Video from Saint Valentine's Day Concert

Last Sunday, Goodman Bad performed a Saint Valentine's Concert at a cafe in Tsurumi Ryokuchi Park, Osaka.

Click Here for a Short Video of the Concert

Happy Saint Valentine's Day!

A Valentine's Day Card from last Sunday's Be & Me Kids' Craft Day

Happy Saint Valentine’s Day! Did you get/give a lot of chocolates this week? Here are some links to help you learn more about the customs and origins of Saint Valentine’s Day…

The Customs of Valentine's Day

バレンタインズデー

The Origin of Saint Valentine's Day (Beginner Level)

バレンタインって誰？（初級用翻訳）

The Origin of Saint Valentine's Day (Intermediate Level)

バレンタインズデーの始まりは？（中級用翻訳）

Tonight, there’s going to be a Saint Valentine’s Day concert in Tsurumi Ryokuchi Park, Osaka. Click on the following links to find out more…

Saint Valentine's Concert in Osaka (English)

Saint Valentine's Concert in Osaka (Japanese)

Valentine’s Day Concert in Tsurumi Ryokuchi Park, Osaka

Our friend Simon Yates is hosting a special Saint Valentine's Day concert at Restaurant of Green & Water (Midori to Mizu no Resutoran), a café in Tsurumi Ryokuchi Park, in Osaka.

There will be sets…

First, Simon Yates will sing and play acoustic guitar

Next, Deron Reynolds (A.K.A. The Geminiac) will sing and play keyboards

Finally, Goodman Bad, a 4-piece band (Simon & Deron joined by Glen Gregus on bass guitar and Ken Moore on drums) will finish the night with some up tempo (& up volume!) rock

Kuri-san, a very cool sax player, will be helping out the others here and there throughout the night.

Here are the details…

When: Sunday, February 14th, from 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.

Where: Restaurant of Green & Water (Midori to Mizu no Resutoran)
(Call 06 – 6912 – 0055 or click on the above link to find out how to get there)

Price: Adults - ¥ 2,000 (includes 1 drink)
7 – 12- year-olds - ¥ 500 (does not include a drink)
Under 6 – Free (does not include a drink)

The restaurant has a basic range of food and drink for ¥ 500, cash on delivery.

As it is Valentine’s Day, Simon has arranged a Chocolate Fountain as a special item on the menu, also for ¥ 500. This one should be popular with the ladies and children.

We hope to see you there!

(By the way, the heart frames on the photos was my idea. Sorry!)

このブログの日本語訳はこちらをクリックしてください！

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！

Australia Day

こ のブログの日本語訳はこちらをクリックしてください！

On April 20th, 1770, Captain James Cook and the crew of his ship, HMS Endeavour, became the first Europeans to see the east coast of what we now call Australia. He named the land New South Wales, after his homeland of South Wales, and claimed it for Britain.

Captain James Cook

Back in England, the jails were overflowing with prisoners. Despite the fact that Captain Cook had made contact with the Aborigines, the British declared that New South Wales was uninhabited [no one lived there] and sent 11 ships full of prisoners there to start a colony. These ships are now known as the First Fleet. The First Fleet arrived in Sydney on January 26th, 1788 – 222 years ago today!

A ship like one of the First Fleet in modern-day Sydney Harbour

January 26th is now celebrated as Australia Day, a national public holiday that is marked by special events around the country. Many towns & cities hold special ceremonies & fireworks displays. The Prime Minister of Australia gives a special address to the nation [a speech that is broadcast on TV & radio stations], and special awards are presented to Australians who have done good things. Also on this day, there is usually a special cricket match, as well as some big outdoor music festivals.

The Australian Flag – The Union Jack [British Flag] represents Australia's connection to Britain; the 7-pointed star, the 7 states of Australia; and the other stars, the Southern Cross [a group of stars you can usually see from the southern half of the Earth]

Not everyone thinks that Australia Day should be a celebration! Aborigines hold “Invasion Day” and “Survival Day” events, protesting the fact that their country was invaded [taken over by force] by the British and celebrating that their people & culture somehow survived.

Some anti-Australia Day graffiti on a wall in the Rocks, the oldest part of Sydney

The Australian Aboriginal Flag – The black represents the people; the red, their land & blood; and the yellow, their sun

こ のブログの日本語訳はこちらをクリックしてください！

New Year's Resolutions (Part 1)

こ のブログの日本語訳はこちらをクリックしてください！

Team Tiger

Most people start the year by making some really strong promises. We call them New Year’s resolutions. A resolution is a really strong promise you make to yourself to do something difficult that is good for you. Some common examples of New Year’s Resolutions are “I will lose weight” or “I will study English more.” Good resolutions include some kind of number and time frame so that the achievement of the resolution can be measured. Instead of “I will lose weight,” you should say, “I will lose one kilogram a month” or “I will go to the gym 3 times a week.”

A couple of years back, my wife's resolution was to take up running. Unlike me, she kept her resolution. Last spring, she took part in a 10-kilometre fun run in Ashia. Last Sunday, she renewed her resolution by taking part in a fun run at Tsurumi Ryokuchi park. (The 5 tigers in the photo above were taking part in the same fun run.) Good on her!

The Eastern Beauties

In my next entry, I hope to share one of my New Year's resolutions with you.

How about you? Did you make a resolution for 2010? Are you keeping it?

こ のブログの日本語訳はこちらをクリックしてください！

Happy New Year!

Here's wishing all our students & friends a happy & healthy 2010!

Go get 'em, Tiger!

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！

Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus!

Recently, our 5-year-old son has been asking if Santa is real. For centuries, children all over the world have been asking that exact same question. The most famous time it happened was in New York, in 1897. A little 8-year-old girl called Virginia asked her father if Santa was real. Her father suggested she write a letter to the Sun, a respected newspaper in New York at that time...

The newspaper's reply has become one of the most famous pieces of writing in the world.

You can read the reply at Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus

You can read a Japanese translation at Illustrator Tomomi Nakamura's HomePage
(The above illustration was stolen from Tomomi Nakamura's HomePage)

Also, don't forget the milk & cookies tonight!

Have a merry Xmas!

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！

Be & Me Student Saves the World!

It seems that everything we do in our daily lives damages nature. If we don’t change our lifestyles soon, we’re likely to destroy the very world we live on. There’s no one simple way to protect nature. Saving the Earth will rely on many different ideas, all being used at once.

Recently, one of our students, a fashion designer, had a great idea to help save the world; an eco-bag that you can carry on your cell phone. It’s not always convenient to carry a reusable shopping bag with you. Often, you don’t even think about a shopping bag until you are in the shops. But these days, almost no one leaves home without their cell phone! That’s why our student Kyoko’s idea is so good!

Kyoko showing her cell-phone eco-bag

The eco-bag when it’s folded up

Kyoko with the unfolded eco-bag

You can help eco-warrior Kyoko save the world by always remembering to carry a reusable shopping bag with you. Don’t leave home without one!

By the way, “Eco” is short for “ecology.” Ecology is the study of living things and their relation to each other and their environment. “Environment” in this case means the physical surroundings of the living things being studied. However, “the environment” refers to all of the natural world. When we use “eco” with another word, like “eco-friendly,” we really mean “environmentally friendly,” that is, friendly to all of the natural world.

こ のブログの日本語訳はこちらをクリックしてください！

わがＢｅ & Me の生徒さんが世界を救う！

私たちが日々行うすべての活動は自然にダメージを与えているようです。私たちが現在の生活スタイルを早急に変えなければ、私たちが住んでいるこの世界を破 壊してしまうでしょう。自然を守る唯一の方法などありません。地球を救うのにはたくさんのいろんな方法に取り組まなくてはならないでしょう。

先 日、ファッションデザイナーである当校の生徒さんが、ひとつの素晴らしいアイディアを思いつきました！携帯電話に携帯するエコバッグです。エコバッグを 持って出かけるのに都合が悪い場合もありますよね。お店に入ってから、エコバッグのことを思い出すこともよくあります。でも昨今、携帯電話を持たずにでか ける人はいません！だからこそ、この生徒さん（京子さん）のアイディアはすごいのです！

京子さんの携帯電話と携帯エコバッグ


エコバッグがたたまれている状態


エコバッグを広げた時

携帯エコバッグを携帯して、われらがエコ戦士、京子さんを応援しましょう！

『出かけるときは忘れずに！』

と ころで、”ｅｃｏ”とは”ｅｃｏｌｏｇｙ”の略です。エコロジーとは生態学。人間を含めた生物とその環境（ｅｎｖｉｒｏｎｍｅｎｔ）との相互関係を研究す る学問です。ここでいう”ｅｎｖｉｒｏｎｍｅｎｔ”とは自然環境。”ｅｃｏ”と他の言葉をくっつけて使う場合、例えば”ｅｃｏ－ｆｒｉｅｎｄｌｙ”の意味 は”ｅｎｖｉｒｏｎｍｅｎｔａｌｌｙ　ｆｒｉｅｎｄｌｙ”となるわけです。これは「自然環境にやさしい」ということです。

2009 Halloween Party at Ola - The Photos!

Our Hosts Yakuza-Woman Shino & Day-of-the-Dead Hiroki

The Frighteningly Friendly Ola Bar Staff

Nachos Nightmare

Blues Brother Rigby & Blues Sister Mayumi with Wally/Waldo
Yes, We Found Him!!!

You can see many, many more photos at 2009 Halloween Party at Ola Enjoy!

Note: If your photo is in our photo album and you'd rather it wasn't, please send us an e-mail - we"ll happily remove it!

If your name is in one of the captions and you'd rather it wasn't, please send us an e-mail - we'll happily change it!

If you'd like a bigger photo file so you can print it, please send us a mail - we'll happily send it!

Recommended Photo Exhibition

最優秀賞　「田植えを終えて」　芝崎静雄（愛媛）
See all the photos at 第7回 「美しい日本を撮ろう」フォトコンテスト

As many of you know, I love photos! I'm always on the look out for good photo exhibitions. Yesterday, I noticed there was a photo exhibition in the Crysta Nagahori Gallery. The exhibition is a collection of photos entered in a Beautiful Photos of Japan contest. It's very good!

Unfortunately, today (Friday, November 13th) is the last day of the exhibition. If you're in Shinsaibashi today, make sure you check it out!

If you can't make it to the exhibition, you can check out the photos at 第7回 「美しい日本を撮ろう」フォトコンテスト (Scroll down to see all the photos).

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！

Halloween Party at Ola

Tomorrow night, Saturday October 31st, is Halloween! If you’re looking for a place to party in Shinsaibashi, Osaka, You should check out Ola Tacos Bar!

You can check out photos from last year’s party at Halloween at Ola (2008)

Find out more about the origins and customs of Halloween at Happy Halloween!

Whatever you do tomorrow night, have fun!

こ のブログの日本語訳はこちらをクリックしてください！

Happy Halloween!

October 31st is Halloween! This Saturday evening, all across Ameirica and Canada, as well as other parts of the world, children will be dressing up like ghosts, witches, skeletons, and other interesting people or things.

Some kids in Halloween costumes

The children will go from door to door and yell, “Trick or treat?” Their neighbors will give them special Halloween candies, cookies or fruit. If they are refused a treat, the children might play a trick on that person. A common trick is to cover their house with toilet paper.

A toilet-papered house

Halloween has its origins in an ancient Celtic festival known as Samhain. The Celts lived in Ireland and Scotland thousands of years ago – long before the birth of Christ. The festival of Samhain was a celebration of the end of the harvest season. The festival was celebrated after the harvest was sorted and stored away. It is also sometimes regarded as the end of the Celtic year.

(For some reason, Blogspot won't let me put a paragraph break here. It's very frustrating!)

The ancient Celts were very superstitious. They believed that on the last day of the year (around October 31st, according to their calendar) the spirits of the dead came back to this world. They were scared of these ghosts. They wore costumes and masks to trick the evil spirits into thinking they were also ghost, hoping that the real ghosts would leave them alone.The most famous symbol of Halloween is the Jack-o-lantern, a hollowed out pumpkin with a scary face carved in it. Originally, Jack-o-lanterns were made from turnips.

There is an old Irish story about a bad man called Jack who tricked the Devil into never taking him to hell. However, this trick eventually backfired. When he finally died, he could not enter Heaven or Hell. Jack found himself doomed to walk the earth at night, guided only by the light of a burning coal – a gift from the Devil – in a turnip lantern.

This story was the Celts’ attempt to explain the phantom flames they sometimes saw burning over bogs and moors. (In Japan, these flames used to sometimes appear over graveyards. They were caused by methane gas escaping from rotting bodies or wood. In Japanese, these flames are known as hino tama.)

こ のブログの日本語訳はこちらをクリックしてください！

ハッピー★ハロウィン

１０月３１日はハロウィンです！今週土曜日の夜はアメリカやカナダ、また世界の様々な場所で、子供たちがお化け、魔女、ガイコツ、また面白い人物や物に仮装することでしょう。

仮 装した子供たちはご近所さんの玄関から玄関へ「お菓子をくれないと、いたずらするよ！」と叫んでまわります。そしてご近所さんたちはハロウィン用のキャン ディやクッキー、果物を子供たちにあげます。もしお菓子をあげないとしたら、子供たちはそのご近所さんにいたずらをするかもしれないからです。よくあるい たずらとしては、その人の家をトイレットペーパーでぐるぐる巻きにしてしまいます！

ハ ロウィンは古代ケルト民族のサウィン祭りにその起源をもっています。ケルト民族は数千年前にアイルランドやスコットランドに住んでいました。－－キリスト の誕生よりもずっと昔です！サウィン祭りとは収穫期の終わりを祝う祭りでした。祭りは収穫物がより分けられ、貯蔵されたあとに祝われました。そしてケルト の暦では１年の終わりをも意味しました。

古代ケルト人はたいへん迷信深い民族でした。彼らは１年の最後の日（ケルト暦では１０月３１日） に死人たちの魂が蘇ると信じていました。彼らはその亡霊たちをたいへん怖がりました。そこで彼らはお化けの格好をしたり、お面をつけるようになりました。 本物の亡霊たちに自分たちも亡霊であると信じ込ませ、悪さをされないようにと願ったのです。ハロウィンで最も有名なシンボルといえば、ジャコランタンで す。怖い顔が彫られたカボチャです。最初はカブで作られていました。

アイルランドの昔話に、悪魔を騙して何があっても地獄には落ちない約 束をさせたジャックという悪人の話があります。しかしこの約束は結局裏目に出てしまいます。ジャックが死んだとき、彼は地獄にも天国にもいけなくなってし まったのです。ジャックは夜な夜な、カブでできたランタンに石炭の火を燃やして（悪魔からの贈り物）この世をさまよい歩くしかなかったそうです。

この物語は沼地や湿地帯で見られた不思議な炎を説明しようとするために作られました。（日本ではよく墓地にこのような炎が現れます。腐った人体や木材から発せられるメタンガスが原因なのですが、日本では「火の玉」として知られています。）

Congratulations, Mieko!

Way back in July, I wrote about one of our students sitting for the STEP Eiken Test in Practical English Proficiency Level 1 interview exam (Click here to read that post). Well, she passed!

Congratulations, Mieko! All your hard work paid off!

The next written test is this Sunday, October 18th. If you pass that test, you can practice for the interview by visiting http://www.eiken.or.jp/eikentimes/virtual/index.html (a site recommended by Mieko). Also, Be & Me Eikaiwa Club has STEP Eiken interview-practice classes, as well as preparation classes for the STEP Eiken written exam. Now is the best time to start preparing for the next written exam which will be held on Sunday, January 24th. For more information about these classes (in Japanese), call us on 06-6915-2613.

Good luck if you’re sitting the exam this Sunday!

こ のブログの日本語訳はこちらをクリックしてください！

おめでとう！　美恵子さん！

今年７月に、僕は英検テスト１級を受験する僕の生徒さんのことをブログに書きました。彼女はみごと合格しました！

おめでとう！　美恵子さん！　あなたの努力が報われましたね！

１０月１８日（日）は英検の筆記試験があります。
みなさん、筆記試験に合格したら、次の面接試験に向けて下記のサイトで模擬練習ができますよ。

http://www.eiken.or.jp/eikentimes/virtual/index.html

このサイトは美恵子さんお薦めです！

またＢｅ ＆ Ｍｅ 英会話 Ｃｌｕｂ　でも、英検の筆記試験対策と面接試験対策のクラスを設けています。来年１月２４日（日）の筆記試験に向けて、準備を始めるのに今が最適な時期だと思います。

質問があればこちらに連絡してください。
もちろん日本語スタッフが説明させて頂きます。

０６－６９１５－２６１３

この日曜日に試験にのぞまれるみなさん、幸運を祈ります！

Good Morning, Melor!

Last night, Typhoon No. 18 passed right over the top of Osaka. The howling of the wind kept me awake half the night. How about you?

In Japan, typhoons are numbered. In other countries, they are given names. (You probably all remember that New Orleans was devastated [badly damaged] by hurricane Katrina some years back.) Traditionally, tropical storms – hurricanes, cyclones & typhoons – were all given ladies’ names. These days, they alternate [take turns] between men’s & ladies’ names when naming tropical storms.

Typhoon No. 18 is called Melor. Melor is a man’s name from Russia. It’s a modern name meaning “Communist Creation.” It was made by combining the first letters of Marx, Engles, Lenin (3 famous communist philosophers), and October Revolution (the revolution that brought the Communists to power in Russia).

Anyway, it seems that the worst of Melor has passed. We can look forward to clear skies this weekend!

こ のブログの日本語訳はこちらをクリックしてください！

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！

Lame Duck

Last Sunday, there was a national election [ 選挙 ] in Japan. Did you vote [ 投票する ]? Are you happy with the results? Recently, Mayumi learned a new, very interesting expression that is often used when talking about politics; Lame Duck. To find out what lame duck means (in Japanese) Click here!

The above illustration was stolen from http://www.hwupdate.org/