Over that past four years I have met many wonderful people from around the world.   I have gained more from these relationships than I have given.   Thank you!   Also I will talk a bit about group classes.



Reflections

Thanks To My Students!

山梨（やまなし）県民は「富士山は山梨のものだ！」とよく言いますね。確かに東京からアクセスがいいので、山梨県側から登る人が多いです。けれども、関西人は静岡（しずおか）から登るので、山梨は富士山の「裏側（うらがわ）」だと思っていました。よく考えたら、富士五湖（ふじごこ）も、あちらですね。大変失礼いたいました。今年の富士山は、かなり混雑（こんざつ）していて、オーバーツーリズム気味（ぎみ）です。おもにそういった話と、ワインの話をちょっぴり。名産ですからね。

そうそう、ChatGPTに話し相手の基本設定入れたら、ハルカちゃんのキャラ変がはげしくて、ツンツンするようになったので、元にもどしました。お話の中で口調（くちょう）がブレてるのは、そのせいです。笑ってやってください。今回も新しいデータ出せなくて、まごまごしてます。Bing（Microsoft）ねえさんは、優秀（ゆうしゅう）だ。見習え！
スクリプトは⁠こちら⁠。
https://chivalrous-wallaby-f5c.notion.site/9-115fc37815b8408f810bbfeab7a68934?pvs=4
楽しみ方は⁠こちら⁠を見てください。
https://chivalrous-wallaby-f5c.notion.site/S2-1114d60c575442768615bc975767fd41?pvs=4
涼しくなったら、ワイン飲みたいなあ。
じゃあ、またね。

すずまりの日本語「きき耳ずきん」S2

第９話　富士山はだれのもの？（山梨）

Chinese Learning with Lily

Don't Play a Joke on Me (II)

in this podcast we learn how to express your daily routine in urdu

Ustaad Yasir

Daily Routine In Urdu

What do you think is the most expensive place in the world to live? New York? London? Maybe Tokyo?

While Japan has long had a reputation as an expensive place to live, its cities have been getting cheaper in recent years — with some big changes coming just in the last 12 months.

American consulting company Mercer recently released its 2024 Cost of Living City Ranking, which compares the costs of over 200 items in 226 cities around the world. The results are based on a March 2024 survey, and include things like housing and transportation, as well as food, clothing and entertainment.

All five of the world's most expensive cities are unchanged from last year, with Hong Kong and Singapore again in first and second place. These two Asian cities are followed by three Swiss cities: Zurich, Geneva and Basel.

Bern, another Swiss city, has risen from seventh to sixth place, while New York City has fallen one place to seventh.

However, Tokyo has dropped 30 places to 49th — putting it right after San Juan in Puerto Rico. And Osaka has dropped 53 places to 146th — just ahead of Wuhan in China.

However, the biggest drop since last year was for Lagos in Nigeria, which fell 178 places to 225th. And the least expensive city is now Abuja, Nigeria's capital, at 226th.

Mercer wrote that many big drops were caused by changes in exchange rates. Japan's yen dropped to a 34-year low against the US dollar in March — and hit a 38-year low in early July.

The ranking was also affected by inflation — especially in housing prices — as well as increasing political uncertainty around the world.

Mercer says it's important for companies to look at its cost of living ranking when thinking about sending staff to live abroad.




Practice Listening, Reading & Comprehension

Japan Tumbles on Expensive Cities Ranking

Hello and welcome to another episode of Engine English. 

Today's episode is part one on 21 essential business English idioms. People still seem to have doubts about the differences there are between general and business English. 

Although there’s substantial overlapping, there are some clear differences. I will give you 10 useful idioms that you can use in the office with examples that will help you understand how you can use them. 

Engine English

21 Essential Business Idioms Part 1

Descubre la apasionante vida de una de las artistas mexicanas más famosas del mundo: Frida Kahlo

The Red Pill Posdcast in Spanish 

Frida Kahlo 

In this episode of The Streetwise English Podcast I talk about the battle against "Procrastination" https://italki.com/teacher/1947582
Book a 1 on 1 class!!

Streetwise English

SWE 127 Stop Procrastinating Part 2

This story uses words from '4000 most common English words'

Zara is dragging Bobby into the market. He is like a stubborn little boy. Her eyes are beaming with enthusiasm and his are downcast with despair. 

The market is out of this world! There are countless numbers of things Zara has never seen before. 

As the two friends walk down the street, Zara points at everything in amazement while Bobby  dismisses them as boring and ordinary. 

Arriving at a food stall, Zara wants to experience everything. “And what are these fragrant things?” 

“Those are herbs…” 

“And this spicy thing?”

“Garlic… umm, where are you from?” 

“And what about this? It looks like the roots of a plant!” 

“That’s ginger, and, yes, they are the roots. Are you from outside of China?”

Zara is overwhelmed with positive emotion and disregards Bobby’s questions. 

The two friends arrive at an animal stall. It has horses, cows, chickens and pigs for sale. Zara touches all the animals, smelling and patting them. “These creatures are beautiful!” 

But Bobby doesn’t get it. He’s never met someone so strange in his life. He’s actually starting to feel irritated by Zara’s joy.

“Look, I have to get going soon… You know, my important task. So, is there anything I can do for you?” 

Zara stuffs a sugar-coated figurine into Bobby’s mouth. “Try this!” 

Bobby reluctantly chews and a little smile appears on his face. But then it disappears and he looks annoyed.

Zara runs off down the street, touching all the lovely silks and picking up all the metal tools. 

Bobby thinks, who does she think she is?