Our Fantastic Volunteers
/（Click here to read this article in Japanese 日本語版はこちら）
Sometimes, Japanese people contact me and ask if they can volunteer at Step Up Japanese.
I’m always very happy that Japanese people in Brighton and Hove have found my school and want to visit and help out.
This year, a number of Japanese volunteers have helped out in class and with events and workshops.
This Volunteers Week, I’d like to say a big thank you to my 2018-19 volunteers!
Aria-san, who came to help out with Summer Programmes in 2018. Thank you for playing games with my students and teaching them how to say ホットドッグ (hotto doggu; hot dog):
Mari-san, for chatting with STEP 1 and STEP 2 students and encouraging them to speak with confidence:
And Saya-san, for teaching us incredible origami!
Like many people in the UK, I studied French in school. I liked French. I thought it was really fun to speak another language, to talk with people, and to try and listen to what was going on in a new country. (Still do!)
When I was 14 we went on a school exchange to the city of Reims, in northeastern France. I was paired with a boy, which I’m sure some 14-year-olds would find very exciting but which I found unbearably awkward. He was very sweet and we completely ignored each other.
That was nearly 20 years ago, and I didn’t learn or use any more French until, at some point in lockdown, I decided on a whim to take some one-to-one lessons with online teachers. Here are some things I learned about French, about language learning, and about myself.