Monday, February 19th   “Places I want to go”

I would really like to travel around Japan this year.  I’ve been in Japan for almost 16 years but there are many places I haven’t been to.  I’ve never been to Hokkaido or Okinawa or any part of Kyushu.  I’ve only heard about the places from students.  

Actually, every time I go somewhere outside of Aichi, I seem to have bad luck.  (Don’t worry, I’ve never had bad luck on school trips because the students bring good luck.)  My flight has been canceled 3 times due to a typhoon.  Also, When I went to L.A. 2 years ago, they had the worst rain in 15 years.  

One time when I went to Shizuoka to eat Unagi, I had a stomachache going there so I couldn’t eat Unagi.  But on the way back to Aichi, I got better.  I seem to be jinxed outside of Aichi!

This year I want to break this jinx.  The place I want to go most of all is Fukuoka.  From there, I would like to travel around and see many parts of Kyushu.  I pray that nothing bad happens to me.  

jinxed  「不幸を引き起こす。」

most of all 「何よりも」

Wednesday, February 20th    “Health Nut”

Many of my students are health nuts.  They know a lot about food and health.  I also consider myself a health nut too, but I don’t know as much as my students.  I also don’t have enough time to cook my own food so I just try to pick the best food possible.  

One food that I like to buy is nuts. (excuse the pun)  Today, I just went to buy some.  Actually, one of my students suggested buying it at Don Quijote because he said it’s cheaper there. However, it was not as cheap as I expected.  One bag was about ¥1200 yen.  The bag contains 500 grams of mixed nuts.   I’m not really sure if that’s cheaper than other places.  But since the bag is pretty big, I think it’ll last a while.  

Speaking of nuts, there are many phrases that have the word nut in it.  For example,

●”go nuts” 「興奮する」

My favorite team won so I went nuts!   

●”drive someone nuts” 「苛立てる」

Stop making that sound!  You’re driving me nuts.

 ●”I’m nuts about…” 「夢中になっている」

I’m nuts about the new drama on Netflix. 

Basically nuts mean “crazy”.   

● “You are nuts”  「あなたは気狂いだ。」

Eating nuts are supposed to be good for your brain so I don’t know why nuts mean crazy.  Or maybe it does make you crazy.  Let’s find out what happens to me after I eat all my nuts.  😋

health nut 「健康オタク」

excuse the pun 「だじゃれを許して。」

contain 「含まれている」

last 「長持ちする。」

be supposed to 「〜するはず」

Saturday, February 24th  “Rereading your journal”

I believe it’s really important to reread your journal and re-present your journal.  In any skill that you are trying to acquire, it’s really important to repeat it over and over.  When you repeat something many times, eventually it will become automatic.  I feel that for many of my students they are struggling with fluency.  After all, the goal of an English student is to speak English fluently.  

Here’s what I suggest.  The first goal is to write 25 good journals.  If you write two journals a week, it should take you about 3 months to write it.  After you have written them, take a break from writing.  I would like you to reread, re-practice and re-present it in class.  

Here are some important things when you reread, re-practice and re-present it.

1.  Make sure there’s a title on your journal.  

Having a title helps you remember what the story is about. 

2. Don’t memorize it word for word.  

Have a bullet point style note to help you remember what you want to say.

3. Re-practice it 

Practice it until you can say the story with looking at just the title. 

Your goal is to first have 25 journals but eventually, your goal will be to have 50 journals and ultimately 100 journals.  Once you have 100 journals and you have practiced all of them, I’m sure you’ll be able to have a conversation fluently.  

I think one thing you should have is a good journal book that you can carry with you all the time.  Make it your bible and look at it all the time.  

For me, my journal content is all about teaching English.  I always write in it, read it, and use it in class.  The reason I do it is that it’s fun.  It’s fun to learn.  It’s fun to get better.  It’s fun to share.  Let’s have fun learning!  

I look forward to having a conversation with you. 

Eventually 「やがては」

struggling with 「〜で苦労する」

fluency 「流暢」

After all  「結局は」

suggest  「勧める」

take a break 「休む」

memorize 「覚える」

word for word 「一字一句」

ultimately 「最後に、ついに」

get better 「上手になる」