Hello

I'm from Manila, Philippines where it's either sunny and hot or rainy and humid. I think many Japanese are familiar with the Philippines because we're famous for our white sand beaches. I am as awed as you are at how beautiful our beaches are. I dream of vacations at our beaches just like you because being in the capital city of Manila does not make it easy for me to go to those lovely beaches. I would have to travel by boat (which I do not enjoy) or by plane (my preferred mode of transportation) just to get to them.

What is more accessible to me are hills and mountains because they are a 2-hour drive both north and south of Manila. I've only gone hiking a few times, and I discovered that I enjoy it very much. It challenges me physically, and the breath-taking view from the top is rewarding.

My enjoyment of beaches and mountains sit well with my advocacy for climate change mitigation. I feel strongly about reducing use of plastic, so I segregate my trash and donate recyclable materials to different facilities available to me. I know that what I do contributes very little to the global impact of climate change, but I believe that if every individual would do their small part we can all slowly bring about change. 

As of this time, I have only taught English for 1 year and that was back in 2014-2015. I had Japanese students then, so I feel comfortable having Japanese students now. I want to teach again because it fascinates me to meet people from another culture, and helping others through teaching is second-nature to me.

Back in college, I tutored an elementary level student , and after graduating from university, I taught Chemistry online to American students. When my own children attended school, I tutored them myself. A friend of mine even asks me to tutor her child for math.

Here in Manila, it is normal to learn the English alphabet at age 3 or 4 years. The alphabet song will probably be the first song a toddler would learn from his or her caregiver. The medium of instruction in private schools, when I was growing up, was English. This continued on until I graduated from university where I took up Chemical Engineering. In the previous decade, a new law was passed that required the mother tongue or native language to be spoken as medium of instruction. Whether that improves the Filipinos' level of education in terms of literacy, math skills, understanding of the sciences, and appreciation of the arts is yet to be seen. This is aside from the fact that English is a subject taught in school where one progresses from learning word classes (or parts of speech as it was called back then) to writing sentences, then writing paragraphs into essays. By high school, students are expected to deliver speeches in front of classmates and teachers, and engage in formal debates in fluent English. All written works, such as a research paper, are also done in English.

My exposure to the Japanese culture, on the other hand, is limited to anime I've seen on television when I was young, and food I've had in Japanese restaurants here in Manila. The Philippines is a market for Japanese products so I am familiar with many Japanese brands from gaming consoles (Atari, Nintendo) to home appliances (Sony, Daikin) to cars (Toyota, Nissan). I know there's more to Japanese culture than those. I would love to hear your stories about your country. 

Have a class with me if you like to practice your English conversation skills. If you've learned English sentence construction in school, then it's high-time to practice your listening and speaking skills. You can talk about topics I've mentioned above, or anything you personally prefer. Another good way to get better at English is by reading material appropriate to your level, and we can use that as a jump-off point for discussion. I also encourage students to write a journal or short essay of their own. You can read your written work to me, and I can comment on its grammatical structure, as well as use that as topic for conversation.

Let's talk soon.