There are a number of good ways to develop your English language skills. Reading a lot of books, listening to news programs or interviews, watching movies, talking with native speakers, studying for the standard exams such as TOEIC and TOEFL, etc. are among the most common ways that are often recommended to the students who are studying English. I am sure that you are habitually doing at least one or more of these in your language training, and I hope that you will continue doing so. However, it is sometimes difficult to stick to routinized practices like these because it is easy for us to get bored with the same types of exercises.

Therefore, I would like to recommend something that helps to refresh your routinized approach. That is collecting good quotes in English as you encounter them in the course of your study. Quotes mean a group of words or a short piece of writing taken from a book, speech, movie, etc. and good quotes provide us with wonderful discoveries and new insights. When you are lucky enough to encounter a good one, I highly recommend that you save it and add it to your personal list of good quotes. I believe that good quotes provide 3 major benefits to your learning.

The first one is giving you good lessons on English vocabulary and grammar. In order to fully appreciate the meaning of a quote, you must accurately grasp the exact meaning of vocabulary as used in the quote, as well as comprehend its grammatical structure. Without accurate understanding of both, quotes would mean nothing to you, or even misguide you into a wrong direction. In other words, your English ability is tested by a quote. The second major benefit goes far beyond assisting linguistic training. Good quotes will give you profound wisdom about your life and may assist you in your struggle to overcome problems you may encounter in your personal life. They have the power of cheering us up in the midst of difficulties and hardships. These two benefits will inevitably lead to another benefit, that is, to motivate you to continue learning English. If your acquired knowledge on English vocabulary and grammar gives you the power of overcoming your life problems, you will naturally feel like learning more and more of English, which will put you on the steady path toward becoming an expert on the English language. Good quotes, in this way, will take you into the virtuous cycle of learning.

Here are some of my favorite quotes that I have collected in the last 30 years. Some are taken from books, others are from movies, and still others are from the professors of an American university I had attended in my youth. They still give me a great deal of encouragement to continue learning not only English but also how I should live my life. Please try to see how accurately you can understand the messages conveyed by these quotes and how much you can appreciate them as I do.

“Try not to become a man of success but rather a man of value.” (Albert Einstein)

“Asking right questions is far more important than finding right answers.” (President of University of Minnesota)

“Study for its own sake.” (Professor of University of Minnesota)

“To whom much is given, much is expected.” (The New Testament)

“Evil is ‘live’ spelled backward.” (Book “People of the Lie” by Scot Peck)

“There are no mistakes in life, only lessons.” (Book “Women Who Love Too Much” by Robin Norwood)

“Things you own end up owning you.” (Movie “Fight Club”)

“Love is like a language. It has to be taught and learned.” (Movie “Beautiful”)

“There is no remedy for love but to love more.” (Henry David Thoreau)

“Resentment is like drinking poison and then hoping it will kill your enemies.” (Nelson Mandela)

Photo Credit: Binti Malu @pexels.com

Blog Quiz

Q1 Which of the following language learning methods does the author not mention in the blog?

A Watching movies

B Talking with native speakers

C Using a language learning app 

Q2 The word ‘profound’ in paragraph 3 is closes in meaning to which of the following: 

A Distant or remote

B Very great or intense

C Useful 

Q3 What do you think the following phrase from Fight Club means: "Things you own end up owning you.” 

A We spend our life in soulless jobs working to buy things we think we need

B If you work hard and you can be rich and successful 

C Rich people are more attractive

Scroll down ↓ for the answers to the quiz.

Quiz Answers

Q1. C

Q2. B

Q3. A

Every time I pass by a café near my house, I see, through the glass-wall, many students studying over a cup of coffee. I used not to be that type of student who can concentrate on studying in a public place like them, but I can relate to them as a coffee lover. While many of them probably drink coffee simply because they like it, some of them (like me in the past) might do so to get the effect of caffeine stimulation.

Caffeine is widely known as a substance that is contained in particular foods and drinks including chocolate, tea and coffee. It may also be added to soda and energy drinks. It acts as a stimulant for the central nervous system, thereby keeping us awake. Studies have shown that an appropriate intake of caffeine promotes learning and memory performance.

People often choose coffee as a beverage to aid concentration due to the effects of caffeine. In fact, according to Standard Tables of Food Composition in Japan published by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, 100ml of coffee contains 60mg of caffeine, which is the second highest proportion of caffeine among familiar drinks next to refined green tea, or gyokuro in Japanese. You may be surprised to learn that in terms of caffeine intake, just drinking a small-sized canned coffee is sometimes much more efficient than drinking an energy drink.

If you want to gain the full benefit of caffeine, be careful about the timing of drinking coffee. Some people mistakenly believe that they can get the stimulating influence of caffeine immediately after drinking coffee. Actually, it is about 30 minutes after consumption that caffeine takes effect, and some more time is needed before this effect reaches its peak levels. This means that you should start drinking coffee 30 minutes before you begin studying, or you have to overcome sleepiness without the help of caffeine for at least 30 minutes. It would also be beneficial to keep in mind that the effect of caffeine lasts for longer than 5 hours. Unless you have to finish your homework staying up late, you should not drink coffee before going to bed.

Last but not least, remember that drinking too much coffee can be harmful. Typical symptoms caused by immoderate consumption of caffeine include an increased heartrate, chilly feeling, and numbness in limbs. There is also a fatal risk due to acute caffeine poisoning in the worst case. To prevent these, it is recommended by Health Canada that healthy adults limit their caffeine intake to 400mg per day, which means they should not drink more than three mugs of coffee. 

As long as moderately consumed, coffee can be a great study companion. Keep up your good work over a cup of coffee!

References:

{Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology [https://www.mext.go.jp/a_menu/syokuhinseibun/1365420.htm]}

{Health Canada [https://www.healthycanadians.gc.ca/recall-alert-rappel-avis/hc-sc/2010/13484a-eng.php]}

Photo Credit: Chevanon Photography @pexels.com

Blog Quiz

True or False

Q1. Coffee contains the most caffeine out of all drinks.

Q2. The effect of caffeine usually lasts for no longer than 30 minutes.

Q3. Even a healthy adult should be careful not to drink too much coffee.

Scroll down ↓ for the answers to the quiz.

Quiz Answers

Q1. False

Q2. False

Q3. True

I sometimes draw in my free time, but these days I tend to spend more time looking at art than producing it. Maybe it should be the other way around, but as a busy teacher and father, it takes much less time and effort to open Instagram than to continue working on one of my many unfinished artworks.

Before I had a smartphone and knew about Instagram, I used to find art online using an American art community website called deviantart.com. I still have an account with a gallery of my old illustrations and lists of the artists that I used to follow on there (https://deviantart.com/safepnc). 

I signed up to Instagram in 2013, whereupon I found some of those same artists, and over the years I have also discovered many other talented and inspiring creators. Below is a list of my 8 recommendations, including a short profile of the artist and their artistic style:

1. @maxgrecke (419k followers) is a Swedish digital artist whose portfolio is full of monsters and fantasy characters. His characters are angular and distorted but come to life with amazing lighting and shading techniques.

2. @seangallowayart (224k followers) is the super-friendly and hardworking comic book artist Sean ‘Cheeks’ Galloway from San Diego, USA. I have been following his career and artistic development for over 15 years. His style looks simplistic, but his understanding of character poses and expressions are of the highest professional quality. 

3. @loisvb (2.1M followers) is a Dutch digital master who recently made the artwork for the @procreate update release. She draws mostly female figures infused with magical, mysterious lighting, but she is also an excellent landscape plein air painter.

4. @littlethunder (710k followers) is a world-famous female illustrator and painter from Hong Kong who creates dreamlike images of beautiful, powerful, and mysterious female characters. Her colors are vivid and passionate, and her brush work is exquisite. She is one of my favorite artists.  

5. @artgerm (695k followers) is Stanley Lau, a consummate master of the marker pen. He has a very distinct style, so his characters are easily recognizable. He usually draws popular comic book and anime characters, and he often produces covers for DC and Marvel comic books.

6. @ryancecil (8k followers) is an independent comic book artist who makes and prints his own comics. He also works for Netflix animation as a background designer. I met Ryan here in Japan 13 years ago and we have remained good friends. His comic book work is quirky, intelligent and retro.

7. @chriscopelandart (42k followers) is a film director and storyboard artist at Dreamworks Animation studios. He has a distinct, urban style, often putting slickly posed characters within cinematic and dynamic compositions.          

8. @levitzo (209k followers) is Levi Prewitt, a talented cartoonist living in San Francisco. His style is bold and fun, and his skillful Copic marker color work is gives his designs great appeal. Some of his best works are his sketch card pairs which he auctions to the highest bidder.

Photo Credit: Marlene Leppänen @pexels.com

Blog Quiz

Q1. Which of these suggested artists has the largest number of followers on Instagram?

Q2. What is Sean Galloway's nickname?

Q3. Which studio does Ryan Cecil work for?

Scroll down ↓ for the answers to the quiz.

Quiz Answers

Q1. @loisvb with 2,100,000 followers.

Q2. Cheeks.

Q3. Netflix

Most people are guilty of procrastinating at some point. It is quite common among teenagers as well as university students and the occasional university teacher. Procrastinating is the act of deferring action or to put things off until a later day. Why do things now when you can do them later? It isn’t a new thing, with some people tracing the existence of procrastination back more than two thousand years to Socrates’s investigations into Akrasia or deficient personal control. Modern psychology takes a different perspective on procrastination suggesting that it is often associated with a very different problem - perfectionism.

Perfectionists are people who have a psychological tendency to only set themselves and others extremely high expectations or goals. Viewed as a healthy form of behaviour, this can be highly motivating with some perfectionists achieving high levels of success. Such healthy perfectionists, known as adaptive perfectionists or positive perfectionists, can live highly successful and happy lives. The problem is that many perfectionists will not recognize that success when they achieve it. This is where it can become unhealthy as such maladaptive perfectionists drive themselves towards ever higher goals or put themselves firmly in reverse. One example of maladaptive perfectionism is procrastination.

Procrastination is a maladaptive behaviour because it prevents the perfectionist from ever achieving their goals. However, it serves a psychological need because it reduces the impact of failure. Maladaptive perfectionists are driven by a fear of failure and low self-esteem. By putting off the pursuit of a goal, ultimate failure to achieve the desired perfection can be assigned to a lack of effort or action on the part of the individual. The perfectionist has not invested their time and effort into the activity, so it is not their fault. They have chosen to delay action, so they have avoided feeling bad about themselves. The problem is that such procrastination becomes a regular feature of life and is associated with lack of success and increased anxiety. 

Procrastination does not really solve any problems because it diminishes the person’s sense of self-worth. They know they delayed taking action to avoid failing. Better to avoid comparison with others and revel in the little everyday successes. Do things today so you have more time to make corrections. Start the homework now, so you can spend more time on getting a better score rather than guaranteeing failure 5 minutes before the deadline. Getting into a routine and keeping to it will bring much more success and fewer failures.

Photo Credit: Brett Jordan @pexels.com

Blog Quiz

Q1. What word in the text means 'delaying action'?

Q2. In this context, if 'adaptive' means 'positive', what does 'maladaptive' mean?

Q3. According to the writer when should perfectionists not do homework?

Scroll down ↓ for the answers to the quiz.

Quiz Answers

Q1. Procrastinating

Q2. Negative

Q3. Five minutes before the deadline

I remember when I learned to read the Dick and Jane books back in the 1960s. The illustrations showed never-changing white skies and two kids who always happily got along and played politely with each other. Neither child was ever sad, and the parents were always cheerful and attentive. Many stories included eating ice-cream cones and riding shiny red bicycles. I found the short stories enjoyable and I felt like I was achieving something because my mom praised me after reading each one out loud. As I got a little older, I found that the stories were more interesting than my real life. Before I met my best friend in 5th grade, I spent most of my time reading alone, escaping the dreariness of my neighborhood and the dull kids around. Reading was a form of companionship for me. 

Then in the upper grades of elementary school, I got "too good" at reading. The teachers told my mother that I shouldn't take the books home from school because I was getting ahead of my classmates. My mother was told to encourage me to abandon books and play more outside, even during the icy winters in Wisconsin. 

The turning point came in sixth grade when Mr. Dean, our handsome Language Arts teacher, took 12 students out for a special class to increase our reading rather than decrease it. He challenged us to read as many books as possible, keep detailed vocabulary lists and share with the class what we were reading. And, he taught us how to read and write poetry and published our poems in a newsletter. He stretched us. He made us competitive, voracious readers. He praised us when we used our new words in conversation. And because we were reading so many books, we became aware of how many worlds of adventure were available on the printed page. This teacher had us entering different worlds joyfully, and he was excited for us, as though he was sending each of us off on a trip when we had time to read silently in class. 

My advice to students is to read to escape your reality. Read in a foreign language to escape Japan further. It is important to alternate reading and nonreading throughout the day, to maintain the architecture of the mind. When you read, you pull another reality around you like a blanket. While you're *not* reading, you inhabit "actual" reality. Too much reading weakens your relationship to the world; too little saps your imagination. You need both to inhabit reality and to flee from it.

Have you ever felt that what is common sense to you is not the same for everyone? If you’ve ever been abroad, I’m sure you’ve thought about it. Today I’d like to share some stories from my own experiences.

Taking photos at museums

In Japan, we are not allowed to take pictures at a museum. Anyone who gets too close to a painting will receive a warning from museum staff. In America, taking photos at a museum, or even during a show like Cirque Du Soleil, is allowed. The video I took at the show enabled me to not only preserve the memory but to share it with my friends when I returned home.

No ticket gate at train stations

Japan’s train system is highly sophisticated. The ticket machines never make mistakes. When I visited Vancouver, Canada in 2004, there were no ticket gates at any of the Skytrain stations. You buy a ticket, but no one ever checks it. I thought, “Canadians are very trusting people.”

Egg whites

Like many Japanese, I love TKG (raw egg over rice). Eating raw eggs is part of Japanese culture but not in every country. Some Canadians don’t eat egg yolks. Believing the egg white is a healthier choice, some people make scrambled eggs using only the egg whites. You can even buy just “egg whites” at the supermarket.

Garage sales

A garage sale is similar to a flea market with one exception. Flea markets are held in public places. Garage sales are advertised in newspapers or on flyers hung on utility poles by families who hold the sale in their driveway or on their front lawn. 

Traveling exposes us to cultural differences and is a great way to expand our horizons.

Photo Credit: Tim Sevage @pexels.com

Blog Quiz

Quiz 

Q1. Do you think the author has a positive or negative view of taking photos in a museum or at a show in Canada?

A. Good because you can preserve memories.

B. Bad because you will receive a warning.

Q2. Why does the author think ‘Canadians are trusting people’?

A. They don’t eat egg yolk.

B. There are often no ticket barriers at stations.

C. They like maple syrup. 

Q3. How are garage sales different from flea markets? 

A. They usually take place on private property

B. They sell car parts.

C. You can buy egg whites.

Scroll down ↓ for the answers to the quiz.

Q1 A

Q2 B

Q3 A

Have you ever heard of Boxing Day? It's a national holiday celebrated the day after Christmas Day. It is usually the 26th of December, initially in the United Kingdom and in several countries that previously formed parts of the British Empire, such as Romania, Hungary, Germany, Poland, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, and Scandinavia. Because it is a national holiday, people get together for meals, spend time outside, or relax at home. We can also say that Boxing Day is a day for many sports such as horse racing and football. The name of the holiday “Boxing Day” is said to have derived from three things. First, it's a reference to holiday gifts for servants. The master would give them a 'Christmas Box' as a Christmas present, and they would go home and hand it over to their family. Second, it's a reference to charity drives. A box to collect money for the poor is placed in churches on Christmas Day and opened on Boxing Day. Third, it's a nautical tradition. Great sailing ships when setting sail would have a sealed box containing money on board for good luck. The box was given to a priest if the voyage was a success, opened on Christmas, and the things inside the box were then given to the poor. 

Boxing Day is also a day for shopping. I am going to explain how I spent Boxing Day when I lived in Australia as a university student. I spent the daytime just relaxing, having conversations with friends, and cooking together. After dinner, it was time for us to go shopping. Famous shops such as David Jones, Myer, and almost everywhere had special sales. Every product was on sale at almost 50 to 80 percent discount. I had never seen that kind of discount in my life. Thursdays are a special day for night shopping, stores being open until 7 pm, instead of 5. However, this Thursday during the Boxing Day Sale became a very special time of the year, and stores were open until midnight. It was an unusual scene to see many young people go there at night. Me? Of course, we went shopping and had fun buying lots of stuff such as shoes, perfume, tea, cookies, cosmetics, and bags. I do miss the time when the moon lit up the way we walked on a summer night. It is a special memory for me hanging out together with friends during the university break.

Photo Credit: Giftpundits.com @pexels.com

Blog Quiz

Q1. According to the blog which of the following is not a reason for the name ‘Boxing Day’?

A. It is the day gift boxes were given to servants

B. It is the name of boxes used to collect money for charity

C. It is the day people watch boxing on TV

Q2. According to the blog what kid of discounts do shops in Australia offer on Boxing Day? 

A. 50-80%

B. 25%

C. 10%  

Q3. What time did the stores close on Boxing Day in Australia when the author was in Australia?

A. 5pm

B. 7pm

C. 12am

Scroll down ↓ for the answers to the quiz.

Quiz Answers

Q1. C 

Q2. A

Q3. C 

Is PowerPoint just a ‘user-friendly’ software for presenting information?  Actually, it’s much more: it’s a design tool. At a basic level, the PowerPoint software menu offers choices for putting together slides that are organized into a slideshow presentation. But understanding PowerPoint as a design tool gives you practice combining speaking, writing, images, color, and spatial organization. Designing is learning how each of these different forms of meaning come together to communicate. Perhaps the most important idea of designing is collaboration (co = ‘together’ and labor = ‘work’). Design is powerful when each part contributes to the overall meaning.  

So what are the essential parts of a PowerPoint presentation? What does each part contribute?

Message

There is no PowerPoint presentation without a message. A powerful presentation starts with an engaging topic and ideas that you want to convey. Designing a PowerPoint presentation starts with asking the question: “What’s my presentation about?” and “What’s my message, and what’s special about it?” The next step in designing the message is to gather information, develop new ideas and questions, and begin to organize that information and ideas. Some of the messages will be in spoken words, some in written words and some in images, and other visual meanings. 

Presenter 

The presenter, of course, is the central component of the presentation. There is no message without a messenger. The presenter has more work to do than just ‘talk’ to the audience: interacting is the key to real communication. Designing for the audience will include the choice of words, intonation, eye contact, and gestures, all working together. The presenter also coordinates the slides on the screen and has the power to control the focus and pace of the presentation.

Screen 

The PowerPoint screen works to display writing, images, charts, video clips, and other forms of information on the screen. This makes it very different from other kinds of face-to-face communication. Usually, the most important part of the message is what the presenter is saying. But at times the most important part of the message could be what the audience is seeing on screen and, at that time, the speaker has a supportive role. Throughout the presentation, the screen and the presenter work collaboratively.

The Audience

Designing a PowerPoint presentation means creating it for a real audience. Making a PowerPoint presentation just for yourself wouldn’t make sense, would it? It is the audience that makes designing purposeful. The audience shaped the message of the presentation. When designing your PowerPoint presentation, ask yourself these questions: “How much does this particular audience know?” “What information do I need to include and what information should I leave out?” “How can I show the audience that my message is worth their time and attention?”  And most importantly, “What design elements can I use to clearly convey my message to this audience?”

Photo Credit: Austin Distel @unsplash.com

Blog Quiz

Q1. In paragraph 1, what does the word ‘collaboration’ mean?

a. To collect information. 

b. To design a presentation. 

c. To work together.  

Q2. Which of the following is NOT essential in a presentation? 

a. Eye contact

b. Intonation 

c. A sense of humor 

Q3. According to the blog, why is consideration of the audience important? 

a. It will help you decide what to wear.

b. It will help you design an engaging presentation.

c. You will know when to stop talking.  

Scroll down ↓ for the answers to the quiz.

Quiz Answers

Q1. c

Q2. c 

Q3. b

Ask many Japanese people to name famous or important shrines and the list will be very familiar: Ise Shrine, Itsukushima Shrine, Heian shrine, Yasukuni Shrine, Izumo Taisha, Fushimi Inari. One shrine that very few will mention is Omiwa shrine. Few people will mention it, and many don’t even know about it. That is surprising because it is likely the oldest shrine in Japan.

Omiwa Shrine, sometimes called “Miwa Shrine,” is located in Sakurai City in Nara Prefecture. It’s very easy to find because the shrine is on Mount Miwa and a giant 32-meter torii gate marks the entrance. Access is very easy as there is a Miwa Station on JR’s Sakurai line. 

How old is Omiwa Shrine? Nobody really knows. The shrine is so old it is difficult to find an exact date of origin. There are records of Omiwa Shrine being an important shrine back in the early Kofun period (around 300AD), so it might be older than that!

Looking at Omiwa shrine there are many familiar sights. Torii gates lead to the main shrine area, and there are small side-shrines, a prayer hall, and other buildings. What is a little unusual is that there is no main hall. The main hall is usually the key feature of a shrine, it’s where the kami (deity) is housed. However, Omiwa shrine is so old that it was used before this tradition even started. The entire Mount Miwa is the home of the kami (deity). 

For centuries human beings have noticed unusual phenomena in the skies such as comets and shooting stars. In ancient times people called them 'signs' which could predict the future. In modern times we call them ‘UFOs’ or 'Unidentified Flying Objects.' Many people believe they are spaceships piloted by aliens who are visiting our planet from distant galaxies. However, UFOs have a natural explanation: belief in alien visitors is caused by the influence of popular culture and mass psychology. In addition, there is no reliable evidence for alien visitation.

The study of popular culture shows that science fiction entertainment is a major cause of belief in UFOs. In the early 20th century, ‘aliens’ were originally thought to be from the Moon or Mars. But after those planets were visited by spacecraft and no ‘little green men’ were found, we started to look at more distant galaxies. As technology improved, the 1930s saw an explosion in science fiction writing and movies about space travel and alien visitations. As paranormal investigator Joe Nickell explains, when people reported seeing aliens, their descriptions were similar to those portrayed in the movies - small creatures with large heads and big eyes - the "official alien." For example, UFO reports increased dramatically after the movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), especially reports of alien abductions.