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‚P‚O^‚W  (2008)

How do you do, Rosemary and Robert!

My name is Masaharu Ejima, Japanese retire, 62years old.

My friend shows me your home page.

Ied like to learn English and Ifd like to travelNew Zealand for 4weeks.

I have a wife but she canft speak English at all, so we will not be able to visit together.

If possible, please tell me the available plan for me.

Itfs good for me to start 4weeks from November 21 to December 18 or from January 11 to January 25.

Sincerely

Masaharu Ejima

‚P‚O^‚X


Dear Masaharu,

Thank you very much for your email about home stay with English.  And thank you also for sending a photo.  It is so nice to see who you are talking to.

You say you would like to come in November/December or January.

Unfortunately, we will be busy in November with our sons wedding and will have family staying.  Then from 3 December to 10 February we have a Japanese lady (65) staying and it is not good for learning English to have 2 people of the same nationality staying in our house. Is it possible for you to come after this date? I hope so. 

We would love to meet you and help you with your English.

We look forward to hearing from you. Robert and Rosemary

 PS. Say thanks to your friend for telling you about our website.

‚P‚O^‚P‚O

Dear Robert and Rosemary

Thank you very much for your prompt return.

Ifd like to have home stay with English in March, because my eldest daughter has a plan of wedding at 28 February.

I reported your email to my friend and he said my previous student (Japanese lady, 65) is also his student.

I was surprised to hear that.

Maybe, you can already understand our situation.

My friend is a private English teacher and I have English conversation lesson once (one hour) a week.

Sincerely

Masaharu Ejima


‚P‚O^‚P‚Q

Hello Masaharu,

That's great that you have decided to come in March.

How strange that we both have children getting married!

It is also strange that your English teacher also has a 65 year old lady studying English.  Please tell me the name of your teacher and I will ask the lady who is coming here if she has the same teacher. Where do you live in Japan? Please tell me a little more about yourself.  Your interests. Your work before you retired.  Your family. The reason why you are learning English.  Have you travelled to other countries before? Please ask me more questions. This will also give you an opportunity to practice writing English.

Regards

Rosemary

‚P‚O^‚P‚Q

Hello Rosemary

Our teacherfs name is Mr. Handy.

He is an English man (40s) who married Japanese woman (stewardess of British air line) and has one daughter (3yeas old).

About myself:

I live in Chiba prefecture next to Tokyo and near Narita international air port.

My interests are traveling abroad, playing golf, studying English, reading books.

When I was young I often climbed mountains. But lately itfs difficult for me.

Before retired I worked at an accounting section in a religious organization.

I have 3 daughters (30, 29, 25 years old), and the oldest one is going to marry next February. The second one is working in a security company.

I began to learn English about 8 years ago when my youngest daughter went to Canada to study abroad.

She came back to Japan 3 years ago and has a job in a publishing company.

Fortunately I have traveled many countries:

Canada (3 times), EU (4times), Egypt, Turkey, India, Malaysia, Thailand,

China (3times), Singapore, Hong Kong, Fiji, Bali and US (2times).

I have my website:

http://homepage3.nifty.com/m-ejima/index.html

Question:

Please tell me when should I pay the home stay fees?

Regards

Masaharu

‚P‚O^‚P‚R

Dear Masaharu,

Thank you for sending me some information about yourself.  You write very good English, but I know that speaking English is much harder, so we can give you lots of practice. I have attached a registration form for you to fill in.  Please tell me the dates when you would like to stay.  We do not have other bookings for March at the moment, so you are welcome to come then. If you want to see where we live in Christchurch look on Google Earth website and put the co-ordinates 43 30. 27 50 'S and 172 38. 58 'E into the search and when you come to that page look for Warrington Street and if you move the curser until you have the same numbers at the bottom of your screen that is our house.  It is down a long drive and there are 3 grey roofs, it looks like 3 houses (2 roofs are the house and 1 is the garage.). It is near the corner of Hills Road and Shirley Road. There are many golf courses in and near Christchurch which are not expensive, so please bring your golf clubs. There are also many interesting place to go for walks.  And maybe you would like to go to Queenstown or some other place for a weekend.  We can help you book this when you come.

Do you have other questions?

Regards

Rosemary

‚P‚O^‚P‚U

Dear Rosemary

Ifm sorry to be late, because of thinking about my dates to stay.

I saw your place on Google Earth, and thought itfs very good area.

I have attached the registration form.

If it's ok, I will send you a booking fee.

Regards

Masaharu

‚P‚O^‚P‚U

Dear Rosemary

I'm sorry I made a mistake the dates to stay.
I will resend the registration.

Regards

Masaharu

‚P‚O^‚P‚V

 Hi Masaharu,

 I have received your registration form and confirm that you will stay with us from 4th to 31st March 2009 for home stay with English.  Please send the registration fee of NZ$100, our bank details are on the registration form. You are very clever to find our house on Google Earth, well done!  It is an amazing program.  You can travel all over NZ (or even the whole world) from your computer.  I wonder what Christopher Columbus would have thought of that? In preparation for you visit it would be good if you could listen to as much English as possible.  Movies are good, but dialogues are generally very fast and difficult to follow, unless you replay short sections over and over. Can you listen to BBC world service on the radio?  There is a NZ website called www.english-to-go.com which has very good English language lessons. Try a free lesson.  I think their student section is called www.selfaccess.com Membership is not free but it is very cheap and they use interesting material. The more you can listen to English the easier it will be for your ears when you arrive here!

Regards

Rosemary

‚P‚O^‚Q‚O

Hi Rosemary

Today, I sent the registration fee of NZ$100 by telegraphic transfer.

You will able to receive it in a week.

Thank you very much for your advice to improve my listening ability.

I will try.

A few yeas ago I had TOEIC examination and got 650 point.

Thatfs my best score.

Tomorrow, we are having golf competition with junior high school class mate.

We play golf with them twice a year.

Regards

Masaharu

‚P‚O^‚Q‚U

Dear Masaharu,

I have received NZ$100 from you for your registration fee for home stay with English from 4th to 31st March 2009.  Thank you. Your course fee for 4 weeks will be NZ$3200.  This is due for payment by 4th February 2009.  Please tell me when you send this money and I will let you know immediately when it arrives. Nearer the time of your visit would you also let me know your flight details, so that we can meet you at Christchurch airport? Have you found some English tapes to practice listening often?  This is really important training for your ears!

Please ask if you have more questions about your visit here.

We look forward to meeting you in March next year.

Regards

Rosemary

‚P‚O^‚Q‚V

Dear Rosemary

Your guess is very good; my listening and speaking ability is very poor.

I wish I could improve them.

I can find many golf courses in Christchurch. Do you play golf?

Last week, I was able to get the second prize at the golf competition with junior high school mates.

The gross score was 97, and handicap was 23.

Regards

Masaharu

‚P‚O^‚Q‚W

Dear Masaharu,

Congratulations on doing so well in your golf tournament.  And how amazing to have kept friends with people since junior high school!

Neither Robert nor I play golf, apart from sometimes hitting a ball around the local park with visitors.  Yes, there are plenty of opportunities to play golf in Christchurch and other parts of NZ.  Our nearest one, Christchurch Golf club, is unfortunately one of the most expensive, but this may be cheap in comparison with Japan.  You can check their fees on the web. Have you found some English tapes to listen to?  With tapes you can replay sentences over and over until you understand them.  Then you can practice repeating the sentences over and over again.  This listening practice is very important and will help you greatly when you arrive here and hear nothing but English!  So make as much effort as you can to train your ears to hear English during the next 4 months.  One or two hours each day would be very helpful. The weather is becoming warmer now and my roses are beginning to bloom. Do you have a garden?  I love gardening and grow many vegetables, herbs and fruit as well as flowers.  I am very busy in my garden at this time of year. I am also busy painting.  One of my hobbies is decorative painting, Americans call it Tole painting.  I teach classes sometimes.  Now I am painting some projects to teach at our groups convention next May.  I also paint pieces for gifts at Christmas. Well must go now.  Tell me more about how you pass your days now and your wife/family.

Regards

Rosemary

‚P‚Q^‚R

Dear Rosemary

I have reserved air tickets for Christchurch.

1:2009/03/03(Tues) SQ 637 11:30 17:55    Tokyo(Narita) Λ Singapore

2:2009/03/03(Tues) SQ 297 19:40 10:30+1  Singapore Λ Christchurch

3:2009/04/10(Fri)  SQ 286 12:25 19:10    Ark land Λ Singapore

4:2009/04/12(Sun)  SQ 638 23:40 07:30+1  Singapore Λ Tokyo (Narita)

I have a plan to travel after 4 weeks home stay from Christchurch to Ark land about 10 days. Would you have any advice?

I began to listen and dictate CNN broad casting which recorded CD.

Itfs very difficult for me to discriminate short words which are very easy to read, for example, It, itfs, is, a, the, that, can, canft, are, were, or, if, etc.

I also began to read English newspaper, gThe Daily Yomiurih.

It takes almost one day to read only one or two pages.

I bought a new digital dictionary which has pronunciation system by native.

Itfs very useful for me to understand how to pronounce new words.

Regards

Masaharu

‚P‚Q^‚T

Dear Masaharu,

Thank you for your email with information about your flights.  I have written them in my diary. It is good that you are listening to CNN, but I can understand how it is very difficult to hear those little words, because they are not emphasized and are run into the following words.  So do not be disheartened.  I think you are maybe setting yourself too high a goal, because CNN and newspapers are for high level native speakers.   It is no good trying to listen to or read something which is too difficult.  Especially reading.  It must be something you can enjoy reading and not have to continually look up words. My rule is if you have to look up more than 5 or 6 words on a page it is too high a level and you can not enjoy reading. Maybe try to find some easier English learner listening recordings and easier reading.  Maybe Mr. Handy can suggest something.  Did you look at the website www.selfaccess.com  this is a NZ website with very good lessons at all levels, including listening recordings. Your new dictionary sounds very useful.  Just be careful not to drop it! Those electronic things are not as strong as books! For your 10 days travel from Christchurch to Auckland I would suggest that you leave these arrangements until you come here.  Then we can talk about it together and help you to plan your trip.  There is no need to make any bookings this far ahead. Please ask if you have more questions.

Regards

Rosemary

‚P^‚P‚T

Dear Masaharu, 

Happy New Year.  Your visit to NZ is getting closer and you can look forward to practicing your English with us soon.  I have attached an account for your home stay with English fees.  We would be grateful if you could pay this about one month before your arrival.

We are enjoying wonderful summer weather here in NZ and hopefully it will continue into March.

For the past 6 weeks we have been enjoying the company of Asako Fujii who has been staying with us to learn English.  Next month we will have a man from Switzerland stay with us for one month and he will be here until the 18 March.  So you will have the added advantage of more international company.

Have you been listening to English language sound tracts as I suggested?  It helps a lot, because it is very difficult for your ears to adjust to hearing English when you first arrive.

Please give me your flight details so that I can meet you at Christchurch airport.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Regards

Rosemary Trowland

‚P^‚P‚U

Dear Rosemary Trowland

I am very sorry to be late to mail.

Actually, I had 2 health problems last month.

One of them, I had muscle dislocation on my leg when we played golf

in the cold rainy whether 17 December.

But itfs almost good now.

Another one is on 26 December; I fell down after taking a bath.

I went to hospital but the doctor could not say what the problem is.

After that my daughter found information about my problem in internet.

We thought my trouble is maybe from temporary low blood pressure.

I am getting better now, so Ifd like to go to New Zealand

and I want to decide whether go  or not by the end of this month.

I ask you to wait my decision for a while.

PS:

Mr. Handy opened his home page. I will show you!

http://www.handy-english.com

I am trying to improve my listening ability by lower level text with CD.

Yours sincerely

Masaharu Eejima

‚P^‚P‚U

Dear Masaharu, 

I'm sorry to hear that you have had health problems.  I hope you will be better soon.  Ones health is the most important thing in life.  So please take care of yourself.  Check with your doctor before you decide weather to come or not.  If you can not come we will be sorry but it is no problem for us.  Be sure you are in good health before you travel.  You do not want to spend your stay in a New Zealand hospital!  Or maybe you will need to postpone your trip till a later date.  See how things are next month and let us know.

Take care

Rosemary

‚P^‚Q‚U

Dear Rosemary 

Thank you very much for your kind mail.

My condition is getting better, so I decide to go New Zealand.

I will send you the home stay fee tomorrow.

Yours sincerely

Masaharu Ejima

‚Q^‚X 

Dear rosemary 

Thank you very much for your e-mail.

I can image how I will spend my life for one month.

That will be fun.

I have received my e-ticket. So I will send you my schedule again:

ITINERARY

DATE


CITY/AIRPORT


TIME


FLIGHT/CLASS


RESERVATION


TERMINAL

03MAR
TUE

TOKYO NARITA 

11:30

SQ0637/E

OK

TERMINAL 1

SINGAPORE 

17:55

SINGAPORE AIRLINES

FB:EKZP

NVB/NVA:

03MAR

/

03MAR

BAG:20K

REF:J4HKEU/SQ

03MAR
TUE

SINGAPORE 

19:40

SQ0297/E

OK

TERMINAL 3

CHRISTCHURCH 

10:30
(04MAR)

SINGAPORE AIRLINES

MAIN TERMINAL

FB:EKZP

NVB/NVA:

03MAR

/

03MAR

BAG:20K

REF:J4HKEU/SQ

10APR
FRI

AUCKLAND 

12:00

SQ0286/E

OK

INTERNATIONAL TERMINAL

SINGAPORE 

18:50

SINGAPORE AIRLINES

FB:EKZP

NVB/NVA:

/

01JUN

BAG:20K

REF:J4HKEU/SQ

12APR
SUN

SINGAPORE 

23:40

SQ0638/E

OK

TERMINAL 3

TOKYO NARITA 

07:50
(13APR)

SINGAPORE AIRLINES

TERMINAL 1

FB:EKZP

NVB/NVA:

/

01JUN

BAG:20K

REF:J4HKEU/SQ

Yours sincerely

Masaharu Eejima

‚Q^‚P‚Q

Dear Masaharu, 

Thank you for sending your flight details.  We will look forward to meeting you on 4th March at Christchurch airport.

Yesterday Asako Fujii, who has been with us for 10 weeks, went back to Japan and Leo arrived from Switzerland.  So we are busy as always.  The weather is a little cooler today and there was quite a lot of rain last night, first for a long time.  So now the grass will grow green again!

Regards

Rosemary


–ΪŽŸ‚Φ

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