The 50th General Assembly of Meguro UNESCO Association was held on May 10, 2003, at Moriya Kyoiku Kaikan in Meguro City from 1:30 pm, attended by 60 members (with 210 letters of attorney) and 25 guests. Some of the guests were Mr. Yasuda, Treasurer of Meguro City, who substituted for Mayor Yakushiji, Mr.Kato, Director of the Board of Education, who stood in for Mr. Oshio, Superintendent of the Board, and many others from city administration, members of Tokyo Metropolitan Council and Meguro City Council, and MIFA.

Ms Itsuko Ago, a youth member, declared the meeting open, led silent prayers for the members who had passed away last year. Then congratulatory addresses were given by Mr. Yasuda and Mr. Takashi Kosugi, Advisor of the Meguro UNESCO Association, after which the proceedings of the General Assembly commenced. The bills below were discussed and approved in their original form.

Bills

1)      Activity report / a statement of accounts / an inspection report in FY 2002. 2)      Election of new officials and directors of the board. 3)      Activity scheme discussion/ a budget discussion in FY2003.

The meeting was closed with a speech by Mr. Hirata, a vice president. Following the meeting, a tea party was held, beginning with an opening toast from Mr. Tajima. A mini Bazaar was also held in one of the corners and raised 15,250 yen. Further, an activity committee for young people held its first meeting of this year and discussed about UNESCO Retreat in Summer.

45 members were elected as directors of the board for a 2 year term. Following are the names of the new officials and the directors. President: Reiko Kato 　Vice President: Yukio Okusawa, Takeko Hashimoto, Yasuo Hirata 　Standing Directors: Jyunko Ashida, Masayuki Imai, Nozomi Imahata (Chairperson of Youth Activity committee), Mitsuko Kato 　　　(Chairperson of Japanese Language Education Committee),Yukiko Katsuoka (Chairperson of International Exchange Committee), Shizue Suzuki (Chairperson of Scholarship Program Committee), Takashi Saito (Chairperson of UNESCO School Administration Committee), Yoshio Shimizu (Chairperson of Training Program Committee), Kimiko Shibutani, Seriko Chatani(Chairperson of International Support Activity Committee), Yoshiko Nakajima, Yasuko Hamada, Fumiko Harada (Chairperson of the Secretariat), Fumiko Miyazaki, Noboru Mochizuki (Chairperson of Cultural Activity Committee) 　Directors: Mayumi Aoki, Genta Atoji, Tokio Inoue, Yousei Itaka, Yoshiko Ishibashi, Shizuko Ootaka, Yukiko Okada, Keiko Kajitani, Yasuko Kamata, Sachiko Kiriyama, Takeshi Kusuhara, Hiroyo Kuniyasu, Setsuko Kurotani, Youichi Shimosato, Yasuyuki Suzuki, Tomotaka Segawa, Youichi Tsuda, Tadashi Nakamura, Takayuki Hashinaga, Kenichi Harada, Sadako Harada, Yae Honjyo, Michiko Miyamoto, Keiko Matsuura, Machiko Yoshida, WaiKeung Luk 　Auditors: Souichirou Inoue, Toyoko Sakuma (12 of them are newly appointed.)

　　photo: newly appointed Chairpersons of each committee announcing their activity plans for 2003.

How much we enjoy the English class for the youth at Meguro UNESCO!

An English class is open for young people (and those who still consider themselves to be young!) at Nakameguro Square from 7:00-8:30 every Tuesday evening. Our instructor is Mr. John Cochrane from England and he is very popular among the members. He has a good sense of humour and always offers jokes and nice short stories in class. Thanks to that, the class is enjoyable and light-hearted. The lesson contents cover a wide range of issues; not only English conversation and grammar but also topics concerning England, the historical and cultural background of the English language, and other such interesting issues that motivate the members to learn English. The lessons given by Mr. Cochrane are very clear and accurate, so everyone can get some inspiration from them. The penny dropped for us many times, for example when we learned the difference between hear and listen, and look and watch.

The best point of this class is the members’ positive attitudes to be brave never being afraid of making mistakes. It doesn’t matter if we cannot speak English fluently or make mistakes in homework. We try to form questions and answers freely in halting English and we are really enjoying it. I want to continue to take part in this class and dream to improve my English competency sufficiently to strike back at Mr. Cochrane’s jokes in English!

(a member of English class for the youth: Mieko Morita)

The English class for youth is approved as a consignment language class by Meguro Board of Education. New members are invited and the class will reopen on 17th June.