American Christmas (part 2) teenagers and adults

Older kids and teenagers still receive gifts from their parents. They often get clothes, video games, books, or something related to their hobbies. And lots of candy. Teenagers also exchange gifts with their boyfriends, girlfriends, or friends. They usually spend Christmas day with their parents, but may also have dinner with a girlfriend or boyfriend's family. When I was about 17 or 18, I invited my high school boyfriend over to open presents and spend time with my family.

Although a teenage boyfriend or girlfriend may spend the night Christmas Eve, Christmas is not a "romantic" event as in Japan. It's all rather innocent and they enjoy opening gifts Christmas morning, just like little kids do. Even for most adult couples, it's family time- not sexy time! It's a good time to relax and get to know each others' families.


Adults also exchange presents- especially husbands and wives. The presents are often surprises, and put under the tree with kids presents. Men often buy underwear or clothes for their girlfriends or wives. Jewelry and perfume are also common gifts. Women may buy cologne, clothes, video games, or other stuff for their boyfriends. They don't get as many gifts as kids, but they do usually get several items. Adults also still receive gifts from their parents! I am 30 years old- my mom sends me stuff for Christmas. I also send her something. Of course, it's a surprise.

Some Christians do something religious or go to church. They celebrate the birth of Jesus. Jewish people celebrate Hanukkah instead of Christmas. Sometimes there are religious programs on TV. Different families have their own traditions or special food they like to eat. There is a lot of variety, but in general people enjoy time with family and gift giving.

No matter what your tradition, have a happy holiday! And a happy New Year too. ^-^

American Christmas! (part 1) kids

Christmas is Japan is quite different than Christmas in America, England, and other English speaking countries.

Many kids believe in Santa until about 8 years old. If they believe in Santa, then sometime in December they write a Christmas list of things they want. Sometimes they give it to a Santa at the mall. Most malls have an old guy dressed as Santa. Kids tell him what they want and get their picture taken. This "list" may have 5 toys on it, or even 10 or 20 items. Some kids write down EVERYTHING they want- a rocket ship, a horse, a big screen TV, etc.

On Christmas Eve, after the kids go to bed, the parents take out all the presents from where ever they have hidden them and put them under the tree. Also, kids (and adults too) often have a stocking. That is filled with candy, small toys, or other cheap items.The kids wake up early Christmas morning and open everything.

When kids stop believing in Santa, they just give the list to mom and dad. Some Japanese kids stop getting a gift if they don't believe in Santa, but in America, kids get gifts even if they don't believe anymore. They just have to thank mom and dad! Older kids are more aware of money and may not ask for so much crazy expensive stuff.

Most children get several presents. A typical middle class kid may get 20 or more gifts from "Santa." Very few kids get only one present. Also, they get something from grandparents or aunts and uncles. They also may exchange gifts with their close friends. Typical presents include dolls, stuffed animals, video games, action figures, DVDs, books, arts and crafts stuff, sports equipment and clothes. Girls get things like nail polish, earrings, or hair accessories in their stockings.They also get boring stuff like socks and underwear. Opening it all up is great fun. There are many surprises.

After that, many families invite grandparents or other relatives over for lunch or dinner. Many people eat ham, roast beef, or turkey. There is no Christmas cake like in Japan. We do have Christmas cookies and often pie. British foods are a little different from American. Many people bake and exchange cookies or candy around Christmas time. People play Christmas music and little kids enjoy singing songs or watching Christmas movies.

Basically, Christmas for children is about gifts, good food, and spending time with family. It's a lot of fun.

New Class

Starting this December, we are offering afternoon classes for kids (ages 4-6) and parents. Kids will learn basic English words and phrases, while singing songs and listening to stories. Parents can learn easy English and correct pronunciation so that they can practice with their children at home. Everyone can gain confidence and have fun together.

So...Why do parents need to speak English?

Kids need more English practice that once a week. Hearing a bedtime story in English from mom or dad, or practicing vocabulary in the grocery store or park is a great way to reinforce what they learn in class. If they practice a little bit at home, they will feel more confident and comfortable in class. They will remember better, and learn more quickly. English is not just for "English schools." It is something that must be practiced and incorporated into everyday life.

Many moms or dads say, "But I can't speak English!" But actually they all know things like colors, numbers, or animals.They don't need advanced English skills or perfect pronunciation or grammar to say a few phrases to their kids.

I want to provide a warm, fun environment for children and their parents, so that they enjoy speaking English, rather that think that it is a chore or "subject" to study.

Any questions? Check: http://www.innocence-plus.com/kidsandmoms
or feel free to call us!

Have a Cornucopia! (It's too early for Christmas.)

In Japan, the day after Halloween, shops put up their Christmas decor. It's too early for Christmas!!

In America, people and shops don't really decorate for Christmas until after Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is the 4th Thursday of November in America. So in November, people stick with fall-themed decorations, such as autumn leaves, pumpkins, and gourds. Some people have a fall wreath on their door, or a centerpiece on the table. Indian corn is also a popular decoration. After Thanksgiving people pull out the Christmas stuff and start playing Christmas music.



 *Keep in mind, this is just American me. Canada, Australia, England, and others surely have different traditions. Even in America, I know one family that keeps their Christmas tree up ALL YEAR. Some people are always in the holiday mood...

On to the pictures!

Gourds! These are in Japan too. There are many colors, sizes, and textures. I like lumpy ones.

Indian corn. It's used as decoration- no one eats it. The colors are very nice for fall.

Finally...the CORNUCOPIA!! Or "horn of plenty." A symbol of abundance and fall harvest, this is filled with fruit, nuts, or sometimes flowers. It's been around since Greek/Roman antiquity.

Here's one more, because they're so cool!

Night Club! *Halloween Version*

This Saturday at 7:00, we will hold our first meeting of The Book Society. 

 If you are an intermediate or advanced speaker and love literature, please come. 

Book clubs are popular in America, and there are some in Japan too. Usually, people meet every week or month to discuss a book. Everyone reads the same book at home, and then analyze it together during the club meeting. I know one group of people in Tokyo who read modern fiction, and one group of women in Sendai who are reading The Tale of Genji in English. The Tale of Genji ladies will take several years to finish the book, but are having fun and making friends.

At Innocence Plus, we will read and discuss some easy short stories, and hopefully in a few months we can do some poetry or perhaps a short novel. So don't worry about having to read anything long or tedious. Also, you can request something, if you have a book in mind!


***This Saturday, we will do something special for Halloween. I have not decided yet, but I am looking through Poe and other authors of scary/bizarre literature for something fun and easy.***


Any questions? Please call: 022-797-0762  or comment. 

One Week

Innocence Plus has been open for one week. Thank you everyone for coming to visit! Thank you everyone who has taken lessons. I'm having a lot of fun with you guys. Thanks to you all, I have an ideal job. I will do my best to make this the best school possible.

I am often free in the afternoons and some evenings as well, so please come anytime to chat. On Sundays, we have no lessons, so stop by and I will definitely be here.

遊びにきてね。



Oh...and there are Hershey's Kisses in the candy dish. Try them! They're pretty good. If you don't eat them, I'll end up eating them all... >.<

Watch out!

Watch your pronunciation ESPECIALLY with easy words. You know, those easy English words that every Japanese person knows. For example- sorry (not ソーリー) or car (not カー）. And: dinner, dog, apple, vanilla, fish, cafe, shirt...

Foreigners in Japan who are used to heavy Japanese accents may understand you. But if you go abroad and say "シャツ" instead of "shirt," you will not be understood. When speaking English- forget katakana!

貸してください～！

vocab review:

Lend ----> "I forgot my umbrella. Can you lend me yours?"
Borrow --> "I borrowed two books from the library."
Rent-----> "Let's rent  a DVD from Tsutaya tonight.

Lend is　貸す. You can lend your friend some money.
Borrow is 借りる. You can borrow a pencil from a friend, or borrow books from the library.
Rent is... paying to borrow something. Like a DVD or a car. 

Past tense:　
lend　・　 lent
borrow　・　borrowed
rent　・　rented

Do not confuse the meanings of borrow and rent.                                                
Please DO NOT confuse your R and L on this. You cannot pronounce Lent and Rent the same.

Book Review: Stories for Young Readers

title: Stories for Young Readers (1 and 2)
rating: ★★★★★

These are the best books ever! Stories For Young Readers, Books 1 and 2. I'll use them for upper elementary kids, junior high, and beginner adults. Despite their appearance (rather boring covers) they're practically perfect.
Each chapter has a simple story, usually about teenagers, followed by various questions, quizzes, and games, which focus on grammar and vocabulary. Some of the stories are downright bizarre. For example, the amusing story about the girl who puts fish in her shoes. These are not your average junior high text books, so they can keep the interest of teenage students.
Also the illustrations are great. The books include both American and British English (and young people from around the world). The English used is casual, correct, and up to date- the opposite of most school text books. Useful!　Yah～

Book Review: "日本人のちょっとヘンな英語"

title: 日本人のちょっとヘンな英語
rating: ★★☆☆☆

     Easy, fun to read English education books are becoming more popular- and that's great. I'm all for "fun and easy." Several of them incorporate manga or helpful illustrations. However, a great many of these books focus too much on being easy or cute, and end up straying from the real target- learning a language.  "日本人のちょっとヘンな英語", although entertaining, often sacrifices quality English education for humor or shocking English tidbits. Unfortunately, lot of the content is not so useful and even confusing.

     Although amusing, many of the phrases author David Sane* includes are not actually common mistakes that Japanese people make. After teaching English for seven years, I am familiar with the typical mistakes and weird things that Japanese people say when speaking English. Most of Sane's "ヘン" English would not normally come up in conversation.

For example:
"I like street walking." (p.17)
"Did you go all the way with Keiko?" (p.23)
"I don't know how to dump." (p.24)

     Okay, so now we know that "street walking" refers to prostitution, "going all the way," means having sex, and "taking a dump" means pooping. Haha. Very funny. But I've never heard Japanese people make these mistakes and form these sentences like the hapless characters in the manga.  Toilet humor is great (especially if you're a ten year old boy,) but it isn't so necessary in this type of book. The book can be fun without sex and poo.

   This book also has a few mistakes.
*For example, p.110 says, "There's a department nearby," is correct English.  But native speakers never say "department." It is always department store. Department just means "部門."
*Instead of "Do you have a paper?"(p.40), you should say "Do you have a piece/sheet of paper?" Paper is non-countable! Some paper is okay. A paper is not okay.
*And...Sane translates "beautiful" into "色っぽい." He says beautiful has a "セクシー ニュアンス." (p75) This is wrong. Beautiful does NOT mean sexy. "You look beautiful," is perfectly acceptable to say on a date or to one's wife.

     Finally, some advice in this book is just plain wrong. One example is the totally bizarre conversation on page 141-142. Next Sunday and this Sunday, often mean the same in English.  If it is Tuesday, I can say "See you next Sunday," or "See you this Sunday." Same thing- 今度の日曜日。来週の日曜日is usually another phrase such as "Sunday, two weeks from now."The book actually reinforces a common (and troublesome) misunderstanding.
Another example is: You're welcome. The books says it is a "高飛車" phrase. It is not 高飛車! Native speakers often say "No problem," in casual conversation, but "You're welcome" is okay too.

     Overall...This book does not seem like it was written by an American person. The type of humor, the illustrations, and the situations seem very Japanese. And in order to learn a language, it is important to fully immerse yourself, not only in grammar and vocabulary, but also culture. Even the American-born author's name is in Katakana! It is sad that many books on English are filled with typical Japanese characters, humor, and things familiar with Japanese people. We do not need more books dealing with umeboshi, hanami, and overbearing bosses. How about something new and challenging? Something not so familiar. Also, once again the stereotype that foreign people are obsessed with samurai is reinforced. Instead of showing accurate representations of foreign people, we are only given a caricature- a joke.

     Now that I've torn this book apart, I'd like to mention that it does have a few redeeming points. I did give it two stars after all, not one. Some of the phrases are useful. For example page 47 explains that "claim" and "complain," are not the same. Students often say "claim," when they mean "complain."  And "It's hot today," is much better than "Today's hot," which is weird (p.110).

     I do not recommend this book. It is a quick and easy read, and perhaps amusing to some. But overall, it is not very helpful and might end up causing confusion. There are much better books out there. 


*Unfortunately, I could not find his name written in English- only Katakana. So I am unsure of the spelling.

アザ？

Many Japanese people say, "I have black eyes."

A black eye is what happens when someone punches you in the eye. In a fight. Most Japanese people have brown eyes- light brown or dark brown. My eyes are blue. My mother's eyes are green. But humans don't have "black" eyes. So if you say "I have black eyes," it's strange. 

In English, most Japanese eyes are brown. ^-^

What is a menu?

What is a menu?

menu- a list of food that is available at a restaurant

That's it.

I've heard "menu" used in strange ways in Japan. It's the paper (or booklet or board) in a restaurant that lists the food/drinks they have.
If your friend cooks you dinner, you do not say "What's the menu?" That's kind of rude, actually. Your friend is not a restaurant, and you should not be asking for a menu with things to choose from!

Two more BAD example (because there is no choice or list):
"My husband cooked last night. The menu was curry and salad."
"What is the menu today at school?"

(Menu is not 献立!)






*There is also the "drop down menu" on the computer screen. It's a list of things to choose from on the computer.

Making a school!

Innocence Plus is coming soon. ～yah! The school will be completed next month and ready to open in October. Just in time for Halloween. Woo～！

http://www.innocence-plus.com/

Any questions about the school? Any questions about English? Ask me!

Phobias!

fear 恐怖
afraid おそれる・こわがる
phobia　恐怖症

I have a fear of spiders.
I am afraid of spiders.
I have arachnophobia.

All of these sentences mean that spiders scare me. However, arachnophobia is more serious. People with arachnophobia might scream, panic, sweat, or have heart problems if they are near spiders. Even seeing a picture of a spider might make them nervous.

In English, normally we say "I'm afraid of　～."
And we can ask other people "Are you afraid of  ～?"

Phobias are more extreme. They are mental disorders. The names of phobias usually come from Greek. So, in Greek "arachne," means spider, and "phobia," means fear. There are many many phobias. Some commonly known ones are:

Agorophobia- fear of public places or open spaces
Claustrophobia- fear of small spaces or being closed in
Mysophobia- fear of germs or dirt
Acrophobia- fear of heights
Zoophobia- fear of animals

For many of them (such as zoophobia, sociophobia, philophobia, frigophobia, etc), we don't need to know Greek to understand the meaning. We know other English words with the same Greek roots- Zoo, zoology, society, sociology, philanthropy, philosophy, refrigerator, frigid, etc. So it is easy to figure out the meaning!  For example, "frigophobia," means...fear of being cold. Lots of English words come from Greek.

So, what are you afraid of? Do you have any phobias?
I'm afraid of heights and spiders, but I don't think I have any phobias.

Another blog?!

Check this out:

http://innocence-plus.blogspot.jp/

for updates on the school, and English stuff (explained mostly in Japanese).

Watch out! (see, watch, look at)

I saw a painting in the museum.
I watched a baseball game.

Do you understand the difference? Many students say "I watched a painting." or "I watched some nice scenery from my window."But it is better to use saw or looked at. Because the painting and the scenery are not moving.

I'm watching a baseball game.

I'm watching the children play.

I'm watching the cars go by.

Baseball players, children, and cars-- All of these things involve movement- usually living things. Also, "watching," implies that we give it our attention for a while (not just a few seconds). Watch is active!!

however...

I saw a pretty dress in the shop window.

I saw a lot of peach trees in Fukushima. 

They are not moving. They are not even alive.


But...be careful!! Some examples:
 "I saw my friend at the mall." is okay. Yes, she was moving, but you didn't really give her much attention or "watch" her, the way you would a baseball game.

"I watched my girlfriend sleep." No, she's not moving a lot, but she is alive and breathing. And you are giving her your attention.

For movies, see and watch are both okay! "I saw a movie." or "I watched a movie."
"I saw a play." "I saw my classmate." are also okay.

~~~~~~~~~

Now...how about "see" and "look at?"

I saw a beautiful painting. 

I looked at a beautiful painting. 

Both are correct. But look at is a conscious effort, that often takes some time. When my eyes are open, I see everything in front of me. There is no effort. But when I look at something, I study or think about it, and take some time. Usually, I look at things that are interesting or fascinating.

I saw a lot of food in the grocery store. (It wasn't very interesting. I didn't need to study it.)

I looked at the roses in the garden. (They were beautiful, so I took some time to "look at" them.)

~~~~~~~~~~

Finally, "see" is often used to mean "visit."

I saw my mom last weekend. 

I'm going to see my aunt tomorrow. 

Must you?

To explain that something is necessary, we don't use "must" very much. Usually, we say "have to." And we say "have to," a lot. It is very common. In fact, I probably say it everyday.

Examples:
I have to go to the store for vegetables and milk.
I have to wake up early tomorrow.
I have to do my homework by Friday.
I had to write a report last week.

Although it is not very conversational, "must" is sometimes used for written rules. Sometimes you can see "must" in manuals or signs.

Examples:
Workers must wear a helmet.
Students must not use cell phones in class. 
You must be at work by 9:00am every morning.

However!! We do use must to mean that we believe something is true.

Examples:
You worked 10 hours today?! You must be tired.
That jacket is leather. It must be expensive.
It's hot outside. You must be thirsty.


Any questions?

Y u no spell good??

wat u wanna have 4 dinnr? 


OMG! I met teh kewlest guy today in english class. lol!!!


U comin tothe party 2nite? Come on! YOLO!! lol


1 c4n p4y y0u b4ck 0n m0nd4y, 1 pr0m153.

Please don't type like this- at least not all the time.  Really, it doesn't look good. In fact, this kind of poor spelling and teenage text-speak makes people look unintelligent and juvenile, rather than cool. It may be normal among American teens, but unless you are 14, it looks ridiculous. Well, that's just my opinion anyway.

A lot of people type "U" instead of "you" and "ur" instead of "your." It's not such a big problem, but really...what's the point? "You," is a pretty short word as it is. Do we need to make it any shorter? Take your time. Don't be lazy.

LOL!!! People overuse "lol" (laugh out loud) WAY too much. If you're actually laughing out loud at a joke, then it's fine. But lately, people seem to add "lol" after every other sentence. It's not even funny! People also type "lolz" just to be cute/cool. But when your 25 or 30 years old, it's not so cute anymore. lol!!!!

YOLO......just don't use this. Ever.


(Yeah...I'm 30 years old and have no patience for these hooligans, hoodlums, and ruffians and their crazy talk!)

Coolest furniture in the world!!!

I got SCHOOL FURNITURE!! I went to Ikea (in Saitama) last week and got a truck load of furniture from Ikea. Ikea is wonderful- good quality and affordable. I was there from 1:30 to 9:00 at night. The truck was FULL. It was a rather exhausting trip, but well worth it.
We got some nice stuff!

I had raspberries from Costco on the trip home, so that made the trip even more worth it. By the time I got back to Sendai...I ate them all.

I wish Costco would come to Sendai, just so I could buy raspberries.

chicks dig Lisa Frank

I went to Costco...

Got fake food. And...

Pencils for my students. Not just any pencils-- Lisa Frank pencils. Success!

Happy Birthday!

If it's someone's birthday...we say "Happy Birthday." Not, congratulations. Native English speakers say "congratulations," for a special accomplishment or achievement. Examples: engagement, wedding, graduation, new house, new job, passing a big exam, or winning a race. As much as we love birthdays and celebrating them, we don't really see it as a special accomplishment.

Again?!

I got more cookies!!! These are really easy to bake- just add water and butter. And I ate them all...

Thanks mom.

And...I got a couch. Woo-hoo! It's for the school. School couch!