Aaron.N's Tutor Interview

Aaron. N Tutor Interview

Q. Hi Aaron, こんにちは！ I heard you can speak Japanese well. First of all, please tell us a little bit about yourself.: A. Hi my name is Aaron Nagasaka. I am currently living is Hobart, Tasmania which is the bottom island south of Australia. It is a wonderful small city but with lots of beautiful scenery and interesting animals. I love languages, reading, drawing, design, art, hiking, going for morning runs, playing with my two sons and spending time with my family. I also love setting goals, self improvement, photo-reading and mind mapping.
Q.　According to your profile, you have been in Japan for three years. What made you decide to teach in Japan? How was your life there?　: A. Ever since I was 12 years old I began studying Japanese and always wanted to live in Japan. When I was 14 I moved to Japan as an exchange student and studied at Junten High school in Tokyo for one year. I loved it! I set a goal to move back and to then teach English there. While teaching a Japanese friend from Australia introduced me to my now wife. We got married and I kept teaching English. I love helping others to learn and to become better at speaking English. Livening in Japan was the best. I love the atmosphere, the food, the scenery and most of all I live the Nagano mountains!
Q. Could you tell us about your city, Hobard?: A. Hobart is a funny place. It is cool all year round, and it is not uncommon to have snow in November, even though it is almost summer. Hobart is a quiet town and has some amazing animals. We have the famous Tasmania devil. Hobart is famous for fish and tourism.
Q. You have many interests such as learning languages, writing and illustrating children’s books.: A. I have many hobbies but one of my favourite things to do is photo-reading and mind mapping. This is where I learnt to read at 25,000 words per minute. This is a very hand skill when it comes to learning a language of anything else new.
Q. I want to ask about your illustration. When you teach and you draw a character, do you use stick figures?: A. A few years ago I stopped using stick figures and created my own character called Awako. Since then I have written a book about Awako and even created childens books and a short 3D animation about him. Especially when I taught children they loved Awako and all the amazing things I could make him do.
Q. I’d like to ask about your lessons. How would you characterize them? Are there any special methods or features?: A. When I teach I like to help the student to speak. You can learn grammar, vocabulary but if you don’t practice speaking then you will never get good at English. Leaning to overcome you fear of mistakes and speaking is the most important. One thing I like to do is to help my students to speak and see that they really do have good English.
Q. Before we finish, would you like to give our students a message.: A. If you don’t like where your English is today you can change it. The only person stopping you from getting better is you! You can get better and with a little help you will be the best! English is not hard it’s just like anything, with a little work you will get better!