Only 3 Days Until Halloween!

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OMG! (Oh, my God!) It's only 3 more days until the Halloween Party at Ola Tacos Bar! We only started making our costumes yesterday! Will we be ready in time!

BTW (By the way), you can check out photos from Ola's past Halloween photos at Ola's Halloween Party 2008 and Ola's Halloween Party 2009.

And speaking of Halloween at Ola, we found Wally (A.K.A. [Also known as] Waldo) on the way home from last year's party...

We found him!

On Monday, a friend sent me a link to this very strange photo of a bunch of zombies in Sydney...

Look carefully!

And speaking of Halloween, last Thursday I taught a lesson at a kindergarten in Kuzuha. On the way back to the station, I passed this hairdresser...

That's a cool name for the rest of this week. However, it's pretty stupid for about 51 weeks from next Monday!

And speaking of Halloween lessons, we've being holding a bunch of them for Be & Me Kids. In last Tuesday's class, we played many different Halloween games. One of them was...

Put the Hat on the Witch

Guess who lost!

Finally, don't forget that Mayumi's Halloween countdown ("count-up" [?]) continues! Check out the following links to see photos & YouTube videos of our previous Halloween parties...

ハロウィン・アーカイブ　９

ハロウィン・アーカイブ　１０

ハロウィン・アーカイブ　１１

ハロウィン・アーカイブ　１２

ハロウィン・アーカイブ　１３

Check out Mayumi's latest Blog entry here...

モカモカのブログ

Check out all the Be & Me YouTube videos here...

School Videos

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Halloween Nail Art

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One of our students is a nail artist. (Hi, Yasuko!) This week, she came to her class wearing Halloween nail art.

Yasuko's nail-art studio is called...


It's in the same building as Be ＆ Me 英会話 Club . One of our other students (Hi, Takumi!) is now one of Yasuko's regular customers. She's very happy with Yasuko's work. If you're interested in getting your nails done for Halloween -- or any reason! -- give Yasuko a call on 06-6245-7577.

By the way, do you know the English names for each of the fingers? Here they are...


Mayumi's Halloween countdown ("count-up" [?]) continues! Check out the following links to see photos & YouTube videos of our previous Halloween parties...

ハロウィン・アーカイブ　６　ｽﾗｲﾄﾞｼｮｰ

ハロウィン・アーカイブ　７

ハロウィン・アーカイブ　８

Check out Mayumi's latest Blog entry here...

モカモカのブログ

Check out all the Be & Me YouTube videos here...

School Videos

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I Shaved my Wife!

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In my last entry (The Halloween Countdown Continues), I included a link to a video of our 1999 Halloween costume - Dr. Evil & Mini Me from the Austin Powers movies. Most people assume that Mayumi wore a bald wig for that costume. WRONG! She actually shaved her head...

It was her idea! Honestly!!!

Her nick-name was Ikkyu San for the next couple of weeks...

Ikkyu San - a popular Japanese cartoon character
(Info in Japanese)

The Japanese media usually refers to anyone with a shaved head as "Skinhead." In English, Skinhead usually refers to members of neo-Nazi groups. Mayumi is definitely not a neo-Nazi! "Shaven-headed" is a better term to use. For example, Bruce Willis is a popular shaven-headed actor.

By the way, the Halloween countdown continues! Go to モカモカのブログ for the latest updates in photos & videos.

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The Halloween Countdown Continues

Mayumi's halloween "countdown" (she's actually counting up!) continues. Click on ハロウィン・アーカイブ　５ to view more goofy photos. An speaking of goofy, check out the video above!

You can check out all our School Videos here!

Counting Down to Halloween

Last week, we opened up the suitcase with all our old Halloween costumes in it. Looking at all the costumes reminded Mayumi of our past Halloweens together. She decided to write about them on her Mocha Mocha Blog (モカモカのブログ). Read her first entry here: Getting Ready for Halloween. Read the rest of her countdown at the following links...

Halloween '95

Halloween '96

Halloween '97

Halloween '98

Don' forget to check on her other entries at モカモカのブログ

Insane!

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Every Month, we hold a Service Lesson for students who have missed their regular classes. At the last Service Lesson, we played the Be & Me English-practice version of Snakes & Ladders, a popular board game in Western countries. One of the more difficult vocabulary cards in that game is "sane." Sane is the opposite of crazy. Another way to say crazy is "insane." For example...

This is an INSANE thing to do!

My brother Joe is the Japanese agent for Liberty Skis (http://www.libertyskis.co.jp/). He has some riders based in Hakuba who help him promote the skis. They are waiting for snow at the moment. It's amazing what some bored skiers with too much time on their hands and a couple of hundred bags of rubber bands can come up with. Check out the video below – it's INSANE!

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スクールカレンダー& イベント

みなさん、こんにちは！オンライン”スクールカレンダー＆お知らせ”の ページをアップデイトしました！当月のサービスレッスン日やキッズクラスの日程、祝 日やイベント案内が日本語で確認できます。

当校の ホームページ（http://www.be-and-me.com/） の “スクールカレンダー”または "生徒のみなさんへ" をクリックして下さい！または直接下記のアドレスへリンクして下さい！（携帯電話からも可能です）

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生 徒のみなさんへ :
http://beandme.blog6.fc2.com/blog-category-5.html

よ ろしくお願いします！

Feeling Goofy!

Goofy means funny in a strange way. There's a Disney character called Goofy. He's funny in a strange way. I love goofy stuff. When I saw the goofy picture above, I laughed out loud.

Last night, Mayumi wrote on her Blog ( モカモカのブログ ) about our TV-drama-viewing history. She mentioned The X-Files. It reminded me of a goofy video we made together one rainy Sunday...

The 5 A's

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This Sunday, September 19th, is International Talk-Like-a-Pirate Day. In the video above, Captain Slappy & Old Chumbucket (John Baur and Mark Summers -- the "pirate guys" who started the holiday many years ago) will teach you how to talk like a pirate.

Why?

Because it's fun!!!

The 5 A's are...

1) Ahoy! – "Hello!"

2) Avast! – "Listen to me!" It can also be used in a sense of surprise, kind of like "Check it out!" ["Look at that!"] or "No way!"

3) Aye! – "Yes!” or “Yes, I agree!”

4) Aye, aye! – "Yes, I'll do that straight away!”

5) Arrr! – This one is often confused with "Arrrgh!” – the sound you make when you sit on your sword. "Arrr!" can mean many things: "Yes," "I agree," "I'm happy," "I'm enjoying this beer," "My team is going to win," "I saw that television show, it sucked!" and "That was a clever remark you or I just made." There are many more possible ways to use “Arrr!”

Avast! Here be links!

Shiver me timbers! The International Talk-Like-a-Pirate Day Homepage!

Arrr! Here there be photos!

Avast, me hearties! The Be & Me Talk-Like-a-Pirate Photos!

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The New Blarney Stone Irish Pub in Shinsaibashi Opening Tonight

Every Saint Patrick's Day, I recommend two Irish pubs in Osaka -- Murphy's Irish Pub (in Shinsaibashi) and The Blarney Stone (in Umeda). Next year, there will be three choices – the new Blarney Stone in Shinsaibashi is opening tonight! (Click Here for a Map)

I went there last Thursday with a friend (Hi, Dave!), one of our students (Hi, Chie!), and a couple of her friends for a pre-opening party. It looks like it’s going to be a fun place to hang out! Check it out tonight – or any night this week!

The pub gets its name from the Blarney Stone, a real stone in a castle wall in Ireland. Legend says that if you kiss the stone, you will be given the gift of the gab (the ability to have interesting conversations with everyone).

スクールカレンダー& イベント

みなさん、こんにちは！オンライン”スクールカレンダー＆お知らせ”の ページをアップデイトしました！当月のサービスレッスン日やキッズクラスの日程、祝 日やイベント案内が日本語で確認できます。

当校の ホームページ（http://www.be-and-me.com/） の “スクールカレンダー”または "生徒のみなさんへ" をクリックして下さい！または直接下記のアドレスへリンクして下さい！（携帯電話からも可能です）

ス クールカレンダー :
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生 徒のみなさんへ :
http://beandme.blog6.fc2.com/blog-category-5.html

よ ろしくお願いします！

Avast, ye Land Lubbers! September 19th be International Talk-Like-a-Pirate Day! Arrrr!

That’s right! On Sunday, September 19th, people all over the world will be talking like pirates. Why? Click on the links below to find out more:

そうです！　来たる９月１９日（日）は世界各地で人々が海賊みたいなしゃべりかたをします！
なぜか？　知りたい方は　下記のリンクをクリックしてください。

International Talk-Like-a-Pirate Day (Basic)

International Talk-Like-a-Pirate Day (Advanced)

The Tooth Fairy

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On Saturday, our son woke up missing one of his baby teeth.

When children’s baby teeth fall out in Western countries, they put them under their pillows before the go to sleep. They believe that the tooth fairy will visit their bedrooms during the night and exchange their baby teeth for gifts of money.

The tooth fairy (fairies?) visits a child's bedroom

One of our students (Hi, Noriko!) gave us a beautiful little box that was perfectly suited to this tradition...

Our son put his tooth into the box and then put the box under his pillow...

During the night, he was visited by the tooth fairy…

I can't decide which costume suits me best! What do you think?

The next morning, the tooth was no longer in the box...

In its place was 100 yen.

In the early 90s, they were going to make an action/comedy movie featuring Arnold Scharzenegger as the Tooth Fairy. For some reason, that project didn’t go ahead. However, when I was looking for tooth fairy pictures, I found out that that movie did finally get made…

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スクールカレンダー & イベント

みなさん、こんにちは！オンライン”スクールカレンダー＆お知らせ”の ページをアップデイトしました！当月のサービスレッスン日やキッズクラスの日程、祝 日やイベント案内が日本語で確認できます。

当校の ホームページ（http://www.be-and-me.com/） の “スクールカレンダー”または "生徒のみなさんへ" をクリックして下さい！または直接下記のアドレスへリンクして下さい！（携帯電話からも可能です）

ス クールカレンダー :
http://beandme.blog6.fc2.com/blog-category-3.html

生 徒のみなさんへ :
http://beandme.blog6.fc2.com/blog-category-5.html

よ ろしくお願いします！

Only 5 Days Until the Tenjin Festival!

Only 5 days until the Tenjin Festival! (Above is a photo I took at last year's festival) Last year, I did a countdown to the festival by teaching how to say some common Japanese summer festival words in English. If you're new to this blog (or if you've just forgotten!), check out the links below...

5 - 浴衣 (Yukata)

4 - 屋台 (Yatai)

3 - かき氷 (Kakigori)

2 - たこ焼き (Tako Yaki)

1 - 花火 (Hanabi)

If you're going to the festival this Sunday, have a great time!

Teru Teru Bozu

The Long Weekend starts tomorrow. If you're like me, you're sick of all this rain. One way to make sure it doesn't rain is to make a teru teru bozu (A.K.A. teru teru bouzu) -- a Japanese good-weather charm.

Above is a goofy video we made in Australia 10 years ago. In it, Mayumi explains what a Teru Teru Bozu is and Rigby threatens the good-weather charm. However, the Teru Teru Bozu has the last laugh!

Click here for other Be & Me YouTube Videos!

That Brings Back Memories!

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Recently, I wrote about the old Japanese TV show Monkey (西遊記). I included a link to a couple of related YouTube videos in that post. Later, I was talking to one of our students (Hi, Yuji!) about those links. He asked how to say natsukashii (懐かしい) in English. Most dictionaries translate natsukashii to "nostalgic." In conversation, it's more common to say, "That brings back memories!"

One of my friends from high school (Hi,Peter!) sent me a link to the above YouTube video on the weekend.

It certainly brought back some memories for me!

Does it bring back any memories for you?

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スクールカレンダー & イベント

みなさん、こんにちは！オンライン”スクールカレンダー＆お知らせ”の ページをアップデイトしました！当月のサービスレッスン日やキッズクラスの日程、祝 日やイベント案内が日本語で確認できます。

当校の ホームページ（http://www.be-and-me.com/） の “スクールカレンダー”または "生徒のみなさんへ" をクリックして下さい！または直接下記のアドレスへリンクして下さい！（携帯電話からも可能です）

ス クールカレンダー :
http://beandme.blog6.fc2.com/blog-category-3.html

生 徒のみなさんへ :
http://beandme.blog6.fc2.com/blog-category-5.html

よ ろしくお願いします！

What's a Bunyip?

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Last night, I was talking to a student (Hi, Yasuyo!) about Japanese actors. She said her favorite Japanese actor was Toshiyuki Nishida.

Toshiyuki Nishida

She was surprised to find out that I used to watch him in the Japanese TV show "Monkey" on Australian TV way back in the early 1980s. My friends & I were huge fans of the show. Pigsy (the character's English name) was our favorite character.

Sandy, Monkey, Tripitaka & Pigsy

You can watch the opening on YouTube here - Monkey Magic

You can also see Pigsy's song in English here - Pigsy's Song

Standing on the left side of the cast photo above is Shiro Kishibe, who played the kappa. His character was called Sandy in the English version of "Monkey."

A Kappa

We have nothing exactly like a kappa in Western cultures. In Europe, the closest thing would be the water nymph. Nymphs are kind of like a fairies that are connected to natural things like water and trees. Nymphs are always female, and usually very beautiful.

A Water Nymph

Australian Aboriginals believe in a kind of kappa called a bunyip. Bunyips live in rivers and waterholes. They hide under the water waiting to catch children who go too close to the water's edge.

A Bunyip (?)

You can watch an interesting music video about bunyips here - The Bunyip Song

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Rainy Season

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Check out this week’s weather forecast from the newspaper! I guess it’s the rainy season in Japan! (The little line of suns on the top right column is Hokkaido; the line on the bottom left, Okinawa. If you live anywhere else in Japan, you had better take an umbrella with you when you go out this week!)

It reminded me of a little children’s song…

Rain, rain, go away.
Come again another day.
Little Johnny wants to play,
So rain, rain, go away!

In English, we have many ways to describe rain…

If it’s only raining a little, just a drop here and there, we say, “It’s spitting.”

If it’s a little heavier, just enough to need an umbrella, we say, “It’s drizzling.”

If it’s just average rain, we say, “It’s raining.”

If it’s much heavier, we say, “It’s pouring.”

When it’s raining really, really heavily, we say, "It’s raining cats and dogs!”

That last expression originated in England 3 or 4 hundred years ago. Back then, cities were much dirtier than they are now. Buildings were very close together, and people threw their kitchen scraps out their windows. Dogs & cats would live off the scraps that piled up between the buildings. When they died, their bodies stayed stuck between the buildings until very strong rains washed them out into the streets. When people passing by saw the bodies, they would jokingly say the bodies had fallen from the sky with the rain.

Over the next week (weeks?!) , try to describe what type of rain it is using one of the expressions above.

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Congratulations, Japan! (And I'm not talking about the soccer!)

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Imagine playing UFO Catcher with a crane that was 300,000,000 kilometers long and took 20 minutes before it responded to you touching the button. Imagine the prize was information about the very beginning of our galaxy. Imagine that you caught something on your very first try. That's what Japan just did! Congratulations!

On Sunday, the JAXA Hayabusa space probe returned from its 7-year journey to the asteroid Itokawa. Welcome home! You did good!

To find out more, check out the YouTube videos below...

Hayabusa Documentary
(The mission explained In English with Japanese subtitles)

Computer Animation of Hayabusa Mission
(No narration, just music -actually quite beautiful to watch)

NHK Broadcast of Re-entry

NASA Video of Hayabusa Re-entry
(Taken from the air)

JAXA Video of Hayabusa Re-entry
(Taken from the ground)

Mayumi has written a related story on her blog. Go to Mocha Mocha to find out more!

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Mocha Mocha

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I traveled through Europe with my sister in the summer of ’97. On the way home, I met up with Mayumi for 10 days in Thailand (where I proposed to her!). We visited a beautiful beach resort on Ko Samet Island for 3 days. Mayumi tans very easily. While on Ko Samet, Mayumi’s skin turned a beautiful chocolate/coffee brown color. I nick-named her “Mocha.”

Recently, Mayumi started writing a Blog in Japanese on Ameba. She had to choose a name for her Blog. She decided on “モカモカ” (Mocha Mocha). She writes about a variety of things; movies, cooking, her daily life, teaching English, and raising a bi-lingual kid. Her Blog is fun to read! Check it out at http://ameblo.jp/be-and-me/

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スクールカレンダー & イベント

みなさん、こんにちは！オンライン”スクールカレンダー＆お知らせ”の ページをアップデイトしました！当月のサービスレッスン日やキッズクラスの日程、祝 日やイベント案内が日本語で確認できます。

当校の ホームページ（http://www.be-and-me.com/） の “スクールカレンダー”または "生徒のみなさんへ" をクリックして下さい！または直接下記のアドレスへリンクして下さい！（携帯電話からも可能です）

ス クールカレンダー :
http://beandme.blog6.fc2.com/blog-category-3.html

生 徒のみなさんへ :
http://beandme.blog6.fc2.com/blog-category-5.html

よ ろしくお願いします！

A Murder in my Neighborhood

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Recently, I wrote about bunches. I mentioned that a group of people can be called a bunch. Of course, it’s more common to call a big group of people “a crowd.” For example, above is a photo I took of a crowd of people waiting outside Tenmangu Shrine in the New Year holiday.

Did you know English has many different words to describe groups of things, especially animals? We call these words “collective nouns.” (Collective nouns for animals are also known as “terms of venery” – but you don’t need to know that!) Here are some examples…

Dogs, wolves, foxes, and other dog-like animals are called “a pack.”

A Pack of Wolves

Deer, cows, elephants, horses, and most other grass-eating animals are called “a herd.”

A Herd of Horses

Generally, a group of any kind of fish can be called “a school.” (However, many fish species have their own special collective nouns.)

A School of Fish

As with fish, a group of any kind of bird can be called “a flock.”

A Flock of Seagulls

Many bird species also have their own collective nouns. My favorite is “a murder,” the collective noun for a flock of crows.

A Murder of Crows

Yesterday morning, there was a murder in my neighborhood. I’ve posted a few photos on our online photo album. Click on A Murder of Crows to check them out!

If you want to learn many more collective nouns for animals, click here!

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Bunches

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The Sunday before last was Mother’s Day. Many of my students celebrated Mother’s Day by giving flowers to their moms.

Flowers are countable nouns. We say, "a flower, 2 flowers," and so on. If we group many flowers together, we can call them “a bunch.” The picture above shows a bunch of flowers in a vase.

We can use the word “bunch” when talking about many different things in groups. For example…

A Bunch of Bananas

A Bunch of Grapes

Did you ever wonder where grapefruit, which tastes nothing like grapes, gets its name?

It’s because the fruit grows in bunches, like grapes.

We have some common slang that uses the word bunch. If you punch someone, you can say…

“I gave him a bunch of 5 (as in 5 fingers held together).”

We can even use bunch to talk about a group of people. When I was in elementary school, I was a big fan of a children’s TV show about a family with 6 kids called “The Brady Bunch.”

Check out the TV opening at The Brady Bunch on YouTube
Find out about the 1995 movie (in Japanese) at The Brady Bunch Movie (and check out the movie – it's a bunch of fun!)

There is also a famous cowboy movie called The Wild Bunch. This movie tells the story of a group of aging cowboys. It’s famous for showing that cowboys were dirty and violent—not all heroes in big white hats.

Find out about the 1969 movie (in Japanese) at The Wild Bunch

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