LETTER FROM HAPPY ENGLISH SCHOOL　　April 6th,2018

Hello, how are you doing?　Have you had a good holiday? As you know I went to LA to do research on English teaching materials and language schools. I got some materials and I visited two foreign language schools to see if students studying at our school can join one for a short stay program and, indeed, to observe their classes to learn something new.

I bought some interesting games at a teachers’ supply shop, which are designed to help students read and speak. I am looking forward to using them to see how the students will respond to them. I hope the students will like them and help them to deepen their understanding and to further get motivated to speak.

One language school I visited is a Spanish language school whose teachers teach elementary school kids Spanish only in Spanish, a Spanish immersion program. The owner of the school prepares as much realia (ordinary objects used in a class for teaching purposes) as possible, and tries to have the students understand the words she teaches without translating them into English. I was impressed to see how well prepared and well organized the lesson was. She drew the students’ attention well and successfully had students actively engage in the class.

The other school I visited is an English language school run by a Japanese woman in Torrance. Her school teaches mostly Japanese people who were transferred to work at the branch offices of their companies’ there, their wives who need to learn English to survive, and their children who study at school in English. It also teaches Japanese to Japanese-Americans, whose population is quite large there. In part, those Japanese Americans want to preserve their legacy and identity as Japanese descendants by acquiring the language that their ancestors used.

LA is a city of diversity. Hispanic, Asian, African, European and other cultures are fused and form a cross-cultural society. As a matter of fact, I realized that largely because I enjoyed eating many different cuisines, such as Mexican Peruvian, Vietnamese, Thai, Italian, Hawaiian and Creole, Cajan foods. I was quite satisfied with such variety. Truly, variety is the spice of life.

春休みはどうでしたか？　私はアメリカ、Torrance≪トランス≫（California州南西部、Los Angeles近郊の工業都市）の親戚の家にステイし、英語の教材と語学学校をリサーチしてきました。Happy English Schoolで使える楽しくて役に立つ素材探しと外国語学校の視察をしてきました。Lakeshoreのteachers’ supply shopでeducational gamesを購入し、スペイン語のimmersion (targetの言語をできるだけその言語だけを使って指導するmethod)教育をしている学校と日本人女性が経営する英語の語学学校を見学,lessonの組み立てやそれぞれの学校が目指すもの、managementなどいろいろ学ぶことが多くありました。

LAはニューヨークのように人種のるつぼ。それを最も感じたのは、食べ物で、メキシコ料理、ベトナム料理、タイ料理、ペルー料理、イタリア料理、南部のケージャン料理、ハワイ料理、しゃぶしゃぶと１週間滞在期間中、近くのレストランや滞在先で、身近に簡単にさまざまの文化を味わえました。また文化の融合でoriginalの料理にないものも生まれています。例えば、poke bowlはハワイ料理とちらしずしの融合といえます。ご飯の上に味付けした切り身の魚と海草がのっていて、チェーン店まである、LAで人気の料理です。