毎日通える英会話教室‐English Garden の英会話ブログ

Here are the handouts for last week

Super Beginner
Beginner
Intermediate.

In super beginner we talked about things you like or don't like.
Do you like Namie Amuro?

「I don't like Namie Amuro」って言うより、もっと優し言い方があります。

1. I don't really like Namie Amuro.


2. I think she's just okay.


3. She's not my cup of tea.


4. I don't really listen to Namie Amuro.


5. I'm not interested in her music.

In beginner class the topic was traveling, especially Disneyland.

Have you ever been to Disneyland?
What's so good about Disneyland?


Some people have been to Disneyland over 10 times.  The record was: 50 times!?!
Is Disneyland that good?

• You can feel like a princess.


• You can escape reality.


• It's like a fantasy world.

In intermediate class we talked about homes.  Many students didn't know the word "condominium", so here is a picture of a condominium.  It's similar to an apartment except it's much nicer.  It's usually a 15-story building (or more), and has several facilities such as an exercise room, swimming pool, and a front desk.  They are very popular in Canada and America now.


In japanese the world マンション means "apartment" in English. When we say "mansion" in English, we actually mean a very big house with a very big garden. Only very rich people live in mansions. I heard there is a nice mansion in Urasoe. It belongs to the Monaco Pachinko owner.

decent (adj)

You can use the word decent to mean that something is just okay, something is acceptable, in a positive way. If I ask you, "Do you like your home", you can say "It's decent", which means in Japanese, ま、悪くない. If you say It's just okay, it means 普通, which is a negative meaning.

For example,
Hyper Hotel is very cheap, but it's a decent hotel. (positive)

mortgage (n)

The word mortgage means 住宅ローン. So we have phrases like 30-year mortgage, and "I have to pay mortgage", and "My mortgage is killing me".

renovate (v)

When you want to say リフームする, we say "renovate" in English. For example, "Last year I renovated my home". The noun is "renovation". For example, "Renovations are very expensive".