I found this `Dorcus rectus` (コクワガタ) beetle on the floor at school. At first I thought it was a cockroach (ゴキブリ)- yuck! But then I realised [きづいた]it was a stag beetle - cool! So I caught it & now I`m keeping it in a container in my classroom. I gave it some cucumber (きゅうり) to eat. I hope it gets big. Now it`s about 3cm long.
Collecting beetles is not popular in Australia, but Japanese boys are really into it. How about you? Are you interested in collecting stag beetles? Now? Before?
Tonight Australia qualified for the 2014 World Cup by beating Iraq 1-0. The goal was scored by Josh Kennedy, who plays for Nagoya Grampus.
Japan have already qualified, so it`s possible that Australia & Japan will meet again in Brazil! Now I`m REALLY looking forward to next year`s World Cup. How about you?
This wooden butterfly I made is based on a black swallowtail butterfly, which is pretty common in Japan. They are in Australia too, but I don`t know if it`s the same as the kind in Japan. I was quite surprised to find on internet that there are lots of kinds of black swallowtail butterfly!
I`ve put this in my Gifu classroom. If you go there, please look for it!
I`ve just finished reading these four Novels by Charles Dickens. He`s a really famous author [ちょさくか ] so I`m a little embarrassed [はずかし] to admit [あやまりをみとめる?] that I`d never read any of his novels before this.
These stories were written about 150 years ago, so sometimes the language is a little strange, for example `catched` (caught), `manufactory` (factory), & `8 of the clock` (8 o`clock`) but the stories are interesting & sometimes quite funny.
Charles Dickens` most famous character is Oliver Twist. Do you know his famous request? I want to say it to my boss about my salary - Haha!
Speaking of football/soccer, one of our Teragoya teachers, Stuart, writes for a magazine & website called JSoccer. Most of the articles are in both English & Japanese so it`s a good way to not only get interesting football news, but also study some English (if you`re Japanese), or Japanese (if you`re not).
Now that Japan has confirmed its place in next year`s World Cup, it`s a good time to start learning about your players, right? Then, next year when everyone is talking about football, you can impress both friends & good-looking strangers with your knowledge.
http://www.jsoccer.com
Good job, Stuart.
Did you watch the game on Tuesday night? I recorded the game & watched it after I finished work at 10pm. I was worried somebody would tell me the score [とくてん?] before then, but fortunately nobody told me.
I thought it was an exciting game. I was supporting [おうえんする] Australia, so I was disappointed that Japan got a late PK, but I think a draw is an okay result for Australia. Actually, overall [すべて] I think Japan played better.
Australia has two more qualifying games left [のこり]. They will play in Australia, which is good. Playing away from home is tough, especially in front of 60,000 Japanese fans! They`re very enthusiastic [ちからがはいる?]! I think that helped Japan on Tuesday night, especially at the end.
I bought an indoor plant for my classroom, but I didn`t have a good place to put it, so I made this plant stand from recycled wood. The height is about one metre. The wood for the legs came from an old thread [井と] spool [スプール] frame in my father-in-law`s factory. The spools rotated [まわす] between the white things.
I was going to put shelves in it, but actually I think I like it as it is [as it is = このまま].
I made these butterflies from recycled wood. They are 12 x 8cm, & I based the design on a butterfly called the `Common Grass Yellow`. You can see this butterfly in Ichinomiya, but the ones I saw in Okinawa recently were a much stronger shade of yellow. I was surprised by the difference.
Anyway, I plan to stick these butterflies on the wall in my Gifu classroom. I hope they help make the room - & students! - feel more cheerful.
Now these yellow flowers are blooming by the roadside on my way to work. They`re very colourful & pretty to look at, don`t you think?
However, I think they are an invasive species [がいらいせいぶつ] called Thelesperma filifolium, from America. Once I saw on Japanese TV a group of volunteers pulling them out & putting them in garbage [ごみ] bags. I`m pretty sure it was this kind of flower.
That`s good - I won`t feel bad when I pull some out one day (to put in a vase, not a garbage bag though!)
On Sunday Teragoya took a trip to Higashiyama zoo in Nagoya. There were about 70 kids this year - a lot more than last year. Fortunately the 10 kids in my group were very well-behaved. Of course they enjoyed looking at all the animals, but I noticed they had different opinions about the different kinds, for example:
The hippopotamus is lazy.
The ostrich is funny.
The elephant is nice.
The flamingoes are beautiful.
The American bison are nothing special.
Oh - poor American Bison! I hope they didn`t hear. But I was interested to see them; I`d never seen a real one before.
Have you ever been to the zoo? Which animal did you like most?
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