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Read to Write Email, Read to Write Compositions, and both editions of Nice to Meet You – Academic are now ready for shipping. Please use the “contact us” button at the top of the page if you would like an…
Read MoreThe Relative Age Advantage
[wpaudio url=”https://www.btbpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/The-Relative-Age-Advantage.mp3″ text=”Click to listen”] First of all, I have to say thank you to Mika, because I came up with the idea for this week’s topic after reading her comment on the last entry. (Happy birthday, by the way!)…
Read MoreThe Worst Developed Country for Mothers? (Feedback)
Thanks for all your comments on this very interesting and important topic. I think one big problem that is very difficult for Westerners (including Kattie) to understand is the degree to which Japanese people give priority to work over everything…
Read MoreThe Worst Developed Country for Mothers?
[wpaudio url=”https://www.btbpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/The-Worst-Developed-Country-for-Mothers.mp3″ text=”Click to listen”] Last week, Kattie sent me a link to an article that she had seen on the BBC news site. As you know, she has had a number of Japanese students staying with her, and she…
Read MoreNaughty Children (Feedback)
Thanks for all your comments. I suppose that as so many of you are mothers, it’s not surprising that this was one of the more popular topics.
Read MoreNaughty Children
[wpaudio url=”https://www.btbpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Naughty-Children.mp3″ text=”Click to listen”] A friend of mine sent me a link to a video on You Tube the other day. It shows the aftermath of an incident involving two very small children and a bag of flour. (You…
Read MoreThe Second Anniversary (Feedback)
Thanks for all your comments. I was very sorry to hear about people’s stories about how natural disasters have affected their families. The thing I remember most about the disaster is seeing a documentary on TV about a young couple…
Read MoreHow to Write Numbers
Last weekend, I was working on a book that contained a lot of numbers. I frequently found myself unsure as to whether to write numerals (e.g., “50”) or whether to spell the numbers out (e.g., “fifty”).
Read MoreThe Second Anniversary
[wpaudio url=”https://www.btbpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/The-Second-Anniversary.mp3″ text=”Click to listen”] Given that today is March 11th, I think there is only one topic that we can discuss this week. It was two years ago today that nearly 19,000 people lost their lives in the terrible…
Read MoreMovie Stars in Commercials (Feedback)
Thanks for all your comments. The discussion about NHK was particularly interesting. I might do that as a separate topic sometime. It was also interesting to know that Japanese people tend not to have a negative image of Western celebrities…
Read MoreSowing the Seeds of Grammar
This article was originally posted on the “Teacher Talk” blog at azargrammar.com. People often ask me how long it took me to learn Japanese, and I normally tell them that it took me about six months. When they look surprised,…
Read MoreThe "New Car" Phenomenon
This article was originally published on the “Teacher Talk” blog at azargrammar.com. When I was about ten years old, my father announced one day that we were getting a new car. Now, there is very little in the world more…
Read MoreMovie Stars in Commercials
[wpaudio url=”https://www.btbpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Movie-Stars-in-Commercials.mp3″ text=”Click to listen”] I read on Japan Today the other day that Leonardo DiCaprio has made a commercial for whisky. Apparently, the commercial will only be shown here in Japan. I remember reading about this phenomenon before I…
Read MoreWhaling (Feedback)
Thank you all for your contributions to what was (as I thought it would be!) a very lively discussion. I think it is probably correct to say that Westerners are a bit hypocritical in their opposition to whaling, especially the…
Read MoreWhaling
[wpaudio url=”https://www.btbpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Whaling.mp3″ text=”Click to listen”] I don’t know how widely this is being reported in the Japanese media, but some of you may have seen stories recently about conflict in the Southern Ocean between Japanese ships that are trying to…
Read MoreNuclear Weapons (Feedback)
Thanks for all your comments. I guess no one really wants nuclear weapons, but when you have a basket-case of a country like North Korea developing them, it is understandable that some Japanese people feel that they need more than…
Read MoreNuclear Weapons
[wpaudio url=”https://www.btbpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Nuclear-Weapons.mp3″ text=”Click to listen”] As I’m sure you all know, North Korea recently conducted another nuclear test, and they have said that they intend to do more in the near future. The United States has reassured the people of…
Read MoreHow to Give a Good Presentation
This is a video of a presentation that I gave to Japanese learners of English at a conference on self-access learning held at Nanzan University on February 2, 2013. The aim was to teach some simple guidelines that I hoped…
Read MoreSaturday Classes (Feedback)
Thanks for all your comments. This seems to be a popular topic. I’m just looking at the results of the poll, and 71% of people who voted do not think that Japanese schools should go back to having classes on…
Read MoreSaturday Classes
[wpaudio url=”https://www.btbpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Saturday-Classes.mp3″ text=”Click to listen”] When I first came to Japan, children used to go to school six days a week. Sunday was their only day off, but most of them were in clubs, so they ended up going to…
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