ネイティブが教える英会話のジェムスクール☆Teachers☆

Sometimes I draw things for my students. They usually enjoy my drawings because they're helpful or funny. I make sure they enjoy them so they can remember them easily, it's easier to recall something we enjoy. In this case I drew a Tyrannosaurus Rex. My student enjoyed the picture and tried hard to replicate my dinosaur. He didn't quite get it right but I rather enjoyed the result. We both got a good laugh from it.

  

This is Seth, he just turned 2 years old. So first I'd like to say Happy Birthday!

He's a very gifted young boy and at 2 years old he can already call me "Teacher!". But that's not all he can say, or do. When you read him a book he'll help you by acting out and saying the words you would read! Majority of the time he'll look at the books and pick out books he'd want me to read to him rather than play toys! weird huh?! So 3 cheers for Seth! hip, hip, hooray!

- James Barbosa  

The generosity of Japanese people continues to astound me. I was recently trying to air the tire of my bike while at my apartment and my sister and I simply could not figure it out. One of the other tenants, a young woman, came home and saw us struggling. She peered over at us and I smiled at her and she quickly walked over and saw our mistake. She quickly showed us how to air it properly and then she went on her way. She was so sweet! I noted which apartment she is in and I plan to get her a gift soon!
  

So far, we've covered playing with sand and playing in the water as things to do at the beach. This next topic may come as a bit of a surprise. Did you know that some people go to the beach just to get a tan? That is, to make their skin darker? I know many people in Japan (particularly the ladies) prefer to be as pale as possible, going so far as to carry around umbrellas to keep out of the sun. Not so in other places in the world! Heck, some people go to tanning salons just to get a tan.

In tanning salons, they put you in this little tube with special lights that imitate the effects of the sun, which will cause you to get a tan. But...please don't tan at a salon. Or spend too much time tanning in the sun. It can have very negative effects. One example would be that you would look like a human carrot - many people who tan, especially at salons, tend to get orange skin, kind of like this:



The person on the left is an Oompa Loompa, who is wearing orange makeup. The person on the right does not have orange makeup. Looks very close in color, right?
Another bad side effect of tanning too much is getting rough, leathery skin. I don't have an image for that, but if you own a brown leather couch, you will look pretty much like that.

I'm not saying tanning is bad, just that if you over do it, it can be bad for you. I personally enjoy being under the sun for a few hours. I like it when my skin darkens a little. But no way would I want to be cooking in the sun for a whole day. Just 2-3 hours while enjoying the view at the beach is good enough for me!