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The moving story of a foreign wife in Japan

  • January 27, 2011 at 10:24 am

(photo from Nikka Whiskey homepage)

Here is an interesting article from the Japan Times, about the moving story of a foreign wife who lived in Hokkaido.

A few years ago, I traveled to Hokkaido with friends and went by chance to the Nikka Whiskey museum, where I learned about Rita Taketsuru, a Scottish lady who left Scotland to follow her Japanese husband in his adventures. I was both impressed by what she had achieved and sad that she had not been able to return to her home country.

Enjoy !

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福島 県 福島 市 入江町 で　フランス語、 ドイツ語、 英語 を 勉強しましょう。

www.annerose-no-heya.net

Pain Perdu recipe

  • January 23, 2011 at 8:03 am

When I was a child, my mom would make “pain perdu” (also called “French toast”) and I remember not liking it very much. Pain perdu means lost bread or left over. This would usually be two-three days old bread. A way to use it and not waste it. In the Mottainai spirit…

Ingredients:
4 eggs
1 dl milk
a little salt
sugar to taste
3-4 slices of 2cm thick bread (with crust)
1 apple or other fruits to taste
(option: cinnamon)

Pre-heat the oven to 180C.

Mix the eggs with milk, salt and sugar. Cut bread into 2cm squares and put it into the egg mix. Bread must absorb the mix. Let it rest for 5 minutes.

Cut apple in small pieces.

Put the bread egg mix into a baking pan (silicone one will be easier to clean) and add the pieces of apple.

Bake it for 50 minutes.

Enjoy.

Other versions:

(1) I have also used the same recipe replacing apple with canned pear. In this case, I replace sugar with juice from the can (about 1 dl)

(2) For a salty version, remove sugar and fruits and add cheese.

(3) Sweet or salty version, in a fry pan: cut slices of bread (instead of cubes) and bake in a fry pan instead of oven.

How to make sweet “Pain perdu” in a fry pan:

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福島 県 福島 市 入江町 で　フランス語、 ドイツ語、 英語 を 勉強しましょう。

www.annerose-no-heya.net

Daniel Balavoine, 25 ans déjà

  • January 20, 2011 at 11:38 am

Daniel Balavoine

C’est incroyable, mais j’ai presque oublié que la semaine passée, c’était le 25ème anniversaire de la mort du chanteur français Daniel Balavoine. Il est mort en Afrique, pendant le Paris-Dakar, le 14 janvier 1986.

J’avais un peu plus de 13 ans. Je ne connaissais que quelques unes de ses chansons. Mais la mort brutale d’un artiste si talentueux à l’âge de 33 ans m’avait boulversée. Ca a été le début d’une grande passion qui a duré bien des années. Et, pour moi, une passion, ça veut dire obtenir le plus d’information possible. A une époque où il était très difficile d’obtenir quoi que ce soit… bien avant Internet, Wikipedia, You Tube, etc. C’était l’époque des cassettes…

Ecouter ses chansons, c’est un peu comme revenir 25 ans en arrière ou regarder un viel album photo… quel voyage…

Davantage d’infos sur wikipedia, ici; sur un site de fans, ici.

Voici un clip d’une des ses premiers tubes, Le Chanteur. Et ici un clip d’un tube de la comédie musicale Starmania, Quand on arrive en ville.

Un joli film, sur la chanson “Partir avant les miens”, une chanson prémonitoire…

Si vous voulez étudier les paroles de ses chansons…

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I can’t believe that I almost forgot that last week, it was the 25th anniversary of French singer Daniel Balavoine‘s death. He died in Africa, during the Paris-Dakar race, on January 14, 1986.

I had recently turned 13. When he died, I knew only a few of his songs. But the sudden death of such a talented man at the young age of 33 shocked me deeply. It was the beginning of a lifelong passion. Which meant, for me, to get as much information as possible. That, in the time before CDs, Internet, You Tube, etc. To say that it was rather difficult would be an understatement…

I recently started again listening to his songs. It is a little like a trip down memory lane… 25 years ago…

Some information in English on wikipedia, here.

Here is one of his first successful songs, with English subtitles.

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福島 県 福島 市 入江町 で　フランス語、 ドイツ語、 英語 を 勉強しましょう。

www.annerose-no-heya.net

Reading “Easy Readers”

  • January 18, 2011 at 1:36 pm

Did you ever wonder about the difference between “Easy Readers” and their original book ?

Here are some examples, with a scan of the first page of each book’s first chapter…

Can you see the difference between each original book and its Easy Reader version ?

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Let’s start and compare British author Jane Austen‘s famous novel “Pride and Prejudice”,

with first, the original book and then, different versions of Easy Readers.

“Pride and Prejudice”

(a novel by Jane Austen)

(for more information about the story, see the wikipedia entry here or here in simple English)

The original book:

about 400 pages (Penguin Classics edition)

The Easy Reader versions:

(1) Penguin Readers

about 140 pages (with exercises),
Level 5 (2300 headwords),  about 42,000 words in total

(2) Scholastic Readers

about 90 pages (with exercises, fact files and pictures of the 2005 movie),
Level 3 (1500 headwords)

(3) Oxford Bookworms Readers

about 120 pages (with exercises),
Level 6 (2500 headwords),  about 30,000 words in total

(4) Macmillan Readers

about 95 pages (with exercises),
Level 5 (about 1600 basic words)

(4) Black Cat Readers

about 160 pages (with exercises),
Step 5 (B2.2)

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Other examples:

The original:

Persuasion, by Jane Austen

about 230 pages

The Easy Reader version:

about 45 pages (with exercises)

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The original:

Death on the Nile, by Agatha Christie

about 315 pages

The Easy Reader version:

about 100 pages (with exercises)

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福島 県 福島 市 入江町 で　フランス語、 ドイツ語、 英語 を 勉強しましょう。

www.annerose-no-heya.net

新しい英会話のテキスト

  • January 14, 2011 at 3:36 pm
日本にあるの出版社 “EFL Press” から、英会話のテキストが来ました。
Just Talk (英会話、初級)
Let’s Chat! (英会話、初級)

やさしい英語＊英会話のレッスンの案内はここです。

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福島 県 福島 市 入江町 で　フランス語、 ドイツ語、 英語 を 勉強しましょう。

www.annerose-no-heya.net

Easy Reader Magazines / かんたんな外国語の雑誌

  • January 7, 2011 at 11:47 am

Students can now subscribe from Japan to UK’s Mary Glasgow easy reader magazines in English, French and German.
In each language, there are several levels: beginners to intermediate/advanced, depending on the language.
Subscriptions with or without CD available.

The Japanese representative can be reached here.

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これから、日本でもイギリスからの英語、フランス語やドイツ語のかんたんな雑誌を予約購読することできます。
ことばによって、レベルは初級から上級までです。
CDなし／付き。

日本にいる担当者はここです。

英語の雑誌：

“Crown” 初/初中級級：

“Team” 初中／中級：

ほかの英語の雑誌（中級、中上級、上級）もあります。

フランス語の雑誌：

“Allons-y!” 初/初中級級：

“Bonjour” 初中／中級：

ほかのフランス語の雑誌（中級、中上級、上級）もあります。

ドイツ語の雑誌：

“Das Rad” 初/初中級級：

“Schuss” 初中／中級：

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福島 県 福島 市 入江町 で　フランス語、 ドイツ語、 英語 を 勉強しましょう。

www.annerose-no-heya.net

Updated site

  • January 7, 2011 at 10:00 am

During Oshogatsu holiday, I updated the site and added pictures of textbooks, books and magazines that can be used in the classroom or at students’ home.

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福島 県 福島 市 入江町 で　フランス語、 ドイツ語、 英語 を 勉強しましょう。

www.annerose-no-heya.net

Interesting books in English: Little Charo

  • December 31, 2010 at 3:52 pm

Do you know NHK’s “Little Charo” ?

NHKの『リトルチャロ』をしていますか？

It is a very cute story of a Japanese dog looking for his friends in America.

The bilingual books are published monthly. The TV version is easier than the radio one.

Level: from high beginner

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福島 県 福島 市 入江町 で　フランス語、 ドイツ語、 英語 を 勉強しましょう。

www.annerose-no-heya.net

Interesting books in English: The secret life of words

  • December 31, 2010 at 3:38 pm


I ordered and received the following book:

The Secret Life of Words – How English became English

(amazon.co.jp link)

Level: intermediate-advanced or very interested in the topic

Many words in English come from French, German etc, with sometimes a very different meaning from the original…

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福島 県 福島 市 入江町 で　フランス語、 ドイツ語、 英語 を 勉強しましょう。

www.annerose-no-heya.net

Banana muffin recipe

  • December 19, 2010 at 6:00 pm


Here is my banana muffin recipe:

Preheat the over to 180 C.

In one bowl, mash 2 bananas, add 40 to 50cc milk and two table spoons (or Japanese large spoons) of sugar. Mix well.

mashed bananas

In another bowl, add about 200 gr cake flour (including wholewheat cake flour to taste) and about 40-50 gr of room temperature butter. Mix together. Add 2 small tea spoons of salt and two tea spoons of baking powder. Mix.

four mix

Add banana mix to the flour mix and mix some more.

It makes about 7 muffins. Put into the muffin pan.

Bake about 30 minutes. I usually leave the muffins a little longer in the oven while it cools down.

Let the muffins cool down on a grid.

Eat warm. Keep in the fridge. I warm the cold muffins in our oven toaster.


PS: I tried a different version for apple muffins. Once the result is nice, I will post the recipe.

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福島 県 福島 市 入江町 で　フランス語、 ドイツ語、 英語 を 勉強しましょう。

www.annerose-no-heya.net