Blog for Learners – Page 2

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…

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.

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!