New Year
Today is the first day of classes in Inari-juku for this year, and in a few months the school year will end. It’s unbelievable how quickly time goes by. I remember during the Christmas party I was introducing one of my students to the other students when I realized that she was my student when she was in junior high and senior high school, and now university!
🙀 🙀 🙀
There are students in their very first lesson with me who ask me how long it will take for them to be able to converse in English well, and who get surprised or disappointed when I tell them it will take more than a few months or a year for them to get to that point (if they study and practice for only an hour every week).
But time has a way of passing without notice. Once I stepped out of Kansai Airport into an unfamiliar, cold land for the first time. Two days ago, stepping out the airport felt a little like coming back home. A few years ago, I had a young female student who was shy and wouldn’t speak much in class. In a few days, she will be flying to New Zealand where she will take regular classes for a year.
It’s unbelievable and impressive how much my students grow and change with the passing of time. I hope this year they will continue to grow, improve and appreciate how another language can open their mind and widen their world.