eTLCeTLC
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
Come to our September 24, 2006 Meeting in Hibarigaoka!
The meeting on September 24 will be a discussion about marriage. On the surface this appears to be a little too personal, but in actuality, it would be a good topic that can be looked at from many angles. For example, we can discuss the history of the institution, changing patterns, marriage differences between cultures, and even the advantages or disadvantages of marriage.
We did not have a meeting in August since so many people take vacation during this hot month.
The 24 meetings we have had since September 2004 have been very successful. Our April 2006 meeting had around 20 participants as did the first meeting we held in September 2004. The meetings held between those two have had fewer participants, but all have been very memorable. The following is a short, on-going digest of those meetings.
2004
Even though October is a busy month and we held the meeting in the middle of a three-day weekend, 11 wonderful people attended. The theme of the October meeting was festivals that take place in the autumn, but the focus was on the history of Halloween.
In November, we had a dozen people and used politics and political trivia as our theme. In December, we had close to 20 people and discussed what we considered to be the biggest events of 2004 and ended with a communicative game about Christmas trivia. After the meeting, 15 of us had a year-end party in a local “izakaya”. Before the party, it was decided to have our next meeting on January thirtieth.
2005
Even though a number of regulars were unable to attend the January meeting due to sickness in the family, work commitments, and study for final exams, we still had eight people who attended. One of the members, Takashi Seo, gave a short presentation about the current economic situation. This was followed by a group discussion of the topic. We ended the meeting with a communicative activity about spending habits.
Before we left, we decided to hold the next meeting on February 13th. It was suggested by Sayaka Sakamoto that e-mail would be an interesting topic. Therefore, we decided a discussion about the advantages and disadvantages of email and electronic communication would be the topic for February’s meeting.
In February we had nearly a dozen great people attending. It was an interesting discussion about electronic mail and a short discussion about Valentine’s Day. We even had some chocolate snacks since one member was so nice to bring them. Thanks, Rie. We had a little sad news, though. One member, Takashi Noguchi is going to be moving to Shiga-ken in March. Hopefully, though, he will start a chapter of eTLC there. Good luck Takashi and please keep in touch.
In March we compiled a huge list of the crazy fads and trends that have played such an ‘important’ part in our lives.
In April we discussed what we would do if we faced having to make tough decisions about a family member who is no longer able to live without life support. Euthanasia was a pretty serious topic, but it was a lively discussion.
The topic for May was even more controversial and timely for Japan. We focused on Japan’s relations with its Asian neighbors.
For June, we decided on talking about a current social problem that has gotten quite of a lot of attention recently, NEET (no employment, no education, no training).
For July we decided to take it easy and discuss a laid back topic while basking in the summer heat. We talked about the Slow Food movement that developed as a way to help people realize how important it is to savor the time we spend eating. Life is only so long, right? Not only was the topic interesting, but we were happy to be joined by three Americans who were visiting Tokyo for a week. A hearty thanks to Satoshi Hishiyama for inviting them to join. They (Denise, Leilani, and Paul) were very willing to share their ideas about the topic, their impressions of Japan, and their interesting insights into the world of multi-national business.
In September we talked about the Japanese election and the anti-war protests of Cindy Sheehan. In addition, we had a short discussion about some of the changes that will happen in the TOEIC in 2006.
In October we talked about LOHAS lifestyle and the advantages and disadvantages to that type of lifestyle. In addition, we had a short discussion about Halloween and Kikuko Sakai told us a little about her four months in Micronesia with JICA. Hopefully, in our December meeting she will provide us with more insights about her time there.
Our meeting in November focued on the excitement over Avian Influenza (Bird Flu) and tred to gain a better understanding as to its potential threat.
In December, we discussed the biggest events in 2005. It was decided that for us in Japan the biggest were China-Japan relations, unusual weather influenced by global warming, rising oil prices, LDP landslide, the continuation of the Iraq War, the threat of Bird Flu, Aichi Expo, JR train wreck in Hyogo, suicide bombing in London, and many others. After the meeting we had a nice year-end party at a izakaya near Hibarigaoka Station.
2006
Our first meeting in 2006 was January 29. In addition to some our our regular members, three new people attended. The discussion about scandals was very informative. I think everyone enjoyed it and learned a lot.
Our next meeting in 2006 was February 26. We had a great time discussing the Winter Olympics. It was the last meeting for Takashi Seo for several years since he will be transferred to Jakarta for three years. We wish him the best and we hope he will keep in touch. Also, we hope he starts a chapter of eTLC in Indonesia.
Our third meeting in 2006 was March 19th. We discussed movies, their effects on our lives, what kinds we liked and didn’t like, and finished with a discussion concerning the 2006 Academy Awards.
The April 23rd meeting was about dieting and had 19 participants. The large turnout could be attributed to the popularity of the topic, but it was no doubt due to the nice review in All About written by Sanae Kawamoto. A hearty thanks to Sanae for her excellent writing. We talked about diets, their effects on our bodies, which are good types and which do more harm than good. Unfortunately, we were so busy discussing the topic, we forgot to take pictures during the lively discussion.
May 21st was about the ins and outs to budgeting our time and money.
June 25th was about hobbies and the ins and outs about using podcasts to help you improve your English.
July 23rd was about summer vacations and free time. As usual it met from 3:30 to 5:30 on the 2nd floor of the community center. It was decided that for our July meeting, it would be best to leave the topic fairly broad to allow more freedom in the meeting. Since it’s summer and so many different things have occurred already (World Cup, G8 Summit, escalation of fighting in the Middle East, summer vacation plans), we started the meeting with a short speaking exercise about summer vacations, both past and present. From there, the meeting went in several interesting directions. Finally, since most of the 10 members were willing, we went to a local “izakaya” for some summer refreshment.
We hope you will be able to attend our September 24 meeting and that you will leave with a stronger confidence in your ability to discuss in English. Please here to email us if you are interested in attending our next meeting.
DATE and TIME: September 24 from 3:30 to 5:30pm.
LOCATION: Kurihara Fureai no Ie (community center) near Hibarigaoka Station (Seibu Ikebukuro Line). A map to the location is included. Phone number of community center: 0424-24-4034. The meeting will be on the second floor.
PRICE: 1000 yen (a great bargain)
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