Black Cab

Please watch the video below and answer the questions.

1. How did you feel about this video?
2. Have you ever ridden in a London taxi?
3. Do you agree that they are the best in the world?

 The Knowledge

Lots of Japanese people go to London every year and many of those ride a London cab. The London taxi is a symbol of the city, but most Japanese tourists do not know a very special thing about every black cab driver. Many people would like to become a London taxi driver, but only one out of four can pass the exam. The name of the training is "The Knowledge". All candidates have to learn every street in a six mile radius of Charring Cross station. That is 25,000 streets. Beyond this they have to remember all the shops, restaurants, hotels, schools and stations. It takes about three years to complete this. If you see someone riding a small motorbike or bicycle with a map attached to the handlebars in London, definitely they are doing "The Knowledge".  

 

 毎年たくさんの日本人はロンドンに行く。その人たちはたくさんタクシーに乗る。ロンドンの「Black cab」はロンドンの象徴だけど、たいてい日本の観光客はロンドンのタクシードライバーの特別な事を知らない。たくさんの人はロンドンタクシードライバになりたいが、四分の一だけ試験に合格する。トレーニングの名前は「The Knowledge」だ。みんなはチャリングクロス駅から半径6マイルの道全部を覚えておく必要があります。それは二万五千の道です。その上全部の店、学校、とか駅を覚えなければなりません。たいていその事は三年が要る。もしロンドンで小さなバイクと自転車に乗っている人を見て、バイクと自転車に地図が添付されていたら、絶対その人は「The Knowledge」をしている。

1. What is your opinion of the knowledge?
2. Should Kyoto taxi drivers do the same?
3. In these days of satellite navigation, does a taxi driver need to know the streets of the city they work in well?

Before class think about a job that someone does in Kyoto, that would be interesting for visitors to know about, then prepare a three minute talk.

Top Tourist Spots in London

  Below are the four most popular tourist spots in London. Before class, choose one and research it on the Internet. Then write a three minute talk about it to give to the class. Also think of some questions to ask about the other three tourist spots.

 

1: The Tower of London

 

2: Westminster Abbey

3: Kew Gardens

 

4: St Paul's Cathedral

Lifestyle

For this weeks lesson, please watch the four videos below. For each video write down three questions to ask me in class. Then choose two of the themes and make two short talks to give to the class.

This lesson is a piece of cake

In this lesson we are going to look at some British English idioms. Our first one is:

A piece  of cake

This idiom means something is easy to do, for example: 

• Frying an egg is a piece of cake.

• The exam won't be difficult, it will be a piece of cake.

• I thought climbing Daimonji would be a piece of cake, but it was actually a little difficult. 

Every cloud has a silver lining

 The meaning of this idiom is that even if something bad happens, there is always something good too. If you look at a black cloud, it's edge is silver. Here are some examples:

• I used to work for a big English conversation school, but it went bankrupt and was taken over by a terrible company, so I was in a bad situation. But every cloud has a silver lining: this made me look for better and more fulfilling teaching work.
•  One of my student's has cancelled their lesson tomorrow, but every cloud has a silver lining, I now have time to study Japanese.

It is not my cup of tea

This means you do not really like something. British people are very fussy about tea and how tea is made, so this is probably the origin of the idiom. Here are some examples:

• Most British men are interested in football, but it is not my cup of tea.
• I like different curries from around the world, but I am sorry, Japanese curry is not my cup of tea.
• Strangely, I love all kinds of Japanese tea, but British milk tea is not my cup of tea! 

 Before next lesson choose two of the idioms  and make two short talks to give to the class,  using one idiom in each talk.

 

Birmingham in the 1970s

1. The picture above is a statue of King Kong, it used to stand in my hometown, Birmingham, in the 1970s. Before class think of some questions about the the picture. Also find an old picture of an interesting thing from Kyoto's past, that has now disappeared and prepare to tell the class about it.
   
2.  This picture is of the open air market in Birmingham, again from the 1970s. Think of some questions about it. Then find an old picture of a Japanese market or a shop and prepare to tell the class about it.
   
3.  This is a picture of my secondary school in Birmingham in the 1970s. Think of some questions to ask me about the school. Then find a picture of one of the schools you went to and prepare to tell the class about that school.

The Emperor

Before class please watch the video and answer the questions.

 

1. Did you enjoy the video? Why or why not?
2. Which of the four words in the video do you think suits the Emperor best?
3. If you were asked to choose a word to represent the Emperor, what word would you choose and why?
4. How do you feel about the Emperor abdicating?
5. What do you think about the next Emperor? 

Before class please prepare a short talk about the present Emperor or any previous one. Also before class think of some questions to ask about the British Queen.

JAL

Before class watch the video and answer the questions

1. What was your impression of the advertisement?
2. What does "while others fly, we soar" mean?
3. What are your experiences with JAL?
4. Which is your favorite airline and why?
5. Is flying enjoyable for you? Why or why not?
6. Which do you think is the top rated airline in the world?

Before class please prepare two talks, one about a good experience with an airline and one about a bad experience.