Otto's blog

Monotonia

Mar

27

Are you stuck at home? Bored? Well, here`s a song for you – Monotonia, by a band called The Growlers. Most of it is in English, but the chorus (& title) is in Spanish. In most of the video, they seem to be taking medicine. Hmm. Maybe they have coronavirus? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSzluF9itcw

The lyrics are here: https://www.musixmatch.com/search/monotonia

I also like their song Big Toe (拇趾): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JDcerd5vvo

Grammar:
'Most of...' (55 – 95%) OK!
'Almost all of...' (96-99%) OK!
'Almost of...' WRONG!

#音楽

Message From Malaysia

Mar

26

Today we got a postcard from one of our students, who went to Malaysia to study English. I`ve got some (some? a lot of!) free time now, so I thought I`d blog about it. It sounds like she`s making nice friends & having a good time, but I hope she doesn`t have trouble because of the coronavirus outbreak. I hope she`s got enough money...

Vocabulary:
“I`ve got + 名詞” (= I have got + 名詞) = 名詞を持っています(持っている状態)
“I got + 名詞” = 名詞をもらいました

#手紙

Isuzu 117 & Toyota Crown

Mar

26

I saw these two cars go past our school recently. The one on the left is an Isuzu 117. The other one is a Toyota Crown Super Saloon. They`re both from1978 or thereabouts.

Which one do you prefer? I prefer the Isuzu. It`s pretty stylish.

(Yes, I`ve been looking out the window more than usual recently!)

Vocabulary:
like = 好き
prefer = の方が好き
Which... prefer? = Which... like more? = Which... like better? ALL OK.

#車

Recycled Margarine Container

Mar

25

This old margarine bucket looked handy, so I decided to recycle it instead of throwing it away. My kids helped me make the chicken design on the front.

Pronunciation:
- Be careful: a 'soft' G sound in some English words is translated as a 'hard' G sound in Japanese:
margarine 英語で: マージャリーン (not マーガリン )
allergy 英語で: アラジー (not アレルギー )
Belgium 英語で: ベルジム (not ベルギー )
collagen 英語で: コラジン　(not コラーゲン)

DIY Fish Viewer

Mar

25

I made a fish-viewing box from a sheet of clear perspex (クリアアクリル), which I bought at a hardware store (about ¥200 for A3 size). To bend it, I used a blow torch. Next I used a glue gun to attach the side pieces. Finally I tested it using my pet loach (どじょう ).

I`m looking forward to using it with tropical fish when I visit Miyakojima. Please check my blog next week to see what I caught!

Grammar:
- To 動詞... I 動詞... = I 動詞... to 動詞...
- To 動詞...please 動詞... = Please 動詞... to 動詞...

#動物

Podcasts Too!

Mar

24

We `ve also been recording & uploading podcasts to I-Tunes. You can find* them here:
https://bohmeenglish.podbean.com/
I hope you find* them interesting & useful!

Vocabulary:
* find = 見つける
**find = 思う

James & Otto on Instagram

Mar

23

Due to the coronavirus, students can`t come to us, so we`re going to students - via Instagram! James & I have been making some short instructional English videos. Please check them out!

https://www.instagram.com/teragoya_gifu/

Coronavirus Stats & Figures

Mar

23

What websites are you using to follow the coronavirus pandemic? These two have some good stats ('stats'= STATisticS 統計) & figures (figures = numbers):

https://www.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/bda7594740fd40299423467b48e9ecf6

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

Coronavirus Chaos

Mar

23

Things have been pretty chaotic due to the caronavirus outbreak. Although our school has been closed to students, we`ve been busy with things which I`ll blog about soon. But first things first (でも重要な事から先に始めよう). Teragoya`s website has been given a facelift. The address is the same (https://teragoya.net/) but to find my blog, you need to scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on ブログ. Then click on the handsome guy on the right. Of course, if you bookmark my blog (https://en.bloguru.com/otto), you don`t need to do this.

Pronunciation:
chaos 名詞: ケイ.オス chaotic 形容詞: ケイ.オ.チク