LETTER FROM HAPPY ENGLISH SCHOOL Sep. 2nd 2024

Hello. How are you doing？　Most students have gone back to school and have got back to their school routines since August 26th. I hope they will keep it up and do well in school. I hope they acquire practical English at school so that they can communicate with people from different countries in English, which is the universal language.

As for me, during the summer vacation, I went to Europe visiting six countries in nine days on a package tour. It was just like leaving some of my footprints on the soil of Helsinki in Finland, Prague and Chesky Krumlov in the Czech Republic, Vienna in Austria, Dresden in Germany, Bratislava in Slovakia and Budapest in Hungry.

On the tour were there two college girls in their senior year, one goes to Kansai University and the other Hyogo Prefectural University. They passed the entrance exams at each university and should have quite good knowledge of English, but surprisingly they were not able to come up with proper phrases in English to say to a hotel clerk when they had trouble unlocking the hotel door with their card key. They should have said, “I can’t unlock the door”, or “I can’t open the door.”, but they needed to ask me how to say that in English. They are easy sentences, aren’t they?

I would like my students to use at least easy English expressions in daily use, so I have decided to make every student try using English when they utter almost anything, giving proper translation when they are stuck. The thing is that learners should get used to using English as I always say. If they do not practice using English again and again, it will never come out of their mouth naturally. They always need some thinking time to remember words and grammar and make sentences before they say even something easy in English.

Indeed, people need to practice and experience mock or real-life situations where they have to use English. I will encourage students to try out their English. It is natural for students to make mistakes, and besides it is important to learn from the mistakes. Keep it up.

夏の暑さはどうにか凌げましたか。実は、私は夏休みに9日間のパックのツアーでヨーロッパ6か国に行ってきました。フィンランド・チェコ・スロバキア・ドイツ・オーストリア・ハンガリーです。どこの国もちょっとずつかじったという感じですが、とってもいい体験をしてきました。

そのツアーには2人の大学４年生の女の子（関大生と兵庫県立大生）が卒業旅行ということで参加していました。あるホテルで、カードキーで部屋のドアが開かずに、2人はドアの外で立ち往生していました。そして通りがかった私に、「ドアが開かないというのは英語でどういうのか」と尋ねてきました。私は”I cannot unlock the door.“　または、“I cannot open the door.”と教えましたが、実際驚きでした。

入試もしっかりクリアーできたはずの2人なのに、こういう簡単な表現に自信がないとは残念な思いでした。その時私は、もっと英語を使う練習の必要性を実感し、何でも英語で表現するように生徒に義務付けようと、意を固くしたのです。間違いを恐れず、何でも英語で言ってみる。何回も口に出していると自然に英語が出てくるようになります。英語学習には必ず、その道のりが必要です。これは英語で何て言うかなという思い、何度も使ってみる。そして練習して慣れていく。これは大切なことです。これからも、学校英語や受験英語を使える英語にしていくことをモットーに英語指導に当たっていきます。