BRITZ英会話教室

I'm happy to announce that I will be able to teach a daytime adults class again from April. Due to my university teaching schedule I had to give up my morning classes last year, but happily I now have Tuesday mornings free and can offer a class to people who are busy in the evenings. The new class will be on Tuesday mornings from 10.30 to 11.30 beginning on April 10th.   

I was asked yesterday about the origins of 'Britz' and where the name come from. It's a long story! I opened my English school back in 1997, starting on a very small scale with one class a week in Jonan-machi. My in-laws had a pre-fab building outside their house and several families living nearby were keen to give their children English lessons with a native-speaking teacher. Through word of mouth and much effort posting leaflets and putting up posters I gradually expanded and started classes in Mifune and Matsubase, as well as a larger class in Jonan. At this time I settled on 'Piccadilly English School', named after the famous place in London. I kept this name for several years but always had trouble with the pronunciation. It's easy enough in English but in katakana the sound changes to 'Pi-ka-de-ri' and whenever I answered the telephone I had to decide whether to say the English or Japanese version of the name!
With two young children to take care of, I started teaching classes closer to home　in Kumamoto City, opening up first in Onoue and later at what is now my main classroom in Wakaba. I can't remember when exactly, but at some point it seemed like a good time to come up with a new name and design a logo. Designing logos is fun... choosing names, extremely difficult! I wanted to have something with a British slant but wanted to avoid the obvious names (like London) or anything difficult to pronounce or put into katakana. After playing around with other famous place/people names like Trafalgar, Wellington etc I then decided it would be better to have something short and snappy instead. The first choice was Bricks, and this led to Brits, and finally to Britz. Although it's not a proper word, I feel it's a good blend of 'British' and 'Ritz'. The Ritz is of course a luxurious London hotel and is used in the Irving Berlin song 'Putting on the Ritz'. The expression means to dress up very elegantly and the movie of the same name is synonymous with top hats and tails. That's why the Britz logo has an elegant top hat in its design! I'm still really pleased with the name I finally decided on (so much easier to say on the telephone!) and am especially proud of the school logo. I have no plans to change it anytime soon!
If you read all the way to the end, well done and thank you very much! I'd love to hear your thoughts on the name 'Britz' and especially the first impressions it gave you.   

Students who enjoyed Valentine parties last year have been asking since last August when we would be making chocolate again and how soon until Valentine's Day... I think they were more excited about this event than even Halloween or Christmas! It's a Britz tradition to make chocolate fudge in class using　cream cheese, margarine, cocoa powder, icing sugar and vanilla essence mixed together in a Ziploc bag.


  

I have put lots of photos from the Christmas parties on the wall of my classroom in Wakaba, and you can see some of them above. The highlight of this year's parties was a huge inflatable snowman who was happy to pose in our pictures and made for some fun party games!  

Halloween parties are over for another year. I hope all the children enjoyed them as much as I did! This year, almost everyone came to class in a costume, and those that didn't soon found something to try on in my box of fancy-dress clothes. I will be putting up the photos in my classroom over the next few days. Although getting ready for Halloween takes a lot of work (buying lots of popcorn, sweets and prizes, filling goody bags, preparing games and decorating the classroom), the actual parties seem so short and I always wish we had more time to play a few extra games. However, there will soon be Christmas parties to look forward to....


  

When I left Kumamoto at the end of July to return to England for the summer holidays, I suggested to my adult students that they keep in touch with each other during the month-long break so that they could continue to use English even without a regular weekly lesson. Two months later, and this seed of an idea has grown and grown! Thanks to Tetsu's inspiration, dedication and technical know-how, we now have not one but two blogs for Britz students to communicate with each other in Engish. Both blogs are private so that we can feel safe and secure in posting photos, news, recipes,　questions about English, restaurant recommendations.... anything at all!　It has become a really valuable and fun way to keep improving English skills outside of class, and it has also inspired me to try and write in my own blog more often...  

From tomorrow I will be heading back to England to visit my family. I am looking forward to spending a few weeks in a cool place (hope it won't be too cold though!) and catching up with family and friends in my hometown.
There will be no classes in August - so I hope everyone can enjoy a relaxing break and recharge their batteries before school begins again in September. Have a great summer!  

Just before the Golden Week holidays we spent a fun week in class decorating eggs for Easter. Even the very youngest students took part, and although there were a few cracked and broken eggs by the end of the lesson, everyone was able to take home their colourful works of art. Some children kept their eggs and some ate them as soon as they could!

ゴールデンウィークが始まる少し前ですが、クラスでイースターエッグの装飾を行いました。
最年少の生徒もがんばって装飾にトライし、レッスン終了間際には玉子の殻にひびが入ったり、割れたりもしましたが、何とか皆一生懸命に手掛けた作品を持ち帰る事ができた様です。
ある生徒は大事にかばんに仕舞っていましたが、ある生徒は作業が終わるやいなやパクリ！



  

We had a farewell party in class today to say goodbye to a student who is leaving Kumamoto city at the end of the month. It was a potluck style party, and we enjoyed eating chirashi sushi, sandwiches, an Italian seafood dish and chocolate brownies. I feel really full now!
Takashi-san, thank you for your very kind words, and I hope you will stop by and visit us if you're ever back in Kumamoto!

本日、今月いっぱいで熊本市から転勤される生徒さんのお別れ会を開催しました。
ちらし寿司、サンド、イタリア料理、チョコレートケーキ等々。
皆それぞれの料理を持ち寄ってのパーティー形式でお腹が満たされました！
タカシさん、とっても温かいお言葉をありがとうございました！
熊本へお越しの際はぜひクラスへお顔を出して下さい！

  

This week we have been making Valentine chocolate in class. The recipe is so simple that even my very youngest 2　and 3 year old students were able to make it successfully. All the ingredients (cocoa powder, cream cheese, powdered sugar, margarine and vanilla essence) are put in a ziploc bag and squeezed together until they become chocolatey. We sang the alphabet song while squishing the mixture under our armpits using karate chops! Hearing little kids saying 'YUMMY!' with a big smile on their faces gave me a lot of pleasure too!

今週はバレンタインチョコ作りをしました。
レシピはとっても簡単。２、３歳の児童でも作れます。
材料はココアパウダー、クリームチーズ、パウダードシュガー、マーガリンそれにバニラエッセンス。
これらをジップロックバッグに入れ、柔らかいチョコレートになるまでもみほぐします。
アルファベットソングを歌いながら、材料を脇の下で揉んだり・・・、カラテチョップしたり・・・

出来上がったチョコを食べ、満面の笑顔で「おいしい！」と言ってくれる子供たち。
この仕事をやってて良かったと思う瞬間なのです！  

December has been an exciting month for my students. We started the month making Christmas cards and finished it with Christmas parties.


They exchanged presents with each other and played traditional party games like Pass the Parcel and this year's new game which involved rolling a dice and having to sing or hum a song, draw a picture, act out a word, find something in the classroom or make something out of play dough. We all had a lot of fun.
With the adult classes we ate my home-made Christmas cake (a very rich fruit cake made with brandy) and drank Twinings Winter Tea while chatting about our winter holiday plans and playing a few games. With one class we had a lunchtime karaoke party!
I hope everyone will enjoy a relaxing winter break with their families. See you again in 2011!



12月はとても充実した月でした。
この月はクリスマスカード作りから始まり、クリスマスパーティーで幕を閉じました。
クリスマスパーティーではお互いにプレゼント交換したり、いつもの小包渡しゲームをしたり、サイコロ等を使った新しいゲームで皆楽しみました。
大人のクラスでは私のプランディー入り手作りケーキ（濃厚なフルーツ味）と紅茶を楽しみながら冬休みのプランを話し合ったり、ゲームをしました。あるクラスはランチタイムのカラオケパーティーで盛り上がりました。
皆さんがお正月休暇を家族でゆっくり過ごされる事を願い、２０１１年にまたお会いしましょう！  

There were lots of princesses at today's Halloween party! Everyone joined in the games - throwing bean bags at a jack o'lantern, eating popcorn with toothpicks and Pass the parcel. It was great to see all the students having a wonderful time.

今日はたくさんのプリンセスが集うハロウィンパーティー当日でした。
お手玉をかぼちゃの提灯に当てるゲームや爪楊枝でポップコーンを食べるゲーム、小包渡しゲームで遊びました。生徒が皆楽しんでくれて、素晴らしいパーティーができたと思います。
  

At the weekend I decided I would make some cakes with a Halloween theme.
I didn't have a very steady hand so it's hard to decipher the ghost picture and
'Boo' on top of the buns, but colouring the icing orange and blue made them
look very spooky!

週末、ハロウィンをテーマにしたケーキ作りに挑戦しました。
ケーキの上のお化けの絵や”Boo”の文字は手が震えて上手く書けずにぼやけてしまいましたが、オレンジやブルーのアイシングは見た目が気味悪く、なかなか良い感じです！  

Little by little, my classroom is starting to look like a haunted house! There are glow-in-the-dark skeletons hanging in the windows, a spider's web draped over the book case, and orange fairy lights that are timed to switch on every night. We've also started building up to the Halloween parties at the end of the month with some puzzles and crafts that my students really enjoy.


今教室は少しずつお化け屋敷みたくなっています。
窓には夜光のガイコツがぶら下がり、本棚には蜘蛛の巣が張られ、夜になるとオレンジ色のライトが点滅します。
今月末はいよいよ生徒が楽しみにしているハロウィーン・パーティーの予定です。  

A few days ago I joined a cookery class for the first time since I left school. I hated cookery class when I was at school! A friend recommended the class to me and I admit that what attracted me most was the fact that I would get to eat the end results!
I was very nervous about joining, worried that I wouldn't be able to understand everything the teacher explained in Japanese, worried that everyone there would be better than me, worried that I'd be the only person there on my own... I guess that's how a new student must feel when they join my class for the first time!
The theme of the class was French, and the teacher was a chef at a French restaurant in Kuju called 'A Ma Facon' which means 'In my own style'. The food really was in his own style, Although delicious, it bore no resemblance to what you'd find on a menu in France - potoff, chicken rice and swordfish cooked in a soy, mirin and cream sauce. I was really impressed by the sauce, just three ingredients but it tasted like something really complicated and professional. Needless to say, this weekend I tried to impress my family with the dishes I learned, although it wasn't quite the same making everything in my small kitchen at home.
I would like to learn some authentic French cuisine next, or maybe add a few Japanese dishes to my repertoire. In any case, from now on I will definitely have more sympathy for new students who look so nervous when they enter my classroom.

先日、（学校を卒業して以来の）料理教室に初参加しました。
正直に言いますと私は在学時家庭科の授業で習う料理が嫌いでした。
ここの料理教室は友達の紹介で、参加の一番の決め手は最後に作った料理を食べられると言う事でした！
参加に当たり、果たして先生の日本語での説明が理解できるのか･･･、他の参加者の皆さんの料理が私のより上手だったらどうしよう･･･、一人で参加しているのが私だけだったらどうしよう･･･等々、最初は心配事だらけでした。（私の英会話教室に受講される方も最初は同じような気持ちだと思います。）

今回の題材はフランス料理でした。
講師に九重のフランス料理レストラン「A Ma Facon（独創的の意）」のシェフを招いて開かれました。料理自体とても美味しいにも拘らず、凄く独創的で、本場フランスには無いメニューの数々でした。ポトフ、チキンライス、醤油とミリンそれにクリームソースで味付けされたタチウオ等々。
私はこのソースに非常に感心しました。材料にたった3種の調味料しか使わないのにも拘らず、非常にコクがあり、プロの味がしたのです。
週末、自宅でこれら習った料理を作って家族を驚かせようとしてみたのは言うまでもありません。（自宅の狭いキッチンでは同じようには行きませんでしたが･･･）

次は本物のフランス料理を習いたいですね。あと、和食も少し。何れにせよ、これからは私の教室に始めて来る新しい生徒さんの緊張した気持ちが、以前よりも増して分かる事でしょう。  

Last year’s Halloween parties were really enjoyable and I’m hoping that this year they will be even bigger and better. I have decorated my classroom and put up lots of orange lights everywhere, and there’s a box full of goodies on the way from America – I’m glad the yen is strong right now!
I guess there are various types of Halloween parties and a lot of English schools organize parades through shopping arcades with their students all dressed in expensive costumes that their parents have had to buy. It’s good publicity for the schools but I wonder if children really enjoy themselves? My party philosophy is to fit in as much fun as possible. Some children come dressed up in scary or cute costumes and others pick a few items out of the fancy dress box I bring to the class. We play traditional party games like Pass the Parcel and Halloween Bingo, and a few Fiona Originals which involve rolling special dice, putting on a witch’s hat and eating as much popcorn as possible. This one is always a hit and gets requested every year!
Right now I’m busy getting the goody bags and prizes ready to hand out at the end of the parties, and planning a lesson of Halloween crafts too. I will also be hosting a couple of craft and game parties on Saturdays this month for pre-school kids and anyone else who wants an introduction to Halloween fun.

前回のハロウィーンパーティーは非常に楽しいものでした。今回も前回以上により良いものになればと今からワクワクしております。
今、ハロウィーンの為のイルミネーションや教室の飾り付けに大忙しです。アメリカからはオーダーしたパーティー用のおやつや小物がもうすぐ到着予定です。こんな時の円高は大歓迎ですね。
この時期、英会話スクールは様々な趣向凝らしたパーティーを計画している事と思います。
中でも、高価な衣装を身にまとい、ショッピングアーケード内を仮装行列するものはもうお馴染みですね。スクール側にとっては良い宣伝になりますが、やっている子供達にとっては果たして本当に楽しんでいるのかな？と、ふと疑問に思う事があります。
私のパーティー理念は「可能な限り楽しいものにする」です。私のパーティーでは怖い或いは可愛い衣装を身にまとう子供もいれば、私が用意したドレス箱の中から気に入ったものを選び、気軽に身に付ける子供もいます。
パーティーでは伝統的な小包渡しゲームやビンゴゲーム、ハロウィーンの為に手作りした特別なサイコロを魔女のトンガリ帽子を被って振るオリジナルゲームなどポップコーンを頬張りながらやります。このゲームは毎年リクエストが多い人気のゲームなのです。
只今、パーティー終了時に手渡す賞品や景品の準備で大忙しです。レッスンではハロウィーンクラフト作りを計画しています。
今週の土曜日は未就学児とハロウィーンの面白さを体験したい子供向けのハロウィーンクラフト作りとゲームのパーティーを予定しております。
  

Since childhood Autumn has meant one thing to me - conkers!　Conkers is another name for a horse chestnut (slightly different from the edible Japanese chestnut). Since they can't be eaten, chestnuts are used by children in my country to play a game called Conkers, and there is even a World Championship for this 'Sport'. It is very simple to play, and all you need is a conker with a hole in it (an adult should do this with a skewer) threaded onto a piece of string about 30 cms long. One player holds there conker on the string at arm's length and the other player gets to use their own conker to hit it. Then they take turns to hit each other's conker until one breaks. That player is the loser and the winner gets to tie a knot in their string to show that they have won. You build up points by defeating stronger conkers and collecting the points of the broken conker. When I was a child we took this game very seriously and would spend the walk home from school looking for the biggest and best conkers. If we couldn't find any good ones on the ground we would throw our school bags and umbrellas into the trees to try to knock them down - and of course would then have the problem of getting things stuck up the tree.
This week I have been teaching some of my students how to play the game of Conkers, using Japanese 栗. They seem to be a lot harder than British horse chestnuts and very difficult to break - but I've been enjoying passing on a tradition and reliving the excitement of the Conkers tournament we would have at school every Autumn.

子供の頃の秋の思い出と言えば“Conkers=トチの実割り遊び”です。“Conkers=トチの実”は“Horse chestnut=トチノキ”の別名で日本の食用の栗とは若干違います。食べられないので私の国では専ら子供達が“Conkers=トチの実割り遊び”というゲームに使われます。“Conkers=トチの実割り遊び”は世界選手権まで存在するれっきとしたスポーツなんですよ。
遊び方は簡単、トチの実に穴を開けそこに30cm程の紐を結びます。一人がその紐を持ち、もう一人が自分のトチの実を相手のトチの実に当てます。それを交互に片方のトチの実が割れるまで続けます。割れた方が負けで勝った方は自分のトチの実に結んである紐に結び目を作り勝利の証とします。より強いプレーヤーに勝てば高得点が貰えます。私が子供の時は本当に真剣に勝負していて、学校からの帰り道により大きくて強そうなトチの実を捜したものです。道端に落ちてなければバッグや傘を（それらが木に引っ掛かって困るのを承知の上で）トチの木に投げて実を落とそうとしていました。
今週、私は日本の栗を使い、生徒に“Conkers”の遊び方を教えました。日本の栗はイギリスのソレより固くなかなか割れませんでしたが、この伝統的なイギリスの遊びをこうやって日本の子供達に伝えていると子供の時、学校で熱中した事が懐かしく思い出され、感慨深いものがありましたね。  

This week we are learning about shapes. We hunted for various shapes around the classroom - rectangles are everywhere but triangles are harder to find! Next we looked at one of my favourite picture books 'Color Farm' which uses shapes to illustrate lots of different animals. Finally the children used their imagination and created giant pictures using cut out shapes. They produced robots, trees, houses, monsters...lots of fun! The new boy in class, who had been really nervous at the beginning of class when he said goodbye to his mum, went home with a big smile on his face!

今週は形（丸、三角、四角）を学びました。そこで私たちは様々な形を教室の中から探しました。
長方形はどこにでもありましたが、三角形を探すのは意外と難しかったです。
次に私たちは形を使って様々な動物が描かれたカラーファームという絵本を参考に、切り抜いた形を使って絵を完成させました。絵本から想像力を膨らませた生徒達は思い思いにロボット、木、家、怪獣と次々に完成させるのでした。
最近入った男の子は最初緊張した面持ちだったのが想像力を思いっきり働かせ満足したのか帰り際に満面の笑みを湛えていたのが印象的でした。  

Today I had an enjoyable lunch with the member's of my Tuesday morning class. After the lesson we went to 'STYLE CAFE' in Nishikigaoka and enjoyed good conversation (in English and Japanese) over lunch. There were six of us and it was fun to share interesting travel and life experiences - topics that we don't always have time to talk about during the lesson. It probably seems unusual for five women and one man, five Japanese and one foreigner, people in their thirties and fifties to go out to lunch and have a great time together, and I'm really grateful that my job allows me the chance to meet and bring together so many different kinds of people.

今日、午前のクラスの生徒さんと錦ヶ丘にあるスタイルカフェにランチに行きました。
そこでは生徒さんの旅行体験や日常の出来事など普段レッスンでは取り上げない話題で盛り上がりました。
女性５人＋男性１人、日本人５人＋外国人１人、年代もバラバラ。
この様な全く違う価値観を持った人達がこうやって一緒に楽しい一時を過ごせる事に感謝ですね。  

This is my fourth time to watch the World Cup in Japan. The first time was in 1998 and I had just had my first child. I think I watched almost every game that summer as I changed nappies and breastfed my baby. Of course I was supporting England more than Japan but I did like a few of the Japanese players, especially 'Gon' Nakayama and Kazu.

Four years later, and the tournament came to Japan and Korea. There weren't any official games in Kumamoto but I did get to see a practice game between Belgium and Colombia. In the summer of 2002 I was heavily pregnant with my second child, and again watched as many matches as I could while I stayed home trying to keep cool. For once I didn't have to worry about the time difference. Japan played better than before and I became a fan of Hidetoshi Nakata. It was so refreshing to hear him being interviewed as he answered the questions intelligently and showed a real individual streak.

In 2006 the World Cup was held in Germany, which meant lots of late games Japan time. I was lucky enough to discover a bar in Kumamoto which showed the matches live and enjoyed them in the company of other England fans. I remember going downtown proudly in my England shirt only to be heartbroken when my team lost to Portugal in a nailbiting penalty shoot-out. I cried all the way home that night and vowed I wouldn't get so emotionally involved next time.

Four years later, I am trying not to build up my hopes that England can finally repeat their World Cup win of 1966. Seeing the tournament open on African soil for the first time, in a country which saw so much violence and bloodshed, is truly insprirational and it promised to be a wonderful tournament whichever country wins. Now my children are old enough to be interested to, and to be split over which country to support. My daughter decided that she will support Japan and England equally, but my son announced that he will decide later which one has the best chance of winning. I guess he'll be supprting Brazil or Argentina then...

今回のワールドカップは日本に来て4度目となります。
最初は1998年でした。最初の子供を授かり、その子の世話をしながら殆どの試合を見た記憶があります。もちろん日本代表よりもイングランド代表に声援を送りましたが、日本代表の中にもお気に入りの選手がいました。特に、ゴン中山選手とカズ選手がお気に入りでした。

4年後の大会は日韓で開催されました。
熊本では公式戦はありませんでしたが、ベルギーとコロンビアの練習試合を実際に観戦しました。2002年の夏、私は二番目の子を妊娠した時、ひどい症状だったので殆どを自宅で過ごし、たくさん試合を観戦した記憶があります。時差が無かったのも良い事でした。日本代表は前回よりも善戦し、私は中田英寿のファンになりました。彼のインタヴューでは知的な回答をしていたし、すごく個性的な面が垣間見れて元気を貰いました。

2006年ドイツ大会は、日本では多くが夜の遅い時間の開催でした。
私は幸運にも熊本市内に試合をライブ中継してくれるバーを見つけ、他のイングランドファンと観戦しました。今でも覚えていますが、胸を張りイングランドシャツを着て繁華街へ行ったのはよいものの、ペナルティー合戦でポルトガルに破れ、胸が張り裂けそうになりました。あの晩の帰り道は涙が止まりませんでした。そして次回は感情的になるのは止そうと誓いました。

4年後の今年。
今回私は1966年のイングランド優勝の再現とかの希望はあまり持たないようにします。それよりも暴力と流血が繰り返し行われてきた南アフリカという国で開催される事、それは最初のアフリカの地での開催も意味する事、これらの事はすごく刺激的ですし、どの国が優勝しようとも素晴らしいイベントになるのは間違いないでしょう。私の子供達もワールドカップに興味を持つ年齢になり、どの国を応援するか自分で決められるようになりました。娘は日本とイングランドを公平に応援するそうです。しかし、息子は一番優勝の可能性が高い国を応援するとの事。そうすると、ブラジルかアルゼンチンでしょうか。