A greeting, a word or two about this place, and…a challenge?
Hi there, everyone! Robert here from Mayflower. Hope you are having a good one!
Welcome to a humble little section on our even humbler little Student Blog @ Mayflower英語教室!
What do we do here? Very simple: anyone who studies English at Mayflower can write whatever they want to here. And so can anyone else. You might imagine this place is a little bit like “Speakers’ Corner” in Hyde Park, London England. (Yeah, even though I am American, I am down with Hyde Park.)
Of course, opening up a place, even online, with “anyone, anytime, anything”-type access is a little risky, and I doubt the “big name” English schools [ahem] in Tokyo have the cajones to do it, since there’s bound to be a big, crazy mix of people and topics and various modes of expression, and that doesn’t fit the “system”. Well, to hell with the system!!!
The folks here at Mayflower aren’t worried, not one little bit in fact. We TRUST YOU, and we trust what you’ve got to say. In fact, we think that this kind of approach, giving people a place, and the freedom, to say EXACTLY what they think, whenever they think it, is probably THE MOST IMPORTANT thing that anybody can do for anybody else when it comes to providing an innovative way to study English.
Why? Why not! Because its different. Because its fun. Because IT JUST FEELS RIGHT.
Actually, we’ve placed this idea at the very CORE of our educational philosophy here. We call it “SynCom“, but you can call it whatever you like…”polka dotted Eskimos à la mode” or something even more absurd if it suits you. The terminology isn’t the point. The most important thing is that here at Mayflower, we say what we want to say in an open atmosphere of mature exchange and constructive feedback. We’re here to learn FROM EACH OTHER, after all! We are not zombies. We are living, breathing, expressive individuals, right?
Well, are there any ground rules here? Only one, I guess: here, on this blog, you are RESPONSIBLE for what you say. That’s it! Simple, but deep, and I won’t commit the indiscretion of going into all the implications of that idea. Suffice it today, your words are you babies, so by all means:
- think your own thoughts
- express yourself, as yourself (no more anonymous expression, Japan!)
- take care of your various expressions, feed them, nurture them, and raise them by listening to questions, comments, and criticism from other students, and reflecting on what people say in class and at our parties, and make the changes you feel you need to make
- and send them off on their own when they’ve grown up enough (in one of our Q&A sessions after your presentation, and by posting the here on this blog).
You’ll be a real proud and real happy (if not a little concerned) parent, but that’s about par for course when it comes to expressing yourself in the REAL WORLD. Or at least, a MORE real world.
Any final words? Of course! In the immortal words of Morrissey, I challenge you with the following verse:
♬”Shyness is nice and
Shyness can stop you
From doing all the things in life
You’d like to♫
♫So, if there’s something you’d like to try
If there’s something you’d like to try
Ask me I wont say no, how could I?”♪
What happens next…is up to you! So what are you waiting for? Express yourself!
[NOTE: If you'd like to see your writing/diary/etc. appear here on Student Blog @ Mayflower英語教室, just send a short email and the text you'd like to post (MSWORD format) to Robert to get the ball rolling. He’ll send you details about what to do next soon!
Mayflower英語教室
