2020/09/12/SMC(土)

Reported by SM YAMAZAKI

Hi everyone !

The meeting started with the Presidential Remarks, talking about a recent event of being given an offer of additional assignments to fill a job vacancy due to childbirth. In the remarks, he used some useful phrases such as "tied up"(busy), "do me harm" etc.

SM K. Narisawa and SM Kaneko served as the Coordinator and the Lecturer respectively.

Lecturer

SM Kaneko quoted part of the contents from a reference book focusing on improving speaking ability, demonstrating

the practice of reading aloud aiming for mastering the characteristics of English pronunciation.

Table Topic Speech

"An important lesson in my life so far."(SM Noro)

The speaker said in his speech that throughout his life until now he from time to time found himself being supported by the beliefs of Buddhism, including reincarnation.

"What's your family activity for summer time?"(SM Takahata)

The speaker talked about good memories of camping out with the family's dog as well as her family to good places such as Fuji-goko.

The Cordinator added phrases of "put up a tent" and "commune with nature"

"The world is a lot smaller these days." (SM Kaneko)

The speaker talked about some episodes of meeting people coincidentally. SM Noro added experiences of business activities doing exchanging communications and negotiation with no meeting in person. Also SM Takahata added a feeling of agreeing with the statement with an episode of daily communications with her husband living overseas thanks to the development of IT technology.

"Team sports build strong individuals." (SM Yo. Narisawa)

The speaker talked about her pet sports of basketball and high school basketball. SM Koizumi added an experience of club activities in his high school days. He was chosen to be a captain and he served as a goal keeper, demonstrating his skills of blocking a ball.

"My biggest concern for the future"(SM Yamazaki)

The speaker talked about an experience of suffering from problems with one eye. He said that during the course of a checkup he undertook an MRI exam. He described hearing an Enya song---which was very soothing during the MRI exam.

"Why is rose the most popular flower fragrance among women?" (SM Koizumi)

The speaker talked about the wonder of fragrance attracting women. The Coordinator extended the topic into gardening with idioms of "in the day and age of the pandemic" and "green thumbs".

Prepared Speech

"Loved by Mosquito" (SM Koizumi)

The speaker shared some information about the nature of mosquitos, providing us with a lot of interesting facts. With this information we will able to get away from mosquitos because they might contained a dangerous disease. SM Yamazaki gave comments about his perception that the number of mosquitos has declined year by year, probably due to climate change.

"Speech of the wedding ceremony"(SM Noro)

The speaker said he is going to have a wedding ceremony for his elder son scheduled for the next week. He delivered a speech to be made in the ceremony as a practice of making a speech to get ready for the ceremony in Japanese not in English. SM Takahata added her experience of having a wedding ceremony for her son ten years ago, saying the feeling of a wife at the time of listening to her husband delivering a speech.

"Changes in consumer trends due to COVID-19" (SM Takahata)

The speaker provided us with information from an article. Due to the pandemic there were marked changes in consumer trends with a dramatic decline in the sale of cosmetic materials used for visible areas of the face in contrast with those hidden under a face mask including a situation of the cosmetic material company for which her brother-in law works. In response to the speech, SM Noro gave a comment, saying that the information on the trends of sales provided is very reasonable and convincing.

"Are you a good cook?"(SM Yo. Narisawa)

The speaker talked about some episodes regarding cooking. She started cooking in full swing in her college days. The episode of applying for a cooking contest with a unique idea despite of not having confidence in cooking skills so much, winning a prize of being given a bicycle made us laugh a lot ! And she went on talking about an episode of a TV program she happened to watch, in which a recipe similar to her imaginary idea of recipe was made by a woman living in the speaker’s hometown in Ibaraki Prefecture.

"A nightmare"(SM Yamazaki)

The speaker talked about a rather serious mistake in handling a car. He went on saying that he might have made a headline on a TV news !

Next meeting:

9/26 Oyama (small room)

Coordinator: SM Yamazaki

Lecturer: SM Takahata