Cafetalk 講師專欄

Don't say "TIME"!

I have been teaching English in Japan for 23 years and there is an English mistake that I hear almo...

Memories of backyard soccer

Photo: (from left) Our dog Max, my brother and I hanging out in the backyardEvery time I kick any k...

今日の英単語 So be it

直訳すると「なのであれはこう」なのですが「しょうがない」という意味の英単語で、個人的に非常にかっこいい言い回しだと思います。ニュアンス的には本能寺の変で信長が言ったとされる「是非も及ばず」が最も近い...

" I AM SUCCESSFUL #10. DO YOU WANT TO BE A LEADER?

     Do you know who the leader is? A leader is the first in the team, the one whom everyone listen...

What is a セミ⁉

Before coming to Japan I didn't know the insect, セミ. Here in Japan, I learned the Japanese, America...

お月見/The Moon Viewing

日本では空が澄んで、月がひときわ美しい旧暦の8月15日に豊作を祈り”お月見”をする習慣があります。we have a festival called "otsukimi" which means "...

One word, Different Uses #2

The word 'kill' is usually associated with a negative meaning. He was killed in a fatal car crash. ...

Difficulties in learning English and how to overcome them?

Difficulties in learning English and how to overcome them? There are cases when a person spends a l...

Talking about unknown reasons in English

Sometimes we don’t know why certain things happen or why/how we do certain things. In my recent col...

Sick days

Photo byKelly Sikkema onUnsplash Somehow, I managed to catch the flu a few days ago, and it’s the ...

The game of “Men”

Photo byy.nasx onUnsplash When I was quite young, perhaps 8 or 9 years old, my friend Colin and I ...

正直なところ、、、を英語で？

Even if it is true, if you say to an English person "English food is bad", it sounds very direct an...

Anne of Green Gables 赤毛のアン (Akage no An)

Anne of Green Gables is now a reading class! The series airs over Netflix too , going by the name A...

A game yuo used to plaing when you were kids

I learned to play chess in early childhood. I was 3 years old when my dad taught me all the rules o...

Childhood games

There were a number of games that I enjoyed playing as a child. Some of them are 'Mud or Stone', Ca...

A game I used to like playing when I was a kid.

Looking back, I can recall so many games that I enjoyed it is hard to pick one.  So, to simplify th...

MY TOPIC THIS WEEK: Four Benefits to Embracing Constructive Criticism

Constructive criticism provides feedback that helps the receiver develop and improve their skills. ...

Happy Times in Sunny Places

I hope everyone is safe and well

Abortion........The unexpected distress

Oh my baby if I had known…….. I went yesterday for a protest; I was looking for affection, I was lo...

What’s better?

Sport is sport, after all It's a difficult question to answer because both activities are benefici...

I’ve started learning French!

 Hello!Thank you for finding my column!I'm Yuko Fukushima, just started some lessons on Cafetalk f...

50 Lessons on Cafe Talk!

Hooray, I've taught 50 lessons on Cafe Talk! I have more lessons booked in the next few weeks so it...

I AM SUCCESSFUL #9 . 9 STEPS TO A DREAM GOAL

A goal is what we strive for, what we try to implement, and what we want to achieve. For some reaso...

Hi! I found a good mystery 告白 I wanted to share with you!

Hello Cafetalk Community!It's been a while since I've said "hello" on the Cafetalk Tutor Column! I ...

Taking a walk has a lot of benefit.

Hey, how's it going?It's been a while since I lasted posted my column, but I've been doing just fin...

English for teenagers - how to choose lessons?

English for teenagers - how to choose lessons? As much as we'd like to, we can't learn a language b...

One Word, Different Uses #1

What's the first thing that comes to your mind when I say make up? Well, this can have several mean...

Meet my new puppy

Oreo is my puppy's name.  We named her Oreo because of her colour - black and white, like the Oreo ...

Read Aloud from TED Talk Passages

Nail a few objectives through TED talk Read Alouds. Work on pronunciation, intonation and word stre...

Hitting the gym or going for a walk?

Anyday, I would choose to take a walk over hitting the gym. I like to go on long walks with my love...