Weekly Words no. 5: Eggs and Bunnies
Happy Good Friday, mina-san! I'm sure that (if you are someone who celebrates it) you are getting excited for Easter! I am too! My boyfriend and I are heading to be with my two sisters for this weekend. On Tuesday, I'll be back home hosting an Easter Egg Hunt for my friends! I got the idea to host the hunt after realizing that some of my Japanese friends on my college campus have never celebrated Easter before! I'm lucky to live off-campus in a house with a huge yard. Th
Weekly Words no. 4: Happy Spring, mina-san!
Well what do you know, the equinox has come and gone and it's springtime once again! (Although, here in New England it doesn't feel like spring just yet, but it will soon I hope!) Growing up in Vermont, spring always meant muddy roads and maple syrup. But in Japan, it's all about the cherry blossoms! Everyone gets to participate in hanami (flower viewing). Each spring, friends and family get together to view the cherry trees as their petals fall in the spring breeze. Bent
Making Anki Cards, Let's Walkthrough it Together!
A little while ago, I did a Resource Reveiw on Anki. You can read that blog post here. I promised that I would make a basic tutorial on how to create Anki flashcard decks, so here it is! I do not own a Macintosh, so this is a tutorial for Windows users. The method should be similar if not the same on Macintosh. 作りましょう！ Step One The first step is, of course, to download Anki onto your computer. Visit Anki's homepage and click download. There's instructions there on the d
Resource Reveiw: Lyrics Training
Visit their homepage now at LyricsTraining.com Music has always been an excellent way of learning a language and exchanging in culture. Many teachers use music in their classrooms to enhance the understanding their students have of their second language. In fact, the famous Latina singer Shakira learned English because of her desire to make emotional music in another language! Lyrics Training is an application (that can run on both your internet browser and on mobile) which
Weekly Words no. 3: Luck of the Irish
I have a few good memories from my childhood about Saint Patrick's Day. One memory sticks out in my mind: the infamous pancake disaster of '08. My brother was home for the weekend. He wanted to make clover-shaped pancakes for breakfast. Being the over-the-top guy that he is, he couldn't settle for just the clover shape - they had to be green, too. Unfortunately for us, my parents never had food coloring in the pantry before. We had one box (who knows how old it was) of in
