Showing posts with label イギリスの生活. Show all posts
Showing posts with label イギリスの生活. Show all posts
Saturday, 10 March 2012
First sighting of cherry blossom!!
On the way to school yesterday I saw little buds of cherry blossom opening. How beautiful!! I was reminded of Japan all day long. I even spent most of the day sticking pink tissue paper onto branches for our class display. Our class is called the Foxes, and our fox on the wall outside our classroom is now walking amongst daffodils and cherry blossom trees!
Tuesday, 28 February 2012
ブログをちょっと変えた・A change of look to my blog
今日はブログのタイトルとれーアウトを変えてみた。”さよなら日本、Ow do ヨークシャー”になった。"Ow do"というの、北イングランドの挨拶。元気？かこにちわ！みたいな表現です。
昨年日本から出て、ヨークシャーまで引越しした。最近、ヨークシャーの観光地かイギリスの生活についての発見について書いているなので、このタイトルはブログにもっと合うかな。
バイリンガル子供育ち体験と英会話・英語の教え方をもちろん、続いて書きます。
よろしくお願いしますー
You'll notice I've changed my blog's title and background today. It's called Sayonara Japan, Ow do Yorkshire. "Ow do" is a greeting from the North which means, "How are you?" or "Hello!". As I left Japan for Yorkshire last year I thought it is a good title. I've noticed my writing these days is about discovering new places in Yorkshire and learning new things life in the UK. I'll continue to share experiences of raising bilingual children and ideas for home teaching, especially English and Japanese. Thanks for continuing to read!
You'll notice I've changed my blog's title and background today. It's called Sayonara Japan, Ow do Yorkshire. "Ow do" is a greeting from the North which means, "How are you?" or "Hello!". As I left Japan for Yorkshire last year I thought it is a good title. I've noticed my writing these days is about discovering new places in Yorkshire and learning new things life in the UK. I'll continue to share experiences of raising bilingual children and ideas for home teaching, especially English and Japanese. Thanks for continuing to read!
Saturday, 4 February 2012
霜降りるのヘブデン・ブリッジ A frosty day in Hebden Bridge
It's become very cold recently. We've had snow and frost and some beautiful clear blue skies.
My daughter is loving her new nursery. There are some other bilingual kids there too, Italian/British and Mexican/British. She adores her teachers and her English is getting so good. We hope she will be able to continue there. The results of our application will be given at the end of April. Fingers crossed!!!
最近寒くなっている。雪が降って、霜も降りて、青空が広がるの最近の天気。
娘が新しい幼稚園大好きみたい。そこに、バイリンガルの子供達がいる。その子はイギリス・イタリアそしてイギリス・メキシカン。娘が先生たちのことをとても好き。英語も段々上手になっている。今のようちえん・小学校 （nursery and infant school 3-7 years old only) に続けるようにお願っている。申し込みの結果は四月末に出る。お願い！！
（イギリスのnursery(3-4歳）のはどこでもほとんどう申し込みが必要でわない。4歳になった年の9月から小学校の申し込みしないといけない。4歳から5歳のクラスはReceptionというクラス。5-6歳は小学校の1年生です。It's a bit confusing and odd procedure!）
My daughter is loving her new nursery. There are some other bilingual kids there too, Italian/British and Mexican/British. She adores her teachers and her English is getting so good. We hope she will be able to continue there. The results of our application will be given at the end of April. Fingers crossed!!!
最近寒くなっている。雪が降って、霜も降りて、青空が広がるの最近の天気。
娘が新しい幼稚園大好きみたい。そこに、バイリンガルの子供達がいる。その子はイギリス・イタリアそしてイギリス・メキシカン。娘が先生たちのことをとても好き。英語も段々上手になっている。今のようちえん・小学校 （nursery and infant school 3-7 years old only) に続けるようにお願っている。申し込みの結果は四月末に出る。お願い！！
（イギリスのnursery(3-4歳）のはどこでもほとんどう申し込みが必要でわない。4歳になった年の9月から小学校の申し込みしないといけない。4歳から5歳のクラスはReceptionというクラス。5-6歳は小学校の1年生です。It's a bit confusing and odd procedure!）
Saturday, 7 January 2012
Moving to Hebden Bridge!
My daughter has to apply for primary school (actually it's reception class just before year 1 starts) this month. What a panic that brought us when we found out just a few months ago!! So considering her future, we decided to move somewhere a bit nicer than where we are now, with better schools and a better environment.
My daughter's English is now better than her Japanese. In just six months, she has flipped from using Japanese as her main language to English. It is totally fascinating. Now we have to make sure she doesn't lose her Japanese...or should I say, her Osaka-ben??!!
My daughter's English is now better than her Japanese. In just six months, she has flipped from using Japanese as her main language to English. It is totally fascinating. Now we have to make sure she doesn't lose her Japanese...or should I say, her Osaka-ben??!!
Saturday, 13 August 2011
Reverse culture shock in England
I had heard about reverse culture shock but I didn’t think too much about it as we landed at Manchester Airport in May. I was anticipating a new challenge to start our lives in my home country. I wasn’t overly sad to leave Japan or overly happy that I was back on British soil. Of course it was super to see my family again and sit on the sofa in my old home, drinking tea and watching TV with my parents.
Soon after arriving we started to make our imprints in the British system. We tried to open a bank account for my husband. It seemed to take forever. We also applied for Child Benefit and Child Tax credits as well as my husband’s National Insurance number. Suddenly there was form filling, telephone calls and visits to tax offices and job centres. As recent news reports confirm, the slow and inefficient service provided by the HMRC (Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs) was a real rude-awakening for us.When asked to do duplicate paperwork, send off passports that were then untraceable for two weeks, followed by being put on hold on 0845 numbers with very high rates, our tempers were frayed to say the least.
I felt a lot of anger dealing with all this. Already my husband is pretty negative about the UK work-ethic.This was not what I had promised my family when we planned to move to the UK. I imagined a better family life, with more leisure time spent enjoying lovely summer evenings. A bit too idyllic a dream on hindsight, as neither of us can enjoy much leisure time in the evening looking after two little kids! British friends advised us to wait and be patient, things will get done, people are busy. And slowly things are moving for us. Our passports have been returned, Child Benefit has been approved and deposited in our bank, my husband has his National Insurance number. The slowness of bureaucracy is something we have to deal with.
It’s still early days and I’m sure more hurdles as well as idyllic summer nights(!) will be waiting for us down the road. It’s a challenge, and that’s part of what I came home for. Seeing my parents play with their grandchildren makes me smile and realize yes this is the main reason why I am back home.
Soon after arriving we started to make our imprints in the British system. We tried to open a bank account for my husband. It seemed to take forever. We also applied for Child Benefit and Child Tax credits as well as my husband’s National Insurance number. Suddenly there was form filling, telephone calls and visits to tax offices and job centres. As recent news reports confirm, the slow and inefficient service provided by the HMRC (Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs) was a real rude-awakening for us.When asked to do duplicate paperwork, send off passports that were then untraceable for two weeks, followed by being put on hold on 0845 numbers with very high rates, our tempers were frayed to say the least.
I felt a lot of anger dealing with all this. Already my husband is pretty negative about the UK work-ethic.This was not what I had promised my family when we planned to move to the UK. I imagined a better family life, with more leisure time spent enjoying lovely summer evenings. A bit too idyllic a dream on hindsight, as neither of us can enjoy much leisure time in the evening looking after two little kids! British friends advised us to wait and be patient, things will get done, people are busy. And slowly things are moving for us. Our passports have been returned, Child Benefit has been approved and deposited in our bank, my husband has his National Insurance number. The slowness of bureaucracy is something we have to deal with.
It’s still early days and I’m sure more hurdles as well as idyllic summer nights(!) will be waiting for us down the road. It’s a challenge, and that’s part of what I came home for. Seeing my parents play with their grandchildren makes me smile and realize yes this is the main reason why I am back home.
Wednesday, 27 July 2011
An unusually sunny day in Great Harwood
We haven't really seen a day as beautiful as this since.
This is the Church of Saint Hubert's on the way to my parent's house from my brother's.
The sky is a dazzling blue.
The houses you see are called terraced houses; very popular in the surrounding areas. They were built as homes for mill workers over 100 years ago. Great Harwood used to have several mills producing cotton goods.
Teraced houses are very well built and are popular with young families today.
Here is the beer garden of our local pub, The Plough.
I had no idea such a beautiful drinking place existed right around the corner from my home!
What a lovely afternoon we had enjoying drinks in the sun.
Sunday, 29 May 2011
An interview at a primary school in Calderdale やっと面接！！
すごく興味にある場所、Calderdale、にいくつかの小学校に仕事を申しこんでいる。
金曜日の夜に電話があって、最初の面接決まり！！
小学校のアシスタント先生の仕事。
Todmordenと言う場所は田舎で、すごく可愛いな町。
面接の時期に、隣町、Hebden Bridgeに家族旅行します。
写真をアップしますね。
きっと綺麗。
I'm really interested in an area of the north of the U.K called Calderdale. I've applied for a few jobs around there at primary schools for the job of teaching assistant.
I got a phone call last Friday for my first interview!!
It's in a really pretty town called Todmorden.
We are going to have a family trip to the town next door, Hebden Bridge, around the time of my interview.
I'll post the pictures.
金曜日の夜に電話があって、最初の面接決まり！！
小学校のアシスタント先生の仕事。
Todmordenと言う場所は田舎で、すごく可愛いな町。
面接の時期に、隣町、Hebden Bridgeに家族旅行します。
写真をアップしますね。
きっと綺麗。
I'm really interested in an area of the north of the U.K called Calderdale. I've applied for a few jobs around there at primary schools for the job of teaching assistant.
I got a phone call last Friday for my first interview!!
It's in a really pretty town called Todmorden.
We are going to have a family trip to the town next door, Hebden Bridge, around the time of my interview.
I'll post the pictures.
Saturday, 23 April 2011
国際結婚 イギリス人妻と日本の主人
子供について書いていますが、
これから国際結婚についてもちょっと書きます。
日本の文化に結構慣れて来ましたかな。だから私達の結婚は他人と同じように普通だと思っていますが、たまに、あっ、これ違うなと思う時もあります。一つ違うのは：我慢。
我慢を英語に訳すと、be patient か to put up with something, と思います。毎日聴く事ありますよね。だけど、英語にはこの言葉、そんなに使わないと思います。"我慢"は人のために自分のしたい事か言いたい事を隠すか遠慮するかな。
主人は笑いながら、あなたには我慢できませんとよく言われる。我慢はいい意味と悪い意味両方あると思います。他人の気持ちを優先するのはすばらしい事だけど自分の気持ちを無視する場合はストレスを溜まるだけと思います。
だけど、イギリス人は一つの我慢を知っています。クリスマス・プレゼントをクリスマス・デイの前に絶対開けません。プレゼントは十二月ずっとクリスマス・ツリーの下に置いてありますけど、皆開けません。誕生日プレゼントも同じように、その日になると、プレゼントを開けます。それはイギリス人の一つの我慢。
その我慢私の主人はできません：）
I've often been writing about my bilingual kids and teaching English in this blog, and so I thought I'd have a go at writing about our cross cultural marriage.
I've become quite used to life in Japan so I don't often think that our marriage is so different to any others. There are times though when we think, oh yes that's certainly different. One of these differences I often come across is the Japanese "gaman" spirit.
Translating "gaman" into English is hard. I'd say it means to be patient or to put up with something. We often here it mentioned everyday. However, I think we don't often use those phrases as much in English. "Gaman" includes hiding or putting off saying or doing something you want to do, often for the good of others.
My husband often jokingly says, You can't be patient, you can't do "gaman". I think there are good and bad sides to gaman. Considering others' needs first before your own is very admirable but ignoring your own needs is just too stressful.
There is one thing British people are good at being patient for: we always wait to open our Christmas presents until Christmas Day. It's one of the few times I can think of when we are good at being patient. The presents are under the tree during December but we don't open them. The same goes for our birthday presents, we only open them on the day. That is one example I know of British "gaman".
Oh and my husband is not good at that type of "gaman"!!
これから国際結婚についてもちょっと書きます。
日本の文化に結構慣れて来ましたかな。だから私達の結婚は他人と同じように普通だと思っていますが、たまに、あっ、これ違うなと思う時もあります。一つ違うのは：我慢。
我慢を英語に訳すと、be patient か to put up with something, と思います。毎日聴く事ありますよね。だけど、英語にはこの言葉、そんなに使わないと思います。"我慢"は人のために自分のしたい事か言いたい事を隠すか遠慮するかな。
主人は笑いながら、あなたには我慢できませんとよく言われる。我慢はいい意味と悪い意味両方あると思います。他人の気持ちを優先するのはすばらしい事だけど自分の気持ちを無視する場合はストレスを溜まるだけと思います。
だけど、イギリス人は一つの我慢を知っています。クリスマス・プレゼントをクリスマス・デイの前に絶対開けません。プレゼントは十二月ずっとクリスマス・ツリーの下に置いてありますけど、皆開けません。誕生日プレゼントも同じように、その日になると、プレゼントを開けます。それはイギリス人の一つの我慢。
その我慢私の主人はできません：）
I've often been writing about my bilingual kids and teaching English in this blog, and so I thought I'd have a go at writing about our cross cultural marriage.
I've become quite used to life in Japan so I don't often think that our marriage is so different to any others. There are times though when we think, oh yes that's certainly different. One of these differences I often come across is the Japanese "gaman" spirit.
Translating "gaman" into English is hard. I'd say it means to be patient or to put up with something. We often here it mentioned everyday. However, I think we don't often use those phrases as much in English. "Gaman" includes hiding or putting off saying or doing something you want to do, often for the good of others.
My husband often jokingly says, You can't be patient, you can't do "gaman". I think there are good and bad sides to gaman. Considering others' needs first before your own is very admirable but ignoring your own needs is just too stressful.
There is one thing British people are good at being patient for: we always wait to open our Christmas presents until Christmas Day. It's one of the few times I can think of when we are good at being patient. The presents are under the tree during December but we don't open them. The same goes for our birthday presents, we only open them on the day. That is one example I know of British "gaman".
Oh and my husband is not good at that type of "gaman"!!
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