Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Spring break

 
The blog will be a little quiet this week as we 
have kids spring school and we are super busy. 
See you all next week.

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Planets?


These two people make planets out of unusual objects. 
One of the uses fry pans and the other old fire hydrants.
Very pretty.

Answer me these questions three...



1st grade EIKEN is super hard, 
even I'm not always 100% sure what the correct answer is. 
Have a look at some example questions 
and see if you can answer them!

1.) "The player we have just signed is strong in attack, 
midfield, and defense," said the soccer coach. "
That kind of  (          ) is just what we need to win this season."
1 versatility   2 absurdity   3 attrition   4 retention

2.) The opening night of the school play turned 
into a (       ) when the lead actor tripped and crashed 
into the stage scenery, causing it to fall on the other performers. 
1 fringe   2 proviso   3 lance   4 fiasco

3.) Terry volunteered to help rebuild the town after 
it was damaged by a tropical storm. 
Because of  his contacts in the construction industry, 
he was put in charge of the (       ) of tools.
1 procurement   2 subjugation   3 amalgam   4 rupture  

Friday, March 15, 2013

Exploring grammar

OK you know nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs. 
Let's learn some more.

A conjunction is a word used to connect other 
word and show the sense in which they are connected.  
and, that

A preposition is placed before a noun or pronoun and 
establishes a relationship between it and other nouns or pronouns. 
for, in

A determiner is a word placed before a noun 
to specify its range of reference.  
the, a, her, his

A pronoun stands in as a substitute for a noun.  
he

So use the following abbreviations to label the following text.
det, v, n, pron, adj, adv, conj, prep

"Hedges are valuable to the wild creatures of the 
country because they provide homes, food, 
shelter, warmth, and protection for them. 
This gives rise to birds and animals having their own territories. 
We have heard two robins quarreling over territories. 
We saw the footprints of rabbits spreading from 
their hold near the hedges and then saw footprints 
all over their territories and returning back to the hedges."

Thursday, March 14, 2013

The Clothing Caste System

Here is a North Face jacket.


You probably have seen these jackets or maybe even own one yourself, and probably never thought much about it.  But if you were in Korea, you would have to think twice about wearing these to school.  

In a recent Korean blog post, North Face jacket wearers can be immediately classified according to the type of North Face jacket they wear.  Here are the classifications:

At the bottom of the list is the North Face Nuptse 2. 









Kids wearing these jackets are considered "losers."


Next on the list is the North Face Nuptse 1.












Kids wearing these jackets are considered either "losers" or "gang members."


Next we jump up a few ranks to the North Face Dry Loft.












"Losers" don't wear this jacket because they are afraid to have them stolen by gang members.  So you would have to be in the middle or top ranks to wear this one safely.


 And at the top we have the North Face Himalayan Down Parka.  












These jackets are only worn by "the boss."  So if you see someone wearing this jacket, make sure you get out of their way!


So there you have it.  Just by looking at one's jacket, you can easily tell what rank that person is.  Childish?  Yes, but this is the reality in Korean schools. 

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Grammar Quiz

This is a question from my university text book. :Phil

Label the following sentences with these abbreviations.
n (noun), v (verb), adj (adjective), and adv (adverb)

          adj      n        v          v              n
1 The big horse is jumping the fence.

2 Mary plucked flowers for John's sister.

3 Lions and ostriches are found in Africa.

4 To think always accurately is a great accomplishment.

5 William promised Mary that he would lend her his grammar.

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Pure evil


Let's have some 'pun'

I tried to catch some fog, but I mist.
-
I didn't like my beard at first, but then it grew on me.
 -
I was wondering why the baseball was getting bigger,
then it hit me.
 -
What do you call a dinosaur with an extensive vocabulary?
A thesaurus
 -
A bicycle can't stand on its own because it is two tyred.
 -
When a clock is hungry it goes back four seconds.
 -
I used to be a tap dancer until I fell in the sink.

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

'art attack

I didn't have time to check it out last weekend, 
but there is an interesting exhibition by famous 
at the Isetan gallery at Kyoto station. 
I'm going to try and have a look 
before it closes at the end of the month.
( Click the picture for the link )
:Phil