Hello Class,

Here is an interesting advertisement from Berlitz.
It is from somewhere in Europe, but I thought you would enjoy it.

Do you understanding what it means?

Add some comments if you like.

Thanks and see you next week!

Hi Class,

Here are some small talk dialogs that we did in class today:

A: What are you going to do today?
B: I'm going to do some recruiting.
A: Oh, sounds busy.

A: What are you going to do today?
B: I'm going to attend a meeting and go to dinner with a client.
A: Who is the client?
B: It's a tin manufacturer and container company.
A: What kind of containers do they produce?
B: They produce shipping containers, metal drum containers, and stainless steel containers for chemical manufacturers.

A:What are you going to do today?
B: I'm going to prepare for tomorrow's meeting.
A: What kind of meeting are you preparing for?
B: We are meeting with a company (that we are collaborating with) to create educational programs for junior high school students.
A: That sounds interesting.

A: What are you going to do today?
B: I'm going to visit a client to develop a training program for company freshmen.
A: What kind of training?
B: A training for communication.
A: Sounds fun!

A: What are you going to do today?
B: I'm going to an educational training for market researchers.
A: Oh, sounds hard.

A: What are you going to do today?
B: I'm going to make a tenant list for all the buildings we purchased recently.
A: Oh, sounds fantastic.
B: Well, not so fantastic because we purchased buildings that aren't earthquake-proof and we have to kick out the tenants so we can tear down the buildings.
A: Oh, sounds very severe.

There are three points I'd like you to notice.
First the phrase of the day, "What are you going to do today?"
The answer should start with "I'm going to..."
Lastly, take a look at the different examples of "back channeling" or あいづち:

• Oh, sounds busy.
• Sounds fun!
• Oh, sounds hard.
• Oh, sounds very severe.
• That sounds interesting.

Remember that back channeling is used to keep a conversation going smoothly.
Try some of these English expressions in your next session of small talk.

Have a great week!

Dear Class,

Here are some more dialogs that my Saturday class studied:

A: What are you going to do today?
B: I'm going to go to another class.
A: What kind of class are you going to?
B: I'm going to a fabric dyeing class.
A: Wow, that sounds fun!


A: What are you going to do today?
B: I'm going to Umewaka Sports Gym.
A: What are you going to do there?
B: I'm going to a kendo lesson.
A: Oh, that sounds hard.

A: What are you going to do today?
B: I don't have any plans, but I might go for a walk around here.

Dear Class,

Today I brought some graded readers from the Thomson Foundations Library.
This series starts lower than most graded reader series.
It has 7 levels from low beginner to low intermediate.

I really recommend these stories because they are have interesting plots, colorful illustrations, and are all set in the same small town.
Let's try reading them together!

Talking about work:

Here are some dialogs we created in class today.

A: What do you have to do today?
B: I have to attend a meeting today.

A: What do you have to do today?
B: I have to write some reports today.
A: What kind of reports do you have to write?
B: I have to write some REIT reports.
A: What does REIT stand for?
B: REIT stands for Real Estate Investment Trust.

A: What do you have to do today?
B: I have to visit a client today.

A: What do you have to do today.
B: I have to check a report and reply to a client for an artist.

A: What do you have to do today?
B: I have to listen to recorded interviews and write a report.

A: What do you have to do today?
B: I have to prepare for a general shareholders' meeting.

A:What do you have to do today?
B: I have to attend some meetings, visit a client, and go to Osaka tonight.
A: Wow, what a hard schedule!

Small Talk Topic of the Day

The Weather

A: It's a beautiful day today, isn't it?
B: It is, isn't it!

A: It's really raining hard, isn't it?
B: It is, isn't it!

A: I guess it's supposed rain all day.
B: Yeah, I wish it would clear up soon.
A: Me too!

A: I wish the rain would stop soon.
B: Yeah, me too ... I forgot my umbrella!

A: What lovely weather we're having.
B: Yes, it's nice, isn't it.

Homework:

Read, read, read!

Dear Class,

In our last class we talked about another topic of small talk; the weekend.
Here are a couple dialogs we made in class:

A: How was your weekend?
B: It was good.
A: What did you do?
B: I watched Major League Baseball.
A: Who was playing?
B: It was the Mariners vs. the Yankees.
A: Who won?
B: I don't know . . . unfortunately, I fell asleep.

A: How was your weekend?
B: Same old, same old.
A: What did you do?
B: I slept.
A: Oh . . . sounds . . . interesting.

A: How was your weekend?
B: Great!
A: What did you do?
B: I took my son to the swimming pool.
A: Really? Did you swim too?
B: No, I sat next to the pool and counted laps for him.
A: How far did he swim?
B: A little over a kilometer.
A: Wow, he must be a good swimmer!

Small talk is generally unimportant conversation, but learning to make small talk is very important!
It's best to make small talk with same topics such as:

• the weather
• sports
• television
• movies
  
• the weekend
• family

Four topics that should be avoided are:

• sex
• religion
• politics
• money
  

Of course, these topics are discussed but usually only between close friends.

We also went over some of our goals for increasing your commprehensible input of English
through Extensive Reading and Listening.
I gave you some feedback on how to improve your goals by making them SMART Goals.

Homework:

Rewrite your goals to be SMART Goals.
Be sure to continue reading your graded readers!

See you next week!

Matthew

Hello Class,

I found an interesting little movie in Japanese that talks about the importance of creating an "English Brain".

Click here!

Getting exposure to lots and lots of English through Extensive Reading and Listening is very important for developing your English.

I hope you enjoy the explanation and learn something new from it!

Thanks and see you next Tuesday!

Matt

Dear Class,

I am back from vacation and am glad to see everyone in class.

Here is a dialog that we wrote together in class:

A: How was your Golden Week?

B: It was good.

A: What did you do?

B: I stayed at home and relaxed.

Here is another:

A: How was your Golden Week?

B: It was fun.

A: What did you do?

B: I went to my home town and saw a movie.

A: Which movie did you see?

B: I saw Babel.

A: How was it?

B: It was very interesting ... in a good way.

Next week I will bring a sample Business English textbook called Market Leader.
We are looking for a new topic for class.
One idea is to use a Business English textbook.
Do you have any other ideas?
Please leave a comment!

Homework:

Write a SMART goal for INPUT
Focus on Extensive Reading and Extensive Listening