Sushi in Vancouver...

When I was a university student and only 19 years old, a friend took me to my first Japanese restaurant. I was a little worried at first and was too scared to eat anything that was raw so, my friend recommended "nabeyaki udon" to me.

I was very surprised...It was GREAT! From that day I was hooked on Japanese food. I was in love with it and I became a regular customer at that restaurant. After a few years, I finally got the courage to try RAW fish. I liked it as much as the cooked food. The only problem was that Japanese food in Vancouver was a little bit too expensive for me. (I was a poor student at the time!)

As school got more and more expensive, I could only go for sushi once a week or once every 2 weeks. Poor me ...

However, as the years passed, Japanese food in Vancouver gradually got more and more popular. (There was a "sushi boom".) Lots of new restaurants started to pop up here and there and eventually there were sushi shops everywhere.

A year or 2 before I came to Japan, my friends and I found a sushi shop called "Samurai Sushi". It was owned and run by Vietnemese sushi chefs. The fish there was not thinly sliced, it was CUT into chunks....like roast beef....

When I looked at the sushi....I thought "Where the hell is the rice?" (Can you find it?)

Even though it was huge, it was pretty tasty and it was cheap too. A fast food sushi restaurant. I guess it was like a MacSushi.

For example the salmon sushi and the tuna sushi that you see are about $1 each (about 85 yen).

And...Every year when I go back home in December, I meet Leo and we go for lunch at MacSushi. One day.... Some day.... let's go to Vancouver and try!

"Tweet" lesson part 2

Here is part 2 of the "Tweet" lesson... Hope it helps...

Vocabulary List ... "Tweet 1" ...

This vocabulary list might be helpful for students who did the "Tweet" part 1 lesson....

A cat has nine lives....

I found this picture on facebook....and thought I would add it....

This superstition will come up again in this week and next week's lessons....

Some people believe in the superstition that cats have nine lives, because cats can survive falls from high places with few, if any injuries. This gives the appearance that cats return to life after sustaining a fatal injury.

Most people are surprised to learn that a cat has a greater chance of survival if it falls from a higher place than from a lower place.
New York veterinarians gathered data from their feline patients, which clearly supports this fact.
Ten percent of their patients died after falling from 2-6 stories, while only five percent of the fatalities occurred when their patients fell from 7-32 stories.

1 story = 3.3 meters

A cat has nine lives. 猫に九生あり。
（猫が生来敏捷で狡智なため、他の動物よりもしぶとく生きのびると考えられることから）猫は容易に死なないという意味。
一説には、猫は高い所から落としてもちゃんと立つことから、こう言われるようになったとも。
like a cat with nine lives （九生を持つ猫のように＝しぶとい／しぶとく）、
have nine lives like a cat （猫のように九生を持つ＝しぶとい）というようにも使われる。
「9」は西洋では古来神秘的な数とされ、成句やことわざに多くみられる。

I completed another game....

This next game is for Chapter 6 of the Blue Textbook....

Students will be able to practice and master the following grammar and  vocabulary in this game...

Grammar and sentence making:

Asking about destinations

Asking about the kind of transportation

Describing destination

Describing the kind of transportation

Vocabulary:

Transportation
Places in a community

 

How to play:
Be the first to collect a set of location cards by quickly playing the matching coloured transportation cards. Either try for a set of the same location or you can try to collect the whole town. While you are driving around town, keep an eye out for Ayako Sensei or you might get a ticket!


Educational value for the students:
As well as practicing and mastering the English vocabulary and grammar from this section, students will develop better hand-eye coordination and learn some quick decision-making skills
 
Details:
2 to 5 players
Playing time is about 10 ~ 15 minutes.
There are 71 cards in this game...
It is for students 6 years and up.

Karuizawa Trick Art Gallery

A few months ago Ayumi from the 1:00 Saturday kids class recommended the gallery to us.  It looked like a lot of fun so, yesterday we went to Kyuukaruizawa to check it out.  It was a lot of fun.  We spent a couple of hours walking around the gallery taking pictures of ourselves. 

 

A picture of a picture of Ayako

 

A cute picture of William Sensei

Chris being Chris

Ayako and Chris Flipping out

Run William run...

Ayako steals a picture ....

 

At first I thought I was a little bit expensive....

 

Adults 1,500 yen

School children 800 yen

          But....I think it was totally worth it.  If you have time, you should go there and have some fun.
       

         Check out the homepage for the museum..

         http://www.art-karuizawa.com/

Blue Textbook ~ Chapter 5

I just finished a new game for Chapter 5 of the  blue textbook.

Chapter 5

Asking about preferences ...

Expressing preferences ...

Asking what someone is wearing ...

Describing what someone is wearing ...

                   Also.....

Adjectives

Clothes

Students will be able to review vocabulary and grammar from previous sections as well as practicing and mastering Chapter 5.

This a fast card game which requires some fast sorting hands.

How to play:

Roll the color die, flip your cards over and try to be the first player to find the matching object among your cards  The first one to find the matching object collects the card and whoever collects the most cards wins!

Educational value for the students:

This is a great game because it promotes speaking English and social interaction. 

This game includes many other important skills that students need, such as colour recognition and visual discrimination.  It is also a great game for teaching kids how to deal with excitement and competition.

 

Details:

2 to 5 players

The playing time is about 10 ~ 15 minutes

There are 60 student cards, 12 find it cards, and 1 dice

It is a game for students 6 years and up.