I hope everyone is enjoying the beginning of their summer holidays and staying cool in the heat! This week has been extremely hot!
みなさん、こんにちは。
初夏を楽しんでいますか。涼んでいますか。
今週は特に暑いですね
Even in the UK, it was around 31 degrees. While this is a little cooler than here in Japan, the biggest difference is that almost no homes in the UK have air conditioners, as we've only started experiencing these sorts of heatwaves in recent years. So, there's no escaping the heat other than sitting under a fan all day!
Last Friday was my final parent observation class. I want to thank all the mothers, fathers, and family members who came to watch over the past few weeks, and a big thank you to all the students for doing their best in the classes as well!
Yesterday was a real scorcher, causing some cases of heat-stroke in Tokyo and the surrounding areas. August is coming soon and the height of summer seems to have arrived. I wonder if it will get any hotter? This week, most of the schools here have begun the summer vacation. My daughter enjoyed the first day of the holidays yesterday. When I was young, we didn't have much to do during the summer holidays. In Ireland, the vacation is over 2 months long and there is no homework to do. I tell my students at Hario about this and always get the same reply, an envious "ii na!" That's because it's much shorter here in Japan and the students are kept busy. This week many of them are taking our extra morning grammar classes. All students also have school homework to do. It's not too much as long as they do a little every day. I think it's great to have something to do in the summer holiday to keep up the routine of studying a little every day. Routines are difficult to start again once they get broken. I always had a hard time getting back into the swing of homework after my school holidays ended. Japanese kids keep busy with extra-curricular activities such as radio aerobics, cram school, their school club, and so on. My daughter is going to the radio aerobics with her grandparents at 7AM! My late schedule means that I can barely move at that time, so I'll pass. Like I said, when I was young, I didn't have much to do during the summer holidays, so I remember building forts with the sofa cushions and blankets almost every day. These days, kids have Minecraft to build forts and castles, so I think that activity has evolved into the virtual world. However you spend your time, enjoy the vacation!
I hope everyone is having a great week and enjoying the slightly cooler temperatures!
With the speech homework now in full swing, our students are working hard to learn and practice their speeches. Some students have already shown remarkable dedication, learning significant portions of their speeches in such a short time. Keep up the great work, everyone!
But on a different note, I had a bit of a disappointing end of the weekend (early Monday morning here in Japan) as England lost in the final of the Euros 2024 to Spain. While it was a letdown, it seems to be a pattern for the men's England football team to make it far in major competitions but fall just short of victory. Oh well, Maybe next time…
It looks like the rainy season wasn't over after all. It was as hot as the height of summer early last week, and we thought the rainy season had ended early. However, the clouds and rain returned later in the week and it cooled a little. I don't think the rainy season will be here for much longer, because yesterday I heard a sound for the first time this year. A sound that signals the beginning of summer here in Japan. I took a walk in a park in Numazu yesterday, it has large wooded areas and looks more like a jungle in some parts. That's when I heard them, the buzzing, chirping of cicadas in the trees all around us. Their noise tells us that summer has begun, and if you live near any trees you will hear them chirping away until September at least. They can be extremely loud, but thankfully they don't like to come into houses, unlike spiders!
In soccer the Euros came to a close early on Monday morning. In the final Spain beat England 2 - 1, so that's the end of big international tournaments until the world cup in 2026. However, sports fans don't have to wait too long until the Olympics, which is only two weeks away. I'm interested in seeing breakdancing's first appearance in the Olympics. I saw Japan's competitors perform in the qualifying stages and their skills are amazing to watch. Skateboarding was the new sport in the Tokyo Olympics and Japan won a gold medal, so who knows what they can do in breakdancing? I'll be asking my students who are the competitors to watch at this year's games. The summer vacation will begin around the same time, so they will have plenty of time to watch at home. However, the time difference could mean that some events will take place in the middle of the night! I think I'd rather sleep in and watch the highlights the next day.
It's been extremely hot and humid here since last Thursday. It's as if we skipped the rest of the rainy season and went straight into August! Usually, it's cloudy and rainy until about the third week of July, but that hasn't been the case for the last few days. I went out for a walk on Saturday and I felt the sun burning into my skin like a laser! I wonder if the rainy season will come back and finish its time or have we gone straight into an early summer? The humidity has changed a great deal in the last few days. You can feel the moisture in the air whenever you go outside. My glasses steamed up when I got out of my car today! I never really thought about humidity when I lived in Ireland because it's never extreme there. All year round, Ireland never becomes very humid or dry. Japan on the other hand has extremely dry air in the winter and high humidity in the summer. I notice the dry air in winter because my skin dries up and I get static electric shocks off metal objects. Thankfully, with modern technology, we can humidify and dehumidify rooms however we like. The recent hot weather has made me wonder how it will be in Paris, France this summer. The Olympics begins in just over two weeks, and Ireland's athletes are going to suffer if the temperature exceeds 30 degrees. France had some record-breaking hot summers in recent years, so we will have to wait and see.
Here at Hario this week, the speeches have been handed out and we have just begun checking our students first lines. I can already see who is serious about giving their best possible performance. Well done to everyone who is studying hard. Keep it up!
This week, we're returning this year’s speeches to the students. They’ve all been excited to see their speeches and start learning their first lines. Now begins their journey to memorize their speeches and perfect their pronunciation. Good luck to all our students!
Just a reminder for parents: as we start the speech homework, students will temporarily stop one of their regular homework assignments. This means all students should be doing two homeworks, including their speech homework. So, if your child is missing one of their regular assignments this week, it’s likely the teacher is holding on to it until we finish the speech homework.
It's a very special week here at Hario as we're finally handing out the speech homework! All of our students who wrote speeches can begin learning it this week. We've been very busy getting them all recorded and prepared. They are finally ready to roll out. Now it's time for our students to begin studying hard to be able to give their very best speech performance. It takes a lot of time and patience to learn a speech. Our students will listen to all of their lines over 100 times. Not only to remember the words, it's also to learn intonation, pronunciation, expressing feelings and emotions, and so on. Once they have learned and perfected it, they will all perform their speeches here at Hario, in front of their parents and classmates. There is a great sense of achievement in being able to push past nerves and anxiety to speak up in front of an audience. This is even more nerve-wracking when the speech is in a foreign language. Some of our quiet students surprise me every year. In class, these students are usually quiet and softly spoken because that's part of their personality. When it comes to performing their speech, however, I hear a new voice emerge. They loudly announce "Hello everyone!" for everyone to hear, loud and clear. It's amazing to see a quiet kid speak up and engage their audience. That's what I want to see again this year. So, to our first timers and veterans, best of luck everyone! You can do it.