Global warming, soccer, and F-1 racing

After school today I met with two senior boys who are preparing to take the big English college entrance exam. Even though I had them in writing class last year, they still asked their teacher to stay with us at the beginning. (I think they were a little nervous having to depend on their own English!) The teacher only stayed a minute or two & said, "Good luck!" as she walked out of the room. :) The boys and I read an article about global warming, talked about the difficult vocabulary, the greenhouse effect, the Kyoto Protocol, the recent G8 Summit in Germany, and how the three of us can be a little "greener." I drew many pictures, acted things out, and gave example after example for over an hour. The guys did so well, persevering through some heavy stuff and my poor artistic and acting skills. :) After finishing with the article, I told them to just talk to me, about anything! (For the exam, they'll have an interview in English & while they are decent at reading & writing, their speaking could use improvement.) They were a little hesitant at first, but then one of them asked me about daily life in the US. The other asked me why people in the US like baseball, American football, and the NBA, but they don't like soccer. They asked me about where I live now & isn't it difficult living alone? What's my favorite food, sports, etc etc. One of them wants to drive a fast Ferrari in Formula 1 racing. The other loves soccer & is "a little sad" that David Beckham doesn't play in Europe any more because Japan doesn't broadcast USA games. What do people in the US think of Japan? On they went...just chatting away with me like a friend. I had planned about 10 minutes for the 'conversation' part, but it lasted 1/2 hour and we only stopped because I was meeting people for dinner! When we walked out, I heard one say to the other, "Tanoshi katta!" 'That was so much fun!'

Yay, I thought so too!