Who am I? Who are you?

How much do you know about the teachers at Richard's Easy English Schools?

How much does your teacher know about you?

I'm going to interview the teachers and introduce them here.

I'll start with me. :)

What is your full name?
Heather Mary Fukase

Where were you born?
Kincardine, Ontario, Canada

What is your earliest memory?
Dropping a raw egg on my new dress at Kinder. The egg broke. I cried. My teacher hugged me and told me it didn't matter. I still love my Kinder teacher!


What kind of student were you?
Very quiet. Very quick to finish my work. I loved school.

What is your most embarrassing moment?
Calling out "Daisuki!!" when I meant "Daisuke!" at University. :'(

What is your favourite food?
Tropical fruit salad with frozen yoghurt

What book are you reading?
Watermelon by Marian Keyes
http://www.amazon.com/Watermelon-Marian-Keyes/dp/0060090367

What's in your CD player today?
Abba Gold


What's your favourite movie?
The Princess Bride


Where in the world do you hope to travel one day? Why?
Greece. I love the beach, watermelon, spanokopita, greek yoghurt and baklava. :)

How do you relieve stress?
Listen to 1980's rock music way too loudly and sing along. :)

Do you prefer to watch a sun rise or sun set?
Sunset. If I see the sunrise it means I woke up too early. ;)

What is your favorite smell?
Peaches warm from the sun.

Who is your ultimate celebrity crush?
Yutaka Takenouchi or Johnny Depp

Vanilla or chocolate?
Chocolate

Summer or Winter?
Summer. Always summer!

Dogs or cats?
Dogs. I'm afraid of cats.

So, that's me. :)

Tell me about you!

Or send in some more questions for me to ask the teachers here. :)

Karaoke!

I hate Karaoke.

It's too noisy.

I don't know any of the songs.

I can't talk to my friends.

The food is terrible.

And... um.... I really, really can't sing!!

Did you know Karaoke is popular outside Japan?

That's right. And we even call it karaoke.

Only with really bad pronunciation.

It sounds like 'Ka-ri-oh-key'.

Recently I've found a new way to do Karaoke.

And I like it!!

It's on the internet using YouTube.

Go to Youtube.com and type in 'karaoke'.

There are hundreds of songs to choose from.

I like this song by Britney Spears. It's called Everytime.



If that's a little slow and sad for you, how about this one?



And this one's not karaoke but I love it anyway. :)



Enjoy!

Leap year

2008 is a leap year.

We have 366 days this year.

One extra day to learn English! ;)

How do you remember which months have 30 days and which ones have 31?

Here's a short video about leap years that includes the rhyme I use to remember:



Did you catch the rhyme?

It's:

30 days has September,
April June and November,
All the rest have 31,
Except February,
Which has 28, in fine
Until leap year makes it 29.

When you were a kid...

The other day I was having lunch with Richard, Kanae, and two students: Yuki and Tatsu.

We were talking about what we wanted to be when we were little.

Richard wanted to be on the Brady Bunch.

Do you know the Brady Bunch?

It was a TV programme about a family with six children. Here's the opening from the show:



Me?

I always wanted to go to school with the kids from Degrassi Junior High.

Their school was so exciting!

Here's the opening:



What about you?

What TV programme did you love as a child?

Happy ending!

I love happy endings.

When I was a child my favourite books were the ones that ended: 'and they all lived happily ever after'.

Even now I prefer American romance movies to Japanese ones.

Why?

Well, in American movies you just know that everything will be ok in the end.

In Japanese ones there's a good chance someone will die, or leave, or get sick, or something else horrible.

If you know a Japanese romance movie with a happy ending please tell me. I'd love to see it!

Anyway, remember my bad day? Well it had a happy ending!

Yesterday I found my keys!

They were on the roof of my car, stuck under the aerial.

I had been driving around for three days with my keys on the roof!

That's not just a happy ending, it's a miracle!!

I feel very lucky today.

Tell me about something lucky that's happened to you.

I've had a bad day...

Have you ever had one of those days where you just know you shouldn't have got out of bed?

I had a really bad day today.

First I woke up late. :(

Then I spilt the fish fat from the griller on the floor.- yuck!! :(

Then I found I had put a tissue in the washing mchine. :(

Then my two year old daughter emptied her lunchbox all over the back seat of my car. >8(

Then finally? I locked my keys in the car. :O

AAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

I should have stayed in bed today!!

Wht's the worst bad day you've had?

Please share and make me feel better!

And here's a great song about bad days called 'Bad day' by Daniel Powter.

The song has a happy ending. I hope my day does too!




Where is the moment we needed the most
You kick up the leaves and the magic is lost
They tell me your blue skies fade to grey
They tell me your passion's gone away
And I don't need no carryin' on

You stand in the line just to hit a new low
You're faking a smile with the coffee to go
You tell me your life's been way off line
You're falling to pieces everytime
And I don't need no carryin' on

Cause you had a bad day
You're taking one down
You sing a sad song just to turn it around
You say you don't know
You tell me don't lie
You work at a smile and you go for a ride
You had a bad day
The camera don't lie
You're coming back down and you really don't mind
You had a bad day
You had a bad day

Well you need a blue sky holiday
The point is they laugh at what you say
And I don't need no carryin' on

You had a bad day
You're taking one down
You sing a sad song just to turn it around
You say you don't know
You tell me don't lie
You work at a smile and you go for a ride
You had a bad day
The camera don't lie
You're coming back down and you really don't mind
You had a bad day

(Oh.. Holiday..)

Sometimes the system goes on the blink
And the whole thing turns out wrong
You might not make it back and you know
That you could be well oh that strong
And I'm not wrong

So where is the passion when you need it the most
Oh you and I
You kick up the leaves and the magic is lost

Cause you had a bad day
You're taking one down
You sing a sad song just to turn it around
You say you don't know
You tell me don't lie
You work at a smile and you go for a ride
You had a bad day
You've seen what you like
And how does it feel for one more time
You had a bad day
You had a bad day

Had a bad day
Had a bad day
Had a bad day
Had a bad day
Had a bad day

Spring is coming...

I love Spring.

Plum blossom, cherry blossom, tulips, daffodils- Spring is so beautiful.

What is the first sign of Spring you notice?

I noticed this morning that there was no frost on my windows.

YEAH!!! Spring is coming!

Here is an interesting website that monitors the path of Spring from Mexico through the USA to Canada.

http://www.learner.org/jnorth/maps/current_spring.html?layers=tulips

And here's an interesting observation exercise from the same site.

Once you've looked at the two photos click on the link at the bottom of the page to learn more.

http://www.learner.org/jnorth/tm/tulips/BloomingTulips.html