Neil McTaggart makes his first journey into town after settling in Canada.
The air is clean, the world quieter than the mills of Kilbirnie he left behind. In a warm little café, he meets Mrs Brant, a woman with her hair pinned up and a strong puritan look that reminds him of his grandmother. Through her quiet kindness, Neil begins to sense what belonging might feel like in this new land.

This gentle, reflective story captures the rhythm of early immigrant life in rural Canada — the small kindnesses, the silence, and the slow building of community far from home.

🎧 Part of the “Neil McTaggart” storytelling series — following a young Scottish man’s journey of migration, memory, and identity in 1920s Canada.

Teacher Joseph's Podcast

Neil McTaggart's Crossing (9): A Story of 1920s Scottish Emigration to Canada 

日本人が毎日飲むスープ、みそ汁を飲んだことがありますか。
わたしのうちではみそ汁に使う「みそ」を毎年冬につくります。

Have you ever taste Japanese soul food, miso soup?
I make "miso," soybean paste used for miso soup every winter. 


+++ words +++
材料（ざいりょう）　　ingredients
大豆（だいず）　　　　soybean
豆（まめ）　　　　　　bean
塩（しお）　　　　　　salt
麹（こうじ）　　　　　malted rice
～からつくられる　　　be made from
菌（きん）　　　　　　bacteria
発酵食品（はっこうしょくひん）　fermented food

煮る（にる）　　　　　boil
つぶす　　　　　　　　mash
それぞれ　　　　　　　each
量　　　　　　　　　　amount
種類　　　　　　　　　kind
味（あじ）　　　　　　taste
おにぎり　　　　　　　rice ball
空気（くうき）　　　　air

+++ grammers +++
Nにとって　　　　　　 for N
Vてくれます　　　　　 I thank someone for ～ing
～そうです。　　　　　I heard that

Country Life in Japan とかいとちがう　かもしれない　いなかのくらし

味噌（みそ）をつくる

What is “White Day” in Japan? Do you know what it is for?
日本の「ホワイトデー」ってなんの日ですか？何をする日か知っていますか？

[Intermediate-Upper level] Interesting Japanese Not Taught In Schools About Japanese business culture, Japanese habits & Osaka

What is “White Day” in Japan? Do you know what it is for? 日本の【ホワイトデー】ってなんの日ですか？何をする日か知っていますか？ 

A list of the most common words written with "O" but sound like "U":
some
come
cover
dozen
colour
love
money
honey
brother
mother
other
tongue
ton
Monday
month
monkey
Words spelled with "OU" but sound like "U":
country
couple
courage
cousin
double
trouble
touch
rough
tough
enough
young

The Social Evolutionary

Uh-oh! When the letter "O" sounds like "U".

I am not Mr. Tanaka.
私は たなかさんでは ありません。

Mr. Miller is not Japanese.
ミラーさんは にほんじんじゃ ありません。

Mr. Schmidt is not a company employee.
シュミットさんは かいしゃいん じゃ ありません。

Mr. Watt is not a student.
ワットさんはがくせい じゃありません。　


ようへい先生　　N4,N5チャンネル

みんなのにほんご　Chapter One

In this podcast, we go on to talk about advertisements and their role in our society as well as how we can be affected from advertisements.

 Fluency Mastery 101 Podcast

Fluency Mastery 101 Podcast Lesson 3: Advertisements

Marina y yo platicamos sobre la gastronomía de su país.

Mucho que decir

Gastronomía boliviana Ft. Marina

I've taught from students in universities to CEOs of top companies in China. From teachers to engineers and from PhD students in Tsinghua and Pekin universities. 

Through analyzing over 14 thousand students I came to realize that it isn't the knowledge you need to acquire or the skills as a language learner but a state of mind with which you'll be using this knowledge.

In the audio recording I go over your key factors for success and you already know it too - listen to the end to get the magic formula and enjoy the process... 

Feeeeeel into it deeper and still find your path as the result

Join me soon for more!

The Habits of Professionals Growing Into Strong, Confident English Communicators

The biggest secret of your success as a language learner. Listen now & share.

In many parts of the world, summer has kicked in, and people are really feeling the heat.

But people in one city in the Middle East may have more reason to complain about the heat than anywhere else in the world.

This place is so hot that birds fall from the sky, some streets are air-conditioned, and, allegedly, fish boil in the sea.

This is Kuwait City, the capital of Kuwait, often called the hottest city in the world.

Temperatures often get as hot as 50 degrees Celsius in the summer — and sometimes even higher. In July 2016, the temperature reached 54 degrees Celsius in the north, which is the highest temperature Kuwait has experienced.

People are rarely seen walking outside in the summer, and many residents leave the city while it's this hot.

Kuwait has always been hot, but climate change has made the summers hotter and longer.

According to the Emirates Policy Center, between 1962 and 1999 there were 18 days when the temperature in Kuwait was 50 degrees Celsius or higher. Between 2000 and 2021, the number of days was 80 — and 64 of those were between 2010 and 2021.

The country is also getting less rain than before. As a result, it's experiencing more frequent and intense dust storms.

Living in these high temperatures is not good for humans. A study by the University of Roehampton in London found that the human body has an upper temperature limit of between 40 degrees and 50 degrees before it starts to malfunction.

At higher temperatures, a person may start to experience "heat stress," which can cause things like confusion, nausea, dizziness and fainting — and can be fatal.

Some may say that Kuwait is contributing to its own problems, since it's one of the world's largest emitters per capita of carbon dioxide, and uses only fossil fuels for energy.

But things may be changing. According to the International Energy Agency, the country plans to generate at least 15% of its energy from renewable sources by 2030.