今の仕事に就いた理由は何ですか？

*太字の単語やフレーズは、今週のボキャブラリーです。この記事の最後に詳しい説明を載せています。


This week's question focuses on how and why you decided on your job.

My answer:

I decided to work as an independent English teacher because before working for myself, I worked in and around Tokyo for two different language schools, AEON and a smaller language school near Chiba City. And all the while I worked for someone else, I always wanted to do things my way. I wanted to teach what I thought was important. And I always wanted to have time to focus on individual students’ needs.

When I worked at other schools, I couldn’t do that because there were just too many students. At one point when I worked at AEON Ikebukuro in Tokyo, the school had over 1,200 students! I didn’t teach all of the students but I knew or taught most of them. And when I worked in Chiba, it was pretty much the same—there were many students but I couldn’t give them a lot of individual time because I was just too busy! On the bright side however, I got to meet MANY different kind of people. And that was VERY fun.

Some of the positives of being an independent English teacher are:

I can give students more personal attention
I can personalize lessons for students
I can teach face to face or I can teach via the Internet and SKYPE
I can get to know my students better than before.

Some of the negatives of being an English teacher...

NONE! (that is a diplomatic answer!)

How about you?

How and why did you decide to be a __________ ?
What are some positives of your work?
What are some negatives of your work?

I will look forward to speaking to you about them when we speak this week.

Be well and healthy,

Keith//

This week’s vocabulary:

decide
決める

independent
独立した

all the while
その間ずっと

pretty much the same
ほとんど同じ

on the bright side
良い点は、

personal attention
より個人的な配慮

via
経由、〜によって

diplomatic answer
そつのない答え

類似語を使いこなす

This week’s question focuses on using words with similar meanings. Hiroe and I were doing some work last week when we came across the word, “revere.” There are many words that are similar, but of course, each has a different nuance and are therefore, NOT THE SAME! Here are some of the words that are similar to “revere”:

admire someone (or something)
adore someone (or something)
idolize someone
respect someone (or something)
look up to someone (or something)

So that made me think. Who do I revere? Who do I admire, Who do I adore? Who do I idolize? Who do I respect and who do I look up to?

So in order to practice some similar English vocabulary, this week’s question is WHO or WHAT do you:

revere
admire
adore
idolize
respect
look up to

Let me see if I can explain more by giving you my answers.

I revere Martin Luther King, Jr. because of his courage and his commitment to nonviolent resistance even when he was faced with incredible hatred and violence.

I admire humility and selflessness. Only some people can have a world impact. However, I think that everyone can impact their part of the world by respecting others and helping people whenever we can.

I adore my wife Hiroe because of her inner and outer beauty, her sense of humor and her perpetual energy.

I idolize Elvis Presley because he was a one of a kind. And the greatest performer ever!

I respect Hiroe’s family’s work ethic. They are principled and always have their priorities in order.

I look up to my older brother Patrick because of his sense of honor and duty and his attitude about life. He never backs down from a challenge or hurdle in life.

So, how about you. Who or what are some things you revere, admire, adore, idolize, respect or look up to? I will look forward to hearing your thoughts when we speak this week.

Be well,

Keith//

This week’s vocabularies:

similar
類似した
came across
（偶然に）目にする、見つける
revere
崇敬する（崇めるという意味で、尊敬の最上位）
nuance
ニュアンス、微妙な意味合い
admire
立派であり、すばらしいと思う／感心するという意味の尊敬
adore
敬愛する／大好きである
idolize
熱中/心酔する
respect
敬意を払う（一般的に使われることが一番多い）
look up to
尊敬する（「見上げる」という意味から、年齢や立場が明らかに目上の人に対して使われることが多い）
nonviolent resistance
非暴力抵抗運動
faced with
面と向き合う
humility
謙虚さ
selflessness
無我の心
perpetual energy
絶えることのないエネルギー
one of a kind
この世に１つしかない
work ethic
仕事に対する倫理観
principled
主義に基づいた生き方
priorities in order.
優先順位にかなってやっている
duty
義務/責任
backs down
折れる/降参する
hurdle
ハードル/障害

英語で「手順」を説明する。

*太字の単語やフレーズは、今週のボキャブラリーです。この記事の最後に詳しい説明を載せています。

I hope everyone had a safe and relaxing golden week. I will look forward to hearing about what you did when we speak this week.

And in addition to that, this week, let’s focus on giving directions.

Directions are VERY useful. We must use directions when someone asks for advice or when you are teaching someone how to do something. These could be directions on how to buy a train ticket, directions on how to grow a tomato plant, directions on how to drive to your house, or directions on explaining how to cook something. Directions are sometimes simple and sometimes difficult but they are ALWAYS good to know.

Some examples we can practice this week are:

How do I buy a house in Japan?
How do I get a driver’s license in Japan?
How can I become a personal coach?
How do I make curry rice?
How do I buy a bullet train ticket?
How do I get into Tokyo University?
How do I get to your house from the nearest station?
How do I grow a garden?

We can practice directions more when we speak this week and as an example, I will give directions on how to make a pot of brown tea.

First, you need the following ingredients before you begin.

water
milk
honey
loose brown tea

Directions

First, fill your tea kettle with water. Then, put the kettle on the stove and heat until the water boils.

Next, put about 1 tablespoon of loose brown tea leaves into your teapot.

After that, fill your teapot with hot water.

Then, wait between 3 and 4 minutes while the tea steeps.

Next, pour the tea into a cup while filtering out the loose tea.

After that, add about 1 teaspoon of honey and stir well.

Then, add about 20cc of milk and stir once more.

And finally, enjoy your tea.

Now how about you? What kind of directions can you give me?

I look forward to hearing your directions when we speak this week.

Be well,

Keith//

*This week’s vocabularies:

directions
手順、方法

useful
役に立つ

advice
アドバイス

explain
説明する

good to know
知っておくと良いこと

driver’s license
自動車運転免許

bullet train
新幹線

grow a garden
野菜（花）を育てる

ingredients
材料

loose brown tea
（ティーバックに入っていない）バラの紅茶の葉

fill
〜でいっぱいにする

heat
温める

boil
沸かす

steep
ふやける

filter
こす（濾過する）

stir
かき回す

once more
もう一度