Girl’s footsal
We had a sport meeting on October 16th and 17th. Did you enjoy it? What sport did you play? I played footsal because since I played it last year, I’ve liked playing footsal very much.
In September, our footsal team started to practice footsal. We planed what to do in P.E class. We often gathered in the morning and practiced it in the ground. At first, we couldn’t move the ball well. I think it is difficult for girls to move the ball well. When I saw the boys soccer game, the ball moved as if it was a creature. But girls can’t play like that. So we had to practice hard. But after more and more practicing footsal, our game play become much better. We were able to pass the ball to each other.
On October 16th and 17th, the sport meeting was held. We hadn’t had enough time to practice, so we were very nervous. We had already finished the first game. We (class2) played class 1, and we lost. So we couldn’t lose any more game. The second game was class 2 vs. class 3. In class 3, there were two SHABUKUST members so I wanted to win the game. At first, they scored a goal. I was afraid that it might be difficult to win this game. But at last when there was only 30 seconds left, our team scored. We were very happy. The game ended in a draw, but we were satisfied with it.
Our team did our best, but we found it was difficult to win games. We also lost other games. I want to try footsal again. And then, I want to revenge. Saki Nabeta (116-2)
116-2 Saki Nabeta

Journal in England from Yummy

It was just a year ago that I left Japan and was in England! I had stayed there for about a year and now I’m back here…yes I’m going to talk about my life in England.
I did not like the subject of English before which is why my English speaking level was so low. I wished Japanese would be a world common language one day. But I found a chance to have a little trip to England during the summer holiday when I was 14. I loved England, the culture, and also people’s way of thinking! After half a year I decided to go abroad as an exchange student!
On the first day of my life in England I just felt… well, nothing special. The view from the motorway wasn’t really different as Japanese ones so we, I mean most of Japanese exchange students, couldn’t believe we were in England including me. Soon we broke up as a group and went to our host families. I did not miss Japan, even the language, because my host family was used to keeping Japanese kids. They talked to me slowly and I could get them. I went to college for a month to improve my English before I went to school. College wasn’t hard for us and I always tried to speak English with the only girl from Thailand but as you can see there were too many Japanese not to talk in Japanese sometimes … oh dear! I will tell you about the happy month now.
My host mom’s name is Glenys, which is an Irish name, and my dad’s name is Graham. Both of them were about sixty years old but they looked much younger than that age! Their daughter, called Jo, lived near their house and come to their house with her husband, Mathew, quite often. The first problem was … that I couldn’t pronounce “Mathew”! My host family has best friends near their house, Sue and Gerry. They are always looking after me well and I got on well with all of them!! We did so many things in a month, most of day after college we were going out for a meal, a walk, sights, just anything. The biggest event was a concert at which people copied the Beatles, ABBA and some big musicians! Of course I couldn’t sing very well but no one matters and the host family was happy that I was enjoying myself very much! The English think thyat they can enjoy something even if they are not good at it. This is a very valuable attitude for me. I love this way if thinking on a trip we went to Cadbury Chocolate World!!!!! Do you know it!? Perhaps you know Cadbury chocolate; there is a factory of Cadbury in Birmingham where the college was. Can you believe it!? Thousands of chocolates were being made in the factory!! We got some types of chocolate on the trip in the factory and we ate all of them after the trip…! I’ve been to cricket match, cathedrals, the longest canal, concerts, theme parks, charity walks, London, parties, Sunday lunches…wow, lots of things only for a month!! It was the busiest life ever…
Finally most of the Japanese kids had to say bye to each other because most of them had to go soon to new host families. I didn’t change my host family…my host family didn’t hate me thought…well I am going to stop here this time. I will tell you the next story next month! cyax
116-6 Yuma Mikumo

I owe it to SHABUKUST that …

One rainy day in August, I had taken part in my first SHABUKUST meeting. That was fifteen years ago, and the issue for which we were having the meeting was the second issue. I had read the first issue which had come out on the last day of school before the summer vacation started and immediately ran to Roy to inquire how I could join the group. It was my first year back in Japan after five years of living in the US, and, after four months of trying to adapt to the school environment in Japan, I could not hold back my thirst to “use English” in some way.
I was impressed to find out that the group actually consisted of only two female students (with two other students helping them) with Roy and Bob. It was totally a volunteer activity, not even a “circle”. None of this mattered to me, of course, and, after meeting the two chief editors (Yayoi and Hidemi), I instantly decided to join the group. I suggested that a feature article be included in the paper and became the one to write it. A year after, a few more students joined, and the rest of the story is as everyone knows.
Fifteen years later, as I write this essay, I am an English teacher at university. I owe it greatly to Roy and his influence as my trainer during the practice-teaching weeks that I chose it as my career, but another great motive of my becoming an English teacher is because I wanted to convey the magnitude of “communication” through teaching a language.
I am a language teacher, and I have often reflected upon what I am supposed to teach as a language teacher. It is essential that grammar, vocabulary, and phonetics of English language is taught substantially in the course of teaching, but at the same time, I consider it my duty that I teach "language". Language is a tool that was given to human beings. People cannot convey their feelings and thoughts without a language, of course, but what I find the most fascinating is the fact that language is intrinsic to human cognitive actions, and people actually take on these cognitive activities because there is a need to give a shape to whatever is happening in their minds. In other words, we think so that we can communicate, but that process of thinking is often facilitated by the language itself because in trying to give a shape to what we want to say as a language, we reflect upon what it is that we want to convey more in depth. Good communication makes people flourish intellectually, and this is what I aspire to have the students ultimately achieve.
Now that I think about this, I notice that this motive was already born in me when I was writing the feature articles for SHABUKUST. In writing and conveying messages in the feature articles, I was given the opportunity to appreciate the gravity of communication. As I thank my juniors for keeping the SHABUKUST tradition, it is my greatest hope that this tradition is appreciated by more future members to come and continued by those members.
102 Tomoko WADA

Volleyball Games

The sports day was held on Oct 17th and 18th. What kind of game did you take part in? I took part in volleyball, so I would like to write about volleyball game. I like volleyball the best of all the sports. I like it’s atmosphere.
Last year I chose volleyball but I couldn’t play on the sports day. Because, I had injured my shoulder during playing tennis. While members were practicing, I always felt sad. I really felt frustrated. “Why can’t I play volleyball?” “I want to play volleyball with them!” On the sports day I wanted to do everything possible for members, so I cheered hard our class from outside of the court. The result was second. It was regrettable and we promised to play volleyball again next year to win the game.
This year my shoulder got well and I was barely able take part in it. I was very happy. Because not only I can play volleyball but also the members were the same with last year. When the first match for me started, I was very nervous. I was afraid of losing because of myself. But soon I was enjoying the match. The feeling went away without notice and I got the first win of the sports day.
Second grade’s game was a tight game. Three classes are in first place with the same winning percentage. They are one defeat. We, class2 lost to class5. Class1 lost to class2, and class5 lost to class1. We were hoping to win, so when we lost we were shocked. To make matters worse, the number of sets our class lost was more than other 2classes, so finally our class was third. It was an unexpectation.
Next year, I want to choose volleyball again, and with better luck next time! There is a proverb, “Third time is lucky.” I believe this saying. I hope to get my wish. 116-2 Yuki Fujita

The Special Events at the Sports Meet

On the second day of the school sports meet, a special event was held. There were 4 games. The first three games, Tonde-tonde, the three-legged race, and rope skipping were played by every student. Then, the relay race was held last. Some students who were chosen by their classes ran in this event.
Then, I'll write about the games and their results.

Tonde-tonde
This is the special event of the 1st grade students. In this game, the students ran with a rod and jumped over it. It is a kind of relay race. The students ran, jumped, and handed the rod to the next runner.
When the game started, the first runners were away. At first, there were almost no intervals between the classes, but soon some were made. It was an exciting game. Though some students failed to jump over the rod, the game finished safely.
The order of arrival were as follows: first was class 2, second was 4, third was 1, fourth was 5, fifth was 6, and sixth was 3.
Then one trouble appeared. In this game, eleven groups had to run from every class. But class 2 had prepared only ten groups. Because of this foul, the order of the arrival of class 2 became the last. Maybe it was a very big surprise for every student including the students of class 2. There were some other fouls, and classes which made fouls got some minus points. But every class got only a few minus points, so the final order (including the minus points) was the same as the order of arrival, and class 4 became the winner.

The Three-legged race
The special event of the second grade students was the three-legged race. A pair had to run 30 meters and hand the baton to the next pair. Sometimes, there were pairs that failed to hand the baton, and whenever it happens, the time was wasted. The difficulty of this game was not only that two persons can run, but also other little things. By the way, one of the students got a cramp in his leg during the race. It was very difficult to run a three-legged race with a leg with a cramp.
The order of arrival was as follows: first was class 1, second was 4, third was 5, fourth was 6, fifth was 3, sixth was 2. There were not so big problems, and even though there were little fouls, the order of arrival and the final order was the same. Every class made just a few fouls in this game, so next year, if you want to win in the three-legged race, you should practice not only to make no mistakes, but for running the fastest.

Rope skipping
The third grade students did rope skipping as the special event. The total times of jumping rope in 5 minutes became the record. But the points were decided not only by it, but also by the times of jumping rope without a break. The class that could jump the rope most without a break was given five points. Every class had practiced for this game. Third grade students may have practiced hardest in the three grades.
The result of the total times of jumping rope are as follows: first was class 2 (130 times), second was 5 (98 times), third was 1 (91 times), fourth was 3 (89 times), fifth was 6 (76 times), sixth was 4 (57 times). As you see, class 2 won by long odds. This class also got extra points by jumping 46 times without break. There were no minus points from fouls in this game, so of course, class 2 became the winner. I can only say that they were great.

Relay race
After these three event programs, the last event, a relay race, started. As I wrote first, every class had chosen some persons to run. They ran as fast as they could.
Soon after the race started, class 1 became top. Then, class 4 ran after it. But at last, class 1 kept on top, and class 4 became second.
The result were as follows: first was class 1, second was 4, third was 3, fourth was 2, fifth was 6, sixth was 5. It was a very exciting race.

Every special event was very exciting! Everyone did their best. Things that divided the classes into victory and defeat are effort and luck. If you missed the championship this year, why don't you practice more to get it next year? If you get the championship, you should practice harder to keep it. Then, leave the rest of the things to luck!

116-3 Nanami Miura

Girls' Basketball

When you hear of girls’ basketball, you might at first think of it to be boring. As girls aren’t as powerful as the boys, yes, you aren’t going to see performance play or power play. But girls’ way of playing is fun to watch in a different way. While the boys like to play in a big space, using all the space possible in all directions with their energy and body size, the girls count more on agility, teamwork, and getting the ball in all circumstances. Where boys would step back after a throw in, the girls will go right at the ball. This difference creates something worthy to see in girls’ matches that you won’t be able to see in boys’ matches.
Although not many people were around the girls’ matches with the exception of the 3rd graders, all 18 teams fought hard. Most of the matches included something like hacking balls from each other, and making the game progress unreadably. The aggressive and vigorous play really was something to watch.

117-2 Shifumi Nagase