言語を学ぶのに、残念ながら「聞き流すだけで英語が話せるようになる」というような魔法はあまり期待できません。聞き流すのではなく、しっかりと聞く練習をすること。聞く練習と同じだけ、英語を口に出す練習もすること。そして、意識的にどんどんボキャブラリーを増やして行くこと。そして、コミュニケーションの練習、自分の苦手分野の練習、発音の強化やプレゼンの練習など、目的に応じて私たち講師を利用するようにしてください。なるべく毎日英語にふれる時間を取るようにして、英語に慣れ親しんで行ってください。英語の映画を見たり、好きな雑誌を読んだり、You tubeを見たり、ウェブショッピングをしてみたり。「勉強」するのではなく、「日常に英語を取り込む」ようにして、英語を楽しんでください！英語が使えるようになれば、驚くほど世界も広がるし、楽しいことがたくさんあります。ぜひ皆さんが英語を学ぶお手伝いができればうれしいです。

My flexibility and understanding of the need to focus on student needs and goals is the biggest feature of my lesson. There is no benefit to the student if I overlook his or her purpose for studying the language.

こんにちは、私はことみと申します。（現在の国籍の意味で）日本人ではないけれどもことみと名乗るので、ニックネームだと思われるかもしれませんが、これは本名です。中国語の名前をそのまま日本語読みにしたものです。

Hello everyone! My name is Sakura. I was born in Brazil and moved to Japan when I was in elementary school. I originally spoke Portuguese, and learned Japanese when my family moved to Japan, and then learned English at University in Canada. I believe my background helps me to understand how my students feel when learning English, and the difficulties they may feel. In my free time I usually play the ocarina and play with my dog, Apollo. I also love gardening and I’m interested in sustainable lifestyle.

カフェトークの講師インタビュー番外編。オフィシャルカウンセラーが行う無料カウンセリングについて知れるインタビューです！

I like to send written feedback because it reminds students of what they learned in the lesson, lets them know what they did well, and gives them advice on how to improve. I like to cover things like: new vocabulary and idioms with examples of how they are used, mistakes and how to correct them, study tips, and answers to any questions that the student asked during the class.

I am an avid fan of basketball. I play hours after hours before my body gives out (usually after five hours). I also enjoy ice skating. I am just learning how to skate backward! I like watching movies as well. My favorite movies are Parent Trap (original), Forest Gump, Shutter Island, Good Will Hunting, I Am Legend, Wedding Crashers, Meet the Parents, and many more.

In my lessons, I want to build up my student’s confidence and their openness. Many Japanese students are quite shy, but they are very intelligent, and I want their voices to be part of the great global conversation! For example, the country of my parents, Jamaica, has made a big impact on world culture, even though we are only a few million. BUT, Jamaicans are an outgoing and outspoken people – and we speak English! Japanese is a beautiful and graceful language, but only the Japanese speak it. When more Japanese speak English and speak from their heart, the world will listen, and become a better place for it! So, in my lessons, speak from the heart.

There are lots of things that are important in learning a second language. The first is meaningful exposure. If you take lessons that do not have any real meaning for you as a student, then the lessons will not help you. That is why I typically offer a “Free Talk” style lesson, because I like to negotiate with the student about what their individual goals are. I am quite happy to change the focus of the lesson completely, as long as the student tells me in advance.

Try to remember what you’ve learned in your last lesson until your next lesson: what your teacher asked you and how you answered them, the newly learned phrases or grammar.