I had a lesson at one of my kindergartens. These kids are six years old. They will start elementary school with cherry blossoms blooming in two months. 

    At this lesson we practiced the DAYS of the WEEK. We have practiced this together many times over the past two years. This was to be the final time. So, after every kid practiced reading the DAYS with me one by one, I challenged them with this lesson. They all got their notebooks and a pencil. I then wrote one of the DAYS on the left side with the order of the words incorrectly. I (and the class teacher) explained that the first letter was NOT capitalized. That is, it was also a small. It turned out very well. Three kids (girls, of course) got it. So, I wrote one more DAY under this one. When one student got that one, I wrote one more. By that time more than half the kids got it. This phase of the lesson took 25 minutes.  

 I have decided to start using my BLOG site again. I hope you will join in by contributing a story every so often (once in a while). 

In my case, I was home all day yesterday, except to make a trip to BBWALK to buy sashimi and Japanese sake. I read my book for 3 hours, watched the news while doing two Super Scrabble games by myself and finally cocktailing at night. It was a good day off. As I said, I have also decided to remake my BLOG site. I hope to get other teachers to contribute news to us. So, wish me luck. ITM here's one of the puzzles. Can you figure out the BLANKS? Scroll down for the answers.

DIME/DIMS                           NEARLY                 RIGID/AGING                   JERKY              

 ＷELCOME TO OUR SITE FOR TEACHERS

Greetings. My name is Rick. RAM English Service, www.rames.jp, is located in Japan. My wife and I own and operate this Service. We have been teaching English to Japanese students, kids and adults alike, since 1988. We also teach at four kindergartens. We would like to share ideas, stories and basic information to any and all people. On this page we have ideas, suggestions and tips for teaching. They may or may not work for you. However you are welcome to check them out. Thank you.

CONTACT US at ramenglish29@gmail.com

You can see demo videos of my teaching HERE.

Check out my BLOG HERE.

GAME DAY

WE have a GAME DAY at our school. It is the fourth lesson of the month. Some of the games we employ follow. 

1. Dominoes. I use these with kids starting from 9 or 10 to adults. You can learn how to play it on-line or with instructions included. The older students really enjoy it, especially when they get better at it. 

2. Chutes and Ladders. Excellent for smaller kids. They have to role one dice, say the number rolled, count the number out on the board and finally say the number that they  land on. When they land on a chute or ladder square they say "I go up/down from (number) to (number)". Finally the players must land exactly on 100. If not, they continue backwards from 100 for that die roll. This makes it difficult to win, which is more fun for all. If they do reach 100, they will start over from 0. Continue play until lesson is finished. 

3. Chip-O. This is a board game. I have revised the rules to make it last for 30 to 40 minutes. All the chips are used and all the cards are read. It is an excellent study when played my revised rules. Instructions available by mailing us ramenglish29@gmail.com

4. Super scrabble. Adults only. Rather difficult. I will assist in many instances. I allow them to make a simple word and then show them other possibilities. 

 

I'm back

 Good Monday morning. I'm gonna start blogging again. So, this is a test.

RAM English Service Presents

Welcome to RAM English Service. 

2020年からは、すでに公開済みのリックのYouTubeレッスン動画に加え、新たなYouTube動画を作成し、随時ここにアップしてまいります。日本語、英語をまじえての動画です。皆様の英会話、英語の勉強のためにもお役立ていただければ幸いです。

どうぞご覧ください！

お問い合わせ等はこちらへ。 

CHALLENGE HW
チャレンジャー宿題

CLICK HERE

英検キッズ宿題CLICK HERE.
リットルキッズ宿題CLICKHERE.

英検勉強にキッズのために　　　　　　　　　　幼稚園リットルキッズのために　　　

 be動詞説明 CLICK HERE.                               UP DOWN 1

助動詞説明 CLICK HERE.                               WARM-UP FAST/SLOW 

疑問詞の説明 CLICK HERE                         　MONTHS (月の練習）

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　NUMBERS (ナンバーズ）　　　　　　　 　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　COLORS (色の練習）

　　                                                        　Days(曜日の練習）

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　ABC（アルファベットの練習）

                                                                アルファベット

HW page for little kids

http://www.playram.org/HW-B-LittleKids.html

http://www.playram.org/HW-A-Eiken-kids.html

My March

The month started out with almost no lessons for me. Now we are back on schedule. The following is a summary of my March.
1. Celebrated my birthday. Happy birthday to me and Happy am I!
2. Waxed all the floors in or house. This was the biggest news. I did them in the first half of March.
3. Reread "Alice in Wonderland."
4. Starting sending Quizzes to my adult students as the lessons are on hold (suspended) for the time being.
5. Started walking for exercise.
6. Did stretching every morning.
7. Saw our daughter get e new job. Happy are we!
8. Did stargazing almost every night. Learned more about the night stars.
9. Saw beautiful dawns, which included the moon, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn.
11. Attended one Kindergarten graduation ceremony.
12. Did not go to the gym at all, as it is temporarily closed. (May quit completely).
13. Doing makeup lessons for the kids ant our school on Sundays and during my free time.
14. Made up my mind to star teaching with Skype. Happy am I.

On stage before graduation ceremony.

Puzzler Answers

以下はスーパースクラブルパズルです。よく見ると、4つの空白のタイルが見つかります。 空白のタイルとは、何も書かれていないタイルのことです。それら空白のタイルは、ある単語の一部です。空白のタイルに、どの文字があてはまるかを考えてください。おわかりですか？答えは、ページを下にスクロールして下さい。GOOD LUCK。

Below is a Super Scrabble Puzzle. If you search carefully you will find four blank tiles on it. BLANK means that nothing is written on it. But, they are part of the word. Try to determine what letter the BLANK tiles are. After you have your guess you can scroll down the page to find the answers. As always, GOOD LUCK.

QUIZ                 STONE              COOLANT               AWNING

Puzzler Hints

It's another Sunday, and more lessons today. Happy am I.
Puzzler Hints: CLICK HERE.

There is a new Home Project. Basically, it is a Tale of Two Stories.
1. Woe is me.
2. Happy am I.
They explain a situation in which you had a bad experience or a good experience.

The Guests of Honor

Super Full Moon Viewing

As you know, I've been watching the sky recently. The moon is the most intriguing (interesting/mysterious)). Why? Because it can be seen every day or night, weather permitting. This month, on March 9th and 10th, there was a full moon. Of course, I was eager to view it. One drawback (problem/demerit) with sky watching that you can only see the stars at night. This can be inconvenient. For example, I may be sleeping or relaxing or it's cold or windy outside. Yes, having fun is work! But I got lucky. It was cloudy when I went to sleep on March 9th. No chance of seeing the full moon. But, I woke up at 3AM the next morning. Why? Please imagine. I peeked outside. There was the full moon heading to the west and the horizon. I put on some clothes got my binoculars and went outside. Yes, It was cold BUT, I viewed the full moon in all it's glory! Beautiful! Then I went back to the warm comfort of my bed. Happy am I!

Waxing the house Part 3

Our house is not big. The hardest part of the waxing project was moving the obstacles and putting them back. I also had to wax under the beds. That was a bit difficult. So, I started upstairs, waxing the hall and the stairway. The next day, I waxed the kitchen and the living room. Two days later I waxed two bedrooms upstairs. The following day I waxed the living room and behind the television. Then I did one final bedroom upstairs. Then I went back to one bedroom and touched up some areas that I couldn't do earlier. That was because there were a lot of obstacles. I estimate that it twelve hours to do everything. The last time that I waxed the entire (whole) house was four years ago. \And this was the third time. I may do it again. It was a lot of work, but now whenever I walk downstairs or enter a room, the first place I look at is the floor. How shiny! How beautiful! Happy am I!

Waxing the house Part 2

The first problem was when to wax. I had to wax when it was convenient for all the members of the family. So, I waxed when thewy were sleeping or when they were not at home. I started early in the morning. I tried not to make too much noise. The first day I waxed the upstairs hallway. That was easy There are no obstacles to clear away. What are the obstacles? They are things such as furniture, boxes, baskets, lamps, television, etc. Here is the process:

1. Move all obstacles to one side.
2. Wipe the exposed (open) floor with the floor cleaner.
3. When it dries, with a damp (slightly wet) cloth.
4. When it dries wax the floor.
5. When it dries put all the obstacles back in their original place.
I did the work over five days. I used two buckets, three old towels, one wax applicator (it is like a broom).
Tomorrow I will tell you the order that I waxed.

Waxing the house Part 1

With all that free time in the last couple of weeks, I was bored. I had to do something. Of course, I watched the news and some movies on TV. I read Alice in Wonderland again, as well as doing some super scrabble puzzles by myself. (My father used to enjoy doing jigsaw puzzles by himself. I suppose we can say "Like father, like son." in this case). But I needed to do something constructive. That means that there will be a positive or lasting result. I had been thinking about waxing the floors in January. But it wasn't a high priority. That is, it wasn't really important. Actually, I had waxed all the floors in the house twice before; approximately every four years. So, with the free time that I had, it became an easy decision. I set to work the day after my birthday, March 7th. The project would last until March 15th.

Puzzler Hints

It's getting warmer, little by little. Happy am I.
Puzzler Hints: CLICK HERE.

There is a new Home Project. Basically, it is a Tale of Two Stories.
1. Woe is me.
2. Happy am I.
They explain a situation in which you had a bad experience or a good experience.

Frosted field

Puzzler

Our school is back in operation after two weeks off. So far, so good. Happy am I.
Puzzler: CLICK HERE.

There is a new Home Project. Basically, it is a Tale of Two Stories.
1. Woe is me.
2. Happy am I.
They explain a situation in which you had a bad experience or a good experience.

The following pic is from a walk I took last week in my neighborhood.

Mooooo!

Higashi Kindergarten Graduation

I went to the Higashi Kindergarten this morning at 9:30 AM. They had their annual graduation ceremony. It was a shortened version due to the current situation. But all had fun. Especially, me!

Fishing by Ken

Hello Rick and classmates,
How's it going today? This is my story below.

Do you fish? I like fishing and often go fishing. I went fishing at SUIJOKOUEN twice. Let me tell you about the story of fishing on February 22nd. 

It was the final day of the class. There were two of us that went fishing on that day. We were targetting ITOU; that is a kind of trout. It's a strong fish and if you hook it, they run much. I felt strong power twice but I couldn't hook it. The first time, my fishing line was broken by a fish. The second time my line unhooked. I believe that they were big ITO but nobody knows. It's under the water. Woe is me! I was outside for a while and I got four fish. I really enjoyed fishing and relaxed. Happy am I!

Trip to Tunisia by Kazuko Part 2

Food and Drink
"Oja" is the specialty of the country. It is a little spicy, tomato flavored soup. It has several kinds of vegetables and meat in it. I love it! The fresh orange juice and the mint tea were amazing as well.
Sightseeing
I visited some remains. Tunisia has a long history. It was originally a country called 'Carthage' built by Phoenicians. The country flourished before the Roman Empire era. The Romans defeated Carthage. They completely destroyed the city and built a new one over the ruins. A lot of ancient Carthage still sleeps underground. I felt a sense of romance.
Back at Narita
I made a blunder. I lost my passport after passing through customs. I noticed that immediately. I was searching for it when I was paged. What a relief! I was lucky. If it had happened abroad I could never find it. Happy am I!
Anyway, I came back home safe and sound. All's well that ends well.

Trip to Tunisia By Kazuko Part 1

To Narita
I got on a limousine bus to Narita airport as usual on February 19th. Surprisingly, I was the only passenger! So, the bus became a chartered one. I felt very sorry for the driver.
The Flight
I thought the airport would be empty. But there were more people than I expected even though it was late at night. I arrived in Tunis, the capital of Tunisia, on schedule. It took about 23 hours in total including transit time. It's so far away!
Weather
It was fine almost every day. The sky and the Mediterranean sea were a beautiful blue. In the day time, it was warmer than Saitama. But from the evening to the early morning it was cold.