this month's cooking class

This month's Cooking in English class theme is a creamy potato and ham soup that's just perfect for breakfast on a cold winter's morning. Or lunch. Or dinner. Or all three- it's that good!

And we're following that with a gooey chocolate brownie. Very delicious. Too delicious if you're trying to watch your diet!

Come along for some fun, some food and some friendly English conversation!

Year of the rabbit

This year is year of the rabbit.

Here are a coupe of English expressions to do with rabbits for you:

Eat like a rabbit

Have you ever seen a rabbit eat? They take very little bites. Nibbling and nibbling away at their food. Someone who eats like a rabbit is someone who takes a long time to eat a small amount of food. Do you know someone who eats like a rabbit?

Like a rabbit in the headlights

I don't think I've ever seen a wild rabbit in Japan. Do we have them here? In Australia we have lots of wild rabbits. They come out at dusk. When you're driving along at dusk rabbits get scared of the lights and run. Sometimes they run into the bush. Sometimes they panic and run the wrong way and run into the road. If they stop to look at your car they freeze. They get stunned by the bright lights and can't move. Someone who is like a rabbit in the headlights is someone who is stunned into silence. Especially by sudden and unexpected news. Have you ever been caught like a rabbit in the headlights?

Rabbit food

A derogatory term for raw vegetables and/ or salad served as a meal. My father doesn't like rabbit food for dinner, how about you?

Pull a rabbit out of a hat

Have you ever seen a magic show where the magician shows everyone a completely empty hat and then waves his wand and walah! a cute white rabbit hops out of the very same hat. Magic! Someone who pulls a rabbit out of a hat is someone who manages something you think is impossible. A goal in soccer when it looked like the defence had the ball, an idea in a business meeting when the situation looked hopeless, making a delicious dinner from what's in the fridge when you realise you haven't prepared anything and the shops are closed. What situation have you been in when you pulled a rabbit out of a hat?

Enjoy the year of the rabbit and try out a rabbit expression for good measure!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to all of you from all of us at Richard's Easy English Schools.

Hoping it's a happy, healthy and harmonious one for us all.

Kids cooking in English!

Look what K and R made in the returnee class today:

Marshmallow squares! They really did have fun. But they're boys and they didn't want to smile for the camera. :(

How did they make it?

They used a recipe of course!

But first they had to make their recipe:

Phew. It was a lot of work. Lucky we had those marshmallow squares to revive us afterwords, hey?

Thank you!

N-kun and S-chan made these gorgeous Christmas cookies and brought them to class today. The gingerbread man has chocolate buttons (yum!) and the round cookie is decorated with chocolate squiggles. Wow!

And they made, decorated and wrapped these beautiful cookies all before their 10:30 lesson. Double wow!

Thank you again N and S and sorry for the terrible picture. :(

Merry Christmas at REES

Some of the younger students at REES Matsumoto made some great Christmas tree decorations that we put up on the wall. Don't they look festive?

While making it we practised big and little, light green and dark green, saying please and thank you and we had to ask or answer a question to get each sticker we decorated our trees with. Phew! Who knew Christmas could make you so tired?

hot hot hot

Wow. It's really been hot here in Matsumoto lately.

What do you do to keep cool?

My grandmother drinks hot tea. She says it keeps her cooler than drinking ice tea.

My other grandmother sprays herself with a spray bottle of water. She says the cool mist helps her stay cool.

My daughter chews ice-cubes. She crunches and munches her way through the day.

My husband ties a towel around his neck and uses it to wipe the sweat from his face.

Me?

I still haven't found something to keep me cool but on a hot evening an ice cold drink is especially nice.

What do you do to keep cool?