Question 1

I attend Express Yourself lessons as often as I am scheduled to teach them! I have three regularly-scheduled EY lessons a week in addition to any cover lessons I may have to do.

Question 2

My classes are all private lessons. That means either one or two students per class plus me, the teacher. So I don't really have any classmates per se.

Question 3

Yeah, I don't think I should answer this one. Given the above, that I don't have any classmates, I'd have to answer by talking about one of my students. And although of course I'd only have good things to say, I don't know if they'd want me talking about them here!

Question 4

As I am the instructor, I'll tell you three things about myself. Okay, here goes:

1. 1. I am a huge gaming fan. I love games of all kinds – video games, board games, card games, jigsaw puzzles, brain teasers, interactive fiction – there isn't a game out there that I wouldn't enjoy trying;
   2. I have been to many places around Japan but, at the time of this writing, I haven't been to Kyushu or Okinawa – they are both on my to-do list; and
   3. I am Australian but I am the only member of my family line who is – my mother and father are both from England, as is my sister, while my wife is Japanese and our daughter was born here in Japan.

Question 5

Depending on the topic of the week, I find the conversation to be the most enjoyable part of an EY lesson. As to which part I think is most useful, I'd have to say the corrective feedback at the end of the lesson. I hope that my students think so too!

Question 6

Writing these compositions. I wouldn't choose the words "cumbersome", "annoying" or "frustrating" to describe how I feel about this task. In all honesty, I kind of enjoy it. I do find it diffcult to make time to submit my compositions though. I have a lot going on during my non-teaching hours!

Tough Vocabulary

- English -	- Japanese -
regularly-scheduled	定期的にスケジュールされた
cover lessons	カバーレッスン
per se	それ自体
given the above	上記を考えると
here goes	ここに行く
brain teasers	頭の体操
on my to-do list	私のやることリストに
family line	家系
in all honesty	正直に言うと
have a lot going on	たくさん起こっている

Question 1

I teach EY lessons every other Tuesday and Wednesday. I have a regular EY class every Friday. It's one of my favorite classes to teach because it's the most natural way to practice English.

Question 2

I usually have 2-4 students in my classes. I've had most of them since I started working for EP in August 2019.

Question 3

I know that M-san likes to make ume syrup at home during summer and has been to Hawaii a couple of times. N-san works in a hospital and likes to take long drives and usually sleeps late at night. A couple I teach loves to take nightly walks together and take care of small fish. A young man I teach enjoys traveling and wants to play football in Spain.

Question 4

I'll share 3 things about myself, which I think most people don't know. I love to bake, my best dessert is strawberry chocolate pavlova. I grew up speaking both English and Tagalog, in the Philippines English classes are taught in 100% English and Tagalog classes are taught in 100% Tagalog, we never translate. My school also taught us Spanish for 12 years, but I never picked it up! when I was a child, I used to dance ballet.

Question 5

I think expressing yourself in class and receiving teacher feedback is the most important part of the lesson because you are able to practice all your skills like speaking, listening, reading and writing.

Question 6

I'm sure many students find it difficult composing their own answers to the questions. I'm also trying to learn Japanese and coming up with my own answers is definitely the most difficult, but I think I learn the most when doing this because I need to do a lot of additional research so that I can properly express myself. I need to learn grammar and words that aren't usually taught in my books. Because I had to teach myself how to do it, I find that I remember things better this way.

Tough Vocabulary

Question 1

I teach some private EY students on Tuesday, Thursday and some group students on Thursday and Friday and I really enjoy them all.

Question 2

I have about 8 students total with me knowing the Friday class the longest. As of writing this piece, I have not met my Thursday group class yet.

Question 3

The classmate mate that I will choose is, I will keep her name confidential, is from Nara, is the CEO of a company, and she has the same birthday as my son.

Question 4

I will write three things I know about another instructor, he used to be a barman, he has two kids, and he used to play American football.

Question 5

If I was a student, I think that I would enjoy expressing myself in class. However, I think that the corrections would be the most useful and improve my language ability.

Question 6

Sometimes we run out of time which is a shame especially when quality learning is happening and the conversation is flowing freely.

Tough Vocabulary

- English -	- Japanese -
confidential	機密
run out	尽きる
flowing freely	自由に流れる