David Barker – Page 2

Sochi 2014 (Feedback)

By David Barker | Friday February 28th, 2014 |

Thanks for all your comments. I will have a TV in the new house, so I will be able to watch sporting events live. That will be nice!

New Books!

By David Barker | Monday February 24th, 2014

We are happy to announce that Read to Write Junior will be ready for shipping by the end of this month. It took us longer than we thought, but we are very happy with the result. We hope you will…

Sochi 2014

By David Barker | Monday February 24th, 2014 |

[wpaudio url=”https://www.btbpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Sochi-2014.mp3″ text=”Click to listen”] Sorry I didn’t have time to do an entry last week. Things are really crazy at the moment because the new house is almost ready, but there are still lots of things that need to…

The Old Boys' Club (Feedback)

By David Barker | Friday February 14th, 2014 |

Thanks for all your input. The blog is much easier for me to read now that all the comments are relatively short, and it’s nice to see more and more people contributing to the discussion.

The Old Boys' Club

By David Barker | Monday February 10th, 2014 |

[wpaudio url=”https://www.btbpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/The-Old-Boys-Network.mp3″ text=”Click to listen”] Last weekend, the people of Tokyo went to the polls to choose a new governor. Actually, most of them didn’t bother going at all, but that is a different topic.

Tattoos (Feedback)

By David Barker | Friday February 7th, 2014 |

Thanks for all your comments. It was really nice to see comments both from new people and from others who we haven’t heard from for a while.

Tattoos

By David Barker | Monday February 3rd, 2014 |

[wpaudio url=”https://www.btbpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Tattoos.mp3″ text=”Click to listen”] This week, I would like to try an experiment. These days, a lot of very high-level English speakers comment on this blog, which is great, but I sometimes worry that lower-level learners will be a…

The Taiji Dolphins (Feedback)

By David Barker | Friday January 31st, 2014 |

Thanks for all your comments on this very difficult topic. As I said, I had a suspicion that most Japanese people were not aware of how much of a stir this story causes in other countries, so I’m glad I…

The Taiji Dolphins

By David Barker | Monday January 27th, 2014 |

[wpaudio url=”https://www.btbpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Taiji-Dolphins.mp3″ text=”Click to listen”] We have already talked about the international objections to Japan’s whaling program, but over the last couple of weeks, another issue has been grabbing headlines around the world. This is the story of the dolphin…

The Center Examination (Feedback)

By David Barker | Friday January 24th, 2014 |

Thanks for all your comments, and thanks, Kattie, for some up-to-date information about the UK. I know that everything is very different from the way it was when I was in school.

The Center Examination

By David Barker | Monday January 20th, 2014 |

This weekend, I (and many other university teachers) were involved in the administration of the Center Examination. As this is such an important part of the Japanese education system, I thought it would be a good topic to discuss here.

Electricity Bills (Feedback)

By David Barker | Friday January 17th, 2014 |

Thanks for sharing your own electricity costs. Actually, I got my LP gas bill this morning, and this month, it’s more than 16,000 yen. That means my total energy bill will be almost 30,000 yen for the month.

Electricity Bills

By David Barker | Tuesday January 14th, 2014 |

[wpaudio url=”https://www.btbpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Electricity-Bills.mp3″ text=”Click to listen”] As we all know, electricity charges have always been high in Japan, and since the Fukushima disaster, they have gone up even more.

Christmas 2013

By David Barker | Monday December 23rd, 2013 |

[wpaudio url=”https://www.btbpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Christmas-2013.mp3″ text=”Click to listen”] As it is already the 23rd of December, I guess there is only one topic we can do this week – Christmas! Tomorrow is Christmas Eve, and Wednesday is Christmas Day.

Life-Changing Experiences (Feedback)

By David Barker | Friday December 20th, 2013 |

Thanks for all your comments. I was quite surprised that you thought it was a difficult topic, though. I thought it would be quite easy.

Life-Changing Experiences

By David Barker | Monday December 16th, 2013 |

[wpaudio url=”https://www.btbpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Life-Changing-Experiences.mp3″ text=”Click to listen”] I am working on a new writing book for university students at the moment, and one of the topics is “an experience that changed my life.”

Legalising Casinos (Feedback)

By David Barker | Friday December 13th, 2013 |

Thanks for all your comments. I talked about this with the students in my Wednesday discussion class, and they all agreed that it is a really difficult topic. I’ll try and think of something easier for next week.

Legalising Casinos

By David Barker | Monday December 9th, 2013 |

[wpaudio url=”https://www.btbpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Casinos.mp3″ text=”Click to listen”] I have read a couple of articles recently about proposals to legalise casinos in Japan. I must admit that I was a bit confused at first, because I thought they were already legal.

English in Elementary Schools (Feedback)

By David Barker | Friday December 6th, 2013 |

Thanks for your comments. It was interesting that a lot of the discussion focussed on the problem of teaching correct pronunciation.

English in Elementary Schools

By David Barker | Monday December 2nd, 2013 |

[wpaudio url=”https://www.btbpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/English-in-Elementary-Schools.mp3″ text=”Click to listen”] The other day, I met an American guy in the pool at my sports club. We started talking, and it turned out that he was an ALT at a local junior high school. He also…