Meet the Students

Welcome to English Class!

Taylor and I teach in the evening, which has a class of 11 (soon to be 12) students.  I'm in charge of English 101, which is primarily concerned with helping the students with their pronunciation, listening comprehension, and conversation skills.  I do a lot of, "Problem.  Prroooblem.  Prrrrrrrroooblem. No, not ploblem.  No, not probrem. Prrrroooooobllllem. No, not program."  It's a blast.  :)

Taylor is in charge of 201, which goes over reading comprehension, as well as writing.  Most of the students are a little more comfortable in his class, as reading is something they have all had a lot of experience with.  Conversing with a goofy-looking, goofy-acting foreigner is not something they are used to.  But I enjoy it nonetheless.

Since we have so many students for the two of us, we administered a positively torturous pre-test to help us get a base of where their language is at, as well as to have a point of reference once we finish the course in July and administer the post-test.  Based on that we split the students into beginner and advanced sections.

Would you like to meet them?

Beginner's Class

Asumi Yotani - a somewhat shy but tenacious post-high school student who wants to go to BYU.

Koki Morishita - a sixteen-year-old who goes to a nearby high school.  He likes sports.

Koshin Kitagaki - a seventeen-year-old who goes to the same high school.  He likes sports too, and seems fairly good at basketball.

Mamoru Suzuki - Most definitely the class clown (as evidenced by the dish towel on his head, which he says is "his style").

Kazuyoshi Sera - This stoically silent 21-year-old is a big-time soccer guy.

Advanced Class

Hiromi Nakagawa - Her hobby is making cakes.  I'm so excited to taste them.

Kenzo Suzuki - He's taking this class along with his son (in Beginner's) and wife (who comes in the morning).  Nice fellow.

Kunio Minamimoto - This guy is pretty darn good at English.  I'm not sure what he does for a job, but it must be something international.

Tadashi Komatsu - A great success story of this English teaching program (he started at the very bottom last year).  He was in the same mission as Professor Gessel at BYU.

Yoshie Uchida - An enthusiastic student who has a keen sense of humor.

Yuji Nakata - He works from home helping students with Study Abroad applications and drafting visa papers.

I teach the beginners first, and then the advanced every night. We usually leave the house around 5:30pm to make it in time to prepare for classes, which runs from 7pm to 10pm (essentially).  We usually make it home just before 11 every night, and then crash on our futons.  Then we wake up around 6:30 to 7, eat breakfast, and spend the rest of they day preparing for class and doing our own homework.  It's a busy, set schedule, but I wouldn't have it any other way.  Still, I'm excited to see what we do this weekend.