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Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Busier than .....

Oh my god.  I have been so busy.  I have been busier than a long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs!  Can you imagine that?  One thing that I haven't done recently is update this blog. I want to.  But I just don't have the time.  There is always something more important that I have to get done first.

Recently at the junior high schools, the 8th graders are studying the comparative and superlative forms. That always reminds me of all the interesting English sayings that make use of these forms. Like the one I introduced at the beginning of this post.

I am busier than a long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs.

To understand this, first you have to know what "busy" means.  This is an easy word.  It means that you have a lot of things to do.  It means that you can't sit still because you have to keep moving.  I am very busy because I have many lesson plans to make and other work to do.  My daughter is very busy because she can't sit still.  Next you need to understand what "a long tailed cat" is.  This should be easy, especially if you use a dictionary to look up any words you don't know.  Surely you can understand what a cat with a long tail is.  That is what "long tailed cat" means.  尻尾の長い猫.  You can say "a cat with a long tail" but you can also modify "cat" with "long tailed".  There is a rocking chair in the picture above.  Now imagine a room that has many rocking chairs.  Now imagine that all those rocking chairs are moving, rocking back and forth.  Do you have that image in your mind?  Now put a cat in there with a long tail and you'll understand how busy it would be.

Other phrases that make use of the comparative (比較級)

  • colder than ice
  • cooler than a cucumber
  • faster than a bullet
  • higher than a kite
  • lighter than a feather
  • slower than molasses
  • hotter than hell
Well, does this give you any ideas?  Do you think you could come up with some of your own comparisons to make an interesting phrase or two?

Have fun!

Wednesday, August 03, 2011

Chocolate is so important!

organic dark chocolate by f10n4
organic dark chocolate, a photo by f10n4 on Flickr.
Everyone knows that I love chocolate.  The teachers that I work with know.  The students who I teach know.  And now I have another great reason to eat chocolate!

It turns out that something in cocoa, epicatechin, helps increase time to exhaustion in mice.  Mice who took liquid epicatechin can run 50% longer than mice who took an equal amount of water.  I read this on the New York Times Well blog.  You can find the article link here: How Chocolate Can Help Your Workout.

But here is the problem, we humans could possibly get a similar effect from just 5 grams of dark chocolate a day!  Just 5 grams a day!  Why not more?  If you take too much it doesn't help and may even hinder the effect.  

In another article from 2007, it was said that this compound epicatechin, which is  a flavonal, is so important that maybe it should be considered an essential vitamin!

OK.  I got it! I need to get some dark chocolate and have a bite whenever I go out for a run from now on!

ふくふく29%さんのブログに日本語の概要がありました。
一日5グラムhttp://fuku29.seesaa.net/article/218658467.html

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Getting Ready to Go

We have only two more classes left before we head for Australia!  I had meant to post updates all along about this but I just didn't have the time.  I guess it is better late than never.

Here is some interesting English phrases in both American English and Australian English with their Japanese equivalents.

I am copy pasting these directly from MS Word so forgive me if the formatting gets strange.

Australian English words and expressions.

She'll be right!: Everything will be fine!
大丈夫、よくなるよ
Take away food: Take-out food 
持ち帰り
Tea: evening meal
夕食、食事
Telly: The television.
テレビ
This arvo: This afternoon.
今日の午後
Too right!: Absolutely
もちろん!そうだよ!
Strewth!: It's the truth!
本当だよ
Spunky: Good-looking, attractive as in "what a spunk"
カワイイ、かっこいい
Sport
くだけた「お前、あなた」
See you in the soup: See you around.
またね
Q: Thank you (mumbled).
ども(ありがとう)
Num-nums: Tasty food.
美味しい食べ物
Mate: This usually means a friend but it can be used to talk about or to anyone - even a total stranger.
友達に対して使う「お前、あなた」
Matey with: Familiar or friendly with.
(誰かと)親しい
Beaut
よい。よかった。最高。素晴らしい。
Bush
いなか
Dead to the world
ぐっすりと寝ている 
Dekko
a look, ひと目
Go and have a dekko at it.
見に行ってごらん。
have a go at
try, 挑戦する、やってみる
よくわからないけど、やってっみる
Don’t know much about it, but I’ll have a go at it.

Saturday, January 29, 2011

Internationalization is....

"Internationalization is a process of personal growth. It is born in the conflict of persons, ideas and cultures. Therein ones eyes are opened to oneself, and to others, and a bond of personal responsibility is forged for the future. "