I made a bunch of wooden smartphone stands, which I am selling at school for ¥300 each. Staff member Takako is my first customer. Thank you Takako!
There are two designs. One is here:
https://en.bloguru.com/otto/372124/whats-that-for
Vocabulary:
- "A bunch of ____" = several, a group of
- a bunch of flowers = 花束
I`ve been cleaning & fixing this old stereo system. I can play tapes on the tapedeck, and records on the turntable, and now, after buying some cables from a thrift store(リサイクルショップ), I can connect it to my computer & play music from Youtube through it - nice! The stereo speakers are way (=much) better than my computer ones.
Unfortunately, the tuner on the stereo is still not working, so I can`t listen to music on the radio yet. I will try to fix that next.
Grammar:
- play games/listen to music/edit photos ON my computer/smartphone
- watch movies ON my computer/my smartphone/DVD/Youtube/Netflix
- chat with friends ON Facebook, Line, WhatsApp
As you know, I love collecting things. In this 5-minute podcast, I talk about three of my childhood collections. Please listen & enjoy!
https://bohmeenglish.podbean.com/e/the-bohme-english-podcast-16-listening-%e7%b7%b4%e7%bf%92/
Last Saturday our school did something new - we had a Zoom party! First we introduced ourselves, then we chatted for a while, and finally, we played a game. The game was to find, in two minutes, five objects:
1) something purple
2) something square
3) something dangerous
4) something made in Japan, and
5) something sweet
It was interesting to see everyone`s items. Did you do anything fun last weekend?
Grammar:
Usually in English an adjective comes before a noun, e.g. 'a red ball', but an adjective comes after the words 'something/someone/somewhere/anything/everything/nothing' etc. e.g. 'We need someone strong' 'I wanna go somewhere warm' 'Nothing special'
It was a long time since I`d been to Ichinomiya Tower Park, so I took my sons there last weekend. We rode bicycles, but it didn`t take long because we live kind of nearby. While we were there, I saw this car. I wanted to get closer, but the car didn`t stay long before driving off.
It was nice to get out, and my kids spent a long time playing with rocks & catching shrimp in the river; it was almost sunset when we finally left for home.
Grammar:
- It`s usual to use 'a long time' in a positive sentence but just 'long' in negative sentences & questions e.g. "Have you been in Japan long?" "I haven`t been here long, but my friend has been here a long time - 10 years."
I took my kids to a nearby creek (small river) to look for turtles. We took nets, gloves, & containers. We found three baby red-eared sliders (アカミミガメ), which we brought home & put in a fish tank.
Vocabulary:
- take (took) + 誰か + 何処か = 連れて行く
- take (took) + 物 + 何処か = 持っていく
I found a few of these fancy-looking caterpillars on my blackberry bush. I pulled them off & threw them to my chickens, but they didn`t fancy them. Well, I don`t fancy having them in my garden, so I squashed (押しつぶす) them.
Vocabulary:
* fancy 形容詞 = ファンシー
** fancy 動詞 = want / like / want to
Do you like The Carpenters? How about carpenter bees? I found this one pollinating my lime tree. I hope the chickens don`t eat it.
Vocabulary:
pollen = 花粉
pollinate = 受粉する
花粉症 (pollen allergy) = hayfever
Are you enjoying spring*? Do you have a spring** in your step? Well, I have a spring*** (& blue styrofoam) on a stick! But why...? What`s it for? The answer is in comments.
Hint: I made it for my kids to play with.
Vocabulary:
* 春
** 弾み
*** コイルばね
I`m currently teleworking, teaching students by Zoom. It`s very useful for teaching English. Have you used it? What for? Anyway, between classes, I made this. What is it? What`s it for?
I will put the answer in comments tomorrow night!
Vocabulary
- What... for? = 何のために / どうして
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