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05 .08The Joy of Vinyl RecordsPhoto Credit: Merve @ pexels.comMany people today listen to music using streaming services like Apple Music or downloaded mp3 files played through smart phones. When I was a child in the early 1970’s, we mostly listened to music with vinyl records. Then cassette tapes became popular because they were more portable, and you could record your own music onto them. Later in the 1990’s, CDs became the most popular medium for music. My favorite way to listen to music is the vinyl record. In recent years, records have become trendy again, partly due to their popularity with DJs. I am not a DJ, but I have several other reasons why I like vinyl best.If taken care of properly, records last a long time. I have several hundred records; most of them I bought in my youth or came from my father’s even older collection. Today I listened to the very first record I ever bought – Led Zeppelin IV. It still sounds great, even though the vinyl record is over 40 years old. None of the cassettes from my childhood work at all now, and even some of my CDs from the 1990’s don’t really work well anymore. My old records; however, have become some of my most prized possessions.I believe the analog format of vinyl records provides a better, warmer sound than digital formats. Even the pops and crackles you hear on scratched or dusty records can have some nostalgic attraction for people of my generation. Many audiophiles think analog records contain a wider range of sound waves and give a rich, truer, more authentic sound.Finally, and most importantly, listening to music with records is a more involved, satisfying experience. First, I have to physically find a record by looking through my record collection. The artwork on the record covers trigger memories and helps me choose what I want to hear. Then I have to take out the record from its sleeve, decide if I want to hear side A or B, put the record on my turntable, and manually place the needle at the song I want to hear. Often, I will start from the beginning using the automatic function. This makes me listen to all of the songs in the order the artist intended, something I think is mostly lost today when we skip through and just pick single songs from our mp3 collection. As I listen to the record, I usually spend some time looking at the artwork and the information printed on the album sleeve, and sometimes I can read the lyrics to the songs if they are printed on the sleeve. I think listening to music with records is a more focused, complete, artistic experience than using other formats. When I play vinyl records, I can most fully appreciate what I am listening to.Questions:1. Which of the following is the oldest music medium?A. CDsB. Streaming ServicesC. Vinyl records2. In paragraph 4, what is an ‘audiophile’?A. A professional musician.B. A notebook with notes about music.C. A person who is enthusiastic about high-quality sound.3. Why does the author like vinyl records?A. Because they are very convenient.B. Because the author thinks they provide a better listening experience.C. Because the author is a DJ.Scroll down ↓ for the answersAnswers:1. C2. C3. BBrett Morgan
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04 .10Learning from doing Volunteer Work
Photo credit: RODNAE Productions @pexels.com
Have you ever done any volunteering work before? If not, what kind of image do you have of them? My image toward volunteering work was something special and for only special people. However, my image was changed after I did some volunteer work in a Japanese class as a language facilitator when I was studying in the UK as a postgraduate student.
Volunteer work became more familiar to me and made me realize that it can be a good way to deepen my interest or knowledge, especially when the volunteering work that I chose related to what I wanted to do in the future. As far as volunteering work in the UK, it seems normal for university students to do it before they start job hunting, and to write about volunteering work experience on their CV.
According to a survey conducted in 2019 by the Japanese Cabinet Office, 33.3 % of Japanese young people aged between 13 and 29 answered that they are interested in volunteer work. However, this was the lowest rank compared to other countries such as USA (65.4%), UK (52.7%), South Korea (52.6%), France (51.7%), Germany (49.6%) and Sweden (45.8%). In fact, 48.1 % of Japanese young people answered that they are not interested in volunteer work, which is 6.2 % higher than a previous survey in 2013.
In terms of the word “volunteer”, Cambridge Dictionary says that volunteer means: a person who does something, especially helping other people, willingly and without being forced or paid to do it. What’s more, PATIMES.ORG [https://patimes.org/the-origins-of-the-word-volunteer/] explains that the origin of the word volunteer comes from the Latin word voluntaries, which has the meaning of willing or of one’s own choice. With reference to the benefits of volunteer work, [https://www.helpguide.org/articles/healthy-living/volunteering-and-its-surprising-benefits.htm] it explains that there are four good reasons to do such work;
1. Volunteering connects you to others. This means that volunteering can give you a chance to make new friends and expand your network.
2. Volunteering is good for your mind and body. According to the researchers, helping other people can make you feel happy and increase self-confidence.
3. Volunteering can advance your career. Volunteering can teach you some important skills such as teamwork, communication, problem solving, project planning, task management and organization.
4. Volunteering brings fun and fulfillment to your life.
It is said that volunteering can be an easy way to discover your interests and passions. Why don’t you learn not only from the textbooks but also from doing some volunteer work?
Questions:
Q1.What percent of young Japanese people are interested in volunteer work?
A. 49.6%
B. 45.8%
C. 33.3%
Q2. What does the Latin word "voluntaries" mean?
A. Explosions.
B. Willing or of one’s own choice.
C. Giving things away free
Q3. What can people receive by doing volunteer work?
A. More Self-confidence.
B. Bigger pay
C. Free lunch
Scroll down ↓ for the answers
Answers:
1 C
2 B
3 A
Ryoko Ozaki -
04 .03Blog title: Are you Dissatisfied with your Life?
Photo credit: Miguel Bruna unsplash.com
I have been reading a lot recently, now that I have more time stuck at home… I have been wanting to be a better person and make good use of the time I have now. I am sure my old self would have been stuck in front of the TV watching Netflix or locked on the computer screen, stuck on the latest YouTube videos. A book that is changing my life is “Atomic Habits” by James Clear. I recommend you pick it up, it is an easy read, but it can change your life. {Jamesclear.com[https://jamesclear.com/]}
Here are a few of the many good ideas in the first chapter, but that is just the beginning… Everyone has habits, and did you know that the habits that you have now, whether they are getting up early, or turning off the lights when you leave a room, came to you without effort? Of course, your bad habits, like procrastinating or eating an unhealthy meal come very easy too, but did you know that those little decisions make up who we are? These little decisions, good or bad, add up. These “1% decisions” are not noticeable but are very meaningful. As you repeat and do small things, day by day, those habits will have an impact on the way your life will be heading. If you stay up late and finish up work you were putting off, sure you can survive on three or four hours of sleep that next day, but one day in the future, you will wake up late and miss something important or make a mistake because you were sleepy.
The author says, “Success is the product of daily habits – not once-in-a-life-time transformations.” You might be thinking that you need to change every little thing in your life… no… start with one thing that will make your actions successful. Just like when you chop a tree down, you pick up your axe, and start swinging, you cannot cut down a tree with one blow, it takes many strikes at the tree to bring it down. Just like starting a new habit, it takes many times of doing something to start a new habit, or stop a bad one. At first, it is exciting to start something new and you can see wood chips flying, but after a while you get tired and you hit and hit but you do not see change. When you finally fell that tree, the whole world will look at you and say how great your achievement was, but you know it was the work that you did when you did not see any results was the work that made things possible. Fighting on through hard times will make future success.
“All big things come from small beginnings. The seed of every habit is a single, tiny decision.” It is a new year now and people talk about “New Year’s Resolutions” (新年の抱負) . More than making a goal this school year, plan on making a “system” that will make your goals a reality. Just like every Olympic athlete has the goal to win the gold medal, if you improve the way you train and make the environment easy for you to get better, improve your training system… you will have a better outcome. Also, achieving that goal will be good, but the result of meeting that goal is nothing if your life is not changed. If you diet and lose those kilograms you wanted to lose but go back to eating as you did before the diet, you will just rebound back. You need to change your eating and exercise system so you will have those great results (lost weight and fitting into those jeans) for the rest of your life.
These are just some of the great ideas waiting for you in the book. Please read it and come to the BBP and let’s talk about it. Everything counts.
Reference: Clear, J. (2018) Atomic Habits. Penguin Random House LLC, New York.
Questions:
1. What did the author do this past year?
A. watch a lot of TV and YouTube videos
B. sleep a lot
C. read books
2. What is the book "Atomic Habits" about?
A. making good habits
B. studying atoms
C. a boy named "Tom"
3. The book's author said, "All big things come from ___________"
A. big things
B. small beginnings
C. once in a lifetime events
Scroll down ↓ for the answers
Answers:
1 C
2 A
3 B
From the desk of Scot Matsuo -
03 .13Learning a Language through Loving a TV Program
Do you know what the longest-running animated television series is? Do you think it’s The Simpsons? South Park? Family Guy? Well, it’s my favourite Japanese show–Sazae-san.
You all know that the Isono and Fuguta families never get old, that there’s no way Katsuo can fit his K T-shirts over his head, and that by the end of the credits we begin to feel down at the prospect of the end of the weekend.
But did you know the power of one TV show you love to help your understanding of a language? How many people in the world today have learned Dutch through Nijntje en haar vriendjes, French through La Famille Barbapapa, and Russian through Cheburashka? I can’t tell you which TV program is best for learning English—that you’ll have to do yourself. It’s really just as long as you love the program and want to watch it again and again like I like watching Sazae-san again and again.
Here are some tips. But first you’ll have to have Amazon Prime or Netflix or use your digital recorder. Next, you’ll need a friend. Nobody speaks a language by themselves.
List of tips:
--Watch for 10 minutes, then predict what you think will happen.
--Watch the entire episode, then summarize what happened.
--Freeze any random frame, then describe what is happening.
--Watch a scene with your eyes closed, describe what happened, then watch what really happened.
--Watch a scene with no sound and write down what you think was said, then check.
--Have your friend write down the English subtitles, then erase a few words.
Next, you watch without the subtitles and try to fill in the blanks your friend made.
--Turn the sound off and practice reading the English subtitles aloud.
Afterwards, with the sound on, check your pronunciation and intonation.
--Together write down an English-subtitled dialogue, then practice acting it out.
You both may be better than some of the actors you find on TV these days.
I hope you will try one or two of these tips on your own beloved TV program. As for me, it’s time that I finally figure out what Ikura-chan is really saying. So, from now on I’m going to try to translate everything he says into perfect English.
Photo Credit: Taryn Elliott@pexels.com
Blog Quiz
Q1. What is the longest-running animated television series?
Q2. Which languages can you learn if you watch Nijntje en haar vriendjes,La Famille Barbapapa, and Cheburashka?
Q3. What is the best TV show to help you learn English?
Scroll down ↓ for the answers to the quiz.
Quiz AnswersQ1. Sazae-san.
Q2. Dutch, French, and Russian.
Q3. The one that you love.Paul Meyer -
03 .06Be Gumbo: Culture and History
What is Gumbo?
First of all, what is gumbo? Gumbo is the official cuisine of Louisiana, U.S.A. It is a kind of stew usually made with chicken or seafood stock, meat (usually meat, sausage, shellfish, or a mix of them all), a thickener such as okra, and vegetables (onion, celery, and green pepper). To make gumbo, you must first make a dark roux using flour and a fat (usually lard or oil). This can take a long time, and you must be very careful not to burn it. Gumbo is often eaten with rice and/or bread. For some of you, it might seem like a type of curry, but the flavors are very different.
Gumbo’s History
Gumbo is a unique and loved traditional food that shares aspects of different cultures. Gumbo uses ingredients and cooking techniques from African, French, Spanish, and Native American cultures. This follows the history of Louisiana through the decades. An area which was first the home to Native American tribes, it was then settled by the French who used the waterways to trade for goods and slaves. The people arriving from Africa were experienced in farming rice, which was new to the area. After, a group of Germans moved into Louisiana and brought their tradition of sausage making. Later, Louisiana became a territory of Spain, which brought people from the Canary Islands who had experience in fishing. These people fished things such as oysters, shrimp, and crabs. They also brought spices such as cayenne pepper and chili pepper. The Spanish allowed the French people living in Canada to move down to Louisiana. Slowly and quietly, Louisiana came back to French ownership, and then it was sold to the United States in 1803. By this time, rice, seafood, sausages, spices, okra, onion, green pepper, and tomatoes had all been brought by people from different areas.
During these 100 years, gumbo started to be made in different forms and slowly new things were added to what we now know as gumbo. Now, gumbo is eaten year-round all over the South-Eastern area of the United States, and it has expanded to different parts of the world. You can even find gumbo in Japan if you look for it.
Be Gumbo
Just like gumbo, people should explore new cultures and not only observe them but also let them become a part of you. Learn from others and try to take the best parts and make them yours. So go out into the world and be gumbo. But be careful, gumbo can be spicy!
Photo Credit: Towfiqu Barbhuiya@pexels.com
Or Gumbo-Best-Wallpaper 【https://yesofcorsa.com/gumbo/】
Blog Quiz
Q1. What vegetable is used in gumbo?
a. carrots
b. celery
c. eggplant
Q2. What is one country that gumbo uses cooking techniques or ingredients?
a. Egypt
b. Cambodia
c. France
Q3. Gumbo is often eaten with what other food?
a. Naan
b. Fruits
c. Rice
Scroll down ↓ for the answers to the quiz.
Quiz AnswersQ1. b
Q2. c
Q3. cNicholas Marx -
02 .27An Old Way of Life - Living in an Alaskan Logging CampCould you live an isolated existence devoid of the Internet, television and radio reception, cars, telephones, streets, and stores? As a child, I did just that.
Half a century ago, when I was nine and ten years old, I lived in a remote part of Alaska called Coffman Cove, which had a population of less than one-hundred people. Coffman Cove was a logging camp and the only way to get there was either by boat or by seaplane. Most people who inhabited Coffman Cove were either loggers or the family of loggers. I lived there with my mother, who was the schoolteacher, and my four siblings.
It would be easy to think that a place like Coffman Cove would be a boring place to live. Indeed, when my mother first announced that we would be moving there, I was sad because I knew I would no longer be able to watch reruns of Star Trek, which was a popular science fiction television show. However, life in Coffman Cove proved to be amazing.
Every Sunday morning, a barge brought supplies and food to the various logging camps that dotted the island, including my town. People would gather at the dock to pick up what they had ordered. Often the grocery store that sent us our food would rip off the covers of various comic books and pack the comics in with our goods. At the time, nothing seemed better than free comic books.
I would often go into the woods to play. My friends and I would build forts and set up our own kingdoms. We would make wooden swords and defend our land.
In the summer months, I picked wild blueberries and raspberries from the numerous bushes found in the woods. My dog would often accompany me and eat the blueberries right off the bushes. After picking berries for an hour or two, I would bring a bucket of them back home and my mother would use them to make pies and pancakes.
Fishing was another activity I enjoyed. Most families in Coffman Cove owned small boats. We would take the boats several miles from shore and fish for salmon and halibut. Every year, there was a contest to see who could catch the largest salmon.
In the summer, my brother and I would sit on the dock and watch the sun set at midnight over the inlet, which was framed by mountains. Memories of those sunsets still make me smile.
The quiet life also afforded much time alone. I would often read books to entertain myself, which made me into an avid reader. My love of reading persists to this day.
Unfortunately, with modern technology, life in Coffman Cove has changed. All the logging camps have been connected by roads, and now there are satellite dishes so people can watch TV. However, I still look back on those years and realize that my generation was the last one to experience a way of life in Alaska that doesn’t exist anymore.
Photo Credit: Chris Newsom@pexels.com
Blog Quiz
Q1: What was unusual about Coffman Cove?
Q2: How did food and supplies get to the camp?
Q3: Name four activities the author enjoyed doing.
Scroll down ↓ for the answers to the quiz.
Quiz Answers
Q1. It was a remote logging camp that did not have television or radio reception, cars, telephones, streets, and stores
Q2. By barge
Q3. Playing in the woods; picking berries; fishing; and readingRex Arthur Stewart -
02 .20Multilingual Learning Challenge - Still on the Way
My interest in foreign countries has not been really traveling but experiencing and feeling different perspectives and ways of thinking in life: understanding different cultural aspects, communicating in the local language, and meeting people in new environments. For me, these are the reasons for exploring or learning foreign languages.
I’ve always thought it would be nice if I could speak multiple languages. I was interested in what kind of person I would be if I could manage several languages. When I was younger, right after I started working in Japan, I made up my mind without hesitation to live abroad. I was expecting to live in a European country one day, so I started preparing and learning German (because I learned some German at university) in addition to English by myself.
I finally got a chance to do an internship at an international hotel in Belgium. Therefore, I started to learn French a few months before my departure so that I could work there in French. Of course, it was not easy without speaking proper or professional French, and it certainly was an unforgettable struggle at that time. However, after my internship for 6 months, I kept challenging and finally this experience inspired me to move on to the next stage. I worked for other company/organization using both English and French, and eventually I spent nearly 12 years of my life in Belgium.
Perhaps the lesson from this experience is that I would say that my curiosity about learning a foreign language brought me unexpected value. Certainly, the emphasis is not merely on perfect language acquisition. So, for myself, in terms of "speaking", "listening", "writing", and "reading", each foreign language has its different level. However, I can say that I am fascinated by learning new languages, and that this new experience enriched my way of thinking about my own life. I always look forward to opportunities to start learning other languages (they are on my checklist) because I feel that this multilingual learning challenge is a great opportunity to change myself and to discover new values and experiences in my life.
Photo Credit: Anna Tarazevich@pexels.com
Blog Quiz
Q1. What is the topic of this essay?
Q2. According to the author, what inspired her to start learning French?
Q3. According to the author, what does it mean to have an opportunity to learn a new language?
Scroll down ↓ for the answers to the quiz.
Quiz Answers
Q1. The essay discusses the challenges of multilingual learning and the value the author received from her own experience.
Q2. The author started learning French in preparation for her internship in Belgium.
Q3. Learning and exploring a new language is a great chance to change yourself and discover new values and experiences in your life.
Emi Shibuya -
02 .13Lessons Learned from Being on TV (Part 2)
Unfortunately, the last three that I mentioned aired really late at night, so not too many people were able to watch them. This is why I was so glad to have gotten this most recent chance.
October 7: MBS Yonchan. This news program showed my feature at 6:40 p.m., which means more people had a chance to watch. It was the longest corner yet, at roughly 12.5 minutes, and the TV crew even came and filmed me at Ritsumeikan University! By then, I had been filmed so many times that I was not too nervous, but I did sense that students and other teachers were a little shy. Anyhow, I learned something about TV on this day, and it is unfortunate. They are not always accurate and do not always want to portray the truth. They want to tell the story that they think will get them the biggest audience. They also do not always allow the subject of the feature to check it ahead of time and make corrections. There were no fewer than six errors or fabrications on the program, including my age, which they got wrong by 5 years.
All in all, I am happy to be getting recognition for the work I am doing to promote the Hanshin Tigers in English to people all over the world. If you want to study English by reading (and hearing) about the Tigers, why not check out my website [www.thehanshintigers.com]?
Photo Credit: Martin Péchy@pexels.com
Blog Quiz
Q1. According to the writer, why did more people watch MBS Yonchan than several other programs he appeared on?
Q2. What mistake did the most recent TV program make about the writer?
a) Six
b) His age
c) His family members
Q3. Overall, is the writer satisfied with his experiences appearing on television?
Scroll down ↓ for the answers to the quiz.
Quiz Answers
Q1. Because it was shown at 6:40 p.m.
Q2. B
Q3. Yes
Trevor Raichura -
02 .06Lessons Learned from Being on TV (Part 1)
I cannot believe how lucky I am. I would have never imagined that I would be featured on television in Japan FIVE times in a single year! Let me quickly mention the first four, and then focus on what I learned from the fifth one.
January 4: Ikegami Akira no Kansaijin ga Shiranai Kansai. This new year’s special showed me covering the Hanshin Tigers in a special way for English-speaking fans all around the world. Famous panelists that I met in the studio included Black Mayonnaise, High Heel Ringo, Miyu Honda, and Joichiro Fujiwara from Naniwa Danshi.
June 17: News Zero. This late-night nationally broadcast news program, hosted by famous anchor Yumiko Udo, was similar to Mr. Ikegami’s program, but I did not go to a studio to talk to famous people. Instead, TV directors recorded me at a separate studio and at a restaurant. Ms. Udo is a huge Hanshin Tigers fan, and she said she wants to meet and go to a Tigers game at Koshien with me. (I would love that!)
June 28: Sekai wo Chotto Dake Kaeru Summit. For this one, I had to go to the studio for a recording, and sitting right next to me was fellow guest Takeshi Tsuruno. We talked before the recording started, and he was a really nice guy! This program had nothing to do with my areas of expertise (English education and Hanshin Tigers), so I was nervous throughout.
July 7: MBS Ballpark. This was the first time a TV program visited my home, which made me (and my whole family) a little nervous. Still, it was interesting to watch the program and hear Tomonori Jinnai and Reni Takagi (Momoiro Clover Z) say that “Hanshin should acquire Trevor-san.” (I would love that!)
Q1. How many times was the writer featured on Japanese TV in 2022?
Q2. Who said she wanted to go to a Hanshin Tigers game with the writer?
a) Reni Takagi
b) High Heel Ringo
c) Yumiko Udo
Q3. On which two dates did the writer mention feeling nervous during the recording session?
Scroll down ↓ for the answers to the quiz.
Quiz Answers
Q1. 5
Q2. C
Q3. June 28 & July 7
Trevor Raichura -
11 .28Has Finding New Music Changed?
In the past, how we listened to music was fairly simple. Personally, I listened to the radio, watched music TV channels, and bought music in stores to listen to on cassette players or CD players. Then came the technological changes of MP3 players, such as the iPod by Apple. The rest is history. But has this changed how we consume music?
Growing up in the United States, a big emphasis was put on listening to the radio. Radio was simple, and each radio station had its own themes: top 20 music, country, hip-hop, classic rock, classical, and so on. People listened to what they were interested in, and this was the best way to listen to the newest music. Now people listen to playlists online that are curated by the music apps or services to listen to the latest music. Now listening to specific artists is easier than ever. However, listening to a new playlist is not so different from what I did when I was younger, listening to the radio. Each playlist is like a different radio station with its own music genres and music selection that brings the same excitement as when I was young.
I’ve recently found new types of music I like and found songs that I’d never imagined I would enjoy. For example, I’ve been enjoying country music for the last few months. As a young boy, I’d never have imagined enjoying country music, but listening to a “New Music” playlist, sometimes country music is played, which has caught my ear. So maybe you can even find something new you might like, or there might be a genre of music you thought you didn’t like that might grow on you.
From listening to playlists for studying, top music, or even new genre playlists, there are so many new and old types of music that are more easily accessible. Instead of listening to the radio in the car or using a radio at home, we can listen to the newest music on our PCs or on our phones. However, the joys of hearing new music have never been more easily accessible. Even though the radio has lost popularity, finding new music will continue to be something that excites all people. The next time you open up your music app, try a new playlist. Listen to something new or something different. Give it a try. You never know what you might enjoy.
Photo Credit: Charlotte May@pexels.com
Blog Quiz
Q1. How did people listen to new music in the past?
a. Music applications
b. Concerts
c. Radios
Q2. In the past, what device did the author use to listen to music?
a. Smart phone
b. CD player
c. MP3 Player
Q3. What genre of music did the author like after listening to a new music playlist?
a. Top 20 music
b. Rock music
c. Country music
Scroll down ↓ for the answers to the quiz.
Quiz Answers
Q1. C
Q2. B
Q3. C
Nicholas Marx