ETJ Blog

I can tell you from knowing him for many years that English Teacher John is a great teacher and, more important, a very good man. You can count on good things from him with a caring attitude.
Don’t be hesitant to check him out. You will be happy with it all

(Hey, I really didn’t ask my cousin to write this message!! –John)

Well, as some of you have realized, I’ve recently gotten into podcasting. Working with multimedia (audio and video) is interesting for me, and I think there are many uses for education. I enjoy doing the English learning podcasts and feel like I make some connection with people in far away places. I know there are so many of you out there learning English and I hope that the podcast is a help in some small way.

I’m very intestested to know your ideas about the use of podcasting in language education. Are you learning and improving your English by listening to the “English Teacher John Show” and other English learning podcasts?

I think that it’s also important to get learners into the ‘creative’ side of the podcasts and mp3 files. That means that the STUDENT creates podcasts, evaluates other students’ podcasts and uses English in many ways to create audio content. How does that sound? Do you have some comments or ideas about using mp3 audio files and podcasting in language learning?

The other day, my English teacher asked me “Have you bought?”. I wondered what he was asking about. (I go to shop groceries almost every day!) So I answered ” Have I bought what???”. A few minutes later, it came to me in a flash that he was saying “Have you vote?”. Yes, it was just after the election day in Japan.

It is difficult to distinguish “v” sound from “b”. It is also difficult for me to hear out “f” and “h”, “s” and “th”, and “r” and “l”. I think that’s because these sounds are not familiar in Japanese language. Do you have a similar experience like this? And how do you practice your English pronunciation?

Dear Sirs:

Your podcasts are excellent. I would appreciate it if you could make printouts of the dialogues somewhere on your site.

Sincerely yours,
Hjack

Before starting, I want to say that this is not an advertising message, it’s rather a news letter (just to make you on the page).
Well, the title is “Promoting satellite in daily life” but for us, the improtant is to promot satellite to better speak und understand english, yes?
In this short passage, I want to introduce to the european and north-african people a free service broadcasted by satellite and i want to tell them that we can use this service to receive daily english podcasts without going through the net (it’s i godsend, by sky!). So the question is how?
The entire project is made by the ESA(European Spatial Agency), Astra-Europe, and CSP(I don’t know what that mean?!) and it’s called SAT@ONCE, the strength of this project is that it’s free but the disanvantadge is that only european and some north-african people can profit from this service, (because the satellite is fixed there!).
I want speak long about that project but if you want more, you can go on: www.satatonce.com
and there, you can download the new version of the software that allow you to catch internet contents for free. the broacasted contents depend on the vote of the sat@once community so if you want to get the english teacher john podcasts and other english podcast for free and whenever they are published as i want, you have to vote for them but before this you have to download the software called CASABLANCA from www.satatonce.com.
Another important thing is that, in order to receive this service you must have a satellite adapter and a dish oriented to the ASTRA 19°E!
please help me voting for the English Teacher John Podcasts. I’m also voting for the ESLPod.com
So if you can get the equipement, do it! Together we can do something.

Today, I have gone to the university just to get the dean’s signature on a paper. Without this paper signed by the dean, I won’t be able to get the bus to the university for a small amount of money, it’s a kind of subscription to a public service, and there is a big discount for students. So you have to get the signature of the dean to prove that you are a student!!! Anyway, we used to suffer from that routine as sitizens of an under developping country! That’s not a problem. The problem is that when I reached the university, I gone to the student’s office but that guy that supposed to be there was not on his desk! He was out of his bureau talking with another man. I was waiting for him but he seemed to be not concerned, he didn’t even look to me! The tow men were both speaking and laughing together and the student’s line was getting longer and longer. I decided to talk to him, politely of cource, because here in Tunisia, even if you are asking for your right you must ask for him very very politely, else you will never get what you want or what you need!!! When I approached from that guy, and before I start to talk, he saw the paper in my hand and he said: WHAT!!! WHAT DO YOU WANT? WAIT FOR ME IN MY OFFICE!. I said: you have never been in you office, how can I……!
He interrupted me and he said: So, I won’t do your paper, I’m going to eat something with my friend, we haven’t met since a big time. Can you immagine that situation? and the worse was that I could do nothing. Even the director was not in his office. So I decided not to be nerveous and to wait. I know what kind of idea you could take on me, but believe me I had nothing to do.
Finally, after a wait of 4 hours, i got my paper signed! You know, I hate people like that guy. It’s because of that people that Tunisia is a member of these third-world countries. Poor Tunisia!

Hi,
it is really a great webpage and i think that it is my first entery into this webpagte and seeing things so wonderful, and i will try to learn more and more later.

so, i am tired, and get to go, and hope everyone enjoys it.

My wife and I live in Matsumoto, Japan which is in the center of Honshu Island. Honshu is the main island of Japan. We live about 3 or 4 hours from Tokyo, the capital of Japan.

Matsumoto has about 200,000 people and we live in a neighborhood on the northern edge of the city. There are many small and medium-sized houses, and also there are some apartment buildings. Nearby, there are many rice fields and apple trees. My wife and I like to ride bicycles around the rice fields and the nearby hills.

Our supermarket is about half a kilometer from our house. We go there many times a week. Also, we like to go to the video shop and rent DVD or VHS movies.

How is your town or city? How is your neighborhood? Can you write something about your town or city, and your neighborhood? (You can look at the message below for some information about how to write and post a comment.)

Well hello friends, students and family,

Today is just a beautiful day here in Matsumoto, Japan!! And I think it’s a great day to start our brand new “MY ENGLISH BLOG.”

Remember … “My English Blog” is Y-O-U-R English blog!

I know that some of you are now listening to the “English Teacher John Show” mp3 podcast (http://englishteacherjohn.com/podcast/index.htm) and I want to start a blog FOR ENGLISH LEARNING.

“My English Blog” is a place where you can:
– try out your English!
– write a COMMENT about someone else’s message.
– write a MESSAGE about something that is on your mind.
– express your ideas or opinions about English learning, or about anything.
– connect with English learners in Japan, AND around the world!
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TO WRITE A COMMENT, YOU MUST FIRST REGISTER by clicking the ‘register’ link at the bottom right. After you register, you can write a comment by clicking on the ‘Comments’ link AT THE BOTTOM OF THE MESSAGE that you want to comment on.
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I think this blog will work best if you FIRST THINK about your comments, write them down, look at them and make sure you are comfortable with your message. Then, you can post your message here on “My English Blog.”

Thank you very much! I look forward to reading your messages and creating our own “My English Blog” English learning community.
John