Tongue Twister of the Week

How much wood would a woodchuck chuck,

if a woodchuck could chuck wood?

He would chuck, he would, as much as he could,

and chuck as much wood as a woodchuck would

if a woodchuck could chuck wood!

Nursery Rhyme of the Week!!

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,



Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.



All the kings horses and all the kings men,



Couldn't put Humpty together again.

Happy Thanksgiving America!!

In the United States, Thanksgiving is on the fourth Thursday in November, which is today! On this day families not only have a great big turkey diner but also enjoy watching American football and the Macy's Thanksgiving day parade. It is also a time for shopping! Black Friday begins the morning after Thanksgiving!! There are lots of great shopping sales just in time for Christmas!

This Week's Theme Class

Do you know the famous group of musicians in the photo below?


This week's theme class is the Beatles!! This is a listening practice class, centered around filling in missing lyrics and singing along to famous Beatles' songs. It's going to be a lot of fun! Call to reserve your spot today :)

"Would You Rather"

Speaking of upcoming parties...A popular party game played in English is called "Would You Rather", and the rules are pretty simple.

First, you must choose two equally bad or good things (in your opinion)! For example...

BAD:
Eat a spider.
Drink a glass of vegetable oil.

GOOD:
Find true love.
Find $1,000,000.

Then you make a sentence like this:
Q. Would you rather eat a spider or drink a glass of vegetable oil?
Q. Would you rather find true love or find a million dollars?

The other people must ponder this dilemma, answer the question and say why!
A. I'd rather drink vegetable oil because some spiders can make you sick!
A. I'd rather find true love because it lasts forever. Money does not last forever!

Try it out, and get creative! Here are a few question ideas:

Would you rather:

Be 4'1 or 7'9"?
Live without music or live without T.V.?
Eat a bar of soap or drink a bottle of dishwashing liquid?
Be called a racist or a traitor to your country?
Lose your legs or lose your arms?
Have a beautiful house and ugly car or an ugly house and beautiful car?
Be blind or deaf?
Live in Antarctica or Death Valley?
In a fire, save a sibling or a stranger?
Be spanked or be put on a restriction (on your favorite thing to do)?
Eat sushi or liver?
Have 3 eyes or webbed feet?
Meet the president of the U.S. or Billy Graham?
Find true love or 1 million dollars?
Always have to say everything on your mind or never speak again?
Be gossipped about or never talked about at all?
Have stars in your eyes or eyes in the back of your head?
Have x-ray vision or bionic hearing?
Be able to hear any conversation or take back anything you say?
End hunger or hatred?
Publish your diary or make a movie on your most embarrassing moment?
Get caught singing in the mirror or spying on your crush?
Be a dog named Killer or a cat named Fluffy?
Be stranded on an island alone or with someone you hate?
Get even or get over it?
Always lose or never play?
Be forced to tell your best friend a lie or tell your parents the truth?
Know it all or have it all?
Always get first dibs or the last laugh?
Give bad advice or take bad advice?

Last week in Playschool

Below you can see a great photo of the playschool class' story time books. Each student got to color the pages of their new mini-story and read it together with Ms. Kristen! We have some great artists in our class. Good job everybody :)

Christmas Party!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas, and so it is time to celebrate with another awesome RLE party!! On December 19th come to RLE at 6pm for the festivities to begin!! We will meet and go together as a group to a nearby Izakaya to enjoy good food and English Conversation! Please pay at the RLE school office to reserve your spot.

We will be playing a Christmas gift giving game so please bring a 1000yen present, already wrapped to give away to someone. Hope to see you there :)

Onomatopoeias!

Everyone loves onomatopoeias!! They are words that imitate or suggest the source of the sounds they describe. The Japanese language has lots of really fun ones. For example:

doki-doki for a fast heartbeak (when you're happy, in love, nervous or excited)

kira-kira for sparkling things

sala-sala for soft things (like silky-smooth hair)

English has lots of fun onomatopoeias too! Here are some you might like:

Ding-dong is the sound a doorbell makes

Tic-toc is the sound a clock makes

Woof woof and meow meow are what dogs and cats say

Honk-honk goes a car horn

Quack-quack goes a duck

Moo-moo says a cow

More to come next week!!

Tongue Twister of the Week

The big fat cat sat on the rat.



The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain.



Billy blows big blue bubbles.

Nursery Rhyme of the Week!!

Mary had a little lamb,


little lamb,little lamb.
Mary had a little lamb,
Its fleece was white as snow.


Everywhere that Mary went,


Mary went,Mary went.
Everywhere that Mary went,
The lamb was sure to go.


It followed her to school one day,

school one day,school one day.
It followed her to school one day,
Which was against the rules.


It made the children laugh and play,

laugh and play, laugh and play.
It made the children laugh and play,
To see a lamb at school.

Summer Autumn

Riddle of the day

What key has legs and can't open doors?

Answer: A TurKEY!

North American Customs

Custom #12: Table settings

As some of our students may have noticed, table settings in North America can be really formal and confusing! If your not sure what I am talking about, take a look at the photo below.

This photo shows a formal table setting.

As you can see, to the left of the main plate is a smaller bread plate with butter knife placed so that the handle points to the right. A cloth napkin may be folded neatly on the main plate or to the left of the forks. The salad fork is placed to the left of the main fork, both to the left of the main plate. The desert fork is placed closest to the plate on the left or brought out with the desert. If soup is going to be served it is placed to the right of the knife, both to the right of the main plate. If there is going to be seafood served, a seafood fork will be placed to the right of the soup spoon. A wine glass is usually placed above the knife with a water glass to the left of the wine glass at a 45 degree angle closer to the diner (not shown in the photo). Coffee or tea cups are placed to the right of the table setting so that the handle points to the right (not shown in the photo).

Do you like fall?

Now it is offically fall in Japan and the leaves have changed color. I hear it is the perfect time to take a trip to Kyoto or Nara for the best leaf viewing. Fall is my favorite time of the year! The air is clean and crisp and there is a comfortable, yet cool temperature during the day. For the up coming weekend I plan to really enjoy the season and go leaf viewing! Have you gone to see the beautiful colored leaves? What is your favorite season?

Happy Flu Shot Day

Today RLE got flu shots!! This time everyone, I mean EVERYONE, was very brave for the needle, even me! It did not hurt at all.　Have you had your flue shot yet?

This Week's Theme Class

Do you recognize any of the characters in the photo below? They are from the lyrics of popular Nursery Rhymes! The most famous nursery rhymes are Jack and Jill, Humpty Dumpty, Sing a song of sixpence, and Hey diddle diddle. These have been past down from generation to generation up to thirty times. Nursery Rhymes are traditional songs for children in many English Speaking countries that aid in learning the rhythm, intonation and pronounciation of the English language.

Nursery Rhymes are this week's theme class topic! In class students will not only listen to and learn the rhymes but also practice the pronounciation and present what they have learned to the class. It's going to be a lot of fun! Call to reserve your spot in class today!

Do you know what today is?

It's International Student Day!!! Originally holding a greater meaning than it does now, it is a day of international observances of student activism. It is held annually on November 17th, for a nonpolitical celebration of the multiculturalism of international students.

Slang of the Day!

All-Nighter - To skip sleeping inorder to spend serval more hours studying for a test or finishing some work. We pulled an all-nighter last night to finish the report. I'm so out of it, I had to pull an all-nighter at work last night!

Tongue Twister of the Week

Six sick swans slurped soup slowly.

Eleven leaping lizards licked lovely lemon lollipops.

What a relief!

As you've probably already heard by now, Tatsuya Ichihashi has been apprehended in Osaka. In 2007, he gruesomely murdered a female Nova teacher and has been on the run ever since.We are left to wonder if he even regrets what he did in 2007. We bet he regrets having spent all that money on cosmetic surgery now that he has been caught!!

To other teachers reading this blog, please stay safe and never do anything you wouldn't do back home. Japan is indeed very safe but there are dangerous people everywhere! I guess that goes for all women and men, not just foreigners teaching English in Japan.

North American Customs

Custom #11: Table Manners

I have noticed many different table manners and ways of eating while living in Japan, so I thought that you would be interested in knowning some North American table rules.

Firstly, by all means chew with your mouth closed, do not slurp your food or talk with food in your mouth or make loud or unusual noises while eating. Say ''Excuse me,'' or ''Excuse me. I'll be right back,'' before leaving the table. Refrain from blowing your nose, burping, coughing, yawning or sneezing at the table. If you do so say ''Excuse me''.

At a dinner party or formal setting napkins are usually cloth and placed in the lap while eating and then on the table to the left of the dinner plate when finished the meal. If you are being served by a single person, the server should request if the guest would like any of the dish, and the guest may say ''Yes, please,'' or ''No, thank you''. Except in a public restaurant (where it is common), do not ask to take some leftover food home. A dinner host may suggest that extra food be taken by the guests (similar to Japan) but should not insist.

Riddle of the Day!

Your name.

This week in playschool.

Can you guess my job?

This week we are learning about occupations in our playschool class. We will be pretending to work as firemen, policemen, nurses, construction workers, bakers and much more. Call us to reserve your child's spot in class today!

Funny Thanksgiving Joke!

Usually for Thanksgiving in North America we eat turkey.　In the joke above the turkey is hiding so it will not be dinner.

Tongue twister of the week!

Greedy gobblers grabbed the gravy.

Betty baked a better batch of buttered biscuits.

Yummy Canadian Chocolate Bars

While I love sweets in Japan, I definitely miss chocolate bars from back home. Here are some yummy chocolate bars from Canada that will make you want to make a trip over there:

Crispy Crunch is soooo delicious. It's crunchy and really sweet, and it tastes a bit like peanut butter.

Smarties are candy-covered chocolates, and they're a lot like the m 'n m's you can buy here, only for some reason they are tastier.

Coffee Crisp is a coffee-flavored wafer cookie chocolate bar that is both fluffy and crunchy. It has many layers that are fun to eat one by one.

Reese's Cups are chocolate-covered peanut butter cups, and there are two to three in a package. However, they are so delicious that you probably won't want to share with a friend. They are creamy and really really sweet. If you love peanut butter, this is the chocolate bar for you.

Tongue Twister of the Week

Ten tricky two-toed turkeys trotted on the table.

Chef chopped cheese chunks cheerfully.