A (kind of) Hidden Gem

There's a place in Honolulu that few tourists know about and even fewer get to visit. It's a beautiful estate (an area of land or property) located near Diamond Head. The name of the place is Shangri La, and it's a mansion built by American philanthropist (a person who donates money to a good cause), Doris Duke.

In 1936, Doris Duke began construction of Shangri La. She spent almost 60 years, through the end of her life in 1993, collecting and commissioning (asking someone to do something for you) works of art from the Islamic world. Her vision was to marry (to combine) her love of Islamic art and architecture with the tropical landscape of Hawaii.

Today, visitors may join a two-and-a-half hour tour of this exotic place with its dramatic views of the Pacific Ocean and Diamond Head. But you can't just show up there; you must book your tickets in advance here: http://honolulumuseum.org/385-about_shangri_la

Palms Reunited!

Did you know Kayoko went to Osaka for a couple of weeks?
Did you know that while there, she organized a Hawaii information seminar?
And did you also know that afterwards she hosted a Palms reunion?

Kayoko wanted to share her love of Hawaii with everyone at the seminar by talking about her life in Hawaii and her experience with learning English. It was a very casual, aloha-spirited event, and some participants travelled over 500 kilometers to attend the seminar.

After the seminar, a school reunion with former Palms students who shared drinks, food, stories, and laughter. An amazing evening filled with love and a true feeling of ohana. For Kayoko, it was a heartwarming experience, and one she hopes to repeat next time she's in Japan.

Painted Faces and a Terrifying Time

This year's Halloween fell on a Friday, so most students at Palms had the day off.

However, a group of spooky students put extra make-up on and made their way to the school in the morning for a Halloween-themed conversation class, a frightening lunch, and a scary movie.

We had witches and bumblebees and weird-looking beach clowns. And we had vampires, too.

A great Halloween spent with students, teachers, and staff. Honorable mention goes to Akina for the awesome make-up work and creativity.

Ono Friday Nights!

Friday evening barbecues are back!

We grill, we eat, we share, we drink, we talk... and we watch the fireworks over Hilton Lagoon.

Join us on Friday November 28th for some good food and a great time.

Let's practice our English outside of the classroom and meet some new friendly people.

Good day, mate!

Junichi is a former student at Palms who studied for eight weeks and stayed with a local host family. When he first came to Hawaii, he had a difficult time communicating. 

"When I came to Hawaii, I couldn't speak English at all. At school, I didn't know what people were saying and I didn't know what to say to them. However, the more I studied, the more I was able to understand. I would preview and review my classes every day, and soon enough I was able to better express myself. Nowadays, I live and work in Australia, and I find that what I learned at Hawaii Palms is very useful.

"If you are looking to improve your English, it's not enough to just go to school. You need to study and review at home as well as practice your English outside of class. If you put in the effort, your English will definitely improve. Good luck!"

Lights, Cameras, Action

Last week, Hawaii Palms was paid a visit by a Japanese TV crew from BS-TBS. They were in town shooting a new show called "Life Inn Hawaii", and they asked us to introduce our school to their viewers.

As you can see from our student Miyuki's face, there was quite a bit of excitement at school that day. There were cameras, lights, microphones, directors, producers, coordinators.. it all made the school resemble a TV studio.

After they were done interviewing some of us and getting lots of school footage, they followed us to Magic Island where they filmed one of our school activities: hula at the park.

Hula was then followed by a private lesson (taught by Head Teacher Saul) that was filmed in a beautiful mansion in Kahala.

All in all it was an exciting day for teachers, students, and staff. "Life Inn Hawaii" is a new 5-minute-long television series that will begin airing on BS-TBS starting October 5th.

Look for us on their episode on NOVEMBER 23rd at 8:54PM.

A friendly face stopped by

The other day, our dear student Akiyo stopped by to say hello.

Akiyo was our Intensive  Course student for 8 months. She started coming to school last August in order to gain some confidence in her English.  She lives in Hawaii and her husband is local, so learning English was very important to her in order to start her new life in America.

"I initially signed up for a 2-month English Intensive Course, but after finishing my 2 months I just kept extending and extending for a total of 8 months.

Since I live in Hawaii, I have lots of opportunities to practice my English outside of school, so whenever I was able to practice the language I had studied in class, I always felt a deep sense of accomplishment.

Even after graduating from my course, Palms is still a big part of me.  If I have a chance to study English again, I'd like to take another class here. My appreciation goes to all the wonderful staff members and teachers from the bottom of my heart."