ブライトンの日本語教室で手伝ってくれる素晴らしいボランティアの皆さん

（英語版はこちら Click here to read this article in English）

ブライトン近郊に住んでいる日本人から「ステップアップジャパニーズでボランティアできますか？」というメールを時々いただきます。

こういうメールをいただいて、私は毎回とても嬉しく思います。近くに住んでいる日本人が私の日本語教室を見つけて、しかも手伝いに行きたいと思ってくださることは、とてもありがたいと思います。

今年度、日本人のボランティアは授業に手伝いに来てくださっただけではなく、イベントやワークショップも一緒に開くことができました。

イギリスのボランティア・ウィーク(Volunteers’ Week)をご存知ですか。毎年６月１日〜７日に行われる感謝のキャンペーンです。手伝ってくださるボランティアの皆さんに感謝を込めて「ありがとう」とお伝えする一週間です。

それでは、２０１９〜２０年のボランティアの皆さんへ大きな「ありがとう！」をお伝えしたいと思います。

サマープログラムに手伝いに来てくださったありあさんへ。

生徒たちと一緒にゲームをしながら、「ホットドッグ」の正しい発音を教えてくださってありがとうございます。

STEP 1（初級）とSTEP 2（初級２） の生徒さんと優しく話して、自信を持たせてくださった真里さんへ。

そして先月、素晴らしい折り紙のワークショップを一緒に開いてくださったさやさんへ。

皆さん、ありがとうございました！

Our Fantastic Volunteers

（Click here to read this article in Japanese 日本語版はこちら）

Sometimes, Japanese people contact me and ask if they can volunteer at Step Up Japanese.

I’m always very happy that Japanese people in Brighton and Hove have found my school and want to visit and help out.

This year, a number of Japanese volunteers have helped out in class and with events and workshops.

This Volunteers Week, I’d like to say a big thank you to my 2018-19 volunteers!

Aria-san, who came to help out with Summer Programmes in 2018. Thank you for playing games with my students and teaching them how to say ホットドッグ (hotto doggu; hot dog):

Mari-san, for chatting with STEP 1 and STEP 2 students and encouraging them to speak with confidence:

And Saya-san, for teaching us incredible origami!

New Year's Resolutions - 2018

明けましておめでとうございます！ (Akemashite omedetou gozaimasu!) Happy New Year!

Did you make any New Year's Resolutions this year?

January is a really good time to think about goals for the year ahead.  Apart from anything else, it's cold! And it's nice to be inside making plans.

Here are my New Year's Resolutions for 2018:

1) blog once a week

This one is easy (I hope!) and a continuation of last year.

In 2017 I aimed to publish a blog post a week. I actually did 26, which is one a fortnight.

That's not bad, but I definitely want to beat that in 2018.

2) play more games

In class, I mean. I want to work on making classes more fun, and one easy way to do that is more games.

My lovely students playing fukuwarai ("Lucky Laugh") game ↓　

When we laugh together, we learn together.

(Cheesy but true).

3) read every day

This is a personal one. Last year I tried to read more Japanese fiction, and kind of failed.

I did find, though, that once I actually start reading I'm ok. It's the getting started that's the tricky part.

This year, I'm going to read some Japanese fiction every day, and keep a note in my 5-year diary when I've done it.

(16 days in, this is going pretty well.)

4) go to more teaching events

This year, I'm planning to go to more Japanese teaching and education-related events in London.

I went to a couple recently - a Japanese grammar teaching workshop at SOAS, and a bunch of seminars at the Language Show London.

I found it super helpful to reflect on my teaching practice and discuss ideas with other teachers and linguists.

I definitely want to go to more events like this in 2018.

...and it's a good excuse to go to London for the day too.

5) track these goals

Waiting until the end of the year to see how your goals are going doesn't really work.

In 2017, I actually completely forgot about one of my resolutions (to watch more drama in class). I'm going to avoid that this time by pinning them above my desk.

I'd love to know what New Year's Resolutions you made. Let me know in the comments!