'Generation Y'

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Hi everyone. No questions today. But, there might be lots of new vocabulary. So I've included in it below. Confidence, bored, energetic, enthusiastic, innovative, technologicaly savy, flexible, highly adaptable.

Do you think these describe Japanese young people born from 1980 - mid 1990's?

See you tomorrow.

Youth Church

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1.What two words did I use to describe the service? (p_________ l________)
2.What are my brother-inlaw and sister-inlaw doing?
3.What is becoming more and more popular in New Zealand?
4.How many young people were there?
5.What did Annalise say?

See you tomorrow.

Controversial...

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1.What are we eating tonight?
2.Why?
3.How did I make it?
4.Why don't we use a rice cooker?
5.What did we do this afternoon?
6. What is on tonight?
7.What does controversial mean?
8.What is controversial about tonights game?

See you tomorrow!

Kelly and Si go to Sydney

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1.What did we have for dinner tonight?
2.Where did Kelly and Simon go and what for?
3.How many people were there and what did they do?
4.What did Kelly get from the conference?
5.What did they do as tourists?
6. How much did they pay and what did they buy? (Annalise and Daniel)

See you tomorrow.

Lunch with Jo

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1. Who is Jo?
2. What kind of place are we eating at?
3. What part of town is it?
4. Where is Jo going and for how long?
5. What happened to the glass?
6. What is Roz eating?
7. What did I say we were going to do during lunch?

See you tomorrow.

Are you a nice person?

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1.What was I doing at the start of the video and why?
2.What is happening tomorrow? (please join us tomorrow)
3.Who is Annalise picking the flowers for?
4.Where is she going to put them?
5.Why might the English be difficult when it gives your score?
6.What will happen in a few months?
7.What is it like at the moment?

Here is the link I told you about. It is a fun test. I hope you enjoy it.

http://www.nicepeople.co.nz/ Click on the "NICE-ONALITY TEST"

See you at lunch tomorrow.

NZ Schools...

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1.Where am I going?
2.What is free and why?
3.What kind of high school is this and who do I know who goes there?
4.What is the guy driving and what is he doing?
5.What are the three types of schools and what are the ages of the students?
6.What is intersting about the cars?
7.What am I doing at McDonalds?
8.What are some of the activities in the program?

See you tomorrow.

Cheap coffee with Dev

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I had afternoon tea with my good friend Devon again today. If you remember from previous blogs he is a web designer and also runs a theatre company with his wife.

1.What did we have for afternoon tea?
2.How much was it?
3.I said it was a " v_______ g___________ __________"
4.What was was the design job Devon got today?
5.What kind of company was it?
6.What service will they provide?
7.What countries do a lot of New Immigrants to Tauranga come from?
8.What is the show his Theatre Company is running at the moment?
9.What do you think he meant by 'the show got off to a "slow start"?
10.What do Roz and I hope to do?
11.What is a baby sitter?

See you tomorrow.

A giant bubble bath?

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What can you tell me about Memorial Park?
What can you tell me about the tide?
What is Humpty Dumpty?
What happened to Humpty Dumpty?
Where were we going after the park?

See you tomorrow.

Now I can blog from anywhere!

Something new! I have done an audioblog for the first. I can do this over the telephone from anywhere. This means when I am away from the internet I can still do my blog. Cool eh!

1.What did I do for the first time last night?
2.What did we cook?


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1. What did we do today?
2. Why were the cars special?
3. What did Annalise make today?
4.Can you list 4 things in it?

See you tomorrow.

Fast talking...

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What am I doing tonight?
What does Annalise say about Rebecca?
What did Annalise say about our other cat? (Don't worry if you can't understand she says it very fast)
What is the green bag?
What might Annalise do one day?
What is the nickname I called Annalise?

See you tomorrow.

"English Sucks Sometimes"

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1. What is my favorite type of coffee?
2. What do people often expect if you visit an English speaking country?
3. How is it different in non-English speaking countries when you try and speak their language (e.g. Japanese)?
4. What did I say on mixi about this?
5. What do I wish for every native English speaker?

See you tomorrow!

Boys cooking night!

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What are we having for dinner tonight?
What did Daniel think was in the oven?
Why are we cooking tonight?
What would we usually have with the roast chicken?
How long will we put the chips in the oven and what will they be like when they are cooked?
What was in the salad I was making?

See you tomorrow!

Downtown Tauranga

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What is the population of Tauranga?
Where was I going?
What was I going to do?
Why do I go there?
What is "creative thinking"?
What is a "roundabout"?
What countries have "roundabouts?
What does 'transcript' mean?

Most of you look at this in the evening but if you want to check a 'live webcam' of Tauranga and the beach please look at this (before 2 pm Japan time is best).

http://www.citynews.co.nz/webcams/index.php

See you tomorrow.

McCafe

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Why was Daniel s_ _ _ _ _? (can you hear what Annalise said Daniel was?)
What was outside the window?
What is a Fluffy?
What was Annalise's special news from school today?
What did Annalise choose?

See you tomorrow.

At the beach with Dan

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How far is Pukehina from our house?
What kind of house is it?
What is a flat (flatting)?
What can you tell me about Dan?
What did Dan compare the noise of the beach to?
What was I going to do with Dan after I finished taking the video?

See you tomorrow!

Weet-Bix and Vegemite

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How do you eat Weet-Bix?
What is Vegemite?
What is funny about Vegemite?
How do you eat Vegemite?

Please tell me any ideas you have to improve this blog or subjects you would be interested in. Any ideas? Please send me an email to my mixi or to blog@fusionenglish.com

Tomorrow we have a busy day. We are going in the morning to visit some friends who are at a holiday home at a beach about 30 minutes from here. They are renting for a few days. Then we are going to another friend:s house for dinner. Both families have kids similar ages to ours so it will be fun. I will do the blog from there tomorrow so you can meet some new people.

See you tomorrow.

'Kiwi Sushi'

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Roz's grandfather has done many things in his lifetime including being a fisherman and a chef. He is a good cook. This vdeo was from their home on Sunday.

What are Roz's grandparent's names and what were we doing at thier house?
Jim talks about his "Kiwi Sushi" what is in it?
What other types of sushi does he make?
Where does he often take the Sushi he makes?

Roz's grandmother jumped off the Sky Tower (yesterday's blog) a few years ago. She was over 70 years old. Isn't that amazing!

See you tomorrow

Sky Tower Jump

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Sorry about the quality of the picture. Once again my camera did not adjust to the light changing. This was a few days ago when Hiroko was here.

How high is the jump?
Why didn't Hiroko take a picture?
Tell me some things Hiroko did in Auckland.
What are the two reasons the chocolate cafe is famous?
What can you do at that cafe?

Here is the website of the Sky Tower Jump if you want to have look.

http://www.skyjump.co.nz/

See you tomorrow.

Pukekohe

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How far is Pukekohe from Auckland?
What can you tell me about Pukekohe? (population, famous for etc.)
What are we doing tonight?
What do most towns have a lot of?

See you tomorrow.

Babysitting

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What was I a little worried about?
What do we call an Elementary school in New Zealand?
What does every school have to have?
What did I do today.
What about Annalise and Daniel and Roz?
What is "babysitting"?
Who babysits?

See you tomorrow.

Volcanoes

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Sorry I haven't been putting questions for the video the last few days. I have been having a few problems as I have not been on my home computer. Here are some questions for today.

Where was I today and why is it famous?
What was "steep and deep"?
What can you do off the Sky Tower?
What can you tell me about the Auckland volcanoes?
What did Hiroko say about Kiwi people?

See you tomorrow.

Hiroko's last night.

Hi everyone. Here is today's video. See you tomorrow!


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All Blacks

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Hi everyone! I am at my sister's place and we had a great day today sightseeing and then tonight we watched a ruby game between Australia and New Zealand. We won.

See you tomorrow.

Hiroko's children's camp experience

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What did Hiroko do at the camp for her volunteer service?
What activities did she do for fun?
What things did we show you outside (sorry my camera didn't work)?
What were we going to do next.

We just had a great time in Rotorua sightseeing. Hiroko went to a famous place called 'Hells Gate', we went hiking, shopping and sightseeing.

Our wedding photos (part 2)

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How many brothers and sisters do I have?
What was the photograher's idea?
How was Roz looking?
What was I doing in the photo?
What can you tell me about Hamilton gardens?
What is quite common to have when you are having your wedding photos taken?
Which countries did I say had gardens there?

Tomorrow I am picking Hiroko up from Rotorua. It should be intersting to hear about her experiences at the camp.

See you tomorrow.

Our wedding photos (part 1)

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How long have we been married?
What are bridesmaids?
What did Roz's brother do in the ceromony?
What else happened in the ceromony?

It might be a little confusing that I talk about my 'bestmen'. Usually you only have one 'bestman' and the others are called 'groomsmen'. But I wanted my three good friends to all be 'bestmen'. Are you confused? I hope not. Are weddings in Japan very different? I will give you part 2 tomorrow.

See you tomorrow.

Mexican for dinner tonight!

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Some days the videos are easy and some days they are hard. Today's video is quite difficult. So don't worry if you can't understand everything. It's 'real English' just like visiting a foreign country and listening to native speakers. I hope you enjoy.

Why didn't Roz have to cook tonight?
What does 'treat' mean?
What was Hilary making?
What were the main ingredients?
Hilary is a primary school teacher (elementary school is called primary school in New Zealand). She is on holiday. How long is she on holiday for?
What is she doing in her holidays?
What does "popping over" mean?
What does she like best about teaching?
How many weeks holiday do teachers get in NZ.

See you tomorrow.

Picnic in Rotorua

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Today we had what I called a "kiwi picnic". It is quick and easy. You bring a few things from home and then stop at a supermarket on the way to the picnic and a buy a few more things. We droped Hiroko off at a camp today where she will be a volunteer helper. It is a childrens holiday camp in Rotorua. She will be there until Friday.

What was in Annalise's sandwich?
What can you tell me about Rotorua?
What can you tell me about the camp?
What did Annalise do there?
What will Hiroko do at the camp?
What will we do after the picnic?

See you tomorrow.

Japanese food in NZ

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What Japanese food can you buy in one of our local supermarkets?
How much was the wasabi and nori?
What was the cultural difference I showed today?
What does "whip down" mean?
What is the difference between a Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc wine?

Hiroko went to one of NZ's most famous tourist places today. Waitomo Caves. They are amazing. Have a look at this link if you would like to see.

http://www.waitomocaves.co.nz/home/

See you tomorrow!

A movie review with Holly

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Todays blog is very hard to hear because there are many people talking in the background. But this is good because if you do a homestay or are at a party this is what it will be like. So just try and understand as much as you can and see if you can answer these questions.

How long does Hiroko have left at her homestay?
What movie did Holly see?
What is it about?
What does naughty mean?
What does "much to everyones surprise mean"?
Where was the movie made?
What lessons is Holly taking?
Who does she do the lessons with?

See you tomorrow.