レッドパイン英語教室

"It was a very strange experience being in the paper and on TV. I was very surprised at how many people knew who I was and came to the coffee shop, Gospel Cafe, to meet me. It made me very uncomfortable because people came up to me and talked to me as if they had known me for a long time and called me by my name. When you don't know someone and they talk to you like that it can be very scary. I tend to be a very quiet person, and if I didn't teach English I would probably hardly ever talk! Lol. So, when people started to talk to me as if they were old friends, I had a hard time to know what to say or how to act. I usually take a long time to get to know people. It was a great experience, though, and I'm very thankful to the Shimpo and NHK for interviewing me and putting me in the paper and on TV."

Brent moved from Yonabaru to Shuri after closing the coffee shop. The Gospel Cafe was a good business for meeting people and making friends and encouraging people, but not for making money. There were live concerts that friends did and there were special events like Christmans parties with live music. There were many regular customers that liked the coffee and good food. The menu was a little unique. There was cheese sphagetti, chile, blueberry tarts, and some other things that you couldn't get anywhere else.

But that's not about the English school! Even after moving to Shuri, Brent continued to teach English at a school in Haebaru, Cactus. That English school was started by a man named Huntington, and was very successful. The name of his school changed when he went back to the U.S., and that is when Brent started teaching there, in April of 1995. Cactus English School was owned by a well known figure in Okinawa, Chobin Zukeran, who is now working in politics. He is a very nice guy and was an excellent person to work for.

After only several months of living in Shuri, Brent and his family moved to Nakijin to live near some friends. He began teaching English in his home there, but only stayed in Nakijin for around two years before moving to Motobu, where Kiyomi, his wife, is from.

"Honestly, we only moved to Motobu because we had some trouble and we needed a place to move to very quickly. We didn't dislike Motobu, but we didn't particularly like it either. While moving, however, we both began having a sense of "peace" and "home". It was very strange. We didn't want to live in Motobu, but when we moved our feelings changed immediately."

This is where Red Pine English School was started.

"How did we come up with the name? It was quite easy."

Kiyomi-san's family have owned and operated a small store in Motobu for many, many years. It used to be one of the main shops for people to find what they were looking for. When Brent and Kiyomi decided to start the school, one of the things that needed to be considered, of course, was the name. We were having trouble thinking of something to call the school.

"At the time, we were living above Kiyomi's parents' store, and the school would also be in the same building. We often joked about calling it something funny. I don't remember some of the names we thought of, but we laughed a lot whenever we talked about the name for the school. On one such occasion, Kiyomi said, "Let's call it Akamachiya", which is what her parents' store is called. We both laughed. It would, of course, be very funny to have two different shops in the same building with the same name!

But, I then wondered how "Akamachiya" would translate into English. Aha!"

And so, Red Pine English School was born.

But this would be a boring article if that's all there was to the story. Luckily, it's not.

"The reason for starting the school is because money was very tight. I had been making a good salary while working at Cactus (thanks Chobin!), but a lot of that salary went into Gospel Cafe, and when I quit and moved to Nakijin things were very, very difficult. As readers will know, taxes are a big problem when your salary goes down because your tax rate is based on last years' salary. Aaargh!"

So, Red Pine was started while Brent and Kiyomi were having a hard time financially. A great thing happened, however. As the school was being readied to open and a big sign was put above the classroom, there were two very welcome visitors. One was from Hikari Hoikuen. She asked if Brent could teach her gakkudo students.

"Yes!"

Another was a very nice lady who worked at the Ginoza Board of Education. She asked if Brent could teach at the three elementary schools in Ginoza.

"Yes! Yes! YES!"

"Well, these two opportunities helped to solve our financial difficulties, but, over a couple of years, also introduced a new problem. While Hikari Hoikuen has always been a great place for me to teach, and I do still teach there (thank you Hikari Hoikuen!), the problem in Ginoza was with my contract. I absolutely loved teaching there, although there were some difficult things also, but I could only have a contract for one year at a time. Therefore, I could not quit my own school, or let it get too small. If I couldn't continue teaching at Ginoza, I would then have financial difficulty again. So I had to work at both jobs and became very, very tired."

Brent quit teaching in Ginoza eventually, but also became so tired from teaching so much that he almost quit teaching completely. He stopped trying to get new students and quit many classes.

"I actually made tuition very cheap for a while because, if I decided to suddenly quit teaching, I didn't want the students to complain. I taught some classes for donations only. The funny thing about this is that the very thing I was trying not to let happen again, happened. I became burnt out from teaching, almost quit, and then financial difficulty came again; not as bad as before, but money was tight."

Red Pine English School went through a time where there was almost no school at all. Recently, however, Brent has become recomitted to teaching English. He has always liked teaching and likes all of his students.

"I was happy to take a break from teaching, but also unhappy. I have never quit teaching completely, but I still missed having more students. I like seeing my students learn something new and really understand it. When a student understands something I feel great. Besides, I consider my students friends. I have gotten used to being called "sensei", but I'd rather just be called Brent, or Mr. Brent. Everything else is too impersonal."

"With adding students to the school again, I will be more balanced and keep enough free time for running and photography. If I add too many students or classes I may continue to go around in circles, which is never good, except for when doing intervals at the track. Lol."

This should give you a good background to Red Pine. Please look for more information in upcoming newsletters. You'll be able to learn more about Brent's philosophy for English learning, as well as get tips to help you study and learn.