Show 362 Monday 30 April

Watch today’s show at YouTube or BlipTV.

Hi, I’m Sarah. Welcome to The Daily English Show.
Today’s guest is Toshi.
Toshi went to New Zealand in 1997. And he spent 6 months studying English in Christchurch and then he spent 6 months working in Wanaka.
Then he went to Canada for a year and worked in Whistler.
Then he went to the United States for two years and he worked for a travel company in Las Vegas for a year and then he went to Los Angeles and worked for the same company.
And in 2002 he came back to Japan.

Why did you want to go to New Zealand?
First of all, I really want to, wanted to go to ah, abroad. And I know the special visa and the name is ah, working holiday visa. And I know working holiday visa have three choice. One is Australia, Canada and New Zealand. And Australia is hard because Australia have a limit of the ages. And I have a choice, Canada and New Zealand. And first I applied Canada. But Canada have a limit of the number. So I couldn’t get the visa in Canada. Yes, I applied but I couldn’t. So, that’s why, I just, ah, only choice to go to ah, New Zealand.

Was the English in Canada and NZ very different?
Yeah, different. So I struggled so much. Yes, ah, for ah, first time I studied English in New Zealand. New Zealand is quite English style. Canada is still English style. But I think mixed American style and English style. So I struggled so much.

STICK NEWS

Kia ora in Stick News today, a New Zealand gym owner is angry after someone placed a fake advertisement calling his gym a homosexual fitness center.

The Yellow Pages are a kind of telephone directory for businesses and are usually published annually. Ray Parker owns a gym in Papakura, Auckland.
The New Zealand Herald reported Parker is fuming after someone placed an ad in the 2007 Yellow Pages for: "Ray Parkers (Gay Lesbian) Homosexual Fitness Centre".
Parker is worried that the ad could affect his business.
He isn’t sure if the ad was placed as a joke or as an attempt to harm Ray’s Gym.
The Yellow Pages is now working with Parker and his lawyer to find the perpetrator.
Ray said, "we will take whoever it is down. He thinks he is smart, but he is a dickhead."

And that was Stick News for Monday the 30th of April.
Kia Ora.

conversations with sarah
#225 What did you do in New Zealand?

Step 1: Repeat Sarah’s lines.
Step 2: Read Sarah’s lines and talk to Toshi.

Sarah What did you do in New Zealand?

Toshi First, I went to a language school for three months. And after I changed a private English school and for three months. After half year ... yes, first I was in Christchurch. And after half year I moved at ah, Wanaka. And I work, worked and enjoyed snowboarding at ah, Cadrona in Wanaka.

Sarah How was the snow?

Toshi Mmm. Sometimes good, sometimes very icy ... very hard. But I got a so enjoyed.

Sarah What was your job in Wanaka?

Toshi New Zealand is so famous in Japanese because as you know Japan and between New Zealand have a different season. Yes, when Japan is summer, New Zealand is ah, winter. So many snowboard or ski addict moving to New Zealand for training and for enjoying. And so ... our previous company have a camp and the name is 3S and so they have a camp for Japanese guys and Japanese girls. And I so they need a translator, because ... yes, camper is ah Japanese, but instructor is, some instructor is ah Japanese but mainly is ah, Kiwi, so we need a translate for them. So that’s why I got a hire for CS company.

Sarah Was translating difficult?

Toshi Very difficult. Because ah ... yeah. I said I went to New Zealand, this is ah, for the first time to long stay foreign country. So I don’t have, I didn’t have ah, confidence my English at all. That’s why I wondering I can do translating or no. But, do my best. Because I really, really wanted to ah, work at a ski or snowboarding place. So such a nice opportunity for me. So I doing the best.

Sarah So you translated what the instructors said to the students?

Toshi Yeah, that’s right. That’s right. For example so, Kiwi instructor said: “oh very good, but you ah, keep still more low and bend your knee more”. And I translate: “姿勢を低く、もっと膝を曲げて”. Like this.

Sarah Did you ever get stuck when you were translating?

Toshi Ah, yes, that’s right. So many, many time. Ah, yeah instructor is girl ... instructor girl and boy is a very, very nice person so they are speaking slowly. But sometimes using the special word as snowboarding. And so I said I start to snowboard in New Zealand.
So I don’t understand word and something. So ah, sorry what meaning this one?

Sarah It must have been good for your English.

Toshi Yes, very good English practice. And I think, thinking everybody because instructor and student, so generosity about my attitude, my English. Yes, they endure my English so much.

Sarah Did your way of thinking change after living abroad?

Toshi Yes, big change. Mmm. Ah, I think so I can watch everything more wide. I mean, so when I was in ... just knowing Japan, my view just narrow things. But after returned back a foreign country, I think my view getting wide, make wide.
But this one is very important I think. Because when I, so ... decide something we need ah, more wide view and more wide knowledge, so I think best way is get a wide view and wide knowledge, go to abroad.

Links

Today's news.

today's qa bgm

artist: Jampy
album: Rain
track: Speak to Me
from: Napoli, Italy
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site

Show 361 Sunday 29 April

Watch today's show at YouTube or BlipTV.

Sunday Kitchen #46 Salad

To make a salad you need:

A chopping board, a knife, some vegetables and some water.
First wash the vegetables.
Then chop them.
Then toss the salad.
You can add dressing if you like.
I made a dressing with balsamic vinegar, olive oil and pepper.

These are the vegetables I used:

spinach
nira
tomato
cucumber
avocado

Nira is a kind of like leek, spring onion or chives.

According to my dictionary nira is "leek" in English.
According to Wikipedia nira is "garlic chives" in English.

music

artist: Jampy
album: Rain
track: Beautiful Eyes
from: Napoli, Italy
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site

#360 How To Get An Oscar

Watch today's show at YouTube or BlipTV.

How to get an Oscar
In ten easy steps

Step 1. An Oscar is a kind of film award, so you need to get involved in a movie. I think being an extra is a good start.

Step 2. Listen carefully to the director's instructions.

Step 3. Don’t be too disappointed if the chairlift starts going backwards before you get anywhere near the shot. There’s always next time.

Step 4. Make sure you fully understand the signs at the film set.

Step 5. Get plenty of rest between takes.

Step 6. Take lots of photos of the scenery between takes to keep yourself from going stir-crazy.

Step 7. Study the crew closely. Try to remember their names so you can thank them in your acceptance speech.

Step 8. After the break try and get a bit closer to the action so you actually have a chance of being in the shot.

Step 9. If you don’t end up getting in the shot, film it so at least you can prove you were there.

Step 10. Just in case you get overlooked for the Oscar... keep the plastic necklace they give you as a memento.

Subtitles:

動きに合わせて、えー、リアクションしてみて下さい。
Can you please react to the action you see.

えー、お願いします。
Ah, thank you.

えー、では、テストです。
Ah, OK, this is a test.

はい、リフト動きます。
OK, the chairlift is starting to move.

えー、カットになります。　
Ah, Cut.

リフト止まります。
The lift is stopping.

えー、皆様におねがいです。
Ah, we have a request.

え～っと、リアクションなんですが、えー、出来る限り、えー、もうすごし大きく出来たら、してもらえますでしょうか。
Ah, can we get you to make the reaction as big as possible?

え～っと、乗り出す方は、えー、もう少し1.5倍くらい乗り出し気味でリアクションしてください。
And, the people who are leaning out of the chairlifts, could we get you to lean out about 50 percent more.

お願いします。
Thank you.

えー、次は、えーっと、まぁ、お友達と、えー、３人乗り４人乗りで乗っておりますのでリアクションの方、えー、更に大きめで、えー、お願いいたします。
So, now, you are in a chairlift with your friends, ah, with three or 4 people in one chairlift.
And, we’d like the reaction to be even bigger.　Ah, thank you.

music

artist: Jampy
album: Rain
track: Little Swing
from: Napoli, Italy
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site

Show 359 Friday 27 April

Watch today’s show at YouTube or BlipTV.

Hi, I’m Sarah. Welcome to The Daily English Show.

Today I’m going to talk about The Watchman again. Hmmm I might be obsessed.
Anyway, in his videos The Watchman says: The Watchman has spoken.
Why does he say The Watchman has spoken and not The Watchman spoke?

Has spoken is the present perfect.
And spoke is the past simple.
So when do you use the present perfect and when do you use the past simple?
This is a difficult question to answer – and it’s one of the grammar points that English students have quite a bit of trouble with – in Japan anyway.
It’s also hard to teach and especially if you’ve just started teaching English you might be a bit confused about it, so my explanation might help you ... I hope.

I think http://www.englishpage.com/ has a good explanation about this and I’m going to give you a link to that page and also try and explain it the way they do.

They say one of the uses of the present perfect is for an unspecified time before now.

You can’t use the present perfect with specific time expressions such as: yesterday, one year ago, last week, when I was a child, when I lived in Japan, at that moment, that day, one day.

You can use the present perfect with unspecific expressions for example: ever, never, once, many times, several times, before, so far, already, yet.

I think that’s a very useful explanation. Just think: specific or unspecific?
Should I say: This morning I went for a run.
Or this morning I have been for a run.

Hmmm, well this morning is specific, so it must be I went.

Here’s another example. Let’s compare two questions:

Did you go to France?
Have you been to France?

Did you go should be for a specific time.
And have you been for an unspecific time

For example, if I said: Last summer I traveled around Europe for two months.
Then you should ask: Did you go to France? Not: have you been to France?

Because you are asking about a specific time – that is the two months that I was traveling around Europe.

You should use have you been to France? or have you ever been to France? if you’re not talking about a specific time in the past. So you’re talking about some time in the past – but when is not important.

So back to The Watchman – the point is not when he spoke – and a specific time is not mentioned – so he uses has spoken.

STICK NEWS

Kia ora in Stick News today, according to the World Economic Forum, the US is no longer the king of technology.

The World Economic Forum has published the The Networked Readiness Index six times.
To make the index they judge 122 countries on: the integration of technology in business,
the infrastructure available, government policy favourable for fostering a culture of innovation
and progress and leadership in promoting the usage of the latest information technology tools.
Last time the US was number 1. Now it’s number 7.
According to an economist at the World Economic Forum, Denmark is number one because they have “benefited from the very effective government e-leadership, reflected in early liberalisation of the telecommunications sector, a first-rate regulatory environment and large availability of e-government services."

And that was Stick News for Friday the 27th of April.
Kia Ora.

the snow report

This evening I went for a walk at dusk. There's still a little bit of snow lying around.

conversations with sarah
#224 What are you listening to?

Step 1: Repeat Masao’s lines.
Step 2: Read Masao’s lines and talk to Sarah.

Masao What were you listening to?

Sarah Ah, Kim Hill.

Masao Who’s she?

Sarah She’s a New Zealand broadcaster. She’s like my idol.

Masao Your idol? Why?

Sarah I just think she’s great. I really like her interview style.

Masao Do you listen to her a lot?

Sarah Yeah, since her show’s been available as a podcast I listen to her quite a lot.

Masao What’s her show about?

Sarah Basically just interviewing a lot of interesting people. The one I listened to today was … she interviewed a guy who was in the Vietnam war. And he’s just written a book. It was really interesting.

Links

Today's news.

The World Economic Forum

Kim Hill's profile at Radio NZ

Kim Hill's show

The interview I listened to is here. Kim Hill interviewed Barry Heard who wrote a book called

Well Done Those Men.

music

artist: Jampy

album: Rain

track: Morphine

from: Napoli, Italy

album at Jamendo

artist at Jamendo

artist site

Show 358 Thursday 26 April

Watch today’s show at YouTube or BlipTV.

Hi, I’m Sarah. Welcome to The Daily English Show.
I have a great scoop to share with you today.
The Watchman has spoken!
Back in Show 336 I talked about The Watchman.
He is watchman55 on YouTube.
On his videos there is a website address.
So I checked his site and on his site I found an email address ... so I thought I’d send him an email.
I wrote and said I thought his videos were brilliant and I asked if he was going to make any more. Because his last video was posted 6 months ago.
And he replied. I was pretty surprised because I wasn’t expecting a reply.
This is his email.

Dearest Sarah,

The Watchman bows his head in appreciation of your kind words. Brilliant, eh? Hmmmm, this is a high standard to live up to, and perhaps that is what keeps The Watchman from making more. For what is there to be gained once one has achieved brilliance?In truth, it is time and the daily rigors of life that have combined to leave The Watchman little opening for much digital creating.
This certainly won't always be the case, but since there are no measured consequences levied upon said "creator" for lack of output, new material will only come when the urge hits and time allows.
Do keep your eyes open, however, for you never know when The Watchman will return.

*twhs

Hmmm so it still doesn’t solve the mystery of who the watchman actually is. But he’s a good writer that’s for sure.
In the videos his accent sounds kind of British. Except that he says /tu:b/ instead of /tju:b/.
And in this email he spells rigor without a u.
And he says eh.
So, I think he might be from Canada.

A couple of words you might not know.
Firstly: rigour/rigor
The rigours of sth means the difficulties and unpleasant conditions of something.
So the watchman says he can’t make any videos because of time and the daily rigors of life.
Basically, he’s too busy.
And he says: new material will only come when the urge hits and time allows.
An urge is a strong desire or impulse.
So he will make a new video when time allows – when he has time and when the urge hits – so when he gets a desire or when he feels like it.
I will definitely be keeping my eyes open.

STICK NEWS

Kia ora in Stick News today China is planning an online marriage list designed to tackle bigamy.

Bigamy is the crime of marrying someone when you are still legally married to somebody else. In recent years there has been a rise in bigamy in China.
To tackle this problem China is planning an online marriage list.
By 2010 people will be able to check a nationwide registry of marriage details – including the date, place and names of every marriage.

And that was Stick News for Thursday the 26th of April.
Kia Ora.

the snow report

It snowed briefly today.

conversations with sarah
#223 What happened to him?

Step 1: Repeat Sam’s lines.
Step 2: Read Sam’s lines and talk to Sarah.

Sam Why do people get married to two people at the same time?

Sarah I don’t know. It’s pretty weird. I was looking up bigamy in Wikipedia and I found this bizarre story about this guy called Arthur Worthington. He was born in America and then he moved to New Zealand.

Sam Did he marry two women at the same time?

Sarah Yeah. It sounds like he married a lot of women. And he set up this weird religion too.

Sam What kind of religion?

Sarah Like a cult I guess. It was called “Temple of Truth”.

Sam What happened to him?

Sarah Well he ran away to Australia ... then came back to New Zealand. Then went back to Australia and ended up in prison there. And then went to America and got sent to prison there too.

Sam Was this recently?

Sarah No, it was a while ago. It says he died in prison about 1917 or something.

Links

Today's news.

Arthur Worthington

music

artist: Jampy
album: Rain
track: Little Swing
from: Napoli, Italy
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site

Show 357 Wednesday 25 April

Watch today’s show at YouTube or BlipTV.

Hi, I’m Sarah. Welcome to The Daily English Show.
Today I’m going to try an experiment.
I’m going to ask you to vote for me at Podcast Alley. And I’m going to see how many people actually do.
You don’t get any benefit from this – and you might waste 10 seconds of your time. But if you are an English student I think this could be good practice for following instructions.
Podcast Alley is just a website that ranks podcasts.
I don’t think it really means anything if The Daily English Show is high up the ranks or not　... but it does seem like quite a popular site – so it might help some people find out about the show.
Anyway, I just want to see what happens. I think if about 50 people vote for The Daily English Show then it could be the number one video podcast in April.

First, click on the link in the video description of this video.
Click after it says “click here to vote”.
And that will take you to The Daily English Show page on Podcast Alley.
On that page under where it says The Daily English Show there is a box.
The title of the box is actions.
Inside that box, click on vote.
Then a window will pop up.
Inside that window there are three boxes.
Two of them are optional, so you don’t need to fill them in.
You only need to fill in the first one. Write your email address in that first box.
Then click on Vote Now!
Then go and check your email.
And you will find an email from Podcast Alley.
The subject will be Podcast Alley Voting.
Open the email and click on the link.
And that’s it!

STICK NEWS

Kia ora in Stick News today 4 high school students in New Zealand have been expelled from school after they attacked a 16-year-old boy then posted a video of the assault on YouTube.

In New Zealand if school students misbehave they can get suspended.
This means they are not allowed to go to school for a period of time.
If the offence is more serious, the student can get expelled.
This means that the student is forbidden from attending the school in future.
On the 30th of March a 14-year-old boy and a 16-year-old boy lured another teenage boy to a park and attacked him.
The New Zealand herald reported up to 30 teenagers watched the assault and spurred on the violence.
It was filmed and uploaded to YouTube.
The video has now been removed and 4 teenagers involved in the attack have been expelled from school.

And that was Stick News for Wednesday the 25th of April.
Kia Ora.

Click here to take a quiz to check your comprehension of today's Stick News.

conversations with sarah
#222 Which do you like better cats or dogs?

Step 1: Repeat Susan’s lines.
Step 2: Read Susan’s lines and talk to Sarah.

Susan Which do you like better cats or dogs?

Sarah Neither.

Susan Really, why?

Sarah I don’t really like animals. And I don’t like pets.

Susan But they’re so cute!

Sarah I don’t think dogs are cute. They’re noisy, and smelly and scary.

Susan What about cats ... cats are cute!

Sarah Mmm, I don’t think so.

Susan But it’s so relaxing, sitting with a cat in your lap.

Links

Today's news.

Suspension
Expulsion

music

artist: Jampy
album: Rain
track: Little Swing
from: Napoli, Italy
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site

My Podcast Alley feed! {pca-5d7c733e4ba209df902299339518d73f}

Show 356 Tuesday 24 April

Watch today’s show at YouTube or BlipTV.

Hi, I’m Sarah. Welcome to The Daily English Show.

Prince William, who is an English prince, broke up with his girlfriend Kate Middleton.
And who cares, right?
But I did see one story that I thought was interesting in terms of language.

This story in CNN starts like this:
Snobbery is thriving in Britain -- if you believe the upper-class scorn poured on Kate Middleton's mother after Prince William broke up with his middle-class commoner sweetheart.
And then it quotes a journalist as saying: This country is riven by the class system. It is more alive than it has ever been.

The class system is hard to explain. I was just reading the social class section in Wikipedia ... and basically it’s about power – who has power and who doesn’t. But the systems are different in different countries and have changed over time.
I think a good example of the class system is in the movie Titanic . In that movie the ... the rich characters thought that they were better than the poor characters. And that is snobbery.
Snob. n. a person who has an exaggerated respect for high social position or wealth and who looks down on those regarded as socially inferior.
So apparently the class system is pretty strong in Britain. I don’t really know much about that – but from what I understand it sounds quite different than New Zealand.
But snobbery does exist to a certain extent in New Zealand. Like some people think they’re pretty special because they own lots of stuff or money – but whatever, they’re just delusional.

Anyway, back to the story. There’s an example about language in the story – by the way this story may not be true, it might just be gossip like most “news” stories about famous people.
But I’m going to tell you anyway, because I think it’s an interesting language point.
Apparently, when Kate’s mother met the queen, she said: pleased to meet you. Shock, horror! Apparently, the upper class in Britain say: How do you do?
I had no idea that it was so important - I would’ve said: nice to meet you. Which is probably even more shocking ... so I don’t think I have much of a chance with the prince.

Another shocking thing Kate’s mother said was toilet. She said something like: where’s the toilet? Apparently, upper class people say lavatory. I didn’t know that either. I usually say bathroom. I can’t remember if that’s what people usually say in New Zealand or not.

I think a lot of students in Japan learn the phrase how do you do? – but they’re unsure when to use it.
So, my advice is – if you meet the queen of England, you should definitely use it. As for the rest of Britain, I’m not sure. And if you go to New Zealand don’t say it. I have never heard anyone in my entire life say how do you do?. Then again, maybe I don’t mix with the right crowd.

And as for the toilet ... my advice is to try and adapt to the situation. So listen to other people and listen to what words they use and try and copy them.
If it’s an informal situation it could be fine to use words like loo, bog or dunny. But remember if you’re trying to impress the queen of England you might want to use lavatory

And, the moral of today’s story is: If you want to hook up with an English prince, you’d better to study hard because language is very important. So keep watching The Daily English Show.

STICK NEWS

Kia ora in Stick News today according to a study two out of three British web uses waste significant amounts of time wilfing.

Many people log on to the internet with a purpose, but end up becoming distracted and aimlessly browsing irrelevant websites.
This is called wilfing – which is short for “what was I looking for?”
According to Reuters, 2400 people were questioned in a British study.
And it was found that wilfers lose two working days a month to aimless browsing.
Men were the worst offenders.
And shopping sites were the most distracting.

And that was Stick News for Tuesday the 24th of April.
Kia Ora.

conversations with sarah
#221 What does wilfing mean?

Step 1: Repeat Taka’s lines.
Step 2: Read Taka’s lines and talk to Sarah.

Taka What does wilfing mean?

Sarah It’s basically just online procrastination, I think.

Taka Is that a common word?

Sarah I don’t think so. Today was the first day I’d heard of it.

Taka Do you wilf?

Sarah Yeah, a lot.

Taka Do you look at shopping sites?

Sarah No, never shopping sites. I don’t know why. Maybe cause I have no money. But I’m generally not much of a shopper.

Taka How do you procrastinate?

Sarah Usually reading news or stuff on Wikipedia.

questionanswer

Click here to take a quiz!

Links

Today's news.

music

artist: Jampy
album: Rain
track: Beautiful Eyes
from: Napoli, Italy
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site

Show 355 Monday 23 April

Watch today’s show at YouTube or BlipTV.

Hi, I’m Sarah. Welcome to The Daily English Show. Today’s guest is Aira.
Aira was born in Tokyo. And her mother was from America and her father was from Japan so she had an interesting language situation when she was growing up.
At university she studied Spanish and after graduating she spent two years in Canada. In Canada she did WWOOFing for a year and she worked at an art gallery for a year. Her most recent job has been (working) as an announcer at FM Niseko.
I was really happy that she agreed to be a guest on The Daily English Show. I asked her about her situation growing up and also about working at FM Niseko.

Was it difficult to speak English and Japanese on the show?
Difficult. It was really difficult, yeah like talking in front of mic. Talking in front of mic is ... Just talking in front of mic is really difficult. But then you have to talk in Japanese and English. Two languages. And you have this information. And information comes in ... And it can be, how can I say... it will be easy to talk in Japanese. But here’s new information. And you have to translate it. That ... And in that moment, well, then, it was really hard.

Had you worked in radio before?
No. No. That was my first time. And you know I get so nervous in front of camera or mic.
So. Yeah, when I started, it was so terrible. I was just like, almost fainting.

STICK NEWS

Kia ora in Stick News today a 13-year-old girl is the national texting champion of the United States.

This American teenager won the national texting championship on Saturday after she typed the word supercalifragilisticexpialidocious in 15 seconds.
The prize was 25,000 American dollars.
The texting champ she said she was going to go shopping and buy lots of clothes.

And that was Stick News for Monday the 23rd of April.
Kia Ora.

conversations with sarah
#220 Did your parents speak to each other in English or Japanese?

Step 1: Repeat Sarah’s lines.
Step 2: Read Sarah’s lines and talk to Aira

Sarah When you were a child, what language did your parents speak to you in?

Aira Well, well, my mother always spoke English to me. But I always talk to her in Japanese. So, I think I’m good at understanding - hearing and listening. But I didn’t get enough chance to talk and express ... so I’m not really good at talking.

Sarah Did your parents speak to each other in English or Japanese?

Aira Um, both. Mixed. Like my mother talk in English, my father in Japanese. Like that.

Sarah Can you give me an example of how growing up in a bilingual environment affected you?

Aira So, purple. Purple? I cannot pronounce it right now. Well, it’s, it’s called “murasaki” in Japanese. But my mother at the time couldn’t say because it’s a little bit hard for English people to say murasaki. So she always told that colour “purple”. So I thought that colour was purple. And I was talking Japanese all the time in my how do you say, elementary school. But the colour I thought that was purple, in Japanese ... Am I making sense?
So I was like, like “my favourite colour” (I’m talking in Japanese) “my favourite colour is purple”. Purple was the only English and the other places, other thing was Japanese. And all the other kids couldn’t understand what is purple. What yeah, everybody thought, I was like ... what is this girl saying what is purple? Yeah.

Sarah Were there any disadvantages?

Aira Oh, disadvantages. Well, it’s Japan. So, I’m not saying all Japanese people but lots of Japanese doesn’t like the thing different than you.
So, I was different from other people. So, lots of kid tried to attack me because my mother was American. But I thought that was a really stupid thing to do. But, yeah, I learnt lots from that point.

Sarah How were your English classes at school?

Aira I was terrible. Yeah, I think Japanese English class, Japanese ... how do you say, English class in Japanese school is not really good. It’s ah, it’s just like reading textbook and writing down ... writing, writing, writing. Spelling, spelling, spelling. It’s not really interesting and you have to talk, I think. You don’t ... If you, if you don’t talk you won’t learn I think.

Sarah Did people expect you to be good at English because your mother was American?

Aira Yeah, everybody thought I will, I would be good student. But how do you say, I was so shy and I didn’t want to be a good student. So, I didn’t want to get a good prize. Prize? What? Good score, score in my test. So, I did it ... intentionally. I did it really bad.

Sarah When you were living in Canada did you remember a lot of English from your childhood?

Aira Well, maybe yes. Cause, well, when I got there, first time, my English was really bad. I couldn’t even say “would you keep this for me” or that kind of easy thing, I couldn’t even say that. But, well, after two months or three months it just came out. So maybe it was from my childhood. I don’t know, it just started to come out.

Sarah If you have kids what language do you think you will speak to them in?

Aira Ahh, well first I have to brush. brush up my English. Otherwise I’m going to be telling the kid bad English. But when I get good at English I want to talk to that kid, talk to that kid in English and my husband could talk to that kid in Japanese. And I think, yeah. Well, when I was young I think I really had a good experience. Like when you are young your brain is really soft so you can, how do you say, learn anything, everything. So, yeah, both language.
Growing kids in both language will be nice, I think.

Sarah What do you think is a good way to study English?

Aira Well, I had a chance to read Harry Potter. Harry Potter book. And that was really interesting. And at the time I couldn’t talk English. But I wanted to read the book. So I tried really hard, really hard. And how do you say ... Each time you understand a line, it’s really run. And it gets interesting more and more. So first textbook, how do you say, the thing you learn English from, has to be interesting I think. And that gives students to how do you say, motivate, how do you say, motivation. Yeah, I think that’s it.
And like experiencing something. Like ... I grew up in Tokyo and there’s a base, I think air force base, called Yokota air base in Tokyo.
And I don’t know if you can visit there anymore but when I was young I had a chance to visit them. When was it? Um, on Halloween, I guess. And it was so interesting. And then, you want to talk with those people and you want to know. What they are thinking ... And you want to know their culture.
And that’s the start I guess. You have to be interested.
You have to be interested.

Links

Today's news

music

artist: Jampy
album: Rain
track: Beautiful Eyes
from: Napoli, Italy
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site

Show 354 Sunday 22 April

Watch today's show at YouTube or BlipTV.

Sunday Kitchen #45 Chocolate Oat Crackles

When I was a child　my sisters and I used to play around in the kitchen　quite a bit.
One of the things we liked making was Chocolate Oat Crackles.
We found the recipe on the back of a rolled oats packet.
I can't remember the exact recipe.
But today I tried to make them.
First I put some sugar and oil and soymilk into a pot.
Then I mixed some rolled oats and cocoa together.
After the sugar mixture had boiled for a couple of minutes I mixed it into the rolled oats and cocoa. And made it into balls.
Mmm not bad.

music

artist: Jampy
album: Rain
track: Rain
from: Napoli, Italy
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site

Show 353 Saturday 21 April

Watch today's show at YouTube or BlipTV.

white shoes
silver key
black road
white van
little kiwi
grey steering wheel
silver car
yellow flags
quiet politicians
loud politicians
big snowman
snowy mountain
purple truck
great shop
red flag
green hose
red chairs
small cabinet
orange chair
old forks
grey heater
pink cushions
plastic boxes
pink foot bath
full van
old buildings
blue sky
orange signs
yellow lines
big blue sign
small blue sign
brown building
green baskets
orange carrots
green cabbages
purple cabbage
plastic bag
New Zealand pumpkin
Taiwanese bananas
fresh wasabi
yellow arrow
yellow sign
orange digger
dirty snow
pretty mountain
rubber rafts
annoying politicians
short bridge
local supermarket
cute snowman
yellow truck
home sweet home

music

artist: Jampy
album: Rain
track: Rain
from: Napoli, Italy

album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site

Show 352 Friday 20 April

Watch today’s show at YouTube or BlipTV.

Daily English 党の沙羅をどうぞよろしくお願いいたします。
I am from the Daily English Party. My name is Sarah.

皆さまのために、がんばらせてください。
Please vote for me.

Daily English 党の沙羅、
I am Sarah from the Daily English Party.

沙羅でございます。
My name is Sarah.

最後のお願いに参りました。
This is the last time before the election that I will be driving around the streets
torturing you with my incessant screaming so today I will shout even louder.

Sorry about that. This election screaming is slowly driving me insane.
All this week it’s been terrible – they drive around and around the town shouting.
And they don’t even say anything interesting – they just shout their name over and over.

I wouldn’t mind so much if they were singing like the people who sell Kumara.

おいも,おいも,おいもだよ。
Kumara, kumara, kumara.

But shouting is just nasty.

It’s bad enough for me it must be even worse for people with headaches or migraines or shift workers that are trying to sleep during the day.

I swear if I ever become Japanese – not that I am planning to – but if I ever do, I will vote for the only people who didn’t drive around shouting. If there is any.

And that was today’s rant.
Now it’s time for the news.

STICK NEWS

Kia ora in Stick News today a yacht has been found floating off the coast of Australia with dinner on the table and computers running but no crew.

On Sunday three men left from Queensland, Australia in a 12-metre boat.
On Wednesday the boat was spotted by a coastwatch aircraft.
When emergency crew boarded they yacht they were puzzled because everything seemed normal.
An emergency management spokesperson said that when the crew got on board they found the engine running, computers running and food and utensils set on the table ready to eat, but no sign of the crew.
A massive search is now underway for the three men, aged 56, 63 and 69.

And that was Stick News for Friday the 20th of April.
Kia Ora.

the snow report

It rained all day today. There’s still a little bit of black snow outside our place, but that’s about it.

conversations with sarah
#219 How was your day?

Step 1: Repeat Jake’s lines.
Step 2: Read Jake’s lines and talk to Sarah.

Jake How was your day?

Sarah It was alright.

Jake What did you do?

Sarah I spent a couple of hours translating this afternoon.

Jake What are you translating?

Sarah I was working on a part of master’s thesis but I just finished that and now I’m working on just an essay for the same person.

Jake Do you enjoy translating?

Sarah Yeah, I do. It’s challenging ... but it’s a good way to improve my Japanese and also to learn something new at the same time – because I have to do a bit of research about the topic before I can translate it.

Links

Today's news.

music

artist: Jampy
album: Rain
track: Rain
from: Napoli, Italy
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site

Show 351 Thursday 19 April

Watch today’s show at YouTube or BlipTV.

Hi, I’m Sarah. Welcome to The Daily English Show.

Today I’d like to recommend a video which I think is really good for studying. Especially for beginners. Because it’s quite short and simple and there’s a lot of easy grammar structures.

The video is of a guy introducing his four hats.

They are his:
Army man hat
Kangol hat
Cavalry hat
Beach bum hat

I didn’t know what kangol meant – but I looked it up and in Wikipedia and it says:
Kangol is an English clothing company, especially famous for its headwear.

In the video he explains what cavalry means too – which is useful.
In this dictionary it says: cavalry n. soldiers who fought on horseback

Finally, what is a beach bum?

Bum is an informal word. One meaning is: bottom or buttocks.
Another meaning is: a lazy or worthless person.
And another meaning is: a devotee of a particular activity.
For example – a ski bum.
So a beach bum is a person who loves the beach or is devoted to the beach.

But the word bum isn’t usually used for all activities.
Other activities have different words to mean enthusiast such as geek, buff, freak, nut, fiend, addict, maniac.
For example, a computer enthusiast is usually called a computer geek – but not a computer bum.

STICK NEWS

Kia ora in Stick News today Harrison Ford and Calista Flockhart are engaged.

Harrison Ford is a 64-year-old American actor.
He has starred in many movies including the Indiana Jones series.
In 1964 he got married to a woman called Mary and they had two sons.
In 1983 he married a woman called Melissa. They had a son and a daughter together. In 2004 they got divorced.
Calista Flockhart is 42. She is famous for her role as the lead character on a TV show called Ally McBeal. In 2001 she adopted a baby boy.
Harrison and Calista met at the 2002 Golden Globe Awards.
They met when Calista accidentally spilt red wine on Harrison.
They’ve been seeing each other since.
And at the start of April, Harrison proposed.

And that was Stick News for Thursday the 19th of April.
Kia Ora.

conversations with sarah
#218 Did you have a busy day?

Step 1: Repeat Jenna’s lines.
Step 2: Read Jenna’s lines and talk to Sarah.

Jenna Did you have a busy day?

Sarah Yeah, I was kinda busy today. I had two lessons in the morning, and then I went up the mountain in this afternoon.

Jenna What were you doing up there?

Sarah We visited some businesses to see if anyone needed some translating or video production done.

Jenna How did it go?

Sarah Mmm it was OK. It was kind of scary. There were a lot of people were wearing suits.

Jenna Why are you scared of people in suits?

Sarah I don’t know. Actually come to think of it I don’t think anyone was wearing a suit. But anyway, they made me nervous.

Jenna Did anyone have any work for you?

Sarah Yeah, one guy seemed kind of interested in video production and another guy said they might need some translating done. And that was about it.

VIDEO BLOG #2 - HATS
by SteveAgee

Hi. This is my second video blog. It’s all about hats. I’m going to show you some different hats I have.
This first one’s an army man hat
I can play I’m in the army and salute.
I can march.
Or I can just shout orders at people.
I like this hat.
If I crank it to the side, I could be a hip-hop man. Like 50 cent.
Word to your mother.
This second hat is a Kangol hat.
I can pretend I’m a newspaper boy selling papers on the corner.
Or I could flip it around and pretend I’m Samuel L Jackson.
This third hat is a cavalry hat.
For those of you that don’t know, cavalry is like old time army. They rode on horses and some of them carried swords.
This last hat is my beach bum hat.
Some people confuse it with a Chinaman hat but it’s not as pointy on top.
It’s just for beaches. So that I don’t get sunburn on my nose and get cancer.
That’s all my hats, I hope you have fun on my blog.

music

artist: Jampy
album: Rain
track: Rain

from: Napoli, Italy
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site

Show 350 Wednesday 18 April

Watch today’s show at YouTube or BlipTV.

Hi, I’m Sarah. Welcome to The Daily English Show.
Today is Wednesday the 18th of April and it’s the 350th Show of The Daily English Show. Cheers.
We had a party here on Saturday night to celebrate.
And it was a really good night. Lots of really nice people came. Some people who I’d met through The Daily English Show and other people who were friends of friends and had never heard of The Daily English Show.
I was planning on doing some filming at the party and making an interesting video for today ... but then I got talking to people and I couldn’t be bothered filming.

So then, I thought I’d search for some interesting historical events that happened on this day to talk about. But all I could find was stuff about war so I gave up on that idea and I looked in the births and death.

And I found that on the 18th of April, Albert Einstein died.
So today I’m talk about Einstein.

Albert Einstein was born in Germany in 1879.
He then lived in Italy, Switzerland and the United States of America.
He was a physicist.
Wikipedia says: he is widely considered to have been one of the greatest physicists of all time.
He is best known for the theory of relativity.
And I don’t anything about that theory, except that this equation has something to do with it: E = mc2
1921 he won the Nobel Prize in Physics.
And he gave the prize money to his ex-wife for some reason.
He was married twice. And the second time it was to his cousin.
And he died in Princeton Hospital in Princeton, New Jersey on the 18th of April 1955.

STICK NEWS

Kia ora, in Stick News today new agencies in Japan have reported an important announcement from a Japanese clothing chain. Uniqlo will start selling white pants made of a special fabric which prevents underwear from showing through.

Uniqlo is a Japanese clothing chain store. According to Uniqlo female consumers enjoy wearing white pants in spring and summer. But they’re worried that their underwear may show through.
So Uniqlo has joined forces with a textile maker and developed a special fabric to prevent underwear from showing through.
It’s not clear whether the move has any connection to Prime Minister Abe’s plan to make Japan a “beautiful country”.

And that was Stick News for Wednesday the 18th of April.
Kia Ora.

the snow report

I thought I’d show you some more photos that I took when I was sitting on the chairlift on Monday.

conversations with sarah
#217 How was the party?

Step 1: Repeat Jim’s lines.
Step 2: Read Jim’s lines and talk to Sarah.

Jim How was the party?

Sarah It was really good.

Jim How many people came?

Sarah About 20 I think.

Jim What time did you start?

Sarah At about 6.

Jim Did you go out afterwards?

Sarah Yeah, we did. We didn’t want to stay here too late because of the person living upstairs. So at about half past 10 we went out to Loaf.

Jim How was Loaf?

Sarah It was good. There were a lot of people there. A lot of English teachers actually.

Jim Really? What were they doing there?

Sarah It was a girl’s birthday. And she was on the JET program ... so a lot of her JET friends were there.

Links

Today's news.

music

artist: Klotzsch & Sudermann

album: Holzlaub

track: Thuja Plicata

From: Cologne, Germany

You can download this album here.

Show 349 Tuesday 17 April

Watch today’s show at YouTube or BlipTV.

Hi, I’m Sarah. Welcome to The Daily English Show.

Well, yesterday I was an extra in a movie.
And it was very boring. I just sat in a chairlift for about 4 hours.
And I didn’t see anything exciting at all, like movie stars or red carpets.
And I wasn’t actually in the shot anyway ... so I think my chances of getting an Oscar are pretty small.
But, I didn’t come away empty handed. True to their word, they gave the extras a present for our 4 hours work.
I got two presents even. One was this keitai strap, advertising beer.
And one was this, which, believe it or not is a necklace ... with a rubber thing on it, with the name of the movie.

STICK NEWS

Kia ora, in Stick News today a Prince in England has broken up with his girlfriend.

William Arthur Philip Louis is a 24-year-old prince from England.
He is second in the line of succession to the British throne.
This means if his grandmother and father both die, he could become King.
William has been seeing a girl called Kate for almost 5 years.
Some people thought they would get married.
But, they broke up.

And that was Stick News for Tuesday the 17th of April.
Kia Ora.

conversations with sarah
#216 What’s the name of the movie?

Step 1: Repeat Matt’s lines.
Step 2: Read Matt’s lines and talk to Sarah.

Matt What’s the name of the movie?

Sarah Giniro no shizin.

Matt What does that mean?

Sarah Silver season.

Matt What’s the movie about?

Sarah I don’t know. Something about skiing I guess.

Matt Who was the director?

Sarah I can’t remember his name. But it was the guy who directed Umizaru. Have you seen that?

Matt No, have you?

Sarah Yeah.

Matt What was it like?

Sarah Terrible. In so many ways. Except for the parts where all the guys took off their shirts. Those parts were pretty good.

music

artist: Klotzsch & Sudermann
album: Holzlaub
track: Thuja Plicata
From: Cologne, Germany

You can download this album here.

Show 348 Monday 16 April

Watch today’s show at YouTube or BlipTV.

Hi, I’m Sarah. Welcome to The Daily English Show.
Today’s guest is Mike.
Mike is a snowboard instructor from Scotland.
Apart from snowboarding he also likes skateboarding and surfing.
He came to Japan in November 2005 to work as a snowboard instructor. Then after working on the mountain, during summer he drove around Japan and slept in his car and went surfing every day.

In the conversation today you’ll get a chance to ask him about his Japanese study.

I also asked him about the quality of snow in the different places he has been and also about whether he enjoys teaching snowboarding.

How would you describe the snow in the places you’ve been?
Scottish snow is ah, a good mixture of ice and rocks. Ah, more rocks (?) actually.
And when it does actually snow. It does go across the way rather than down the way. Which is quite nice.
Ah, Canadian snow ... their season when I was there wasn’t so good. Um, but when it did snow, it snowed nicely. Good, good powder snow.
Ah, Niseko snow on the other hand, is awesome. Best snow I’ve found. And I think it’s, I think people would agree with me. It’s pretty much the best snow on the planet.

Do you enjoy teaching snowboarding?
I love it. Yeah. Um, I’m quite fortunate that I do get a variety of students when I teach. And I teach, you know, from absolute beginners all the way up to advanced riders. Ah, each lesson’s different. Each lesson I do is ah, tailored for the individual. Um cause everyone’s got their own rate of learning. And I get something different out of type, each lesson.
Um, for an example, beginner lesson. You see people progressing, they’re actually enjoying themselves and learning something new. And I get a kick out of that. I get a buzz. Um, for an intermediate or advanced rider, you can ... it’s fun just to go riding. And ... usually the, the student will enjoy that too. Cause they’re ah, going places they never would have gone before. Ah, being challenged and ah, hopefully having a lot of fun. Because that’s, that’s what snowboarding’s all about. And that’s what I try to promote.

Mike also taught me a bit of Scottish English.

In Scottish, if you want to say yes you say aye. In Japanese, if you want to say yes you go hai. So, you know, there’s not much of a change for me there. Quite good.

Um, (?) literally is going to not do that so stop what you’re doing please.

STICK NEWS

Kia ora, in Stick News today some religious men in Pakistan are angry after a politician was caught hugging.

Pakistan’s Tourism Minister went parachuting in France.
The jump was at a charity event to raise money for earthquake victims.
After the jump the minister hugged her instructor.
Some religious men back home weren’t happy when they saw photos of the hug.
They said it was obscene and objectionable.
But the minister herself wasn’t too worried.
She said: “I do not feel ashamed at all for what I did and I am not afraid of anyone except God."

And that was Stick News for Monday the 16th of April.
Kia Ora.

conversations with sarah
#215 Could you speak Japanese before you came here?
Step 1: Repeat Sarah’s lines.
Step 2: Read Sarah’s lines and talk to Mike.

Sarah Could you speak Japanese before you came here?

Mike Absolutely not. I was terrible. I tried. I got tapes and things. But it didn’t really work. Because I’m not very good with tapes.

Sarah So you started studying when you got here?

Mike I did actually yeah. And I had a lot of help from ah, some Japanese friends I met when I first arrived. Um, especially a girl ah, called Chie. And she had very, very little English. And I had very, very little Japanese. But we became good friends and ah, helped each other quite a bit.
Sarah How did you study?

Mike I studied Japanese mostly using a small notebook. I kept it in my pocket everywhere I went. I’ve still got it. Still fill it, fill it out. And ah, anytime I heard an interesting word, or a word that I knew I’d forget – cause ah, most words go in there and out there. Um, I’d write them down. And ah, so I’ve got this book full of ... It’s almost like a diary actually. And I can see, I can remember exactly what that conversation was about and when it was written. Um, but I used that to study. And then, ah, when I went back to Scotland last year for a few months I got a few lessons to help my grammar. Ah, my Japanese is now terrible. Ah, but it’s better than it was. Which is good.

Sarah What are your goals with Japanese?

Mike I’d say my, my goals with Japanese are mainly to become proficient. At the moment I can communicate ... ah and most of my Japanese is very practical Japanese. In fact, you know, when I speak I can change between casual and ah, casual and polite. And ah, Kansai-ben and Hokkaido-ben all the one sentence. Not deliberately of course.

Sarah How did you learn Kansai-ben?

Mike I know a few words in Kansai-ben mostly because ah, I have a good friend in Osaka, ah, that I stayed with for about a month.
And this season, ah, some of the people I met and became good friends with are from Osaka, as well. So hanging out with them, I’ve been getting all the Kansai words, rather than the Tokyo words.

Sarah How did you cope with the language when you were traveling by yourself around Japan?

Mike Barely. Um, language proved to be quite ah, quite difficult and quite challenging. Um, but I learned as I went and if there was something I needed to say to someone ah, I could always plan it in advance. Um, many things became second nature to me. Such as, ah, getting petrol, gasoline. Um, going into combenis and asking for various bits and bobs. Um, but, ah, the language was challenging. And I think I did very well, considering.

Links

Today's news.

music

artist: Klotzsch & Sudermann
album: Holzlaub
track: Thuja Plicata
From: Cologne, Germany

You can download this album here.

Show 347 Sunday 15 April

Watch today's show at YouTube or grouper or BlipTV.

Sunday Kitchen #44 with special guest Camille

tofu tomato salad
Tomatoes
Tofu
Negi (like spring onion or leek)
Dressing:
Soy sauce
Sake
Vinegar
Konbu dashi (konbu is a kind of seaweed, dashi means stock)

spinach salad
Spinach
Carrot
Orange (A kind of Japanese variety that is quite sour)
Pine nuts
Dressing:
Olive oil
Lemon juice
Salt & pepper
Wasabi

southern French style potatoes
Potatoes
Oil
Rosemary
Salt & pepper

chinese cabbage & sprouts
Chinese cabbage (hakusai　白菜)
Bean sprouts (moyashi もやし)
Sesame oil
Eggplant
Chilli
Nori (a kind of seaweed)

deep-fried crumbed eggplant
eggplant
soymilk
breadcrumbs
oil

music

artist: Klotzsch & Sudermann
album: Holzlaub
track: Thuja Plicata

From: Cologne, Germany

You can download this album here.

Show 346 Saturday 14 April

Watch today's show at YouTube or BlipTV.

Baby Can I Hold You - The YouTube collaboration!

This is another good song to listen to or sing for English practice.

Starring:

giongei2003
bigboy171
anitapatricia
tristounette62
mcgiftfrosch
tanktegmen
PkinG222
ragonmiller
0619adamedwards
krisoul
got2hurt
Akatomed
Erinhos
FabTheGap
allyn788
Rudaje2000
justinregatta
donoi

Baby Can I Hold You
by Tracy Chapman

Sorry
Is all that you can't say
Years gone by and still
Words don't come easily
Like sorry like sorry

Forgive me
Is all that you can't say
Years gone by and still
Words don't come easily

Like forgive me forgive me
But you can say baby
Baby can I hold you tonight
Maybe if I told you the right words
At the right time you'd be mine

I love you
Is all that you can't say
Years gone by and still
Words don't come easily
Like I love you I love you

But you can say baby
Baby can I hold you tonight
Maybe if I told you the right words
At the right time you'd be mine
You'd be mine
You'd be mine

Show 345 Friday 13 April

Watch today’s show at YouTube or BlipTV.

Hi, I’m Sarah. Welcome to The Daily English Show.
Today’s play is: Romeo and Juliet.
Romeo and Juliet are two young people from families that are enemies.

Juliet’s family want her to marry a guy called Paris. But Juilet doesn’t want to. And then
Romeo and Juliet fall in love.
But at first they don’t know who each other is ... and when they find out they are disappointed – because they know that it will be difficult to be together because their families are enemies.
After Juliet finds out, she says the famous line:
Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?

Wherefore art thou – those three words are all archaic.
Archaic means very old.

Wherefore means why.
Art means are.
Thou mean you.

So, wherefore art thou Romeo? means: why are you Romeo?

Romeo and Juliet get married in secret.
And they plan to tell their families sometime.
But then Romeo gets into a fight and ends up killing someone. And he gets exiled to another city.
Juliet’s really upset about this. And then her family say (says) to her that she has to marry Paris.
So she goes to her friend and asks him what she should do.

And her friend comes up with a plan. That is that she’ll take some sleeping medicine that will make it look like she is dead. And then he’ll send a message to Romeo, who will come and then she’ll wake up and then they can escape together.

But Romeo never gets the message. Instead he gets a message that she’s dead. And so he is really upset and decides to kill himself.

And Romeo goes to see Juliet and Paris is there mourning Juliet’s death.
And then Paris challenges Romeo to a sword fight and they fight and Romeo ends up killing Paris.
Then Romeo kills himself with (the) poison.
And then Juilet wakes up and finds them both dead.
And Juliet is so upset that Romeo is dead that she kills herself with a sword.

STICK NEWS

Kia ora, in Stick News today singer Marc Anthony has to pay about 2.5 million dollars in back taxes to the US government after he failed to file tax returns for five years.

Marc Anthony is a singer from New York. He is married to Jennifer Lopez.
A tax return is a report used to calculate tax.
In the United States the returns are usually given to the Internal Revenue Service once a year.
But Marc Anthony didn’t file returns from 2000 through 2004 on $15.5 million in income.
He didn’t get in trouble because the court says he thought the taxes were being paid.
The people responsible are two men who Anthony hired to sort out his taxes.
One of them was his brother.
Marc Anthony has agreed to pay back the money.
The other men are waiting to be sentenced.

And that was Stick News for Friday 13 of April.
Kia Ora.

the snow report

Today it rained all day. And it was really windy.

conversations with sarah
#214 Have you heard of Jennifer Lopez?

Step 1: Repeat Taka’s lines.
Step 2: Read Taka’s lines and talk to Sarah.

Taka Have you heard of Jennifer Lopez?

Sarah Yeah, I’ve read about her in entertainment news… but I’ve never heard her music.

Taka Is she a singer?

Sarah Yeah a singer and an actress.

Taka Have you seen her in a movie?

Sarah No, I don’t think so.

Taka Me neither.

Sarah No, hang on a minute, yes I have. I watched a bit of “Shall we Dance” on a plane.

Taka How was it?

Sarah I’d already seen the Japanese one and I didn’t like it. And I didn’t like the American one either so I stopped watching it.

Links

Today's news.

Today's snow report and questionanswer BGM

artist: Jampy
album: Nghzk!
track: Trying To Play Some Jazzy Blues
from: Napoli, Italy
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site

Show 344 Thursday 12 April

Watch today’s show at YouTube or BlipTV.

Hi, I’m Sarah. Welcome to The Daily English Show.

Today’s play is Macbeth.

At the start of the play a Scottish guy called Macbeth has been fighting in a war.
And his title is Thane of Glamis. A Thane is some kind of rank in that military system.
Macbeth and another guy called Banquo were successful in leading the troops in this battle. And on the way home, they are walking along, and they meet three witches.
And the witches call Macbeth three things.
They call him: Thane of Glamis, Thane of Cawdor, and the third wish says he will be King hereafter.
And they say that Banquo will be the father to kings.
After this happens, Macbeth actually gets promoted by the king to Thane of Cawdor. And so he starts thinking “mmm, maybe the witches were right. Maybe I’m going to become king.”
He tells his wife, Lady Macbeth, about this. And she decides they should kill the king.
So when the king comes and stays at their castle, Macbeth kills him. And then he blames two servants and kills them too. The king has two sons and they escape because they are scared and suspicious of Macbeth.
And then Macbeth becomes king.
But Macbeth is worried about what the witches said about Banquo being a father to kings ... so he decides to kill Banquo and his son. And Banquo is killed but his son escapes.

And then Lady Macbeth starts feeling guilty about what they did. And Macbeth gets all paranoid and goes to see the witches again ... and they say beware Macduff so Macbeth decides to kill Macduff’s family.

Anyway, eventually the king’s sons come back with Macduff to get revenge and they kill Macbeth. And Lady Macbeth is already dead because she committed suicide.

One of the most famous soliloquies in the play is when Macbeth finds out that his wife is dead.
A soliloquy is when a character says his (their) thoughts aloud

At the end of this soliloquy Macbeth says this about life:
It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury
Signifying nothing

So now you know what the meaning of life is.

And finally a famous line from Lady Macbeth.
She feels so guilty about the murders that she goes mad and one day when she is sleepwalking she looks at her hands and she thinks she has blood on her hands and she says:
Out, damn'd spot! out, I say!

STICK NEWS

Kia ora, in Stick News today an American TV network has stopped broadcasting a show after a host made insulting comments about basketball players.

Don Imus is a 67-year-old talk show host.
He often calls people nasty names such as:
fat, pill-popping loser
gutless, lying weasel
fat pig
cantankerous old fool
bowtie-wearing pussy
On the 4th of April he called the members of a women's basketball team nappy-headed hos.
A ho is derogatory slang for a prostitute.
In some countries a nappy is what a baby wears.
But in the United States nappy is an adjective meaning frizzy and used to describe the hair of people of African descent.
The term nappy-head can be used as an insult.
Many people were unhappy about Don Imus’ comment including many sponsors who decided to pull their ads from the show and MSNBC, who has stopped airing the program.

And that was Stick News for Thursday 12th of April.
Kia Ora.

the snow report

There’s still quite a few of these big piles of snow lying around town.

conversations with sarah
#213 Do you think he is racist?

Step 1: Repeat Tim’s lines.
Step 2: Read Tim’s lines and talk to Sarah.

Tim What do you think about what that guy said?

Sarah The nappy-head comment?

Tim Yeah.

Sarah Well I’ve never heard that word before so it doesn’t sound bad to me. But if it’s offensive in America then, yeah, he shouldn’t say it.

Tim But radio announcers say stupid things all the time.

Sarah True. It doesn’t mean they should get away with it though.

Tim Do you think he is racist?

Sarah I don’t know. He might have been trying to be funny. But I don’t think racist comments are funny.

Tim And some people do?

Sarah Yeah, they do. Even YouTube editiors ... they feature videos with racist humour which I don’t understand. I don’t find it funny. But each to their own, I guess.

Links

Today's news.

Today's snow report and questionanswer BGM
artist: Jampy
album: Nghzk!
track: Trying To Play Some Jazzy Blues
from: Napoli, Italy
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site