THE STRAWBERRY THIEF - A Brief Poem
Although its visit
Was only brief
I managed a photo
Of the strawberry thief
Vocabulary:
- brief (形容詞) = つかの間
- brief (名詞) = 概略, 短い記事, so briefcase = 短い記事の為の鞄
On Sunday I went with my two sons to a car show at Nagoya Port. They were really impressed:
"Wow! Cool!"
"Great! Look at that!"
"Look at this one - I like this one!"
"Daddy, buy this one, please!"
Actually, this was when they saw the food stalls outside.
Finally, after eating, we went inside the exhibition hall & looked at the cars. There were a lot of impressive cars. This was one of my favourites - a Ford Mustang.
Vocabulary:
- Be careful: impressed = 感じ入る impressive = 印象的
Every year our school takes a trip to the zoo. It`s fun to look at & talk about real animals instead of (代わりに) pictures in books.
At first, this hippo was relaxing in the water, but when the man with the hose came, the hippo opened its mouth. It really seemed to enjoy having its mouth hosed. And, as you can see, the kids enjoyed watching! Maybe because they were thirsty - it`s been hot recently, hasn`t it?
Punctuation:
- it`s = it is / it has
- its = [何か]の...
This is Sunayama Beach on Miyako Island. Beautiful, isn`t it? The water was crystal-clear & the sand was squeaky-clean. It was a picture-perfect scene! After swimming & playing on the beach & in rockpools, we had to walk back up this big sand hill. It was tough. We were dead-tired.
Vocabulary:
- Sometimes we can combine 2 words to make a new adjective (形容詞 ), e.g. crystal = 玉瑛 clear = 清い crystal-clear = 玉瑛くらい 清い
Besides colorful tropical fish, there were also a lot of beautiful butterflies to see on Miyako Island. While we were driving, I saw heaps of big black swallowtail butterflies (swallow = 燕 tail = 尻尾, so swallowtail butterfly = 揚羽) beside the road. Great! I also saw a big dead snake beside the road. Gross! ( キモい )
Vocabulary:
Be careful: besides = 其れに, その他 beside = 傍ら, 側
Last week I went to Miyako Island in the south of Japan for Golden Week holidays. I went snorkeling & saw heaps of (= many) colorful fish, & took loads of (= many) photos. I had heaps of fun.
The above fish are:
1. Vagabond Butterflyfish
2. Three-stripe Damselfish
3. Lemon Damselfish
4. Ocellaris/Common Clownfish
Vocabulary:
There are lots of casual ways to say `many` in English:
- heaps of ____
- loads of ____
- stacks of ____
- tons of ____
- millions of ____
My town`s festival was last Sunday. Although it was a little cloudy in the afternoon, it didn`t rain. As you can see, a lot of people came - it was pretty crowded. My kids enjoyed pulling the floats (山車), eating stall (屋台) food, & catching goldfish. We had a good time.
Vocabulary:
- Be careful: crowded = 込んでいる cloudy = 曇り
Former Teragoya teacher Andrew told us he would visit North Korea. I asked him to send us a postcard from there. He promised to try. Today one arrived, addressed to our school mascot, Tera-chan. Tera-chan was excited. He said he wants to live in North Korea because he read (読んだ) somewhere that Kim Jong-un is a puppet leader (人形のリーダー).
Spelling:
- Be careful: read (リーd = 読む) & read (レd = 読んだ) have the same spelling
Across from Gifu Teragoya is the Gifu City Culture Centre. I noticed these paintings in their street-side display windows, so I crossed the road to take a closer look. Actually, they look better from a distance (遠いから), so this is a photo from my classroom across the road.
The top two paintings remind me of a print by Kyokichi Tanaka.
Vocabulary:
- Be careful: `across` & `cross` are different: across = 向い cross = 渡る
Now my neighbours (ネイバー = 隣人) are getting ready for my town`s festival this Sunday. In this photo, they are getting one of three floats (山車) ready. If you are free this Sunday, please come to the Iwato festival (一宮市・石刀祭). If you bring kids, tell them to get ready to hold the ropes which pull the floats!
Info: http://www.rurubu.com/event/detail.aspx?ID=12038
Info: http://dashi-matsuri.com/dashikan/owari/iwato/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1iGW8S6yl0
Grammar:
- be ready = 準備が整う
- get ready = 揃える
- get ready for + 名詞 = 名詞の準備をする
- get ready to + 動詞 = 動詞を整える
- get + 名詞 + ready = 名詞を整える
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