Hi there! Iana here once again bringing you another portion of
updates about ECM's day-to-day life.
As has been mentioned in
previous blog entries by our staff, a lot of the students are close to
finishing their current books and moving on to new ones. Hence, there's
quite a few tests that are happening already or will be happening in the
near future.
This is why in a lot of our classes we continue to review
the material we have learned so far. There are special worksheets for
helping students review grammar. In addition to that we talk a lot and
play various games to help them remember the vocabulary. If you are
among those who will have tests soon, I wish you the best of luck!
Please do your best!
Among other things we've been doing in
most classes recently is the discussion of favorite holidays and
seasons. This is because there were quite a few holidays happening in
the last few months, as well as more holidays, such as Valentine's
Day, will come soon. So in all of my classes except the very young ones I've
been asking students what their favorite holiday is. Among the younger
students Christmas
and Oshogatsu
seem to be the most popular choices. As
to why they choose them, mostly it's because they enjoy the presents
,
Christmas cake and the New Year 'otoshidama' money.
Among adult students
holidays such as Golden Week and Obon, as well Oshogatsu were in the
lead. The main reason for this was the fact that all three of these
holidays have a pretty long vacation that comes with them.
When asked
about a favorite season quite a few of the younger students picked the
season when their birthday
is, giving that as a reason for their choice
as well. Among the adult students fall and spring seemed to be the most
popular with the main reason being the nice not-too-hot and not-too-cold
weather.
As for myself, my favorite holiday is the New Year
because it allows me to spend quality time with my family and friends.
Since I have been living abroad and far away from home for the past few
years, such an opportunity has become even more precious.
Also, I
absolutely love the traditional New Year dishes of my home country.
As far as seasons go, like a lot of our students I like spring the best.
One of the reasons for this is the fact that my own birthday, as well
as the birthdays of both of my parents, my brother and one of my best
friends are all in spring. However, the number one thing I love about
spring is the feeling of all of nature awakening.
Trees get new green
leaves, flowers bloom
and birds sing.
After a long, dark and cold winter
which can be a pretty depressing time, spring feels really refreshing!
This is why even though it's still January, I'm already secretly
counting the days until spring.
~Iana. P.S.: I posted the
picture above in continuation of the topic of spring and to brighten up
today's cold, windy
and rainy
day. I took it during my short trip to
Fukuoka last year in April. I was there for just 5-6 days to attend a
concert,
but luckily it was the exact time sakura was blooming.