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Noisy Children
[wpaudio url=”https://www.btbpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Noisy-Children.mp3″ text=”Click to listen”] I read an interesting article today suggesting that as Japan’s population ages and the number of children falls, people are becoming less tolerant of the noise that children make.
Read MoreMishearings (Feedback)
Thanks for sharing your stories. Just like you have mishearings between Japanese people, we have them between native speakers of English, too. This is especially common in songs.
Read MoreMishearings
[wpaudio url=”https://www.btbpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Mishearings.mp3″ text=”Click to listen”] Last week’s topic was quite difficult, so I decided to do a more light-hearted (and slightly easier!) one this week. The other day, a friend of mine bought a bento in a convenience store. She…
Read MoreEducation's Death Valley (Feedback)
Thanks for taking the time to watch the videos. I’m glad you enjoyed them. Education is like so many other things – everyone knows it doesn’t work, but we just keep doing it the same way because that’s the way…
Read MoreEducation's Death Valley
[wpaudio url=”https://www.btbpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Educations-Death-Valley.mp3″ text=”Click to listen”] Have you ever heard of Sir Ken Robinson? He is a British man currently living in the United States. He works as an adviser on education to governments, and his Wikipedia page describes him as…
Read MoreLearning English Vocabulary (Feedback)
Thanks for all your comments and suggestions. I definitely think that vocabulary is the most difficult part of learning English, and unfortunately, there are no short cuts.
Read MoreLearning English Vocabulary
[wpaudio url=”https://www.btbpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Learning-English-Vocabulary.mp3″ text=”Click to listen”] This semester, I am teaching a course in learning English vocabulary to a group of second-year students at my university. The students are ones who want to become English teachers in the future, so I…
Read MoreTelephone Numbers (Feedback)
Thanks for all your comments. I’m glad to know I’m not the only one who doesn’t know very many numbers. The question of what effect technology is having on our society is a tricky one.
Read MoreTelephone Numbers
[wpaudio url=”https://www.btbpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Telephone-Numbers.mp3″ text=”Click to listen”] In recent years, many people have pointed out that humans no longer need to remember as much as we did before. This is because we can find information easily and quickly whenever we need it.
Read MoreGay Pride (Feedback)
Thanks for all your comments. I didn’t think many people would be interested in this topic because, as I said, awareness of LBGT issues seems to be quite low in Japan. Anyway, I’m glad that so many of you joined…
Read MoreGay Pride
[wpaudio url=”https://www.btbpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Gay-Pride.mp3″ text=”Click to listen”] As some of you may know, this week is “Rainbow Week” in Japan. Rainbow Week is designed to raise awareness of issues facing gay, lesbian, and transgender people.
Read MoreStill Going Strong (Feedback)
Thanks for all your comments and stories. I’m glad to see that people are still taking care of things. When I moved to NZ, one of the things that surprised me most was how they made things last. Something that…
Read MoreiPhone app for Learning English Vocabulary
Due to a technical error, the iPhone app for Learning English Vocabulary was temporarily removed from the Apple App Store. It has now been restored. We apologise for any confusion or inconvenience.
Read MoreStill Going Strong
[wpaudio url=”https://www.btbpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Still-Going-Strong.mp3″ text=”Click to listen”] In 2000, when I was still living in Sapporo, I bought a brand new Toyota Hiace van. It was (and still is!) the only car I have ever bought new from a dealer. Actually, it…
Read MoreLost & Found (Feedback)
Thanks for all your comments and funny stories. I’m glad to know that I am not the only one who loses things!
Read MoreLost & Found
[wpaudio url=”https://www.btbpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Lost-Found.mp3″ text=”Click to listen”] A couple of weeks ago, I was at Nagoya Station when I realized that I needed to withdraw some money from the bank. I went to the ATM, but when I took my wallet out…
Read MoreTokyo's Olympic Bid (Feedback)
Thanks for your comments. This is a difficult topic, and to be honest, I’m still not really sure what I think about it. As some of you mentioned, the government has already spent a lot of money on the bid,…
Read MoreTokyo's Olympic Bid
[wpaudio url=”https://www.btbpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Tokyos-Olympic-Bid.mp3″ text=”Click to listen”] I’ve been meaning to talk about the Olympics for a while, but other topics kept coming up that were more timely. As I’m sure you are all aware, Tokyo is bidding to host the 2020…
Read MoreThe Relative Age Advantage (Feedback)
Thanks for all your comments. I had forgotten that I originally read about this topic in “Outliers,” so thanks for reminding me. I think I need to read that book again.
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!)…
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