Saki's English Blog

      Mr. McGregor was on his hands and knees planting out young cabbages, but he jumped up and ran after Peter, waving a rake and calling out, 'Stop thief!'  Once upon a time, there were four little rabbits, Flopsy, Mopsy, Cotten-tail, and Peter. They lived with their Mother in a sand-bank, underneath the root of a very big firtree. One morning, Mrs. Rabbit said to her children, "you may go into the fields or down the lane, but don't go into Mr. McGregor's garden." In the past, their father had an accident there, and he was put in a pie by Mrs. McGregor. Therefore, she strongly warned them not to get into mischief when she went out. Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cotton-tail, who were good little bunnies, went down the lane to gather blackberries. But Peter, who was very naughty, ran straight away to Mr. McGregor's garden, and squeezed under the gate! What will happen to him?

 AND while Mr. Jeremy sat disconsolately on the edge of his boat - sucking his sore fingers and peering down into the water - a much worse thing happened; a really frightful thing it would have been, if Mr. Jeremy had not been wearing a macintosh!     Mr. Jeremy is a frog and he lives in a wet house amongst the buttercups at the edge of a pond. He is called Mr. Jeremy Fisher because he likes fishing. One day, he wants to eat minnows for his dinner, so he gets some worms and goes fishing. He is planning to invite his friends if he catches more than five fish. He gets on his boat which is very like the other lily-leaves. Unfortunately, it starts to rain, and he can't catch any fish for nearly an hour. He is just staring at the float. Then, he begins to feel tiresome, so he eats lunch. After eating lunch, some fish are touching his lure. However, he hasn't caught any fish yet. Suddenly, a great big trout comes up with a splash and it bites Mr. Jeremy and takes him into the pond!

 'Publicity,' said Phil. 'Think what a good story it would make. If the Mayor is against the road he might let himself be kidnapped. It would be great publicity for the protest. It might be a way to help save the school.'  On Monday morning, the drilling starts with a machine in Wolf Hill School. Loz, who is one of the school students, is surprised to see strangers digging down the schoolyard. After school, Loz hangs out with her friend, Kat. Then, she meets Kat's cousin, Phil. He is a college student and he is doing work experience as a news writer. They talk about last Monday's construction. Phil says that the construction started because they are going to make a new road and close Wolf Hill School. Loz and Kat cannot believe his remark, and they don't want to close their school. Then, Phil comes up with a great idea to protest for their school. That is kidnapping the mayor! Of course, they know kidnapping is a crime, so they will talk to the mayor before

      Susan laughed. 'Amy,' she said. 'When your dad says he can do something, he usually can.'     I looked at Muffy. 'You must fly south,' I said.     For a long time I sat there and thought. She was right. Dad and David were right. 'OK,' I said. 'Tell him it's OK. We'll try.' Amy is a girl who lives in Canada, and she has moved to his father's house because his mother who lived with her passed away. Her father makes machines as his job. His house is always messy, so Amy doesn't like his house and she wishes to see and live with her mother again. She really misses her. One day, Amy watches his father with wings running up and down a hill. She thinks "my father is crazy!!" Then, while walking around the marsh, Amy founds something. Eggs! There are sixteen eggs in a nest of them. But no mother goose. No mother and no father. She decides to become a mother goose of them. She wraps eggs in a piece of clothes to keep warm f

  Zoe stays behind the bush and waits. An hour goes by and nothing happens. She is getting impatient.   'What are they doing in there?' she thinks. "Todd Marin never gives interviews to gossip magazines, so what are they talking about?' Zoe is a girl who works in a bookstore in a small town, and after work, she likes to act in plays with the Newport Players. The troupe does six plays every year, and Zoe is in most of them. That week, she acts in the play Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare in a theater. Then, she acts the part of Juliet's mother. In the audience, there is a boy who is named Mike. He is a university student at Newport College, and he likes writing. One day he wants to be a playwright for television. His aunt Peggy is the editor of The Newport Weekly News and she asks him to write some articles for the newspaper. Therefore, he comes to visit and write a review of the play. One day later, Zoe finds a newspaper and it says "Zoe Baker acts well

Looking for a Sharehouse? Do you like animals?   Please call Cara on 9356 7782.   Chris lives in the countryside in Australia, and he is going to study at the University of Sydney. His home is far away from Sydney, so he begins to look for a new house. Although his aunt lives there and she asks him to live with her, he says "No." because he doesn't like his aunt very much and he wants to meet girls and go drinking in Sydney. He buys a newspaper and looks at the ads, but the rent in Bondi is really expensive. Therefore, he starts to look for a sharehouse. One day, he finds the ad which says that Cara is looking for a roommate and animal lover is welcomed. Chris has a dog in a previous house and he loves dogs, so he applies to the ad. A few days later, he starts to live with Cara, and he enjoys playing with her dog. However, when he is eating breakfast, he finds a lizard on his legs. He is surprised to see that, and he runs away from the house because he doesn't like li

  'I've cut down on smoking. That's how I could afford the skating boots. Now I'm going to stop. You were right, you see.'  Loz gave Nan a hug. 'That's great, Nan. I'm proud of you,' she said.  Recently, Loz is interested in skating with her friends, Kat and Najma. Although she can't skate as well as them, she is enjoying it. On the other day, Jamie-Lee and Emma also come to skate to the rink, and they give Loz lessons. Loz is surprised because Jamie-Lee isn't usually nice to her. Then, Jamie-Lee hands a poster to Loz, and the poster says Glamorous Gran Contest . She knows her grandmother doesn't look as good as other grandmothers. Also, Jamie-Lee knows it. She deliberately invites Loz's grandmother to the contest. In fact, she is worried about Nan because she starts smoking again. Jamie-Lee fills in an entry form for the contest, pretending Loz's grandmother. Later, Nan finds the letter about the contest and she is super surprise

  Then the Viran stopped and turned. To Neena's horror, he began to run back towards her. Within him, he brought an icy blackness like a chilling, dense stain along the tunnel.  Biff, Chip, Kipper and friends have become Time Runners. They are in the Time Vault, a place that exists outside time. They have a mission to travel back in time to defeat the Virans. Virans aim to destroy history and cause chaos in the future. This time, Neena goes back to 8th Century Baghdad, and she discovers a very important place - the House of Wisdom. This is a library and there are many books and ideas from all over the world. However, what would happen if a Viran got into the library and stole some great ideas?  This series is based on the real history of the world. So you can enjoy both reading stories and learning what happened in the past. I have read this series a year ago, and I found it interesting that I feel as if I were on a time-traveling. If you feel like traveling to the past, you should

   Then the van was out of sight. Arjo raced back to the sheds. He began to shout. 'They've taken Kat!' he screamed. 'They've taken Kat!'  Miss Teal's class has done good work, and it is a project about the sun. Then, Mr. Saffrey comes up with the idea to put on solar panels on the school's roofs.   On Monday, something is wrong at school. Unfortunately, the roof is a mess and the copper cockerel has been stolen again! The thieves have taken not only the cockerel but also all the lead. Half term started badly for Kat and Arjo. Their mother is a lorry driver and sometimes she has to leave her children for a long time. But this time, she let them come with her. Kat and Arjo feel bored because the ride takes a long time and it's really tired. She drives with two stone lions because she was asked to sell them by the owner. They go to a place that sells old things. In that place, Kat and Arjo have found something covered with clothes. Then, Kat unveils it

  Hola!  I'm really happy to advance to the Sapphire League!  I finished #3 in the Gold League last week, so my level was advanced. When I learn Spanish in Duolingo, I can see many Spanish learners like me. Then I think I keep up with studying and I want to go up higher levels. This system is really useful for me to gain the motivation to learn a new language. Of course, sometimes I feel lazy to study Spanish, but when I see the ranking, I think I should study harder in order to get a good command of speaking Spanish.  By the way, I have a problem with Spanish pronounce.  Spanish has indefinite articles un/una. That's OK for me. But in pronouncing them, I'm a little bit confused because French has similar indefinite articles. In fact, I have learned French for three years and I have pronounced "un" in a French way. But now, I realize Spanish has "un", too. The difficult point is that it has the same spelling as French but different pronunciation from Fre

  Hola!  Recently, I've got used to translating Spanish sentences into English ones. For example, "¿Quieres vivir en la ciudad?" means "Do you want to live in the city?" in English. Duolingo let me practice the same words again and again in the lessons. Therefore you can never forget the words. In my case, I didn't know the word "ciudad" at first, but as practice went on, I can translate the word quickly. How nice! After I remember the sentence, I want to speak it smoothly. So now I'm learning how to pronounce Spanish words by listening to the native voice really carefully. I want to level up more so I keep practicing Spanish with Duolingo! Buenas noches!

 Hola! Cómo estás?😀 Estoy amodorrado😪 Today, I reviewed the Travel lesson. Then, I faced a certain difficulty. It's Spanish "está" and "es". Both words mean "is" in English, but what's the difference between them? There is a tip in this app and I'll share the useful information with you. If you want to say where someone or something is located, use está. You also use está when you're talking about something that's only temporarily true. Meanwhile, es is used to describe the qualities of a person or thing. I found it interesting there is such a difference between está and es.  Buenas noches!

   Hola! Cómo estás?😀 Today, I did Duolingo Stories and the story was about the exam. A boy is told that the English test is today by a girl in university. He doesn't know that and he isn't ready for the test. However, the exam is in two hours, so he studies English in hurry. Then, two hours later, they go to class, and their teacher says "the test is in two weeks." The boy is surprised to hear that and asks the girl why she lied to him. In fact, she wanted him to study harder for the test and be ready for that.  As you see, the lesson is useful to study Spanish and what's more, the story itself is really interesting and the storyline is well-crafted. So you never get bored to learn your new language if you do the lesson. I really recommend you to practice your foreign language with Duolingo Stories! Adios!🌞

  Hola! Today, my level in the People section went up from 0 to 1😄 In this section, I could introduce people's occupations, for example, "Él es camarero." (He is a waiter.), "Yo soy una maestra en ingles." (I am an English teacher.) Did you realize one interesting point about Spanish grammar? Please take a look at those sentences carefully. In English, you have to put the indefinite article "a/an" in front of a noun when you introduce your job, such as "I am an English teacher." However, in Spanish, you don't have to do it. How easy it is! You can introduce yourself without confusing. Buenas noches!🌛

Hola!  Today, I reviewed the Travel section. It took only a few minutes for me to answer all questions and I felt the questions are easy. I think I'm getting used to using Spanish now.😊 I can write some easy Spanish sentences now, too. For example, Ella es una mujer. (She is a woman.) El es un hombre. (He is a man.) In Spanish, the negative form is also easy. You just have to put "no" in front of verbs. Yo no trabajo en México. (I don't work in Mexico.)  By the way, I'm now on #3 in Gold League! I want to level up higher and higher. Buenas noches!🌝  

  Hola! I'm on a 22-day streak today! I learned some phrases about people. Now I can tell you about my work and my address in Spanish like this.👇 ・Yo trabajo en México. (I work in Mexico.) ・Yo vivo en México. (I live in Mexico.) I'm really happy to be able to speak about myself in Spanish, so I want to gain more Spanish vocabulary. Adios!

 'Three kilos of flour in a bag,' Dr. Felthman told Mr.Cartright. 'The boys must look after their flour babies for three weeks and write about what happens every day in a Baby Book. It teaches them about children, about being mothers and fathers. The boys in class 4C are the worst students in the school. They can't read or write well. One day, they are given a project in which they have to take care of three flour babies, three kilos of flour in a bag. There are some rules. For example, they have to write about what happens to the babies in a baby book. The boys don't like the idea and they think it's stupid. But Simon Martin loves his flour baby, and he starts to think about his father. Actually, his father left his home when Martin was a baby. As looking after a flour baby, Martin starts to ask questions. Why did his father leave him and his mother when he was a baby? I chose this book for this week because this title attracts me. Once I looked at the title, I

  Hola! This is the last day of three-week practice!  Today, I studied words about people and the picture shows a speaking section. I'll share a tip about speaking with you. In speaking, you should speak aloud and slowly especially when you speak a foreign language. This is what my French teacher said when I was a sophomore.  If you are not confident to speak the language, your voice will be small. Then, people can't hear what you said. Moreover, some foreign language learners tend to speak faster to mimic native speakers, but it is not good especially for beginners because speaking fast makes your talk difficult to hear. So you should speak aloud and slowly. When I practice speaking a foreign language, I always try to speak clearly and I want to keep doing this habit.  I finished three-week practice and it was really fun because we can learn a new language even in 5 minutes in this app. I will keep learning Spanish with Duolingo from now on and I will learn more new languages.

   Hola! Cómo estás?😀 Today, I did Duolingo Stories. It is my favorite practice because each story is really interesting. Every story has a theme and the stories are written according to the theme. The story theme of today is a surprise. Antonio and his mother go to dinner in the restaurant but she asks for three tables instead of two. His mother is planning to introduce a girl to Antonio and she wants him to go on date with her. On the other hand, Antonio has a secret to her mother. In fact, he got married to the girl who his mother introduce to him. That's a super surprise. Like this, Duolingo Stories are really intriguing! If you haven't done it before, you should do it! I'll recommend it strongly! Buenas noches!🌝👋

 Hola! Cómo estás?😀 Today, I did a Schedule lesson. I learned "fin de semana (weekend)" and "pelicula (movie)" in this lesson. Now, I can introduce my hobby!  👆Es mi pelicula favorita. In addition, I found the Spanish grammar doing the practice. I have a question for you.  Q. If you want to say "my favorite suitcase", which is correct?                       Spanish: Mi maleta (         ).                    1. favorita               2. favorito The answer is...1. favorita ! Do you know why??? It's easy if you find a rule.  As I said before, Spanish nouns are followed by the adjectives and both of them are influenced by gender. If a word is feminine, the end of the spelling is a . On the other hand, a masculine noun usually ends with o . In that question, "maleta" ends with a because it is a feminine noun. So it is qualified by the feminine adjective. That's why "maleta favorita" is correct. Now, I'm really enjoying learni

  Hola! Cómo estás?😀 ¡Feliz viernes! I'm feeling good because it's Friday today!😆 Today, I learned Spanish days of the week. In Spanish, the days of the week are not capitalized, unlike English. For example, you can write like this: "Hoy es lunes. (Today is Monday.)" I found it interesting to know a different language has a different grammar. Next, I'll show you some Spanish sounds. 1. At the beginning of sentences, the letters b and v are both pronounced like an English b . ( b oleto, v iernes) As in b ean. 2. But in the middle of words or sentences, they often sound like a hybrid between b and v . (escri b es, jue v es) As in v an but with the two lips touching. It's difficult for me to pronounce a hybrid sound between b and v. So I'll practice harder!💪 ¡Que tengas un buen día!👋

  Hola!😀 Today, I did a new thing! Do you know that this app has an interesting exercise called "Duolingo Stories"? Let me explain this lesson shortly.  In this lesson, you will read and listen to daily conversations and you will be asked some questions like this👆. This practice is really good for language learning because you can understand how to use phrases with real contexts.  Moreover, if you repeat phrases after them aloud, your speaking and listening skills will be drastically improved. I'm looking forward to doing the next exercise! Buenas noches!🌝

  Hola!  Today, I've reached Level 2 in the intro lesson.  The lesson was not so hard because the word level is easy. But sometimes, I confuse "mujer (woman)" and "niña (girl)".  Then, I often make mistakes in the matching test. I think trying new lessons one after another is good, but reviewing what I learned is more important. It's because people tend to forget the past unless they remember again and again.  So I'll keep both learning new things and reviewing.  Buenas noches!👋😉

  Hola! In the seminar, I found it good to repeat the lesson and take advantage of the tips. Then, today, I did level two of the intro session right away. Also, I studied from the tips. Until now, I didn't realize that there are such useful tips. They explain Spanish grammar really in detail, so it's easy for you to understand it.  👆 Tips  As you can see, there are sounds mark. If you click the button, you can listen to the pronunciation. All words are pronounced by the native speakers, so you can practice natural sounds. I'll use tips tomorrow, too! Buenas noches!🌝👋

 'Look,' he said. 'There are fins on this end.'  The object slid off the bricks and rolled over. Then it began to tick like a clock.  Mr. Gray's face went white. 'Run for it! Quick!' he said. 'It's a bomb!' In Wolf Hill School, Mr. Gray digs the ground and he finds something in it.  It has fins on the end and it begins to tick like a clock. Yes, it's a bomb!😨 As soon as the principal, Mr. Saffrey hears the news, he makes all the students get out of this school. They escape to the near sports center. People in the sports center want to go back to their homes. Suddenly, Kat's mom gasped. 'Oh no! I left Auntie Viv's Parrot behind!' The soldiers try to prevent the bomb from exploding and find her parrot. Will this bomb be safe? Will the parrot be found? This Wolf Hill series are written in easy English. You can read this book smoothly.

Hola!✋  It has been two weeks since I started learning Spanish with Duolingo! I gradually get used to it.😄 Today, I learned words about travel.  In a restaurant, you can be asked by a waiter like this: ¿Quiere más agua, señor? (Do you want more water, sir?) I found it interesting that Spanish has an upside-down question mark.  I think it's a unique system. Buenas noches!👋

Hola!😀 Cómo estás? I've been studying Spanish greetings since yesterday. Although I mainly studied vocabulary in the first week, this app starts to teach me Spanish grammar from the second week.  Can you answer the question above? The answer is "Thank you, see you tomorrow." So, hasta luego!👋  

  Hola! Today, I'm on a 12-day streak! The lesson gets harder, but gaining new knowledge is really fun! I studied Spanish greetings today. When you meet your friends on the street, you can say "Hola, cómo estás!".  It's good to say hello to other languages sometimes. Adios!

  Hola!😀 Today, I complete a checkpoint. In the checkpoint test, I reviewed what I've learned in this app and try new things such as reading longer sentences or conversations. The test was a little bit tough but I am happy to complete the lessons. I'm looking forward to taking the next lesson and gaining new knowledge.

  Hola! Today, I finished the lesson about school and started learning words about people. In this unit, I studied the countries' names. I'll share some keywords with you. 1. Los Estados Unidos (the United States) 2. España (Spain) 3. Japón (Japan) You can guess what the country is from the letters cause the Spanish letter is similar to the English one. I made mistakes again and again in the level up test and I ran out of hearts.  If the number of hearts gets zero, you can't take the test until the hearts recover. When the hearts become full, I'll try the test again!💪  

  Hola! Today, I studied school words.  As you can see, "the teacher" means "el maestro" in Spanish.  In Japan, people say "maestro" in katakana and it is used for someone great. So I was surprised to know the word has such a meaning. I'm happy when Duo cheers me up.😄 Buenas noches!👋🌝

  Hola! I'm on an 8-day streak today!😄 I finished learning fashion words. I'll show you some useful functions in this app. First, new words are colored in violet. What's more, if you click the word, you can know the meaning. How useful! Thanks to this system, you can learn a language without a dictionary.  Next, this app gives us a tip. When I made the same mistake about word order, this app taught me a Spanish rule in easy English. I could understand grammar easily. I want to reach a higher level. Buenas noches! Adios!👋 

 'I want to be a fashion model,' said Rita. 'But I'm not beautiful. And I'm too short. And my nose is too big.' 'That's not true,' said Tom. 'I think you're beautiful.'    It is winter. Tom is working at a public library but he feels bored because the library work is not what he really wants to do. His dream is to be an artist who draws and takes photographs. One day, a beautiful girl named Rita comes to his library and Tom falls in love. Rita also has a dream to become a model and she applies to many model offices. However, she fails all of auditions and she gets disappointed to her life. As Tom knows her deeply, he wants to support her. Then, he decides to help her as her photographer. Do their dreams come true?

  Hola!😄 Today, I learned fashion word lessons part 2 & 3.  This app has a translation training and you can study not only vocabulary but also grammar.  In Spanish, a noun is followed by an adjective. This rule is the same as the French one. That's interesting to me.   I've kept studying Spanish for a week and I'm now starting to catch on. Buenas noches!👋

  Hola!  Today, I learned words about fashion and color.  My favorite color is anaranjado. I'm looking forward to learning the next level. Buenas noches!

  Hola!  I've done the family section today. I found it interesting that Spanish nouns change with gender.  For example, "a son" is "un hijo" and "a daughter" is "una hija" in Spanish. That's interesting!😁 I'll keep studying Spanish tomorrow. ←Level up test

 Hola!  Today, I learned useful words about restaurants.  For example, when you go to a hamburger shop, you can order a fish burger like this: Un hamburguesa de pescado. What's more, if you want to take a reservation, you can say una mesa para dos, por favor. Because of this difficult situation, we cannot go abroad, but if I can have a chance to visit Spain, I want to enjoy eating traditional food, using these useful words.

 Hola! 😀 Today, I did the travel section. In this section, I learned words related to transportation, for example, el tren (train), el aeropuerto (airport). As you can see, Spanish spell is similar to the English one.  If you are an English learner, you can guess a word's meaning easily.  Now, I'm on a three-day streak.  Let's study Spanish harder!

 Holà! Today, I finished the Phrases course.  I share some useful Spanish phrases with you. Buenos dìas. (Good morning.)  ¡Hola! (Hello.) Buenas noches. (Good night.) Adiòs. (Goodbye.) If I make a mistake, this app asks me the same question repeatedly. Thanks to this system, I can stop making the same mistake.  Moreover, we can study quickly while commuting because it takes only 5 minutes to finish one lesson. I'll use my spare time efficiently to learn a new language. I'm looking forward to gaining more Spanish vocabulary. Buenas noches👋 ←Today's lesson

 Hello, everyone! Long time no see😄 Today, I started learning Spanish with Duolingo. Spanish is totally new to me so I am excited.  I've done four lessons today. This app has many cute pictures and you can enjoy learning a new language with them, too!  What I learned in today's lesson is that the Spanish noun is divided into two types, masculine noun, and feminine noun.  I'll keep learning Spanish from today.👍