FLYJIN

A new word I have just heard is

"FLYJIN"

A combination of "Fly" & "Gaijin"

Used to describe the foreigners

who left Tokyo/Japan at the first sign of danger.

Some people

(mainly "flyjin" themselves)

are upset by this word.

I don't understand how it could make anyone upset ,

unless they are embarrassed about their actions.

They were in a difficult situation and they made a decision.

Sorry

We changed the date of the Hanami party because of the missing Sakura! haha We will now meet on Sunday the 10th. For this reason we had to also change the poll question. So, if you already voted please vote again, this time for the 10th. Thanks so much and sorry for this inconvenience.

~ Yours truly,

RLE teachers

HANAMI

Next Sunday (April 10th) RLE will be having

a cherry blossom party on "Ibaraki Sakura Dori"

Please bring some food to share

and something to sit on if you can.

We will be there from 11am

until it gets too cold or we get sleepy.

(If it's raining it will be canceled of course)

If you want to come please let us know

next time you see us at school

and we will give you a phone number to call

so you can find us on the day.

(It was very busy last year

and the group was difficult to find.)

We hope to see everyone there!!!

Hello students, hello friends!!

As many of you may already know, this will be my last 3 days here at rle. :'( For those students that I unfortunately missed last week and didn't get a chance to say I was leaving, I am sorry and hope that I will get to see you during this short week! I'm not leaving Japan so don't worry, I'm sure we can meet again. I was offered a private high school position nearby that I could not refuse. Please keep practicing your English so we can catch-up the next time we meet. :D

~Rachel

Happy Birthday!!

We have two Happy Birthday wishes today!! Happy Birthday to Ryoto and Takashi!!

Happy Birthday to both of you from everyone here at RLE.

Ryota

I love these Savage Chickens

I hope this is NOT the case for our dear students!

Photo of the Week!!

It's a bird,... it's a plane,... it's a spaceship in the sky??
No, it's Singapore's Sky Boat - Marina Bay Sands Hotel

Tongue Twister of the week!

If you stick a stock of liquor in your locker
It is slick to stick a lock upon your stock
Or some joker who is slicker is going to trick
you of your liquor
If you fail to lock your liquor with a lock.

*I hope you all are getting ready for the Hanami party next weekend!!! :D

I went to Singapore!

Singapore was too hot for me. Did you know it is summer all year long! Unbelievable!! I could NOT handle that, I need the cold. :) I visited Singapore's famous zoo.

These guys were my favorite animals in the zoo. Their faces are sooo human-like! I find it fascinating and creepy at the same time; just look at the nose!!

After a very tiring day at the zoo, I went to the Night Safari. The best thing about the night safari was that it was colder at night :) haha Did I mention that I hate heat?

After a very long and tiring day spent with animals I went to the newly opened Universal Studios Singapore for some fun. Despite the fact that I was very sick and threw-up 4 times throughout the day, it was fun to see how it compared to Japan.

The Madagascar area was by far my favorite; although the Shrek Far Far Away area was also a highlight for me. There was a song and dance show put on by the Madagascar main cast! Here is a photo from that show.

Where is Phil ?

OK, there is no way you can guess where I went last weekend.
Go on I challenge you! Where is this?

The Poll

Last week's poll question was,

"Do you have a calculator

I could borrow?"

A.) "Yes I will call you later."

B.) "I remember you borrowed it last week."

C.) "Sorry, I left mine at home."

Well the correct answer was C

but you knew that because it got 100% of the votes!

A & B are incorrect because they don't answer the question.

The poll doesn't seem to be so popular so it's going to take a break for a while.

If you really love the poll question

just post a comment below and I'll put it back up.

Come join us!

Happy Birthday!!

We have 5 Belated Happy Birthday wishes today!! Happy Belated Birthday to Kyo, Yura, Kiyoko, Kyoichi, and Aito!!

Happy Belated Birthday to all of you from everyone here at RLE.

Kyoichi

Aito

Just for fun

What colours do you think the days of the week are?

Please post your opinions in the comments section below.

There is no right or wrong answer,

but I think Wednesday is "green".

I don't know why though.

What do you think?

For the birds.

Rather than an idiom,

today I thought I would give you a metaphor instead.

"The media is a bunch of vultures."

Any idea what it might mean?

Drum roll please...

Last weeks poll question was,

"She was ____ up by her grandparents from the age of seven."

A. brought

B. raised

C. taken

D. turned

The correct answer with 80% of the votes was "brought".

Because the next word in the sentence is "up"

which completes the idiom "brought up".

If we removed the "up" then "raised" would

have been the correct answer instead.

Idiom of the day!

Today's idiom is

"down-to-earth"

adj. Showing common sense; practical.

"The committee's first plan for the party was too fancy,

but the second was more down-to-earth."

(The second plan could be used.)

"Mr. Jenkins never seems to know whats happening around him, but his wife is friendly and down-to-earth. "

(Mrs. Jenkins sees and likes the people

and things around her.)

Idiom of the day!

Today's idiom is

"give off"

v.

To send out; let out; put forth.

"Rotten eggs give off a bad smell."

(Rotten eggs send out a bad smell.)

"Burning leaves give off thick smoke."

(Burning leaves let out thick smoke.)

Idiom of the day!

Today's idiom is

"in stitches"

adj. phr., informal

Laughing so hard the the sides of one's body ache;

in a fit of laughing hard.

"The comedian was so funny that he had

everyone who was watching him in stitches."

(Everyone laughed at the comedian

until it hurt to laugh any more.)

Awwww so cute!

OMG

THIS IS THE CUTEST

MONKEY EVER!!!

This baby spider monkey was recently born at Melbourne zoo.

But unfortunately she was abandoned by her mother,

so the zoo keepers are taking care of her.

For more pictures follow this link

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/glanceview/152323/rejected-monkey-comforted-by-toys.glance

Last weekend I . . .

went to see one of the best movies of the year, The King's Speech. It recently won the Academy Award for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Original Screenplay!! It was truly a touching movie and a must see for everyone. Loved it!! I have so say special thanks to Yuki for recommending it for me to see. :D

And the winner is...

Last weeks poll question was;

"Shirley ____ drive to work but now she rides her bicycle."

And the correct answer, with a whopping 75% was;

"used to"

It was a tricky one because when we say it,

it sounds like "use to".

When D and T sounds are together,

the D is often dropped.

BARK UP THE WRONG TREE

"BARK UP THE WRONG TREE"
v. phr., informal
To choose the wrong person to deal with
or the wrong course of action; mistake an aim.
If he thinks he can fool me, he is barking up the wrong tree.
(He can not fool me; I know him too well.)
He is barking up the wrong tree
when he blames his troubles on bad luck.
(His troubles come from his own mistakes, not luck.)
The police were looking for a tall thin man,
but were barking up the wrong tree; the thief was short and fat.
(The police were hunting the wrong man.)

Happy Birthday!!

This week we have 3 Happy Birthday greetings for Aiko, Shota, and Saki!

Happy Birthday to all of you from everyone here at RLE.

Aiko
ShotaSaki

Idiom of the day!

As I try to learn one kanji every day, I will try to post one English idiom for you.

The first example is "as the crow flies"

Which means, in a straight line from one place to another.

For example

"The school is 5km from my house by road,

but only 2km as the crow flies."

:Phil

Interesting cultural differences!

Yesterday here at the RLE office we had an interesting discussion about English!! haha Many words that are used in American English have a very different meaning in British English and vice versa.

For example: Flat

In British English what do you think this means?
A flat is most commonly used as a noun. It is a self-contained housing unit, in other words it is an apartment in American English.

In American English what do you think this means?
A flat is most commonly used as a noun. It is a tire that has no air in it, in other words a flat tire.

Common to both American and British English the word flat is used as an adjective to describe something as structurally level and smooth.

Can you think of some more ways to use the word Flat?

Can you think of some other words that have different meanings in American and British English?

*Hint, there are many!!

Tongue Twister of the week!

This is a famous and incredibly difficult tongue twister.
Good luck to anyone for trying this one :D

Betty Botter bought some butter. "But," she said, "this butter’s bitter! If I put it in my batter, it will make my batter bitter. But a bit of better butter, better than the bitter butter well but make my bitter batter better." So Betty Botter bought some better butter, better than her bitter butter, and it made her bitter batter better.

HA!

Graphs are not funny, right?
Well have a look at these.

If you thought these were funny check out the link below

http://graphjam.memebase.com/

Sushi Cat

Have you played SUSHI CAT?

It's a cute and funny free game.

Follow this link

http://armorgames.com/play/5379/sushi-cat

The Poll

Last week's poll question was:
''While Jane was at College, she ____ to her sister every week.''

writing
written
write
wrote (100% votes)

Everyone voted for the same correct answer! Great job everyone.

While Jane was at College, she wrote to her sister every week.

Another Ghibli

A few weeks ago I watched Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind. Many of you had recommended this one awhile ago but I finally got around to watching it. It was very interesting and I enjoyed it a lot but it is not one of my favorites :D

According to my calculations I only have about 5 left to watch! ;)

Kind'a

Just to clarify...

The phrases

"A kind of ~"

and "Kind of like a ~"

are very different.

"A robin is a kind of bird"

means that a "robin" is a particular type of bird,

like an owl or pigeon etc.

Whereas "A bat is kind of like a bird"

means that a bat is similar to a bird but not a bird.

So listen carefully next time you hear "KIND OF"

(Which BTW often sounds like "Kinda")