Hey everyone! Happy September 1st! Today I talked about some events in September — remember Nagatsuki and the Autumn Equinox!みなさまごきげんよう、今日は9/1!9月の行事について話したよ。「長月」「秋分の日」覚えてね！

Moekoの日本語ベラベラtime

Moekoの日本語ベラベラtimeEpi22: 9月の行事【Japanese Podcast: listening practice】

In this episode of Hey Alexis!, I’m joined by Jerome as we dive into fun and useful English idioms! We break down expressions like keep in touch, playing with fire, and crash a party—explaining their meanings and how to use them naturally in conversation. Tune in for a lively chat and start adding these idioms to your English toolkit! 🎙️🔥

Thanks to Jerome for being such a great guest!!!

Alexis Teacher Profile  : https://www.italki.com/en/teacher/9464070
Jerome: https://www.italki.com/en/teacher/4075458



Hey Alexis!

Idioms in Action: Keep in Touch, Playing with Fire & More (with Jerome!)

In questa seconda puntata riflettiamo sul titolo del romanzo di Domenico Starnone, Lacci, e sul suo significato simbolico.
I lacci diventano metafora dei legami familiari, dei fili invisibili che uniscono e, a volte, soffocano. Attraverso la storia di Aldo, Vanda e dei figli Sandro e Anna, scopriamo come gesti quotidiani, come allacciare le scarpe, possano racchiudere emozioni profonde, responsabilità e memoria affettiva.

Durante l’episodio esploriamo anche parole, modi di dire e lessico italiano utili per studenti:

Seguire le orme di qualcuno → imitare il percorso o l’esempio di qualcun altro.
Allacciare / riallacciare → sia letterale (scarpe) che figurato (legami, rapporti).
Arraffare tutto → prendere tutto con avidità, senza pensare agli altri.
Lasciare le briciole → lasciare pochissimo, quasi nulla.
Torturarsi reciprocamente → soffrire insieme in maniera dolorosa, spesso riferito a conflitti familiari.
Sciogliere i nodi → liberarsi da vincoli o problemi del passato.

Riflettiamo insieme su come gesti piccoli e quotidiani possano raccontare storie di affetto, distanza e responsabilità, e su come la lingua italiana esprima queste sfumature attraverso verbi, immagini e modi di dire.

Se vuoi approfondire Lacci e imparare l’italiano leggendo e discutendo, continua il viaggio con Bookclub & Cappuccino.

BookClub e Cappuccino: libri italiani contemporanei

02. Bookclub & Cappuccino – Lacci: il senso del titolo

みなさん、こんにちは。
みなさんは、お菓子作りをしますか。
バナナケーキを作ったことがありますか。
ホットケーキミックスで作るバナナケーキは、我が家の定番の朝ごはんメニューなんです。
息子も娘も大好きで、いつも取り合いです。
では、作り方をご紹介します。
まずは、材料と用意するものです。
・18㎝のパウンド型（これはダイソーやcandoのような100円ショップで売っています）
・バナナ2本
・卵　1個
・砂糖　30ｇ
・サラダ油　60ｇ
・ホットケーキミックス150ｇ（これは日本のスーパーであれば、どこにでも売っています。みなさんの国にもありますか。あるかな。あるといいな。きっと国によって少し味が違うと思うんですよね。みなさんの国のホットケーキミックスはどんな味なんでしょうか）
➀まず、型にシートをひきます。そしてオーブンを180度に予熱（よねつ）します。
②ボウルにバナナ１本を入れて、フォークでつぶして、ペースト状（じょう）にします。ペースト状、わかりますか。どろっとなるまで、バナナをつぶします。
③ペースト状にしたバナナに、卵、砂糖、サラダ油を加えてよく混ぜます。最後にホットケーキミックスも加えて混ぜます。
④これを、型に流し込みます。もう一本のバナナを縦半分（たてはんぶん）に切ってのせます。
⑤予熱したオーブンで35分～40分焼きます。

たったのこれだけです。すごく簡単でしょ。ぜひ、作ってみてください。おいしいですよ。
そして感想を聞かせてください。
　
語彙：
定番（ていばん）：standard
予熱した：preheated 


「のぞみ」の日記

バナナケーキの作り方

The story of this episode is about an ASMR Youtube star and what inspired her to pursue this career. 
>Have you ever considered starting a Youtube channel as a hobby or to make money?
Share with me in the comments!

5-minute English Tea Time

Can Chewing Food Make You a Millionaire?

庭の梅が咲きました。梅の花が咲くと、本格的に春が来るなとそわそわします。梅の話から、神社、そして地元の伝統工芸の話をしています。


Today I talk about Japanese plum, ume blossoms. Seeing ume blooming, I feel I have to do something just because spring is coming! 
The topics move from ume blossoms to the shrine, and local traditional crafts.


+++ words +++
様子（ようす）　　　　　　　appearance
感動（かんどう）する　　　　be moved, touched
梅干し　　　　　　　　　　　pickled dried ume(plum)
梅の実（うめのみ）　　　　　ume, Japanese plum
漬ける（つける）　　　　　　pickle, preserve in (salt, suger...)
干す（ほす）　　　　　　　　dry (in the sun)
植える（うえる）　　　　　　plant
お参りに行く（おまいりにいく）go to pray
人形（にんぎょう）　　　　　doll
素朴な（そぼくな）　　　　　rustic
伝統工芸（でんとうこうげい）traditional crafts

+++ grammers +++
Nばかり　　　　　　　　　　 only N
V1たり、V2たり　　　　　　　do such as V1 and V2
N好き（Nずき）　　　　　　　person who like N ⇔Nぎらい

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

梅の花から天神さん、張り子のお話

Many of my students choose to practice "small talk" in their conversation classes because, no matter whether they are outgoing or shy, chatting with strangers (especially in English) can make most people feel nervous...But guess what? Small talk doesn’t have to be hard!
Here are five tips and some questions you can ask to prepare for small talk situations in advance! Click the link to see the full script: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1fYYUBwSvAXm4_x5djUrApUfollycKjftFsnfUeqp1vY/edit?usp=sharing

UK TALKS WITH LIZ

EPISODE 8: SMALL TALK!

Escucha este audio-artículo y descubre la provincia de Huelva y buenos trucos para viajar por ella disfrutando de los lugares más auténticos.

VIAJAR POR ESPAÑA  "AUDIOS"

Mi España - La Provincia de Huelva

Sit Less, Move More, Live Longer, Says Study
As a new year begins, many of us have been making plans for the months ahead — things we want to do, places we want to go, and parts of our lives we want to change.

And one study from 2022 has some simple advice to share that we might be able to use in 2023: sit less, move more.

Okay, so it's not a new message, but the researchers found that the results of their large study provide more evidence that long periods of sitting are bad for our health.

This is true across the world, but especially in lower-income countries, they said.

The researchers followed more than 105,000 adults — aged between 35 and 70 — for an average of around 11 years.

They looked at how much time the participants — who were from 21 different countries — spent sitting down each day.

And they also wanted to know about their health as the years passed. In total, there were more than 6,200 deaths and almost 5,700 cases of serious heart problems during the study.

Using this information, the researchers found that people who said they sat for eight or more hours per day were at a much higher risk of early death or serious heart disease.

These people were increasing their risk by as much as 20%, according to the researchers, but they added that doing exercise could help reduce these risks.

Scott Lear, who was one of the study's authors, said: "It's a global problem that has a remarkably simple fix. Scheduling time to get out of that chair is a great start."