Ã÷¤±¤Þ¤·¤Æ¤ª¤á¤Ç¤È¤¦¤´¤¶¤¤¤Þ¤¹ (Akemashite omedet¨­ gozaimasu, Happy New Year)! It¡¯s January, and that means a lot of us will have made ÐÂÄê¤Î±§Ø“ (shinnen no h¨­fu, new year¡¯s resolutions/aspirations).

Hopefully, some of you will resolve to work hard to improve your 911±¬ÁÏÍø this year. It¡¯s not only 911±¬ÁÏÍø learners who read this column, however. ÈÕ±¾ÕZ½ÌŽŸ (Nihongo ky¨­shi, 911±¬ÁÏÍø language instructors) like myself often use it to spark ideas for new lessons.

½ñ¡¢½ÌŽŸ¤ËÇó¤á¤é¤ì¤Æ¤¤¤ë¤³¤È¤ÏºÎ¤Ç¤·¤ç¤¦¤« (Ima, ky¨­shi ni motomerarete-iru koto wa nani desh¨­ ka, What are teachers expected to do nowadays?) This week, I thought I would try to discover some innovative approaches to language teaching and take the time to talk to my peers concerning new ways they¡¯re teaching their classes. That way, maybe any instructors reading can start their year off on the right foot.