“Enjoying the World: Friendly English for Adults” at Culttz Kawasaki
Osamu Babasaki, Representative of Top Notch Inc., is serving as the instructor for “Enjoying the World: Friendly English for Adults,” an English course for local residents held at the culture school of Culttz Kawasaki, the Kawasaki City Sports and Culture Center.
The course runs for seven sessions from July to September 2026, offering two classes — an Introductory level and a Beginner level. Four sessions have been completed so far.
What matters most in this course is not simply learning English vocabulary and grammar. It is about enjoying the process of learning a wide range of things through English: the history, culture, art, and daily life of the world.
Using original teaching materials and videos created by the instructor, participants read, listen to, and speak English while also looking at the history and culture behind the language.
The Current Series
This series takes up themes that appear unrelated at first glance — religion and art, coffee culture, fine art, design, tea, porcelain, and silverware — and explores each of them within the wider connections of world history and culture.
Session 1 — Blue: Religion and Art
Introductory: The Blue Light That Colors Churches
Beginner: The Blue of the Sistine Chapel
Session 2 — Coffee: Cultural and Social History
Introductory: Vienna and Coffee
Beginner: Coffee Houses and Spies
Session 3 — Van Gogh: Fine Art
Introductory: Van Gogh and Gauguin
Beginner: Van Gogh and Japanese Ukiyo-e
Session 4 — Picasso: Fine Art and Design
Introductory: Picasso and Cubism
Beginner: Picasso and Paul Smith
Session 5 — Tea: Daily Culture and History
Introductory: Afternoon Tea
Beginner: Tea and the East India Company
Session 6 — Porcelain: Craft and Trade History
Introductory: White Gold — The Story of Porcelain
Beginner: European Porcelain and Kakiemon
Session 7 — Silverware: Daily Culture and Science
Introductory: The Antibacterial Properties of Silver
Beginner: Silverware and Court Culture
A Sample Lesson: “Coffee in Vienna”
In Session 2, “Coffee in Vienna,” the 1683 battle between Vienna and the Ottoman Empire serves as the entry point. From there, participants learn in English how coffee became part of Viennese culture, and how coffee houses eventually grew into spaces for newspapers, politics, art, literature, and social exchange.
A scene from the lesson video “The Story of Coffee in Vienna”
The materials go beyond reading the main text. They also combine key vocabulary, practical expressions, basic grammar, pronunciation, Q&A, One Point Lessons, and Further Reading.
For example, when the expression more than just … is introduced, the lesson starts from the sentence in the text — Coffee is more than just a drink. — then applies the pattern to other topics and develops into practice for expressing one’s own thoughts in English.
Not stopping at comprehension, but connecting what has been learned to expressions participants can actually use, is one of the defining features of this course.
Learning at Each Level
The Introductory class is based on friendly English at roughly the level of the first and second years of junior high school, while the Beginner class works with English at roughly the second- and third-year level. Materials are prepared to suit each level.
Participants vary widely in age and experience with English. Rather than delivering knowledge one way, the course is designed so that participants at every level can feel that they understood something, that they got their meaning across, and that the world has become a little closer to them.
The Next Series: “A Journey Around the Mediterranean”
Materials for the next series, themed “A Journey Around the Mediterranean,” are also in preparation.
It will take up flamenco, Gaudí, the Côte d’Azur, the Renaissance, the Parthenon, Istanbul, Turkish cuisine, the Nile, the Sphinx, Casablanca, and the Sahara Desert — traveling through the Mediterranean world while enjoying the study of history, art, culture, food, and society in English.
What the current series and the coming “A Journey Around the Mediterranean” share is this: enjoying the discovery of the wider world through English, and expanding one’s interest in it.
Top Notch’s Commitment
The goal of this course is not to make learning English an end in itself, but to use English as a tool for understanding the world, broadening one’s own thinking, and finding the pleasure of expressing it.
“This course is more than just learning English.”
This course aims not merely at learning English, but at coming to know and enjoy the world through it.
Alongside its practical work in international business and translation, Top Notch Inc. continues to engage in activities that connect people with people, and Japan with the world, through English education and international understanding.
Note: Lesson themes and content may change depending on the progress of the course.