My Special School, My Special Students

I work at a very special school, where my employers happen to be my friends but also my seniors in Aikido, Yoga, meditation, life experience. Our school seems to attract wonderful individuals, quality teachers and fantastic students. I think our students can feel the atmosphere of genuine friendship that reigns in our school and they in turn participate in making the school a very pleasant environment to work and study in. What our students do not suspect perhaps is that I learn so much from them. It is an exchange. Each one of our students is special in their own way, the adults as well as the children. Today, I will speak about UmeJun.

Our Celebrity Student

Umeda Jun (梅田淳), aka UmeJun, is our celebrity student. No doubt you know this TV and radio personality who used to work for KTV (Kansai Telecasting Corporation – Channel 8). He is now a freelance announcer on Radio Osaka (OBC, 1314 MHz, http://radiko.jp/) and you can catch his show every morning between 7 and 9 am. He started his career in 1985. He is 50 years old, married, has three daughters from a previous marriage. I asked him why he does what he does, he answered, “I like talking, reporting events, I have a passion for communication and I enjoy the spotlight!” He is a natural comedian, who on occasion makes impersonations of Japanese celebrities during our English class. I really enjoy his imitation of Kitano Takeshi. Every week, during the class, I am fortunate to listen to my own private news report on current affairs. I asked him to tell me about a great adventure that he will never forget.

Adventures In South Africa

“I went to South Africa about ten years ago,” said UmeJun. “That trip was one of the greatest adventures of my life because of the incredible experiences it supplied. I worked for KTV for twenty years. Many programmes have had an effect on my life but the special edition of the programme “Run, Gulliver, Run!” filmed overseas remains my most memorable feature.

Four teams made of two people each travelled on a train from one location to the next, answering a quiz. The winning team travelled like royalty whilst the losing teams had to get off the train at different stations and make their own way to the next rendezvous, interacting with the local population and armed with a camera. The whole trip lasted a week.

This travel game show ran for 10 years. I visited about 300 locations and 12 countries. The Republic of South Africa turned out to be full of surprises and the theatre of the most exciting experiences of my life.

The director of the programme and I gave the wrong answer to the question we were asked and were kindly shown off the Blue Train at Johannesburg. Wandering in the suburbs of the city, our interaction with native South Africans proved highly educative, even when a man pointed a gun at me! I wanted directions and addressed a boy that was playing in a yard, his father came out of the house armed and angry. I cannot accurately describe the shock of having a loaded gun directed at my face, held by a furious man speaking in a language I didn’t understand!

But I enjoyed real friendship with the locals, I witnessed their customs, partook in them even, they shared their food with me and invited me to their homes. I will always remember my nocturnal conversations with an indigenous boy. Under the Southern Cross in the deep sky with its stars so marvellously bright, he told me of his dream to play basketball for the NBA. I talked about my hopes and wishes too and, looking at the stars that seemed so near, I thought I could catch one.

We now had to get to Pretoria very quickly so as not to miss the rendezvous so we decided to take a local bus. Everyone on the bus appeared to be from the South Ndebele tribe – we felt their eyes on us the whole way. As we got off at the Ndebele village, an amusing old woman ushered us into a gift shop about 150 meters away from the bus station. There was no use in trying to resist her, so we decided to use this opportunity to capture the local colour on film. Try as we may, the woman utterly got in the way with her insistence that we buy the numerous knickknacks she was pointing to. Her sales pitch was impeccable and implacable! We bought more souvenirs than we needed!

We looked for ways to get to Pretoria quickly. One man suggested we should hitchhike and by chance we found ourselves a truck that was going that way. After 5 or 6 hours, the driver dropped us off a few kilometers from the exclusive hotel in Pretoria where we were supposed to meet our crew, and where the winners had been living it up for two days. My teammate and I propped each other up and walked the last kilometers of our journey. It was hot, we were tired and hungry, and in desperate need of a shower. When we finally reached the luxury resort, we looked for our crew and found them at the poolside, lying on lounge chairs, enjoying delicate snacks, sipping on cocktails, drinking fresh beer. Some of them had gone sightseeing, others were riding on a hot air balloon, looking at the wildlife – elephants, giraffes, lions, zebras,… I was so envious! But as we were busy filming all that was around us, a voice startled us, “Please stop filming! Michael Douglas and his family are staying here. This is a restricted area!”

I envied all our people who had been enjoying the high life, but they had only won by sheer luck, and in truth, they had missed on all the wondrous moments we had had on our hazardous journey. We were in fact the real winners of the game as our lives had been enriched by our encounters with the indigenous population. The winners, who heard my scornful comments, retorted, “Could it be a case of sour grapes?…”

After South Africa, “Run, Gulliver, Run!” took us to India. This time, I went on “winning,” so to speak. We travelled on the Maharaja train and it was my turn to sip cocktails in luxurious surroundings.

nili Roberts

Valentine’s Day is celebrated in different ways all over the world. In Japan, women give chocolate not only to their boyfriends or husbands, but also to their male workmates. In most western countries, a man may give a gift to his wife or girlfriend, but it is not always chocolate. It might be flowers, perfume, or a romantic dinner out. Giving a Valentine’s Day card with a romantic message is also popular.

The following are all symbols of love in Britain, the US, New Zealand, etc.:

- red roses
- Valentine’s Day cards
- Not signing your name on a Valentine’s card, instead placing a kiss mark  ‘X’
- lace
- Cupid (the flying baby with a bow and arrow)
- love birds
- perfume
- lingerie
- a red heart

Can you think of any more?

What are some symbols of love in your country?

Leave your answer in the comments section below.

Hello!

It’s summer. It’s hot. It’s time to travel!

I found an interesting website that could help some of you…

http://www.learnenglishfeelgood.com/travelenglish/index.html

With this website, you will be able to practice different travel scenarios(airport, restaurant, shopping).

Jason

Here are a few speaking tips…

• Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. You will make mistakes. It’s ok.

• Be patient with yourself. Learning any language can be frustrating, but frustration won’t help you.

• Take advantage of every opportunity you have to speak with people in English.

• Talk to friends who are also learning English. Go out together for coffee and only speak English to each other!

• Read short stories out loud and try to see, say and hear the words to reinforce your memory. Record yourself and play it back later, how does it sound?

Jason