Supermarket

Another wonderful sunny day! Annalise had her Cross-Country race today. Schools in NZ have a Cross Country race every year. It is a running race across country. The "country" means farm land or forest or something like that. Sometimes the students get really muddy. Because she is only 5 her race was quite short. It was very cute. She didn't do very well but she didn't stop!

The other big news today was we took our kittens (Fluffy and Rebecca) to the Vet for an operation. It was so they can't have any kittens. We feel very sad for them becuase it must be painful. They should be OK in a few days.

Today's video is a quick visit to a Supermarket close to our house. Roz really likes this supermarket but it is not the cheapest. I'll take you to the cheapest another day. It is a little different. See if you can answer the questions.


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What are Annalise and Daniel going to get? (see if you can write down what Annalise says)
What am I going to get?
What do I say I like?

Did you notice anything different about this New Zealand supermarket to a Japanese supermarket?
What does "muddy" mean?

Keep using the comments and sending emails!

See you tomorrow.

lawn mowing

It is another sunny warm day today so it was a good chance to get the lawns mowed. Our back yard is quite big so it takes a while. We are renting this house. It has four bedrooms but I have one room for an office.

I have started reading an inspiring book. It is about an Irish woman who went to Vietnam to help sick and poor children. She had only a little money and no qualifications or experience. But she had a 'big heart' and a big dream! Since 1989 she has helped 80 000 children. Wow! Do have a big dream? I will tell you more of her story in future blogs.

Watch the video and see if you can answer the questions.

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How long have we lived in this house?
What did Annalise do at school today?
What about Daniel?
What did Annalise say when I asked her "Who is this?"

We live on a busy road so there was a lot of car noise in the background. Sorry.

What does 'inspiring' mean?

See you tomorrow!

Dinner with a homesaty family

It has been a sunny day today! It has been quite warm for the beginning of winter. How is the weather in Japan? Is it getting hot?

Today's video is of dinner with my brother's family. A lot of Japanese students arrive in New Zealand (or Australia, America etc.) and are surprised at how fast people talk. This is the problem of learning English mostly from a textbook. So if the talking in this video is very fast don't be discouraged. Just try and listen to lots more English. Especially everyday conversations like this.

Of course native speakers also use a lot of slang and idioms. So listen to this video and be encouraged by things you can understand and don't worry about the things you can't understand. O.K?

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How many kids were there at the table?
What are they going to do in the afternoon?
Why did one of the sons want to borrow the car?

There is a saying "Rome wasn't built in one day". What does this mean? How can this encourage you about understanding spoken English?


See you tomorrow.

Who is she?

It is a very short video today as I fogot to clear the memory on my camera. See if you can answer these questions.

Who is she?
What is her name?
What does she do?
What is her favorite movie?
How old do you think she is? (She doesn't say in the video)
How many children does she want?


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Not much other news today. Usually Roz and I eat dinner together with the kids but sometimes we put them to bed and then eat together. It is nice sometimes to just eat without the kids. We are eating 'Butter Chicken'tonight. Does anybody know what that is?

Hope you have had a good weekend. Keep writing on the comments.

See you tomorrow!

このブログに皆さんの意見をどしどし寄せて下さ い。英語ができない！と恥ずかしがらないで、上達のために、是非この機会を用いて下さい。そして色んな質問をお寄せください。皆さんのコメントをお 待ちしています。「コメント」をクリックして、そこにメッセージを残して下さい。

Summer BBQ

It has been quite a busy day today. We had friends come over to visit this morning and tonight we had another family come over for dinner. Today's video is of a BBQ we had last December at my parent's house. Of course that was summertime, which is when Kiwis' like to have lots of barbeques. It's hard to believe how much Benjamin has grown since then.

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Here are a few questions.

What do I mean by 'Kiwi's'?
Are BBQ's popular in Japan?
What does my sister say in the video?
What are the three meats we cooked on the BBQ?
Here is a very difficult question. What did my mother say?
How old do you think my mother is? (It dosen't say in the video)

Can anybody give me some other examples of the phrase "It's hard to believe........"

See you tomorrow!

このブログに皆さんの意見をどしどし寄せて下さ い。英語ができない！と恥ずかしがらないで、上達 のために、是非この機会を用いて下さい。そして色んな質問をお寄せください。皆さんのコメントをお 待ちしています。「コメント」をクリックして、そ こにメッセージを残して下さい。

Meet our other two kids!

Well it is the end of the week. Annalise has finished her first week at school.

Great to see we are getting some comments! Please leave any ideas for me on the comments. Are the videos too short? Are they too easy or too hard? I hope you enjoy today's one.


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Do you have any pets?
What did I mean when I said "Fluffy is a little bit more 'wild'?"
Does anyone know what 'Chai' is?

I recommend listening to the video and trying to write out everything then put it in the comments and we can check it together.

See you tomorrow!

このブログに皆さんの意見をどしどし寄せて下さ い。英語ができない！と恥ずかしがらないで、上達 のために、是非この機会を用いて下さい。そして色 んな質問をお寄せください。皆さんのコメントをお 待ちしています。「コメント」をクリックして、そ こにメッセージを残して下さい。

Having a coffee with Devon

Good news everyone. Daniel went to the doctor today and his collarbone is really good. They took an x-ray and the doctor said he was surprised at how fast it has healed. He will go back for one more visit in two weeks.

I met my good friend Devon at a cafe today. So please watch the video and see if you can answer any of these questions about him.

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Is he married?
What does he do?
What is his favorite movie?
Where would he like to visit?

The answer is "2". What is the question?
The answer is "Mexican". What is the question?

Click on "comment" to leave your answers. Let's all learn together! See you tomorrow!

Visit my office

It has been wet and a little cold today. Have a look at the video and see how much you can understand.

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Tomorrow Daniel goes back to the doctor to see if his broken colar bone is getting better (I hope it is). We got him a bike for his birthday but he cannot ride it with only one arm. Tomorrow I want you to meet a very good friend of mine. We are meeting at a cafe so I will get him to say "hello" to you.

Please leave some comments on this Blog and ask me questions.
See you tomorrow!

My first Post

Annalise was 5 years old yesterday and Daniel is 3 today. We have been very busy with birthday parties and buying presents. This year is extra special because in New Zealand you start school when you are 5 so yesterday was Annalise's first day at school. The photo (left) is her leaving for school for the first time. She had a great day! Can you remember your first day at school?

Yesterday I also took Annalise to her swimming lesson. The swimming school is called "Froggies". I took a photo of Annalise before her lesson. Do you think she looks like a frog?

I want to put lots of videos on this blog because listening is so important for learning English. So watch this video of my kids . What happened to Daniel? Where is my wife Rosalind? What is Annalise going to do?


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I hope my blog can help you learn English. Please make comments and ask questions. Let's have some fun!