Completion of preparing for AIRA’s financial statement for FY 2020 led an audit to scrutinize whether the balance of payment was appropriately executed.(No.21-1)
Date & Time : 14th April (Wed) 2021, 14:00 ~ 15:00
Venue : Abiko Civic Plaza, Meeting Room #2
AIRA’s activities for FY 2020 were seriously affected by the spread of COVID-19. The Japanese class opened its online classes in May, but other activities had to be cancelled or postponed. However, slowing down the spread of the disease in July made AIRA possible to resume other language classes as the public facilities became available again, with taking proper measures against COVID-19. AIRA’s activities and financial situation were hit hard by this pandemic. Vice President of AIRA Koichi Murakoshi made an explanation about the situation and Accountant Isamu Yoda reported the balance of payments.
The auditors scrutinized the books, receipts, cash, and deposit outstanding presented by the secretariat members and confirmed the balance of payment duly executed.
The auditors completed the audit without any problem.
(Translated by Ms.Hitomi Koyama)
Date & Time: Saturday, March 13, 2021 10:00 – 11:30 (No.20-15)
Participants: Eleven students (with one family member) from seven countries and thirteen volunteer teachers
This year Saturday Japanese Class was held online. The students studied in small groups according to their Japanese skills and didn’t have chances to get to know other students and teachers, so on the last day of the third semester a special class “Otanoshimi-kai (fun gathering)” was planned. All the students and the teachers got together on the screen and had a great time talking about their favorites and singing a song.
All the students showed their favorites or treasures such as:
*a photo of the sea she saw for the first time in Japan
*an electronic dictionary he uses when he studies Japanese
*photos of families, favorite foods and beautiful places from their home countries
*hand-made vegetable juice for good health
*photos of places in Japan they visited with their family(Okinawa and Hokkaido seem to be very popular!)
*a paper collage “Lion” of her own making
*an employee ID card with her daughter’s photo on its back(“The photo cheers me up when I feel tired,” she said.)
*a two-tier cake stand to serve cakes and sandwiches
The students, from primary to intermediate levels, told stories about each item in Japanese.
The teachers also talked about their favorites or treasures such as:
*a seashell believed to drive away evil
*a seashell that weighs 5kg
*a Berlin Wall fragment
*a pet (cat)
*stuffed animals
*a hand-knitted cap
*photos of flowers in the garden that she is taking care of
*a ball-point pen that has been used for 30 years
*a tamagoyaki (egg-roll) pan that has been used for 35 years and a beautiful tamagoyaki
One teacher said what’s the most important thing for her is to have consideration for others.
All the presentations were impressive and amusing.
In the end, we sang “Kyo no Hi wa Sayonara (Good-bye for Today)” together and closed Saturday Class 2020, promising to see each other again in Saturday Class 2021 in May.
（Translated by Chizu Yamaguchi）
AIRA Training Course for Japanese Language Teaching was completed and the graduation ceremony was held.（No.20-14)
AIRA has been trying to run the foreign language classes smoothly through discussions with the leaders who are playing an important role in the management of each class. The leaders and AIRA staff had a meeting to exchange opinions. (No.20-13)
AIRA’s German class is taught every Saturday (10:15 ~ 11:45) at a meeting room of the Abiko Civic Plaza or other public facilities. Last Saturday (Dec. 19),the students learned German Christmas events including folding Santa Claus with origami paper. The following is the report of the class contributed by Mr. Masakuni Koyama, the class leader. (No. 20-12)