合格お祝いのケーキはMegumiさんのお母様が用意してくれたもの。いつも陰で彼女を支えてくれている親の愛情もすばらしいですね。

８月には１ヶ月カナダのトロントに行って、現地の学校でさらに英語に磨きをかけ、世界中の友人を増やし見聞を広めて来ました。来週からは教生のトレーニングが１ヶ月あるということで、また緊張の日々が続くそうですが、Megumiさん、あなたならなんでも全力で乗り切ることでしょう。エスタミネーみんなで応援していますね♥

Megumi has just returned from Canada and stopped by at our school. She had taken our TOEIC course for three months in May, June, and July. Her major field at the university is music and she has not had English classes for a long time. However, she wanted to get a TOEIC score of 600 for the job hunt and signed up for the class. At the beginning, she really struggled to do shadowing exercises, and learn lots of vocabulary and grammar items. Every time she came to the lesson, she made sure to do all her homework. She kept saying that my class was much more fun than her university classes (!). Her goal was to get 600 points (Basic Communication Level), but she got 700 points (Business Level) in the last exam she took in the end of July. I really admire her efforts!

She left for Toronto, Canada, in August for a month and just came back to Nagasaki. She told me that she made many friends from all over the world, visited Niagara Falls and New York, and did a 15-minute English presentation at the school she attended. She was confident and was very willing to talk in English. I was very excited to talk with her.

Megumi is starting to practice teaching at a junior high school from next week for a month. After that, she is coming back for the Business English Course to brush up her English even more.

その上の写真は１Fのウエイティングエリアの通りに面した部分で、小学生がクラス待ちのあいだ学校の宿題をしているところです。

一番上の写真は教室のひとつです。ここも本棚の位置を変えすっきり。この左側に自習スペースがありますので、みなさんエスタミネーのクラスがない日も自由に使えますのでとんどん利用してくださいね！

今まで小さなスペースにデスクが４つひしめき合っていて、多い時にはそこで５〜６人で働いていたことを思うと１階のスペースはとても広くて快適です。

１階の通りに面した半分は生徒さんのロッグインをする受付があり、クラスを待つ間のくつろぎスペースになっています。また、クラスの後にクラスメートとの歓談などにも使ってくださいね。英語の絵本や雑誌なども置いてありますので、自由に手に取ってみてください。

このスペースは２階の自習スペースと同様、生徒さんは自分のレッスンがない日でもオフィスが空いていれば自由に使うことができます。（ただし日、月はお休みです）

Well, we’ve finally done it!

I have been longing for moving the office downstairs for a long time. Finally this past Monday we have moved downstairs. It seems so spacious! We threw away many old files, textbooks, cassette tapes, video tapes, and who knows what.

The front half of the space facing the street can be used for the students to log in and to wait before class, and talk after class as well as for the parents to wait for their children. The back half is our office space. We did not intend so, but the front half became “the girl’s space” and the back half became “the boy’s space.”

Remember our dog Ellie? She used to be at our office every day welcoming you. She is eleven years old now and mostly stays at home during the day time. She enjoys walking with Luc every morning to the nearby hills where she can run and run. She sometimes tells me what has happened on that particular day, such as some snakes sunbathing in the morning sun, some old people came up and gave them fresh vegetables, etc. I have never had a dog before her in my life, but what a joy to have a dog in my family and my life. She doesn’t speak our language, but she and I can share so many things without words.