How many aliens are there?!


Good day!

Japan is now under a state of emergency. It is a little worrying / alarming to see major cities like Ginza and Shibuya being empty. I think it’s a good opportunity to focus on yourself and improve our English skill!

 

ー初めにー

Today’s Riddle:

Before anything else, the answer to last week’s riddle is “Seven”!!

Why?

Seven is an odd number (1. 3. 5., 7, 9) and when you spell it and take away the letter “S”, then it becomes “even”! Were you able to answer the question correctly?

For this week, here’s the riddle:

“An astronaut went to planet Mars and found a lot of aliens! There, he found 390 male aliens, 349 female aliens and 295 baby aliens. How many aliens are on planet Mars?

 *Hint

This is a riddle, not a mathematical problem, so don’t add the numbers written there!

The answer will be revealed next Thursday. Until then, good luck!

 

ー続いてー

Today’s Conversational Point:

More than saying “I see” and “Mm-hmm”, I think it’s more natural in Western culture to ask follow-up questions when the one talking takes a long pause. A good suggestion here is to simply make “WH-questions” about what the speaker is talking about. Just to refresh your memory, the questions are “what, where, when, why, who, how”.

 

To make longer questions and still be grammatically correct, my second tip is to place the verb (動詞) right after the question.

For example, instead of saying “Who you go to the park with?”, change it to “Who did you go to the park with?”

So, the next time you are in a casual conversation, try asking a lot of questions! Not only will it practice your speaking, but also your listening!

 

ー最後にー

Today’s Column:

https://bit.ly/3c7UDYV

 

Something that goes hand-in-hand with the current situation, namely the Corona virus, would be telecommuting for those who are working. It is not an entirely new concept to workplaces outside Japan, however here, it is something people know, but are not familiar with. So as the government heavily advised companies to implement this, most companies had no choice but to do so. Here’s an article about a survey asking people in Japan what they think of telecommuting:

And to end this week’s blog post, here’s a video of how to make pasta in 13 different, easy ways!

 

 

Remember to take care of yourself!

Ryo