ETJ Blog

Lesson 46 (mp3) | Duration: 13:45 | File Size: 6.38mb | Podcast Page

Hello everyone. I’m John Koons and I’m your host for the English Teacher John Show and our other audio and video podcasts.

It’s summer time, it’s hot and I am pretty lazy these days. You’ve probably noticed that we’ve put out fewer podcasts than usual in the last couple of months. It’s a combination of my summer laziness and getting busy with my teaching work. Although there are only a few new podcasts on our website, I do think that the new ones – podcast 44 and video podcast 45 – (they) have a lot of learning material in them. You’ll see that they’re pretty long and they may take you a while to digest those shows.

And, don’t worry we’ll be producing more video and audio podcasts in the future … for sure!!

SEGMENT 1 – OUR BIRTHDAY

No grammar, no grammar, no grammar. Yeah, we’re going take a break from grammar segments. And it looks like today’s show is going to be a little shorter than our usual audio lesson. Why? Well, because it’s our one-year anniversary and I’m going to do something different. Hey, what’s that …

[Happy birthday music]

Actually, we’re a little late for our one-year birthday party, as the very first English Teacher John Show was published on July 29th, 2005. You know, I’m not someone who likes to look back to the past too much. I’m not completely sure that’s a good thing, but generally I like to think about what I need to do or want to do today, tomorrow and in the near future. I probably should look a little further into the future and have more of a longer-term vision or plan. You know, the “vision” thing.

Besides the need to develop some long-term goals, I think I also need to reflect more on my past experiences. The past and the future. They’re both so much a part of who we are, individually, and as societies.

Well, anyway, it is the one-year anniversary of the English Teacher John Show and let’s listen to a few comments from my friends …
[recording of friends’ comments — sorry for poor audio quality!]

SEGMENT 2 – O-BON – Japanese Holiday

Some of you have written and asked for me to talk more about Japan and the culture here in the country where I now live. Okay, I’ll give you another taste of Japanese culture. The next few days are part of the important holiday period known as O-bon. O-bon is always around the 15th of August and it’s a Buddhist festival in Japan which celebrates the return of the familys’ ancestors to the home. So, it’s a time where most people return to their hometowns and spend time with their families. Traditionally, families visit and clean the graves of their ancestors. Well, my wife is from an area of western Honshu island called Tottori and that’s where we’re headed tomorrow morning early. We’ll leave the house around 6 am, catch a bus to Osaka. I think we have some free time in Osaka (which is Japan’s second largest city), then we’ll be on another bus to Tottori. Yep, it takes all day. I think that even if we had a car it wouldn’t be much faster.

I’ll have a lot of time on buses tomorrow, so I just downloaded a bunch of podcasts from my favorite Japanese learning website, japanesepod101.com.

We’re going to stay with my wife’s family for about four days, then we’ll spend a night in the big city of Osaka. We may even visit Japan’s largest castle, which is called Himejijo or Himeji Castle. Japan’s largest castle is west of Kobe, and the city of Kobe is west of Osaka. West, west west. And, guess what? Yes, Osaka is about 500 kilometers west of the capital city, Tokyo.

You’ve probably heard of the superfast and super sleek Japanese “bullet train.” Well, here in Japan we call it the “Shinkansen” and no, we’re not going to take the Shinkansen tomorrow. First of all, it doesn’t go to Tottori, and second, it’s pretty expensive. I’ve been on it once or twice and yes, it is pretty fun to cruise along at something around 250 or 300 kilometers per hour. Yeah!

SEGMENT 3 – SOME THOUGHTS FOR THOSE SUFFERING (Middle East conflict)

Before signing off, I’d like to send out some wishes for an end to the suffering and conflict in Lebanon. I know it’s a very complicated issue and I just hope that the violence comes to an end soon. Also, I know there are other people out there who are also suffering – from hunger, war, abuse, poverty, psychological problems, disease and lots of other things – so especially in these recent days of conflict shown to many us in the newspapers, magazines, the online world, let’s all hope for brighter days ahead, and lets hope for an eventual end to the large-scale suffering that’s happening in the Middle East and so many other parts of the world.

SEGMENT 4 – SIGNOFF

Hey, I know that some of you have visited the video page on our website and checked out our latest video podcast number 45, and interview with my friend, neighbor and student, Hiromi, a very special person. The video interview is in 2 parts and right now I just have part 1 on the website. Video part 2 is coming soon so please check the website regularly. And don’t forget that the audio for the complete interview is on our podcast page.

All of our video and audio podcasts, some transcripts, our blog and more are close at hand at englishteacherjohn.com. Our email address is p o d c a s t –AT- english teacher john.com.

Thanks for listening to the show today, my name is John Koons, and I wish you a happy and peaceful weekend. Take care.

Thanks to Martin Chenhall, our music man.

Posted by English Teacher John on Saturday, August 12th, 2006 at 3:27 am
Category: ETJ Show, Listening, Transcript. Follow responses to this entry: RSS 2.0 feed.