now I‘ve been in the situation that makes me difficult to take effective actions about future things but I got some news about Ozzie. According to him we will be back after this class. I’m not sure it will be true but I was very happy to hear that because I will do something like an accountant. One of my hope was to work in the previous department. I’m gonna focus on working to be more skillful in budget planning with more enthusiasm. To my happiness, I’ll continue to study English compared with working in another department. Anyway what I can do is to wish that I can hear this news from personal department officially.
posted by takuya 8:49 AM

I have a touch of a cold, so I can’t concentrate on anything. In addition to that, my favorite professional baseball team, Hanshin Tigers, is about to lose the Japan Championship now. I’m very tired and disappointed. Nevertheless I’m not good, I must prepare for a move. When I participated in this English class, I had a few goods. But, during the course, I bought a lot of things, such as a DVD player, golf sets, a MD player, some clothes and so on. The volume of my belongings obviously increased for this one year. All of them are my memorial goods of this course, so I intend to cherish them.

posted by fujita 3:48 AM

Eventually, we’re having the final week of this English course. I’ll do my best during the last several days. By the way, today I got the information about our next place. According to the manager of the personnel department, we’ll return to our previous jobs for the moment. But he actually said to me, “for the moment”, it meant that I’ll be transferred to another department in the near future. During this temporary return, what should I do? Although I’ll return to the Osaka branch probably as a salesman, I will not be in charge of any clients because I’m a temporary salesperson. Will I have to clean my office all day? Will I have to clean up a lot of documents all day? Or I could keep this journal entry after I finished this English course. I have no idea. In addition, the manager also said to me that in fact we have some plan of your next place, but we couldn’t get the approval of our CEO. What is their plan? I wanted to know about it exactly, but he didn’t say anymore. So after I came back to my room, I made a phone call to my previous boss to know our company’s plan. And then, I also heard really shocking news from him. During the phone call, I said “really?” to him again and again. I couldn’t believe my ears, but judging from his information, I’ll be transferred to an unknown department that is completely beyond my imagination.
posted by George 3:24 AM

When I was playing online poker through internet, one of chiefs in my previous department called me. He isn’t my direct boss, so I couldn’t see why he called me. But he asked me when I’d finish this English course, so I could understand the department which I’d work for next. If I returned to the same division as before, the first publishing paper sales division, my direct boss should call me. Probably I will work for the second division, but I don’t know how long I should work there because most of my classmates will be told where they will be transferred at the beginning of the next year. Strictly speaking, my classmates except for Mark and maybe me won’t be able to spend winter vacation happily because of anxiety for their next position. I’m feeling strong sympathy for them.
By the way, do you remember Alex? He also called me and told me that he would come to R&D at the end of this month in order to attend our graduation-like ceremony and express his thanks to us.

posted by Tetsuya 3:14 AM

Sunday, October 26, 2003

On Sunday I felt sick so I went to bed till noon. After that I felt better so I went to the coffee shop for reading books. In the coffee shop I ate lunch while reading. I was planning to go home by 3:00 but I was absorbed in reading so I stayed there till 5:00. When I went back to my room, my co-worker called me and came to my room. We talked about his job and the thing after English class while drinking some beer. He went back to his dorm at 9:00PM and I realized I didn’t clean my room and cleaned my clothes so I started to do them. I was a little drunk so it was hard for me to do them quickly. After doing them I feel sick again so I fell in bed around 11:00PM.
posted by takuya 4:29 PM

I went to Takamatsu City to rewrite my license to drive ship on Saturday. It had passed five years since I had had the license and it was the time to rewrite it. I went a course for thirty minutes and then watched video program about thirty minutes. That’s the all. The procedure was very simple even though I paid for it ten thousand yen. The expiration date was yesterday so I had to go for it on Saturday. I don’t know I will have a chance to drive a ship or not in near future. After the course, I went to some shops in Takamatsu. I don’t know where will I go after the English course, but there is a possibility to be transferred to another area. When I thought about it, some strange feeling was occurred in my mind. Again where will we go after the class？
posted by Ozzy 2:34 PM

I participated in a graduation golf competition which took place in Elleair C.C. with George and Terry. It was the second time that I played golf in a golf course. The previous score was 140, and this score was 134 and was better than the previous one. But I’m not satisfied with the results because I didn’t hit balls well with iron clubs and a patter club. Only one thing that I could be satisfied with was that I could hit balls with a third wood club. I thought strongly that I had to practice pats in order to score under 130.
Anyway, it was the last time that I could play golf with classmates during the English course. I must find friends who can play golf with me after this course.

posted by fujita 3:56 AM

On Saturday, I went to the Elleair golf club Matsuyama with Mark and terry as we planed. We were really blessed with good weather, in addition I could get the second-best score over past five years. So I could have a great time with them. I could save five pars, including one chip-in par. As you know a women’s professional golf tournament will be held there next month, so the difficulty of the golf course was beyond my imagination. But as Terry wrote in his journal, the clubhouse was very beautiful and gorgeous. If I get the opportunity to play golf there in the near future, I want to go there again. However, playing golf is one of the expensive hobbies, so after I become a father, it must be more difficult to play golf than before.
By the way, as I said before, the manager of the golf course is my previous boss. I met him there for the first time in one year. Although he looked a little tired, he welcomed us.

By the way, Stone did the good job in Shizuoka as a runner of the Ehime prefectural team at the Shizuoka national athletic meet. His record is here.
posted by George 2:44 AM

According to the plan, I went to Elleair Matsuyama golf club with George and Mark. To my regret, I couldn’t get up in time, so they came to my room to wake me up. On the way to the golf course, I kept sleeping in Mark’s car and woke up when we got to the course.
Anyway, when I entered the club house, I was surprised to see its gorgeous building. It was the most gorgeous building that I’d ever visited in Shikoku area.

posted by Tetsuya 1:39 AM

Thursday, October 23, 2003

Good afternoon, everyone. I’m very delighted to have the opportunity to make a speech here. I’d like to talk about what kind of purposes I had in studying English in this class and how I plan to make use of English after this course.
There were two objectives for me in this class. The first was to use English as a tool of communication. The second was to break 800 points on the TOEIC test.

When it came to the first one, I could accomplish it. But I needed to change my mind a little. At the beginning of the class I thought using English as a tool meant to be able to speak English like a native speaker. But I found it impossible to do it within a year because native speakers have been using English since they were born. Therefore I changed my way of thinking. I decided, instead, making myself understood with this language was a more realistic goal. When I considered this as the main purpose of this course, it would be OK even if my English was not fluent. The fact I am now making a speech proves that I could achieve the first purpose.

Speaking of the second objective, I am very satisfied with my result even though I couldn’t reach 800 points. But even if I could get this score, it wouldn’t necessarily show I could be skillful in using English. There are a lot of people capable of using English fluently although their scores are under 800. Taking this into consideration, to exceed 800 doesn’t matter. A more important thing is the process I pursue in breaking 800 because to focus on the process means thinking about how to deal with the problem. I stuck to the idea of focusing on reviewing my class work as extra study without using other English reference books. I meant not only to focus on TOEIC study. As a result my highest score was close to 800.

Based on these two things I could learn two things from methods. They were how to study English effectively and the basis that enabled me to use English fluently. Lastly I want to talk about how I can make the most of the English I learned in this class. My job is not the type that typically uses English. My job is much like that of an accountant. So there will be fewer opportunities for me to use English when I finish this class. In addition it will also be very difficult for me to keep studying English without some special motivation. Therefore, the best way is to make studying English relate to my job. So I decided to try to earn certification for English accounting. This qualification will soon be necessary for all Japanese accountant workers. And this qualification has to be up dated every two years. It will help me to keep my motivation high.

Anyway this class is just the departure point for further improvement of my English. The most important thing is to keep doing something. To keep studying English is a good long-term goal for me and for my career. Again I strongly believe I will keep studying English. Thank you for listening.

posted by takuya 10:41 PM

Hello everyone. I am happy to graduate from the English course and give a speech in front of you as a result of my study today. Before participating in the English course, I had been interested in the music and movies of foreign countries, especially the US and the UK. Although I had had a desire to master English, I had not done anything for it and only time had passed. I still remember vividly my surprise and delight when I was told I would participate in this course under the circumstances.
After the course began I realized immediately that written English is completely different from spoken English. In the class, using Japanese was forbidden and I struggled because I couldn’t express easily what I wanted to say. Additionally, I didn’t understand even basic grammar at first. It made me realize how superficial my learning was back in my school days. Sometimes I was irritated by my slow improvement of my skill. But I managed to finish the course while maintaining my motivation because I could continue to envisage an ideal image of myself of being a skillful English user when I finished the course. At this moment, I think back with pride that I often had to keep late hours in order to finish my homework.
We had not only lectured textbooks, but a wide variety of things, such as U.S. news programs, movies, dramas, music, and English papers. I wanted to study not only the language but also the way of thinking, or culture, so all of those offered fresh perspectives. Because of these teaching materials, I could continue studying without becoming bored even though I usually get tired of things easily. Practical use of the Internet was very effective for me. There were abundant sites for English study, almost as many in number as there are stars in the sky. It was an effective way to read articles which I had interest in and develop my vocabulary and language ability. As for me, it was killing two birds with one stone.
Although the course will end today, I think rather that the future is more important. It will be different from this year as I will have to do business and study English at the same time. Fortunately in this class I could rediscover the pleasure of learning which I had forgotten. I intend to establish an on-going routine and continue studying for the sake of enjoying it. I think that I want to become a man who can think flexibly. To do that, I intend to gather information by using both English and Japanese.
Although we come to the end of the course, I am truly thankful to Mr. Campbell and Mr. Wright who taught tenaciously for one year, and the classmates with whom I studied and worked hard. I am looking forward to the day when we might work together. I appreciate your listening.

posted by Ozzy 10:33 PM

I am very glad to have the opportunity to make this speech today. Thank you for your attendance.
I want to try to look back to this year and talk about what I was thinking throughout my English study.
The targets I made for myself when the class began have almost been achieved. One year ago I had three general targets, achieving a high TOEIC score, improving my speaking skill, and trying to learn not only the language but also the culture of English speaking countries as well. Now I feel my TOEIC score is high enough to let me live in foreign countries. The company’s speaking test shows my speaking skill has improved. I could learn both English and culture through many media, conversation in the class and so on.
To achieve the first two targets, TOEIC success and conversation improvement, I focused on how I should concentrate on the class. In class, we could talk with our classmates as well as our teacher in English. While talking with our classmates, whenever we made a mistake about our usage of English, the teacher corrected us. In the class, our teacher spoke only English so we had to communicate with him in English. I thought the class was the best and the most proper place to study English.
Everyday we spent one third or one fourth of the day watching ABC News and discussing some of the stories. Due to my lack of English skill, I couldn’t take part in all of the discussions. The same thing happened when I didn’t have sufficient knowledge of the news. When I couldn’t say anything during the discussion, I knew it was because of my ignorance about common things. I realized some amount of knowledge was necessary in order to have meaningful discussions. To participate in the discussions, I tried to absorb various information. I could acquire a lot of knowledge about things like history, economies, society and science, I had not known about before through different mass media both in English and in Japanese. The deeper knowledge I got, the more significant remarks I could make, and at the same time my English improved. Since I saw news from various viewpoints, I realized it was important to consider other ideas from many viewpoints. In addition, I could learn English culture.
English is just one language. Like Japanese, to speak refined English, I have to be a sophisticated person. To do this, although the class ends today, I will try to continue broadening my mind about the world from a worldwide viewpoint.

posted by stone 10:31 PM

I’m happy to finish this one-year English course under the new system. I thought before participating in this English course, "This course will be like magic, and I can improve my English skill by only taking lessons." Now that I’ve finished it, I can say that we can’t improve our English skills without effort.

I had two targets, before participating in this course.
The first target was to enhance my listening ability up to the level at which I could understand spoken English without relying on interpreters. For example, like being able to understand what was said during meetings with overseas companies.
The second one was to improve my speaking ability so that I could express my opinions in English.
As a concrete target, I used the scale which the Personnel Department set up. Judging from my grades and assesments, I think that I’ve achieved acceptable results. But, in my feeling, even now I don’t think that I’ve reached the level at which I can use English in business.

In order to achieve the targets, I first tackled memorizing a lot of words and idioms. I thought it was impossible to understand a conversation if I didn’t know the meaning of each word, even if I could hear them perfectly. However, since I memorized the words by sight, at first, even if words I had already known appeared in conversations with Ron or on ABC news, I couldn’t catch them. So, I changed my method to memorizing orally. I think that my listening ability dramatically improved because of this change.

On the other hand, even now I can’t recomend what is the best method to improve one’s speaking ability. Many instructors often say, "Think in English and talk in English," or "Don't translate Japanese into English in your head," but I think that it is very difficult to reach that level in one year. So, even if I made a mistake, I concentrated on talking without hesitation. Whenever I made a mistake, Ron or my classmates would correct me. I could improve my speaking ability by their grace. And, in order to confirm whether my English skill was functional or not, I went abroad for this summer vacation. Even though I ended up answering some questions in English in spite of them having been asked to me in Japanese, I was very happy to be able to listen to and speak English better than in earlier travels.

Fortunately, before participating in this English course, I was given a lot of opportunities to use English in business; such as having meetings with overseas companies and going abroad on business trips. I think that I was chosen for this English course to deepen and extend relationships with overseas companies further. After this course, I’d like to continue to study English so that I can reply to this company’s expectation.

Last but not least, I thank Ron and my classmates who taught me not only English but also various fields’ knowledge.

posted by fujita 10:31 PM

First of all, I’d like to express my present feeling honestly. I’m very pleased to make this speech in front of you. As I look back on this English course, it’s a huge boost to my confidence that I could complete the entire course. Even though we started with 12 students because of our class’s elimination system, at the end of the course, the number of students had been reduced by half.
About one year ago, when my boss informed me that I would be able to participate in this course, I was really grateful. I had wanted to join this course for more than three years. As I mentioned at the opening ceremony, when I invited a printer from Thailand to our factory, I couldn’t make myself understood in English at all. At that time I strongly felt that it was very important to learn English. However, my boss also said, “If you cannot achieve the performance target, you will have to return soon.” When I first heard this, I did not take it earnestly. I believed that it was just the language of encouragement coming from him. I think that probably the other students had similar feelings. However, when training progressed and the first two students were chosen to return to their previous jobs, it became a real thing and the class atmosphere dramatically changed. I think it is a fact that this system became a big driving force for this class. On the other hand, we had to spend more time studying for TOEIC than for speaking practice because the standard of omission was mostly based on our TOEIC scores. And as a necessary evil, my speaking ability was lower than I’d expected. But in total, due to this system, students can maintain their motivation during this English course, so I think this system should continue from now on. Moreover, I felt that the class was a kind of cross-industrial association, because our class consisted of engineers, accountants, and salespeople, and they were from various departments like printing paper division, home paper division, or our company’s subsidiaries, so it seemed very significant to me.
Next, I’d like to turn to the contents of our lessons. We watched ABC news every day and learned a lot of new words and idioms through the news. In addition, we had discussions about several topics from the news in class. Because of that, I could learn not only English, but also the historical backgrounds, economic situations and the policies of other countries. Our teacher always tried to make his lessons interesting. For example, we planned TV commercials, and made a presentation to other students as a client. At the beginning of the Iraqi War, he said that many marketing and sales expressions came from military terms. So I could learn not only a lot of marketing terms but also about the marketing strategy from the war. I also made some English-speaking friends who live in the United States, Spain, and Australia through e-mail.
During this English course, I was always thinking about how I could manage my time effectively. And my greatest discovery through this training is that in fact I can make a lot of free time and use it for my own indulgence or use it towards my own development. Although it may be a little difficult for me to find free time from now on, I’ll try to continue to study English and improve myself.

posted by George 7:38 PM

This is my turn to choose a movie for our class. Maybe this is the last chance that I choose a movie for the class. I tried to choose as good movie as I could. I wondered which one I choose. At first I choose “Shining”. The movie was directed by Stanley Kubrick, very famous director. He is well known as his masterpiece “2001: a space Odyssey”.
But I had to give up both of these movies. The reason was very simple. They are too long. Both of them are almost three hours. It is also the fact that I prefer to watch long movies to short movies, of course long good movies. At last I choose “The Graduate”. The main actor is Dustin Huffman as I mentioned it yesterday. It was his major debut as actor according to the DVD jacket. I have ever watched it when I was in college. I don’t remember the detail, but it was interesting. It’s a very old movie, produced in 1967, but people should watch it. The movie is a sort of general culture I think. I hope classmates will enjoy the movie.

posted by Ozzy 6:48 PM

I read an article in a magazine. The second most terrible crisis of a marriage couple will come when their children leave their home because they start to work or go to colleage. When is the most terrible crisis?
It is when the first child is born. To look back to the last year, I can agree this article. It couldn't be called crisis but I felt strange because I had a daughter. After my daughter was born, everything was changed. The T sheet of pro and con was dramatically changed. Things I could do before of the delivery became things I couldn't do. Time I could spend became much less. So I want to recommend to someone who will have a new child that they should receive the change.
posted by stone 4:24 PM

Today, I went to the golf range with Mark and Terry. It was for the first time in about one month; actually I didn?ft hit the ball after I went to play golf in August. So my swing was terrible, and I couldn?ft hit the ball at all. I?fm very afraid of this weekend?fs golf. Though it may be the last time that I play golf in Ehime, I?fm seriously wondering if I could hit the ball in Elleair Matsuyama Golf club. Anyway, I hope that it would be fine day on Saturday, and I could enjoy playing golf with my classmates.
By the way, today I got new information about my next place. According to a manager who is working in the Osaka branch, there is a possibility that I will be transferred to the Gaizai department in Tokyo headquarters. Anyway I?fd like to know where I would be transferred to as soon as possible. So I?fll go to the Personnel department to ask my next place tomorrow because if I were transferred to another area, I would have to look for my new apartment.

posted by George 10:06 AM

I was a little relieved because I could decide a treatment of my car after this English course. My wife called me and told to me that her sister wanted my car. She has never driven a car since she got a driver’s license. My car has a lot of scratches and dents, so I think that my car is suitable for a layman to drive because a driver doesn’t have to care about making scratches and dents. And she is living in Kanagawa Prefecture now, so it is very easy for me to take my car to her house and exchange ownership.
Anyway, I’m very glad because I don’t have to worry about my car anymore. I can sleep well from now on.

posted by fujita 7:38 AM

Good afternoon, everyone. I知 very delighted to have the opportunity to make a speech here. I壇 like to talk about what kind of purposes I had in studying English in this class and how I plan to make use of English after this cause.
There were two objectives for me in this class. The first was to use English as a tool of communication. The second was to break 800 points on the TOEIC test.

When it came to first the one, I could accomplish it. But I needed to change my mind a little. At the beginning of the class I thought using English as a tool meant to be able to speak English like a native speaker. But I found it impossible to do it within a year because native speakers have been using English since they were born. Therefore I changed my way of thinking. I decided, instead, making myself understood with this language was a realistic goal. When I considered this as the main purpose of this course, it would be OK even if my English were not fluent. The fact I am now making a speech proves that I could accomplish first purpose.

Speaking of the second objective, I am very satisfied with my result even though I couldn稚 reach 800 points. But even if I could get this score, it wouldn稚 show I could be skillful in using English. There are a lot of people capable of using English fluently although their scores are under 800. Taking this into consideration, to exceed 800 doesn稚 matter. A more important thing is the process I pursue in breaking 800 because to focus on the process means thinking about how to deal with the problem. I stuck to the idea of focusing on reviewing my class work as extra study without using other English reference books. I meant not only to focus on TOEIC study. As a result my highest score was close to 800.

Based on these two things I could learn two things from methods. They were how to study English effectively and the basis that enabled me to use English fluently. At last I want to talk about how I can make the most of the English I learned in this class. My job is not the type that typically uses English. My job is like an accountant. So there will be fewer opportunities for me to use English when I finish this class. In addition it will also be very difficult for me to keep studying English without some special motivation. So the best way is to make studying English relate to my job. So I decided to try to earn qualification for English accounting. This qualification will soon be necessary for all Japanese accountant workers. And this qualification has to be up dated every two years. It will help me to keep my motivation high.

Anyway this class is just the departure point for further improvement of my English. The most important thing is to keep doing something. To keep studying English is a good long 釦erm goal for me and for my career. Again I strongly believe I will keep studying English. Thank you for listening.

posted by takuya 7:19 AM

I went to Toyo golf range with George and Mark. This practice will be the last one in this area and also was the most important because we’re planning to play golf at Elleair golf club on Saturday.
After that, we went to Kaikatei which was started on October 10th. George treated us again. Thanks to him, we could have a good meal there.
By the way, today was the last day of Mishima Taiko festival, so roads around this area were very crowded. I can’t understand why people in this area are so enthusiastic about such a festival.

posted by Tetsuya 6:14 AM

Wednesday, October 22, 2003

I am very glad to have the opportunity to make this speech today. Thank you for your attendance.
I want to try to look back to this year and talk about what I was thinking through out my English study.
The targets I made for myself when the class began have almost been achieved. One year ago I had three general targets, achieving a high TOEIC score, improving my speaking skill, and trying to learn not only the language but also the culture of English speaking countries as well. Now I feel my TOEIC score is high enough to let me live in foreign countries. The company’s speaking test shows my speaking skill has improved. I could learn both English and culture through many media, conversation in the class and so on.
To achieve the first two targets, TOEIC success and conversation improvement, I focused on how I should concentrate on the class. In class, we could talk with our classmates as well as our teacher in English. While talking with our classmates, whenever we made a mistake about our usage of English, the teacher corrected us. In the class, our teacher spoke only English so we had to communicate with him in English. I thought the class was the best and the most proper place to study English.
Everyday we spent one third or one fourth of the day watching ABC News and discussing some of the stories. Due to my lack of English skill, I couldn’t take part in the discussions. The same thing happened when I didn’t have sufficient knowledge of the news. When I couldn’t say anything during the discussion, I knew it was because of my ignorance about common things. I realized some amount of knowledge was necessary in order to have meaningful discussions. In order to participate in the discussions, I tried to absorb various information. I could acquire a lot of knowledge about things like history, economies, society and science, I had not known about before through different mass media both in English and in Japanese. The deeper knowledge I got, the more significant remark, I could make and at the same time my English improved. Since I saw news from various viewpoints, I realized it important to consider other ideas from many viewpoints. In addition, I could learn English culture.
English is just one language. Like Japanese, to speak refined English, I have to be a sophisticated person. To do this, although the class ends today, I will try to continue broadening my mind about the world from a worldwide viewpoint.

posted by stone 10:17 PM

Today I watched a movie in the class. The title was “Kramer vs. Kramer”. It was the third time for me to watch it. About ten years ago, I watched it at the first time. At that time, I was really impressed with the movie. It is a little ashamed to say, I watched it with tears in my eyes. I watched it again about six months ago. At that time, I was not moved than before. I thought that if my sensibility was decreased. Today I reconfirmed that the movie is one of the masterpieces in the movie history. I have watched a lot of movies in my life, but there are only few movies which I had really impressed. Dustin Huffman had become one of my favorite actors after I watched the movie. I can recommend everyone to watch the movie which he played. I think he had selected the movies and roles carefully which he played. Because it is difficult to find out trash which he starred. I mentioned before, “Serpico” is one of my favorite movies. I remember that I was very impressed when I watched it.
posted by Ozzy 6:21 PM

Do you know "doping"? I am not sure that this word is used in English as same meaning as in Japanese. When we take part in sport competition, we use some medicines in order to make our body or our mental stronger. Ben Johnson was famous for his doping discovered. From this year, in the National Athelete Competition they will test the doping. Randomly some players will be chosen to test, not only No. 1 player. I can be tested next week. I got a booklet about the doping. The book says what the doping is, what purpose the doping has, what procedure the doping foce us to do, and what medicines are possible to be black. Cafeine is bad, for example. I have to stop drinking coffee, green tea, tea, chocolate. There are a lot of prohibited medicines and drinks. From today, I have to be careful about it.
posted by stone 4:21 PM

Good morning, everyone. I’m very delighted to have the opportunity to make a speech here. I’d like to talk about what kind of purposes I had in studying English in this class and how I plan to make use of to use English after this English
There were two objectives for me in this class. The first was to use English as a tool of communication. The second was to break 800 points on the TOEIC test.

When it comes to first one, I could accomplish. But I needed to change my mind a little. At the binning of the class I thought using English as a tool means to be able to speak English like a native speaker. But I found it impossible to do it within a year because native speakers have been using English from the beginning of their birth to the last. Therefore I changed my mind. I decided instead making myself understood with this language was a realistic goal. When I consider this main purpose on this course, it will be OK even though my English is not fluent. The fact I am now making a speech proves that I could accomplish first purpose.

Speaking of second objective, I am very satisfied with my result even though I couldn’t reach 800 points. But if I could get this score, it wouldn’t show I could be skillful in using English. There are a lot of people capable of using English fluently although their scores are under 800. Take this into consideration, to exceed 800 doesn’t matter. A more important thing is to the process I purse in breaking 800 because to focus on the process means thinking about the process in dealing with the problem. I stuck to the idea of focusing on the review of the class work as an extra study without using other English reference books. It means not to only focus on the TOEIC study. As a result again my score was almost close to be 800.

Based on these two things I could learn two things from these purposes. They are how to study English effectively and the basis that enables me to use English fluently. At last I want to talk about how I can make most of English I learned in this class. My job is not the type of using English. I am some kind of accounting person. So there will be fewer opportunities to use English when I finish this class. In addition it will also be very difficult for me to keep studying English without special motivations. So the best way is to make studying English relate to my job. So I decided to get the qualification for English accounting. This qualification will soon be necessary for the accounting worker. And this qualification should be up dated every two years. It will help me to keep my motivation high.

Anyway this class is just the departure for further improvement of English. Most important thing is to keep up doing something. To keep studying English is also the same thing. Again I strongly believe I will keep studying English. Thank you for listening

posted by takuya 8:23 AM

Today's movie, "Kramer vs. Kramer" was interesting even though I was not satisfied with its last scene. Because I'll be a father within two months and my wife's character was partly similar to the mother's, I could easily imagine the father's feeling. When I was watching this movie, I was seriously worried about the possibility that I would be in his situation. After class, I talked with my wife about the movie. She also has seen it before and she said, "The most striking scene of this movie was that the father tried to make French toast for his son." To my surprise, the scene that she told me was also one of the most impressive scenes for me. Just before I hung up the phone, I said to her, "If you suddenly left our house alone, you would not be able to meet your son forever!" But my wife's response was stricter than I'd expected; she said, "No way! If you did something wrong that made me sad, you should have to leave our house alone." After hanging up the phone, I decided not to fight with my wife any more.
posted by George 7:33 AM

I went to Kenpo-Kaikan to take the annual health check today. I couldn’t have breakfast for the health check, so I was very hungry. It took about three hours to take it, but I thought that there was much waiting time. There could be more efficient way. But, most of the nurses were young and very beautiful. I wondered that most of the beautiful women in Iyomisha were working for the hospital. Even if I am sick, I will get better by just looking at them. I’d like to come here to take the health check next year too.

posted by fujita 5:29 AM

I watched a movie named “Kramer vs. Kramer” for the first time in class. I’d known the movie is famous and a moving one before I saw it today, so Stone’s choice of the movie looked good. Even after watching it, my opinion didn’t change. It lived up to my expectation perfectly and taught me that parentage is very difficult. Before I marry someone, I must check carefully whether my wife will betray me or not. If she left after having a child, I might kill her.
posted by Tetsuya 4:02 AM

Tuesday, October 21, 2003

I went to TSUTYA to rent some DVDs with Ozzy because today was Tuesday. On Tuesday we can rent a DVD for only 100 yen. I rented “Monsters, Inc.”, “Toy Story 1 & 2”, “Little Mermaid 1 & 2 ”, “101 Dalmatians”, and so on. In total, I rented 10 DVDs for my future son. I have a DVD player and a VCR in my room; it means I can make copy tape using both devices. I found this way of recording DVD software last week even though it was very easy. If I had found it as soon as I got a DVD player, I could have had more than 50 movie titles. Anyway, I’ve made some copies and I’ll try to do it as much as possible until I leave this city. If I start recording just before I go to bed and go to my class, I can get two copies. I’m looking forward to watching those movies with my future son.
By the way, today I heard Stone’s first son’s name and it sounds very good name. Because I’ve been thinking about my future son’s name, I’m very interested in other children’s name especially in their sons. Name is very important for everyone, so it’s very serious problem for parents. If you have some good name, please tell me your idea.

posted by George 9:05 AM

Today I recorded my speaking the copy of my speech onto the cassette. I realized how difficult I can read something without any mistakes. Although I practiced speaking before recording, I made couple of mistakes in recording. In addition I also noticed my pronunciation was not clear enough to understand. And it rhizome was not speedy and smooth. I thought I need more practice speaking.
posted by takuya 8:15 AM

After the class, I went to electronic store to buy headset microphone. After came back to my dorm, I tried it. According to the manual, this headset can be adjusted so that everyone can wear it comfortable. Though the manual said that, I couldn’t use it comfortable. When I use it, my head was fastened too hard. The reason was very simple. The size of my head is too big. It is not joke. Originally my head is big. I remember that my previous boss’s hat size was as same as mine when I was the first grade of elementary school. I always wonder that if mans ability depends on their head size, but unfortunately, there is no relationship between them. After that I read my draft for graduation speech and recorded it. I noticed that my recorded voice was far different from what I had expected. I also felt that listen my own voice was somewhat disgraceful. But it’s a effective training, I should do it again and again.
posted by Ozzy 7:41 AM

As usual, I went to play soft volleyball today. While playing it, I found that I got not to be able to hit a ball strongly because I was afraid of a miss hit. So I aimed at a corner of the court and hit a ball with 50% strength. When it comes to golf, the same thing has happened to me recently. When I hit a ball with my full power, the ball surely turns right or left. I thought that my sport style has become older man’s one. I must admit the fact that I had been changed like middle-aged men without notice even though I want to play sports like a young man.
By the way, I asked about what I’d done last Sunday after parting from George and Mark to the female team member who drank together on the day because I’d lost my memory completely. But she didn’t answer anything, and she said that she would tell the truth at my farewell party on Friday. Also she added that she hadn’t known how I would change after I get drunk. I’m sure that I didn’t do anything bad, but I’m feeling some anxiety a little.

posted by Tetsuya 6:29 AM

I called my wife and asked her whether she got some information from my boss about my next working place. But she hasn’t heard anything about it. Where I will be transferred to might not be so important to my boss. My boss and my coworkers may believe that I’ll be back to the same department.
By the way, she seemed to be a little disappointed, so I asked her what happened to her. She told me that nobody noticed her changed hairstyle nevertheless she had her hair cut on Sunday. I think that women are women even if they become adult.

posted by fujita 4:56 AM

Monday, October 20, 2003

After class I went back to my room and looked around the shopping site at Internet. I found a nice down jacket but something is different. It is not like a coat but like a shirt. According to the explanation at the site, it was originally made for mountain climbing. But it can be the town usage. I was very impressive with this clothes but I couldn’t get the detail about it such as size so I didn’t know which size matches me. But the price is very reasonable and I thought it must be very convenient in this season. I sent a E-mail to ask its product’s size to this shop. When I receive the response, I will chose the suitable one and buy it.
posted by takuya 3:33 PM

Today, I went to the city gym with Mark and Terry as usual. This English course will finish within two weeks. It means I will leave this city soon. So when I ran around the city ground, I was thinking about the days I spent at this luxurious city sports park and how many times I could come to this city gym. Judging from my calculation, the rest of our English course are 13 days; on this Saturday I?fm going to play golf with Mark and Terry, and on this Wednesday, even though usual Wednesdays are training days, the gym is going to be closed because of this city?fs local festival. So I?fll go to the city gym on this Friday, next Monday and Wednesday. I?fll be transferred to another city as a salesman, so I decided to go on a diet again because it may be very difficult for me to continue doing exercise after I move to the sales department. I could lose about 10 kg after I came to this city and joined this English course, so I want to keep in shape. Anyway I?fm going to enjoy the rest of Iyomishima life.
By the way, after I came back to my room, I watched a NFL game, which was Miami Dolphins VS New England Patriots, on NHK BS channel. It was very interesting game, so I could enjoy their performance. To my surprise, this game was held at the Pro Player Stadium in Miami. According to the Dolphins web page, this stadium is basically their home stadium and also the Marlins?f home ground. The Marlins is now playing the World Series with NY Yankees, and the third match will be held at this stadium. At least today, this stadium is still a baseball park. There were beautiful grass outfield and reddish soil infield. I thought that this stadium was not suitable for playing football. I also thought that for the groundkeepers of this stadium it must be very hard to fix the ground because of NFL players?f spiked shoes. NFL teams and MLB teams should not share their home stadiums.

posted by George 9:08 AM

After the class, I cleaned my dorm’s rest room with three people who live in same floor of mine for about one hour. It was a kind of punishment for us, because some stupid guy smoked at the rest room even though smoking is prohibited at the place. It was ridiculous, but we had to do it. Although the reason was ridiculous I could know what kind of people were there in the same floor of mine. It was a little valuable thing for me. I tried to create a meaning of this ridiculous activity to think about that. Because of this activity I couldn’t go city gym today. Even though I decided to do exercise as possible as I could, I went to the gym only one time last week. I am a really lazy man. In addition, I ate two hamburgers as my dinner. As you know it is the worst food for fat body. The food contains too much fat and I know the fact, but I couldn’t conquer my lust. By the way, I read an article about hamburger. According to the article, there is an around the clock hamburger shop in Pyongyang. It is not Macdonald obviously. Someone said that their products are more delicious than that of Macdonald. I became interested in with it a little.

posted by Ozzy 7:46 AM

Today, we were supposed to get information that where we will be transferred to after the English course. As we had imagined, the Personnel Department didn’t give the information to us. I can’t understand why their jobs or decisions are always too late. They should report important issues to CEO much earlier because they have known that it takes lots of time to get CEO’s approval.
I don’t worry about my next working place at all. But I’m concerned about how I should treat my car. At first, I thought that I would give it to Terry or Mel, but the car might not necessary for them if they are transferred to Tokyo. I might have to send my car to my house in Saitama due to the late decision. I don’t know how much it costs to send my car from here to Saitama, but this company must pay the cost. I think that it is bad for both the company and me.

posted by fujita 6:40 AM

After class, I went to the personnel department in order to ask Mr. Nagao where I should have a bookkeeping test. When I visited there, he was talking on the phone, so I couldn’t help keeping waiting for him until he finished talking. Due to his long call, I had kept Ozzy and Mel waiting for a long time. Finally I was told that I would have the test as a member of the publishing paper sales division which was my previous department. Judging from that, my boss sent the plan that asked the personnel department to get me back to my prior division. But the personnel department is waiting for Daio’s top executive’s permission for the plan. It means that my future depends on the only one person. I hope that he won’t make any change in plan.
posted by Tetsuya 4:52 AM