Show 956 Monday 2nd February
Watch today’s show at YouTube or BlipTV.
Hi, I’m Sarah, welcome to The Daily English Show. Today’s guest is David. He’s a ski instructor from Leicester in England. He’s been in Niseko since the start of December and he’s going to be here until April. I asked him how he found out about Niseko.
I actually, ah, was looking at going to Japan next season - I was supposed to be going to Colorado. And the wonders of Facebook … um, I had, ah … my friend saw that, ah, there were some visa problems with Colorado. And he just happened to live with a ski school director in New Zealand doing a season there. And they said, oh, you know, we’ve got some jobs going in Niseko. So he sent me a message and forwarded it on to our manager Tej. And, ah, that’s how I, sort of, found out about Niseko. But, um, it’s growing more and more, the, sort of, people’s knowledge in Britain of Japan’s snow. And Niseko is the place to go for the snow, so …
STICK NEWS
Kia Ora in Stick News today a volcano erupted in Japan.
Mount Asama is a mountain on the border of Gunma and Nagano prefectures. It is the most active volcano in Honshu. The volcano caused widespread damage when it erupted in 1783. The latest eruption didn’t cause any major damage, but the Japan Meteorological Agency has told people not to approach the volcano.
And that was Stick News for Monday the 2nd of January.
Kia Ora.
conversations with sarah
#596 When did you start skiing?
Step 1: Repeat Sarah’s lines.
Step 2: Read Sarah’s lines and talk to David.
Sarah When did you start skiing?
David I started skiing when I was about 12 years old. I went on a school trip and we had a week’s skiing in a Austrian resort called Bad Gastein.
Sarah Are there any mountains in the UK?
David Well, we’ve got, ah, Mount Snowdon in Wales, ah, but you can’t ski there. And there’s two, ah, resorts up in Scotland. Ah, but again, it’s so cold and it’s very expensive to ski there. So, generally in, everybody in England tends to go to either, you know, Europe, so France, Switzerland, Italy, or Austria, somewhere like that.
Sarah Why did you decide to become an instructor?
David I always fancied, ah, doing a ski season when I was younger, when I was about 18 years old. But decided to go out and just wanted to earn some money at the time. And, um, sort of a, a, break from my career, was … there was a natural break coming up. And, ah, sort of got back into the thinking of wanting to do a ski season again. And, um, I loved, the parts of my job that I used to enjoy most were, sort of, training, and, and, ah, people there. So, sort of, teaching and skiing seemed to be a natural sort of progression for me.
Sarah What do you enjoy most about the job?
David The best thing I think is when you teach, ah, some beginners. And you see them, for the first day, ah, everything’s so new to them. So, they may have never seen snow before, certainly never snow like, ah, like Niseko has. So, they’ll be there on the first day, you know, struggling to get skis on, and you know, struggling to walk in the boots. And then by the last day of instructing, you’ve, ah, you know, they, they come down and we often show them the, sort of, the very first fun. And just to see, you know, just to see how, you know, how much they’ve progressed, and how pleased they are with, you know, their progress. That’s a good feeling, so …
Sarah What’s your other career?
David Back home, I’m afraid I joined the rat race. So, I work 9 to 5 for an insurance company. And, my job is, I’m an underwriter for them. I won’t bore you with too many details of what that involves.
Sarah And you’ve also taught English?
David Yeah, I basically wanted to use my instructing for travel. And so, as I said, last year was my first season, I did that in Switzerland. And then in the summer I was looking … I got offered to go back to Switzerland again. So, I was teaching English over there. And, um, it’s just something that, you know, would be useful with me, if I want to travel again, particularly in Japan. Lots of English people teaching English over here. And it also helps with the, the skiing as well, you know, sort of the, just the teaching practices as well, it’s, it’s helped my instructing.
Sarah So you think there are similarities between teaching English and teaching skiing?
David Yeah, there is, you know, the, like, teaching styles certainly. Um, and, ah, sort of, group management and things like that, you have to know from a classroom … it’s obviously different to when you’re on the, you know, when you’re out on the mountain. But, just, sort of, some of the techniques that you pick up from, from teaching. Trying to keep kids interested in a classroom is … can be quite a challenge. And, um, so when you come on the slopes you can apply some of those techniques if they’re getting bored or a bit tired. And it’s um, yeah, it works well.
Sarah What are some of those techniques?
David A lot of the time it’s bring in games and trying to make everything fun. I think, um, people sometimes forget particularly when they’re skiing. That, ah, they’re here for a holiday and here to enjoy themselves. And sometimes people get too, sort of, caught up in, in trying to get their technique so right, that they forget about the fact that it’s all about enjoyment, so …
Sarah And the people you taught English to, what was their first language?
David Ah, we had, ah, groups from all over the world. So I had, for instance, in one class, I had six pupils and I had them for two weeks and they ranged from the ages of 8 to 18. And there was, ah, students from Dubai, a student from Russia, one from Kazakhstan. And I had a Japanese student as well.
Sarah Where was it?
David It was in Switzerland it was a, um, a place called Haut-Lac International Centre. Which is in, close to Montreux and, ah, … (?)
Sarah Why were there so many students from all over the world?
David Because it’s like a, a renowned activities and language camp. So they just, ah, they tend to get, each year, you know, they just, ah, they don’t really sort of advertise too much. But kids go to different international school and friends from, you know, friends who go to that international school will come. So, just the word spreads.
notes
fancy v. (Brit.) (informal) fell a desire for
I always fancied doing a ski season ... = I always wanted to do a ski season ...
rat race n. (informal) a way of life in which people are caught up in a fiercely competitive struggle for wealth or power
Concise Oxford English Dictionary
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