2021/4/10(土)SMC
Hello everyone!
Here is the summary of Apr.10. The weather was gorgeous with plenty of sunshine and some of the dogwoods along the road to the meeting venue had begun to bloom.
As the opening remarks, the President gave us some interesting YouTube programs and recommended us some ideas for improving English abilities; summarizing the contents of each English program and giving our own opinions.
SM Takahata and SM Noro served as the Coordinator and the Lecturer receptively.
The Coordinator talked about Ikee Rikako san’s great achievement of qualifying for the Olympics along with Matsuyama Hideki san’s wonderful performance at a golf tournament that was being held in the US.
Lecture
Based on the colloquial witty replies and phrases, the attendees worked on their own dialogues.
“A: Your husband looks kind.” “B: You’d be surprised.”
I wouldn't put it past you to put me on. I wouldn't put it past her to give you short change.
Go easy on Peter for a while – he’s having a hard time at school.
wing it: to do something without planning or preparing it
We’ll just have to wing it.
Whose fault is it (that) it happened?
I have a thing for cookies.(have a thing about somebody/something)
I need to up my kanji game.
live and let live: used to say that you should accept other people’s behaviour, even if it seems strange
A: Congratulations! What are you feeling right now? B: I don't know what to say. It hasn't hit me yet. have grave reservations about accepting someone's request
Table Topic Speech
“What is your favorite time of the year?” (SM Kaneko)
The speaker talked about the timing of feeling well, saying that now is the favorite time, getting rid of the feeling of nervousness speaking in front of people. In each English speaking meeting, he senses some sense of improvement of English ability after meetings.
“What bad habits do you want to break?” (SM Yo. Narisawa)
The speaker raised her concerns about her husband’s smoking habits, complaining about his behavior of having a deaf ear to strong request to stop along with her daughter. In response, SM K. Narisawa said “go easy on me” and “ go ahead” in a joking manner. In this connection, SM Noro successfully stopped smoking when he was young.
“What is something you have always done since you were a kid?” (SM Koizumi)
The speaker talked about his life in the past, dedicating his life as an automotive engineer and enjoying ballroom dancing. In response to a question, SM Yu. Narisawa talked about his childhood dream of becoming a doctor and also his giving up it reasoning that he is chicken hearted about handling of knives for operations.
“What experience from the past year do you appreciate the most?” (SM K. Narisawa)
The speaker talked about deteriorating work environment at his school with being robbed of his computer, meaning that he is no longer entitled to have such a gadget. However, in conclusion he said he should appreciate being healthy anyway. The Coordinator added her comments regarding her elder brother, her elder sister’s brother who lived with her parents, she feels appreciative toward him.
“Your morning routine” (SM Noro)
The speaker’s daily lifestyle surprised the attendees, saying that he usually gets up at 4:30 in the morning and gets to sleep at 9 pm. SM K. Narisawa said that pushing the button of his computer is his morning routine, which made the attendees have the assumption that he would continuously sit there until night.
“What job would you never do no matter how much it paid?“ (SM Yu. Narisawa)
The speaker talked about people who deal with garden work, saying humbly that they are not his strong field. Since those kinds of work don’t fit him, he said he wouldn’t take up such kinds of work however much it paid. SM Yo. Narisawa raised her experience of helping her husband working on university entrance materials, saying that despite of the fact that given being perfect on with the work the work didn’t pay very much at all!
“What recent memory made you smile the most? (SM Yamazaki)
The speaker raised the issue of Ikee Rikako san’s fantastic achievement, saying that he has no words to describe precisely his feelings rather than just “making him smile”. SM Kaneko added another event of the wonderful performance as a dual player, the major baseball player Ootani along with expressing his resonating with the speaker’s feeling.
Prepared Speech
“Eigo Rakugo” (SM Koizumi)
The speaker talked about different kinds of Eigo Rakugo, which was given one of Olympic volunteer seminars. One of the main reasons to initiate Eigo Rakugo is to shake off Japanese people’s image with economic animal and being workaholic from foreigners, he said. He raised various situations that are suitable for including a sense of humor in rakugo such as a situation of priority of life for a lifeboat when Titanic sinking, making fun of the differences in national characters among Americans, Italian, German, and Japanese.
“Small brains” (SM K. Narisawa)
Before talking about the main topics, the speaker touched on recent daily activities of watching different kinds of videos on the internet, most of which are things beneficial for maintaining for his English abilities. However, he dares to take up things that would amuse the attendees seemingly intending to avoid preaching connotation. He then moved on to the focal issue of the speech. Chiefly attributable to such bad habits for his body, he said he suddenly suffered swollen legs. He said “ the lesson I learned from the disaster of my legs was if you don’t use something for a long time, you will lose part of its function or its function altogether. This is the conclusion that I reached with my small brains.”
“Sequel to werewolves of London” (SM Yu. Narisawa)
The speaker’s focal point was mainly about Mother Goose, touching on the tongue twister, and cultures. They are easy to remember, and have repeated from one generation to the next without the aid of any kind of manuscript. These parts of her lineage work well for parents of very young kids who constantly have their hands very full with the infant, bottles, stuffed animals and all kinds of other child related items. (From the internet)
“A lot of encounters in my life” (SM Yo. Narisawa)
At this time of year at which people may have lifetime encounter, the speaker took up a timely topic of encounters in her life. She looked back on her life starting from the moving to Yokohama from Ibaraki Prefecture. She recalled that the atmosphere in Yokohama was totally different from that of her hometown. She also said that the popular song “Blue Light Yokohama” was heard every day. And the speaker took up some of the people she encountered, saying that each encounter seemed to be connected to her with an invisible string.
“Changes in my life since the pandemic” (SM Kaneko)
With the pandemic restricting our activities, the speaker talked about changes in his life. They are mainly focused on restrictions of his English study activities with the limitation of the use of meeting revenues. He also touched on other life activities such as the frequencies of shopping and jogging/walking. In connection with the issue, SM Noro said in the past one year during the period of remote-work his blood pressure has lowered, which he mainly attributed to a stress-free life.
“Recent events” (SM Yamazaki)
The person talked about his recent activities mainly focused on working on the lessons at the cram school. Also he touched on the surge of infections nationwide. He also said that in contrast with poor handling of the pandemic by the government, Yamanashi Prefecture has been doing well. The prefecture’s wise allocation of revenue seemed to be proven effective, striking a balance between measures against the virus and the economy. The prefecture issues a certificate to dining establishments that ensure protective measures against the virus and monitor their measures, he said. On top of that the speaker spoke about his strong opposition of holding the Olympics while he was moved by the swimmer Ikee Rikako san’s fantastic achievement of qualifying for the Games.
Next meeting:
4/24 (Sat.)
Oyama Community Center
Coordinator: SM Kaneko, Lecturer: SM Takahata
Reported by YAMAZAKI
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