Winter in Victoria

Hi everybody, it's Suzy!

I am enjoying winter in Victoria. Are you hot in Japan in summer?
Two weeks ago I went to visit Marysville. It was a small town near Melbourne.
Marysville burned in the bush fires in February this year.
Maybe you read about the terrible fires here in the Aussie summer?
Marysville burned and now there is no town.

My family and I drove to the mountains near Marysville.
We saw the white winter snow and the black burnt trees.
It was amazing. I have a photo for you to see.
It is a sad photo, but the next photo is happy.
The new leaves have started to grow on the trees.
Life is beginning again! I think the photo is beautiful and hopeful.
In spring the tress will grow and become strong again.

I hope you like the photos.
I hope this year brings new things for you all.

Cheers!

Suzy - Trajal Coordinator (Melbourne)

Summer Quarter, Summer Season

The students came back from their Quarter Break vacation and travel with a new confidence, as if their ability to travel by themselves in America and Canada gave them a sense of accomplishment. Some of them saw the Statue of Liberty in the “Big Apple” (New York), some went to California, others went to Vancouver and Victoria in Canada. I went to the Olympic Mountains of Washington State with some students. There was still snow in the mountains, and we saw many wild deer and a powerful waterfall.

In their first week back at school, the Shoreline students took a trip to Bainbridge Island by ferry. On the ferry, they had to interview other passengers about their purpose in using the ferry, where they came from, etc. And in the second week, the Edmonds students visited the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle.

Last Saturday, July 4, was America’s Independence Day – the only day that America has big fireworks displays – so many students spent the day at Gas Works Park in Seattle, waiting for the fireworks show at night. The show lasted only 30 minutes, but was very powerful and well coordinated with inspirational music. By coincidence, the full moon was shining brightly right in the middle of the fireworks, making the show especially beautiful. I think about 30 or 40 HTC students went to see the big fireworks show in Seattle. The total audience had about 50,000 people! Other students saw smaller fireworks displays in their local neighborhoods.

In the month of July, there is a festival somewhere in Seattle every week, and I am looking forward to attending some with the students and watching them enjoy American and local culture.

July 9, 2009
Neal Colodner (Seattle)

Email from mentee in Saipan

Hello! I’m Yuka Takeda from Osaka.
I got an email from a graduate who works at Hyatt Regency in Saipan.

Hello! I’m Saeko. How are you? Do you remember me?!
It has been one month since I came to Saipan. I’m sorry not to email you soon.

The ocean in Saipan is extremely beautiful but that’s it (LOL).
Time flies slowly so I can relax.
I work at the office now and I enjoy working here.

It might be too early to think about next year but I’m worried about my future.
After I go back to Japan, I would like to live in Yokohama or another country.

I’m looking forward to seeing you!

Saeko

Trajal Campus Life ～ Trajal Clubs

We have a variety of clubs, academic, sports, performance and music.
Volleyball, basketball, baseball, tennis and soccer make up our sports clubs.

We always want to do our best at school and in life.
We only have 2years in college so we have to make the most of it.
No regrets.

Toshi
Trajal Hospitality & Tourism College (Tokyo)

＊♪＊ TOU-NICHI-BUN (vol.5) ＊♪＊

We teachers made an “Action Learning” trial on the 23rd of June.

This is one of the method of developing ability which is popular in business circle now and it is said that it is very effective way of suggesting good ideas or establishing good working relationships with co-workers.
So, we will be adopting this method in a course if the trial has succeeded.

The participants in the trial are 7, one presenter and questioners.
The questioners gave some questions to the presenter after they listened to her story (this is her own problem or trouble), and they were trying to find the true nature of the problem which she has had trouble noticing on her own up to now.

By the way, do you want to know what she shared with us?
She said … “I can’t clear more than 500 books in the attic of my house!!“
Could we help her to take “Action” to solve the problem??
The answer was “Yes”! Anyway, was the trial successful?
→Well maybe, fifty-percent.

We can take in the method but need to make some adjustments.
This term (July -September), Ms. Fukada(she is a leader of this trial) is going to use this method in her Japanese Advanced Conversation course.

Thank you very much Ms.Fukada!

J.Fujisaki
Tokyo Japanese Language & Culture College

Awards Ceremony

26th of June was a special day for Melbourne students, as it was the last day of the first semester before 2-week winter holiday!
The students have been separated into level 1 to 5 in English course depend on their English skills, studied with students from other countries for 10 weeks.
Most of them have completed their levels this semester; it means they will go up to the higher levels when they come back from holiday. Well Done!

At the ceremony, the students dressed in suit and yukata, went up to the stage one by one to receive Record of Achievement from Language Centre Manager.

Brave Yuko gave a speech, speaking about her experience of English class and Aussie life since she came here in Melbourne.

Chikako and Kaori were selected as the best students in their classes, received Students Excellence Awards.
Hikari was the only one student in our group who has completed Level 4 in 10 weeks (it is almost impossible to do!), received Trajal Award. 　
Congratulations Everyone!

Ryoko Yoshiura (Melbourne)

Party! Party! Party!!

　　

Hello!　How are you going?

About two months and half have passed since we came to Australia.

We have finished exam, and our holidays will come this weekend.

Our class will finish this week, so we had a party every Friday recently. However, this party is not a normal party. We cooked meals by ourselves! Before last Friday, we cooked Chinese dishes. Our class’s chef Martin who is a Chinese boy leads us. Although we cooked too much, these dishes were so delicious!!!　

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　

And last Friday, we cooked Italian and Japanese dishes. For example Pizza, Tomato pasta, Miso soup and Japanese dessert.

Why we cooked Italian and Japanese….

We just wanted to eat these＾＾ These dishes were also pretty good!!! My classmates enjoyed Japanese foods, so I was very glad!!

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　

Our class will finish soon so I will miss my teachers and classmates… I really appreciate them.
We will study English hard again in the next term! 　

　　　　　　　　　　　

See ya!

Konomi (Melbourne)