Amazing Hip Hop Choreography

2 weeks ago I wrote about dance, then last week I wrote about my top music from 2011, and here is a mix of the two!
One of my favourite tracks from 2011, with some amazing choreography by a Korean-American guy called Anthony Lee...you must see this



then, after I accidentally found this on YouTube, I did a search for more of his work and came up with this piece of choreography to some UK dubstep, which is also fantastic
enjoy...

Common English Mistakes #1 - my...

This is a common mistake that comes from 'Japanese English', the miss-use of my.
I have often heard examples such as...

"Last week I bought my car"

'my car' means that you already own the car and you are buying the same car for the second time.

The correct English in this case is 'my own' = 自分の

"Last week I bought my own car"
"I have my own apartment"

I have also heard...

"He has my computer"

which should be...

"He has his own computer"

///////////////////////

I have my own...
You have your own...
He/she has his/her own
They have their own...

I hope this helps
Osca

2011 Top 5 Music

I listen to A LOT of music! I almost never watch the TV because I always have music on at home.
Last year I heard loads of new tunes, but these were my favourites...
Please check them out if you have time...

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
always
usually
often
sometimes
hardly ever

almost never

never

check it/them out = try something for the first time

Dance

I have been a fan of dance ever since I met Kaori almost 12 years ago. When I met her she was dancing in 'The King and I' and we often used to go to see contemporary dance together. But when I first saw contemporary dance I didn't like it very much. I always found it too 'arty' and never really understood what it was all about. Then after we came to Japan there is not much of a 'dance scene' in Hiroshima, and we only went to Tokyo once to see dance so I kind of lost interest...
Then about 2 years ago I found a UK TV program online called 'So You Think You Can Dance' and we watched it together. It is a televised dance contest with one dancer being voted-off by the public in a phone vote every week, until there is a winner who gets a professional dance contract.
Not all of the content is good, and some of it is awful, but there were some beautiful pieces on it.
If you have never seen contemporary dance before these are some good starters...enjoy.

New? Old? restaurant

Yesterday me and my wife took my son to school in Hiroshima and, as every Monday (our day off), we walked around town. After spending about 6 hours in Adidas, waiting for my wife to try on everything in the shop, it was lunch time so we headed towards Fukuromachi.
On the way past Fukuromachi elementary school my wife suddenly stopped dead...

"Why don't we go here?" she asked, outside a small, old lunch place called Kogane...

Now I spend most of my free time in Hiroshima in Fukuromachi. My favourite shops are there, favourite restaurants...and I have walked along this street hundreds of times, but I have never even noticed this place!
So after standing outside for a few seconds, deciding who would go in first, we went in and...I was thrilled!

 

It is a 'real old-fashioned 'shoku-do'', pot of oden steaming by the door and a row of glass-doored fridges containing all kinds of home style cooking. Everything we picked out of the fridges was taken away by the waitresses, heated-up and brought to our table.

It is really cheap, delicious, home cooking.

The oden soup has probably got about 30 years of flavour in it, the miso soup was delicious, just like I used to eat at my wife's grand-mother's house and the chicken I ate was juicy and very tasty...
In short I can't believe that I have never been there before but I will definitely be going there again very soon

View Kogane in a larger map

Kids Xmas craft

...so, continuing on form my last blog post, just before Christmas I did this craft with my kids' classes.
I designed a cut-out Santa Christmas card and told the kids to make in any way they liked, and here are the results.
I love that they are all unique and I have the photos to remember it into the future.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

unique = one of a kind, original, only one in the world

Xmas 2011

Christmas is a special time of year in England. Like Japanese New Year, Christmas is a time for families to gather, spend time together, eat, drink and watch TV!
Every year since I came to Japan (now 10 years ago) I have tried to keep Christmas as English as possible. I have eaten traditional English food, drunk all day and stayed in doing nothing.
It has always surprised me that in Japan there is the build up to Christmas. There are Christmas trees, Christmas lights, Christmas gifts in the shops, even Christmas cards in Tokyu Hands this year. Then on 'the Big Day' there is no event. In England the whole of December builds up to the main event of Christmas Day, we even have advent calendars to count down to the 25th. In Japan Christmas Day always feels like a bit of an anticlimax...
So last year I gave in to my inner Japanese-ness and decided to take my kids to art school in Hiroshima on Christmas Day, just like any 'normal' day...
Then, of course, after that I got home, opened my first can of Guiness and started to cook Christmas Dinner.

In the morning my kids opened their presents from 'Santa' and spent the afternoon playing with their new toys (which have now disappeared to the back of a cupboard somewhere!)
Then we sat down to watch 'Home Alone', possibly the best Christmas movie of all time!
It was a nice family Christmas, and I truly love living in Japan, but at Christmas time I want to be in London...
Maybe this year the OSCATOWN London Tour will be a Christmas Tour...watch this space

OSCATOWN 呉 の新しいブログへようこそ！

Hello everyone!
Welcome to my new OSCATOWN BLOG...
This blog is for English learners, and my blogs will be arranged by English level for everyone to be able to read and study English online.
I hope there will be something for everyone and if anyone has any ideas about this blog, please contact me...
Thank you
Osca

ps. For English lessons in Kure, Hiroshima please CLICK HERE...

みなさんこんにちは！
ＯＳＣＡＴＯＷＮの新しいブログへようこそ。。。
このブログは英語の勉強している人のためで、ブログがレベルによって並べますので、みんなが英語をオンラインでも勉強できるように作りました。
もしこのブログの内容についてのアイデアがあれば、ぜひ連絡してください。

オスカタウン呉のオスカ

ｐｓ。ＯＳＣＡＴＯＷＮ呉の英会話のレッスンについてはこちら