Dear Students and Parents,

First, my name is Stephen Swann. From April 2017, I am an English teacher at Hibarigaoka. I come from England, so from next time I want to use this blog to share some things about England with you.　　Finally, I have a big favour. If you see me, please talk to me! Using English is the most important thing to improve your skills, so let’s chat.

See you soon!

生徒と保護者の皆様へ

私はスワン・スティーブンと申します。２０１７年４月から英語教師として雲雀丘学園で勤めています。私はイングランドから来ましたので、次回のブログからイングランドに関して書きたいと思います。最後に、大きなお願いがあります。私を見かけたら、是非声かけて下さい。英語を上手になる為に、最も重要なことは使うことですので、喋りましょう。

すぐ会いましょう！

4月から一人のドイツ人留学生が本校に来ています。
彼女は昨年、十数名のドイツ人留学生を受け入れた際に、来てくれた生徒です。
その時に興味を持ってくれ、再び本校に来てくれました。
彼女からのメッセージです。

Hello!

My name is Heather and I am staying for 6 weeks in Japan.
I visited Hibarigaoka half a year ago with my Japanese class and my Japanese teacher. We only stayed for 3 days in the school and we did not had the time to experience the real school　life and because of that I wanted to come again to Hibarigaoka, for a little bit longer. My teacher arranged all of it for me and now here I am! I am really happy that I have this opportunity, that I can experience the Japanese lifestyle through my really friendly family and that I can also experience the Japanese High School life.

My days at the School are amazing. Everyone is really nice and everyone wants to talk to me, so I do not feel like an outsider or like an unwanted person. My Japanese is not perfect and sometimes it is hard to articulate myself but everyone is understanding, we all do our best to understand each other and the use of body language makes everything rather funny than serious. This is also one of the best attributes of all the people here that we can laugh together, even when we do not understand every little word the other said, we have fun and the feelings matter more than the words. Because of that I am not afraid to talk to somebody or to stay in this country alone, without any German teachers or friends. I made very dear friends in this time in Japan and I hope that we all can grow a friendship that lasts a lifetime.
Of course not everything is flawless, for instance the cultural differences are in some cases really hard to understand for me or I do not see the reason why the people are doing it because it just does not make any sense to me. But overall I am also happy that I also have the chance to get to know the negative sides, because that is also a part of the lifestyle and every country on the world has its bad sites and the good ones in Japan are definitely outweighing all of the negative aspects.
Apart from that I know that all my memories will last a lifetime and I am really grateful that I could make these experiences. In my opinion it is the best way to learn a lot about a country, the language and the people in such a short time and everyone, who is really interested in a country should do this because it is a life event you will never forget.

We hope that you had a fun spring break! This year we will continue to have the English Zone everyday during lunch and after school. Please check the schedule to see the times. Feel free to come to the English Zone to talk about anything that interests you. You may also come to ask us any English questions you have. Don't worry if your English isn't perfect, we can still practice together!

Thank you and let's have a fun year!
Amanda and Kyle

昨年11月から、イングリッシュゾーンを食堂につくりました。
これは、2名のALT（アメリカ人教員）が昼休みと放課後常駐し、英会話を行おうというスペースです。
今年度は、明日から開始します。
写真は、昨年の様子です。
どうぞお越しください。積極的に話しかけて、語学力を伸ばしてきましょう。お待ちしています。