David Barker – Page 3

Guns (Feedback)

By David Barker | Friday November 29th, 2013 |

Thanks for all your comments. As I expected, most of you do not have any experience with guns at all, and I think that is a very good thing.

Guns

By David Barker | Tuesday November 26th, 2013 |

[wpaudio url=”https://www.btbpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Guns.mp3″ text=”Click to listen”] When I was reading Japan Today this week, I noticed that there were two stories that involved guns. In America, that would not surprise me, but in Japan, I think it’s very unusual.

Clever Ideas (Feedback)

By David Barker | Friday November 22nd, 2013 |

Thanks for all your comments and ideas. I’m definitely going to add a roll of Saran wrap to my emergency kit. Actually, that would be a really good idea for camping trips as well.

Hunters & Gatherers

By David Barker | Tuesday November 19th, 2013

I’m guessing that most of you are familiar with the idea of a “hunter-gatherer” society. According to Wikipedia, this is a society in which “most or all food is obtained from wild plants and animals.” One feature of this kind…

Don’t sweat the small stuff

By David Barker | Tuesday November 19th, 2013 |

I often ask students whether they have any problem understanding “small” English words like “a,” “the,” “it,” “at,” and “in.” They invariably reply that they do. Luckily, I have some great advice for them:

Clever Ideas

By David Barker | Tuesday November 19th, 2013 |

[wpaudio url=”https://www.btbpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Clever-Ideas.mp3″ text=”Click to listen”] A friend sent me something the other day that was being shared around on Facebook, and I thought it would make an interesting topic for the blog. Some of you may have seen it already.

Food Labelling (Feedback)

By David Barker | Friday November 15th, 2013 |

Thanks for all your comments. Being about food, I guessed this topic would be of interest to quite a few of you!

Food Labelling

By David Barker | Monday November 11th, 2013 |

[wpaudio url=”https://www.btbpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Food-Labelling.mp3″ text=”Click to listen”] I bet that a lot of you had already guessed what this week’s topic would be. The story about the mislabelling of food started out with a single company, but it’s beginning to look as…

The Police (Feedback)

By David Barker | Friday November 8th, 2013 |

Thanks for all your comments, and sorry the feedback is so late. I was really busy again this week. Biwa asked why I quit the police, and Fumie asked why I wanted to be a policeman in the first place.

The Police

By David Barker | Monday November 4th, 2013 |

[wpaudio url=”https://www.btbpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/The-Police.mp3″ text=”Click to listen”] Recently, there have been a lot of stories in the news that have not shown the Japanese police in a particularly good light. Many of these are connected with stalking.

Government Secrets (Feedback)

By David Barker | Friday November 1st, 2013 |

One good thing about doing a difficult topic like this is that there are not so many comments, so it makes giving feedback much easier!

JALT 2013 – Thank You

By David Barker | Monday October 28th, 2013

Thanks to everyone who attended one or both of David’s presentations on Saturday. It was great to see so many friends and colleagues there.

Government Secrets

By David Barker | Monday October 28th, 2013 |

[wpaudio url=”https://www.btbpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Government-Secrets.mp3″ text=”Click to listen”] I know this is not going to be popular (I can almost hear you all groaning as you read the title!), but I think there is a very important topic that we need to discuss…

Aisatsu (Feedback)

By David Barker | Thursday October 24th, 2013 |

Thank you for all your comments on the topic of aisatsu. I have to do the feedback early this week because I will have no time tomorrow.

Aisatsu

By David Barker | Monday October 21st, 2013 |

[wpaudio url=”https://www.btbpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Aisatsu.mp3″ text=”Click to listen”] This week’s topic is based on an article I read on Japan Today about the importance of aisatsu in Japan. When I first came to Japan, I worked for the Sapporo City Board of Education.…

Japan in the British Media (Feedback)

By David Barker | Friday October 18th, 2013 |

Thank you for all your comments. I think we drifted back onto the topic of TV a bit this week, but that’s fine. Looking at the last few comments, though, I don’t think it is right to just distinguish between…

Japan in the British Media

By David Barker | Monday October 14th, 2013 |

[wpaudio url=”https://www.btbpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Japan-in-the-British-Media.mp3″ text=”Click to listen”] This week’s topic is based on an article that was published on the website of a major British newspaper recently. Actually, it was published just after the announcement that Tokyo had won the 2020 Olympic…

Getting Ready for the Games (Feedback)

By David Barker | Friday October 11th, 2013 |

Thanks for all your comments. Apart from getting rid of some silly signs and menu translations, I would say that Tokyo is already pretty well prepared to deal with the influx of foreign visitors that the Olympic Games will bring.

Getting Ready for the Games

By David Barker | Monday October 7th, 2013 |

[wpaudio url=”https://www.btbpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Getting-Ready-for-the-Games.mp3″ text=”Click to listen”] This week’s topic ties in nicely with YU’s comment on the last entry about English translations on restaurant menus.

Another Thai Commercial (Feedback)

By David Barker | Friday October 4th, 2013 |

Thanks for your comments on this topic, and thanks for all the interesting links to other videos. Actually, there is one thing that really puzzles me about smoking in Japan.