The Big Blue

Last Saturday I went to IFC 2 to see a baby blue whale. Well, it wasn't a real one. It was a real size model of it. Blue whale is the biggest mammal on earth and an endangered species. That means there are getting less whales in this world and one day we may not be able to see any blue whale anymore.

The baby whale model behind me is about 9 meters long. An adult whale can be as long as 2 buses! And its heart is as big as a small car. Although they are very big, they feed on small shrimps only. So you can imagine how many shrimps they eat every day.
Dirty ocean, big ships, over-fishing and whale hunting are the main reasons why blue whales are getting less. So, if you want to save the big blue whales, make sure you don't make the ocean dirty, do not eat too much seafood (yes, I know it is yummy, but eating less means the sea animals can eat more) and, if you go to Japan, do not buy or eat whale meat.

Let's work together to keep this earth clean and healthy for all human and animals!

Can you say "I Love You"?

How often do you say "I Love You" to your parents or your loved ones? Seldom? Oh, that's not good. Let's watch this video:


If a dog can say "I Love You", why can't you? It's just 3 words and I'm sure your Dad and Mum will LOVE to hear it.

Moon River, again

I like the song "Moon River", as I searched on youtube, I found another lovely version to share with all of you. It's sung by Sarah Brightman, a famous female vocalist. She sang Beijing 2008 Olympic theme song "You and Me" with another Chinese male vocalist.

This song is particularly calm and soothing to hear, with lyrics on screen I'm sure you'll find it more enjoyable.

It's my song before bed.

It's a Small World. (Really?)

I just discovered an online game. If you can score 40 you are already better than me. This game tests you on how well you know about the world. Honestly, I think I still need to learn a lot more. You can try this game here:

http://www.gamedesign.jp/flash/worldmap/worldmap.html

Have fun!

Animal Videos -- Background of Animals

Some of you may be confused about the animals I introduced in the Funny Animal Video Exercise entries. So I would like to introduce the animals to you. You can read the following link:

http://www.frontierairlines.com/frontier/fun-stuff/animal-tales.do

They are the main characters featuring in the videos. And I will put up more Video Exercise like this to encourage you to listen to more English.

Have Fun!

Funny Animal Video Exercise 2

OK, here's another practise.

Character: Griz the Bear and Larry the Lynx (or big cat).
Background: the thing Griz counting is called "Mileage", it's a scheme carried out by most airlines, "miles" refer to the distance flown by an airplane. The more "miles" you have, the easier you get a free airplane ticket to go travel again. That's why Griz is so concerned about the "miles" he has

Both Griz and Larry are flying.

Griz: (focused on his counting) 690, 691, 692...

Larry: (calm and cool) Hi Griz.

Griz: Hey Larry. (still busy counting) 693

Larry: What are you doing?

Griz: I'm counting my miles, Larry. 694 (still busy counting)

Larry: (trying to disturb Griz) 197

Griz: 695. Quiet Larry! (so that he can focus on his counting) 696

Larry: 232

Griz: (angryily) Would you cut that out? 697

Larry: 780

Griz: Seven hundred eight..... (clearly he's disturbed by Larry) OH NO! (shaking his head) You did it!

Larry: That was easy.

Griz: (since he failed to count he has to start from the top) 1, 2

Larry: 9 (still disturbing Griz)

Griz: 3, 4 ...

Larry: 7

Griz: Stop it Larry!!!



What can you learn:

** count in an English way

Usually, when we see 697, we read it as "six hundred and ninety-seven". But in spoken English, especially American English, we usually break it down into 6-97, so we read it as "six ninety-seven" and we understand that is 697.

Have fun!

Noah's Ark Night

I guess everyone in the school knows what happened on 29April. Yes, it's the show day of our big musical - Noah's Ark.

Everyone was busy that day. And so was I, I was busy taking photos and having fun with the cute animals.

To be honest, the word "GREAT" is just not enough to describe how great the show was. I used to perform a lot on stage and I truly think this performance was an outstanding one. All of you who participated in the show did a very good job. You are all professionals!
Some of you may have realised that I'm an animal-lover, so I was super-delighted that day because a lot of the students dressed in animal outfits and I just couldn't stop cuddling them!
Being busy taking photos, I failed to take photos with a lot of cute students. Anyway, those I took are nice enough. I showed the pictures to my mother and she agreed that the kids in our school are cute, very cute.

Funny Animal Video Exercise

OK, I figured out how you can improve your English through some interesting videos.
First, read the following drama.

Character: Foxy the Fox and Jack the Rabbit, they both work for Frontier Airline.
Background: Foxy is a beautiful fox and Jack admires her for a long time.

(Foxy is flying and Jack catches up.)

Jack: (Trying to look excited) Foxy! What a coincidence.

Foxy: (Calm and unsurprised) Come on, Jack, you've been on my tail for 400 miles. What's up.

Jack: (He was a little stucked because Foxy knew it was not a coincidence) Uh... OK..well, actually I...I'm planning to Cancoon next week and I just thought you if you weren't doing anything, maybe we can hit the beach together?

Foxy: (Still not excited nor surprised) The beach, huh?

Jack: Picture this -- you, me, a bottle of suntan lotion and these furry little paws.

(Foxy is not interested and turns away without a reply.)

Jack: (Still hopeful) I'll take that as a "maybe"?

Then, watch this video:


This is a TV commercial from an American airline called Frontier Airlines.

What you can learn:
**portray a character using dialogue.

**listening skills (the English spoken in the video is American English which is actually quite fast for most of you, but as you practise, you can listen and understand more.)

**Oral English (There are some terms and expressions like "Whats up?" "Huh?" "..hit the beach ...") You can try using these terms and expressions in your daily conversation.

So, have fun and enjoy!