When we got our mission call, I felt kind of sad. I had always wanted to serve a mission so I could teach. I love to teach. I was afraid that going to a country where I couldn't speak the language would preclude me from teaching. But we found that was not the case at all. Both of the men who were baptized in our little branch while we were there spoke fluent English and really preferred being taught in English. And even when we taught Japanese-only speakers, we would do lesson plans on the Ipad and I could follow along pretty well (I understood a lot of Japanese) and could say what I wanted to say and Ken would translate. But, the place I used my teaching skills the most was at our two weekly English classes- Eikaiwa.
We taught the advanced students in both venues and I absolutely loved it. I worked hard preparing English lessons every week. The church provided a lesson book, but I preferred using the Internet and making up my own lessons, activities, games, and worksheets. I spent hours every week preparing. I didn't always love the preparation, but I loved, loved, loved the teaching. It was just plain fun! I always shared the lesson plans with Ken and we taught together and made a pretty good team, I think.
Usually on the third week of each month, in our advanced English classes, we would have "book club." It wasn't really a book club, but a short story club. I would read many short stories on the Internet to choose one I thought would work. I always looked for ones that taught good values, used simple enough English, and that weren't too long. Then I would print a copy for everyone and hand them out. I would give them next month's story at the end of the discussion on this month's story.
The students LOVED book club. Well, all except one, but even he at least quit complaining by the end.
It happened that our last eikaiwa classes would be on the third week of May. Perfect. So for a couple of months I thought about and planned what story we should read and discuss for that night. Though I always chose stories that presented good values, I wanted our last one to be really special. I wanted a story that would present our values and leave them thinking about what was really important in life. The students had particularly responded to stories by O. Henry, so I almost chose another of those (we did five or six of them during our mission,) but kept having the thought we should do Fanny's Dream. I love that little story. It is a "Cinderella" story that shows what happily ever after really is- a happy, normal, day-to-day marriage. No princes. No balls. No fancy dinners. Just a good, solid marriage where a couple works together to make a good life.
We had a great discussion in both classes and it did just what I hoped it would do- got us talking about home and family. It was a most satisfying evening. So many of our students commented, from time to time, on our marriage and how we treated each other. We so hope we taught our students much more than just English.
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| This is Naomi Yamaguchi. She taught herself to speak English. She watched a lot of movies in English which helped her learn. She and her husband own a local bakery/ sweets shop. |
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| This is Echiko Enimoto. We love Echiko. You've seen her before on here. We got to be good friends with her and her daughter (who is now in school in Canada.) Echiko is one of the special people we met in Japan. Right when I met her, I felt I had always known her. |
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| Echiko and Naomi got to be good friends from their association at eikaiwa. They said they will come together to see us in America. We hope that happens! |
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| This is Sugiyama Kumi. She has been taking lessons and investigating the church for a very long time. She had been for months before we arrived and continued to do so - off and on- the whole time we were there. We hope someday she will accept the gospel and get a job that allows Sundays off so she can attend church. She loves English class and faithfully attends every week. |
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| Kumi ALWAYS wore a mask. This is a very rare picture or even glimpse of her without it. |
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| Each eikaiwa has a member called to be the leader. Hisako Hirayama was the member called to lead the Tsuruoka eikaiwa. She did a good job. |
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| Ryohei was probably the best English-speaker we knew in Japan. Well, either he or Mayumi. He definitely belonged in our advanced class- and he came sometimes- but he really preferred being with the Elders and helping them teach the beginner class. He had a great desire to help others learn English. |
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| Our dear friend, Shin would come to eikaiwa when she could. She always added a spark of joy when she came. |
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Two more of our eikaiwa students. The woman is a fairly new student, Yuki. The man is Yohei. He was a friendly, good man.
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| Opening a gift |
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| Kazuko and Shiho knew when eikaiwa got over and sometimes came after to see us. This time they brought nice farewell gifts for us. |
Sakata eikaiwa was held every Thursday evening in a rented hall in Sakata. We loved our Sakata eikaiwa class.
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| Jiro has been coming to eikaiwa for nearly 40 years. He appreciates the missionaries teaching him. |
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| Minako Sato started coming to our class just the last month or so. It wasn't until this last night that we found out she is actually a less active member of the church! |
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| Miki! I miss you Miki! This gal spoke excellent English and was a very special person. We both had a real "feeling" for her- kind of like for a daughter. She came to church a few times, including our last Sunday there. |
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| Hiroshi. Hiroshi loved book club and only came on that night each month. He also had been attending eikaiwa for over 40 years. He, Jiro, and Haruo had known each other from eikaiwa for a long, long time. In preparation for the monthly book club meetings, Hiroshi would read and study every line of the stories. He had American friends he would skype with and discuss the stories- kind of a pre-book club book club. He kept me on my toes. I really had to know the stories to keep up with him. |
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| Mr. Ogura- A dear friend. He has a great desire to learn English. |
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| Miyuki. Love sweet Miyuki. She lived in Canada for awhile, so speaks good English. She had a special light about her. |
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| Haruo used to teach English and Hiroshi said he was a walking English dictionary in his day. One day last fall the elders met him on the street and invited him to come to eikaiwa that evening. Turns out, he used to come all the time. But that started him coming back regularly and he was a faithful attender as long as the weather was good enough for him to walk or bike- he didn't have a car. |
Just in case you are interested, here is a list of some of the stories we read and discussed in our eikaiwa book club. All of these are available online and in the public domain:
A Collection of Aesop's Fables
Thank you, Ma'am by Langston Hughes
The Mustache by Robert Cormier
The Lady, or the Tiger by Frank stockton
The Discourager of Hesitancy by Frank Stockton
The Two Brothers by Leo Tolstoy
The White Heron by Jewett
The Fun They Had by Asimov
Pigs is Pigs by Ellis Parker Butler
The Lady in Black by Eleanor H. Porter
The Necklace by Guy De Maupassant
O. Henry Stories including:
A Thousand Dollars
After Twenty Years
The Gift of the Magi
The Ransom of Red Chief
The Last Leaf
Hearts and Hands
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