Eddie wrote about the World Cup recently so....so will I! Some of you took my classes during the World Cup and noticed how often I talked about it whether you wanted to hear it or not. I apologise for that but I don't regret it. After all it only takes place every four years. If you are all at Kaplan in four year's time I will bore you all over again!


To be honest, the quality of the play this year wasn't so high. It took a long time for the competition to get going. Most teams seemed to be aiming to avoid conceding goals rather than trying to score them. They, as one manager once said, "parked the team bus in front of the goal."


However, the best team, Spain, won in the end and that makes me slightly satisfied. England were terrible and very disappointing to the entire country as we had such high expectations. Japan exceeded everyone's expectations and they returned home heroes despite exiting the tournament at the same stage as England who returned home very sheepishly.


I was shocked by the level of cheating; both fouls and playacting. The worst offenders were the eventual runners-up, Holland. The Dutch have a tradition of playing beautiful, attacking "total" football but this year they decided to play dirty in order to get as far as possible in the competition. It kind of worked as they almost won the whole damn thing!


Anyway, I promise I won't write about football for a while now. I have overdosed on it so I need to take a break from the game. Anyone fancy a game of cricket soon? Hello?? Anybody?

▼▽▼▼【講師】Anthony先生のバックナンバー━━━━━━━━
・【A Fresh Start】2010.07.02 (Fri)

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いつも応援ありがとうございます。
今日も応援クリックよろしくお願いします。
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今日はNewsweek List更新のお知らせです。

ワークショップクラス【Newsweek Lecture/Discussion】で学ぶトピックスは下記の通りです。リストではLecture/DiscussionまたはDiscussion/Readingと通しの時間表記ですが、LectureまたはDiscussion、どちらか1コマから受講が可能です。

Everybody likes being comfortable, right? Think about it: in Tokyo we are surrounded by comforts and conveniences. We have air conditioning, iPods, mobile phones, internet access, convenience stores...the list goes on and on. Our lives without certain conveniences are hard to imagine and nothing that most of us would wish for. But about a month ago I heard someone talk about a recent realization he'd had: comfort can be overrated.


He had just spent a week working as a volunteer for Habitat for Humanity, building houses for impoverished people in the Philippines. While he was there, he was away from many things that people in Tokyo enjoy everyday, like e-mail and (usually) tolerable temperatures. At first, he was not looking forward to being away from those things, but after a few days he understood that the work he was taking part in was so much more important, and that the things he was learning through his experience were also very valuable. If he had stayed where he was comfortable, he wouldn't have gone through that time of personal growth. Sometimes a little discomfort is required in order to enrich not only our own lives but also the lives of others.


Now, I have to admit that his message weighed on me for a few days. Still now, weeks later, I am periodically reminded of the truth of his words. Even without an experience as poignant as his, I can still see small examples of this in my own life. Removing the focus from myself and my own comfort helps me to more easily notice the needs of others, like maybe when one of my housemates is tired and could use a little help with something, or when one of my friends is feeling troubled and needs someone to talk to. If I am too focused on myself, I may not be so perceptive to how other people are feeling. When I am not worried about discomfort, I may be less likely to complain about trivial things, too. The point is, when we become too focused on getting or keeping the things that make our lives easier, it can become far too easy to develop the habit of prioritizing our own comfort over other more valuable things, like how we can serve others.


Admittedly, that idea can be a tough pill to swallow. Not many people actually like to think about giving up things that make their lives easier. But neither am I suggesting that we eliminate everything from our lives that makes us feel comfortable. (Switching off your air conditioner won't necessarily result in direct, tangible benefits in your life or the lives of others, for instance.) The important thing is to remember not to let your pursuit of comfort get in your way, and to remember that the comfortable choice isn't always the best choice or even the right choice. In the end, I think the satisfaction of doing good for others whenever we can is a lot more gratifying than what we can get from living comfortably.

▼▽▼▼【講師】Melanie先生のバックナンバー━━━━━━━━

・【What We Can Learn From Japanese Culture】2010.06.25 (Fri)

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今日はNewsweek List更新のお知らせです。

ワークショップクラス【Newsweek Lecture/Discussion】で学ぶトピックスは下記の通りです。リストではLecture/DiscussionまたはDiscussion/Readingと通しの時間表記ですが、LectureまたはDiscussion、どちらか1コマから受講が可能です。

I was happy to see Japan do well in the World Cup recently. I think many people were surprised because Japan was not playing so well before the World Cup started. I think the team lost to Korea a few times just before the Word Cup so no one expected them to do well. I thought the best player was Tulio. He was so energetic - attacking, defending, always chasing down the ball. I have to admit, I thought he would not be such a good player because he does not play his regular, club football in Europe like most of the players do. However, I was surprised - he proved me wrong.


The real difference to the Japanese team was the strikers, however. They did not score all of the goals, but they made a big difference. That was always Japan's problem in the past. They had good group co-ordination, but they lacked the strength up front. Now they have a couple of good strikers and good attacking mid field players and they are a much more dangerous team. I think being a good striker requires a personality that goes against the traditional values of Japanese society. A good striker must be a little selfish; they have to want to score themselves, not always pass it off to another member of the group. You may notice that the really good strikers are often very individual-minded and flamboyant. The best example is Maradona I think. He has a very strong personality. Perhaps he is not so modest or good at keeping harmonious relations with other people, but he was a brilliant player!

▼▽▼▼【講師】Eddie先生のバックナンバー━━━━━━━━
・【Fires】2010.06.18 (Fri)

Posted By: Eddie Palmer on July 16, 2010